THEATRE: This Is How It Goes
So this is how it goes. Last Monday I got a phone call from a friend of a friend. I've met her a few times, we get along well and she wanted to know if I was keen to go and see the new Neil LaBute play This Is How It Goes. Of course I was keen! This is Neil LaBute of In the Company of Men and Our Friends and Neighbours! So I said yes and off to the Donmar we went.
The play takes place in a modern day midwestern American town and revolves around 3 characters. Man, the narrator, has returned home after 12 years and bumps into his high school crush Belinda outside the department store. Former cheerleader Belinda is now unhappily married to the former high school track star and current successful businessman Cody. She is taken by Man's charm and warmth which is in stark contrast to her husband's condescension and irritability. Cody, on the other hand, is not amused with Man's smart-ass talk or by Belinda's and Man's seeming obliviousness to the problems he faces as a black man in a predominantly white town. The married couple have a room to rent and Man moves in creating a tense dynamic in the already unhappy marriage.
Man tells the audience how it goes, but warns us that he is a somewhat unreliable narrator so what we are seeing is just the version of events he wants us to see. His charm (and he certainly is charming), Belinda's sweet fondness for him and Cody's general unlikeability are what Man has decided to share with us. Not long into the play I began to wonder just how economical he has been with the truth. It's a great trick because it prevents the audience from passively accepting what we are being told. It also makes it striking when Man lets his true feelings show. The level of ugliness he reaches can't be a lie and it says a lot about white middle-America. Lest us not forget that this is a Neil LaBute play and therefore one should not expect to leave the theatre with much hope for mankind.
The actors in the London production were fantastic. Ben Chaplin was charming and disarming as Man. Megan Dodd and Idris Elba as Belinda and Coy were both impressive. The dialogue was as sharp, witty and natural as you would expect from Neil LaBute.
If you are keen to catch This Is How It Goes you can see it in Bristol at the Old Vic from the 12th to the 16th and in Manchester at the Lowry from the 19th to the 23rd. I recommend you do.
The play takes place in a modern day midwestern American town and revolves around 3 characters. Man, the narrator, has returned home after 12 years and bumps into his high school crush Belinda outside the department store. Former cheerleader Belinda is now unhappily married to the former high school track star and current successful businessman Cody. She is taken by Man's charm and warmth which is in stark contrast to her husband's condescension and irritability. Cody, on the other hand, is not amused with Man's smart-ass talk or by Belinda's and Man's seeming obliviousness to the problems he faces as a black man in a predominantly white town. The married couple have a room to rent and Man moves in creating a tense dynamic in the already unhappy marriage.
Man tells the audience how it goes, but warns us that he is a somewhat unreliable narrator so what we are seeing is just the version of events he wants us to see. His charm (and he certainly is charming), Belinda's sweet fondness for him and Cody's general unlikeability are what Man has decided to share with us. Not long into the play I began to wonder just how economical he has been with the truth. It's a great trick because it prevents the audience from passively accepting what we are being told. It also makes it striking when Man lets his true feelings show. The level of ugliness he reaches can't be a lie and it says a lot about white middle-America. Lest us not forget that this is a Neil LaBute play and therefore one should not expect to leave the theatre with much hope for mankind.
The actors in the London production were fantastic. Ben Chaplin was charming and disarming as Man. Megan Dodd and Idris Elba as Belinda and Coy were both impressive. The dialogue was as sharp, witty and natural as you would expect from Neil LaBute.
If you are keen to catch This Is How It Goes you can see it in Bristol at the Old Vic from the 12th to the 16th and in Manchester at the Lowry from the 19th to the 23rd. I recommend you do.
posted by Stephanie at 1:54 AM
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