Betrayal - member and critics reviews.

This is the place to discuss all of Mr. Craig's work on stage.

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Germangirl
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Betrayal - member and critics reviews.

Post by Germangirl »

As ar as member reviews go - I hope, someone will be able to go. Sadly its so late in the year, that he will be all wrapped up, but on the other hand - when we were there in October, the day I had to fly home, its was all sunny and he in short T-shirt. I missed that :evil:
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Dunda
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Post by Dunda »

Thanks to A!


Contains spoilers

http://dc-sketchbook.blogspot.de/2013/1 ... rayal.html








This weekend I saw the Broadway play Betrayal starring Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz; it still lingers with me.

The play officially opens October 21 but has sold out and is now the hottest ticket on Broadway.

Thankfully, the play lives up to the hype.

Unlike many productions which feature movie stars, Betrayal crackles with extraordinary performances that live up to the Broadway cache.

No question, numerous Tony's are in store for this production.

The play has four actors: Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, Rafe Spall and Stephen DeRosa (who has a very small but amusing role as a waiter).

Spall carries a tremendous load as he is the main protagonist and delivers the most action and lines as both the best friend of Daniel Craig's character and as the lover of Craig's wife.

Thankfully, Spall is a powerhouse able to deliver drama and humor with conviction and presence.

To see Craig and Weisz on stage not only validates them as actors worthy of the title "Actor" (beyond celebrity) but also validates the existence of Broadway which too often delivers big names with big flops.

Betrayal is why theater exists, to see riveting performances such as these.

The play itself is fascinating in its construction as theater.

This is a play which unreels characters like an onion; slowly and to stinging effect.

When the last scene came (to a rousing standing ovation) I thought for a moment: "Wait, that's it?"

And then like a sledge hammer I was hit with the reality of all the nuances throughout each scene which culminated in the last dramatic moment.

(It is a nine scene play in reverse chronological order with no intermissions, starting in 1977 and ending in 1968).

The theme, of course, is betrayal and in the opening scene one quickly learns that Weisz's and Spall's characters have been carrying on a seven year affair.

But, is the betrayal of Weisz to her husband (Craig) and by Spall to his best friend (Craig?) the only betrayal at work?

Of course not, but it's not so obvious.

At the end of the play (spoiler alert!) it finally becomes clear that Craig's and Spall's characters were lovers long before the affair between Spall and Weisz.

Thus, the first "ah ha" moment: the real betrayal was by Spall's character to Craig's.

But, I believe there is a deeper revelation in the play - and this is why the play lingers - namely, that people often betray themselves.

I found myself thinking about my own relatively recent relationship; I was deeply in love with a woman named Leslie, and she told me she shared the feelings.

But, she made it clear that I would never come before her "friendship" with Alice.

While Leslie assured me that Alice wasn't gay (after I found they slept together) events made me constantly believe that Leslie and Alice were deeply in love.

I also felt that Leslie was always angry with me, giving me passive-aggressive silent treatments and vicious looks, for instance, when I tried to express my feelings.

Ultimately, I felt that I was walking on eggshells around Leslie and that's how our relationship ended, my last memory of her giving me a look of searing hatred in response to my having opened my heart to her.

I now believe that Leslie's anger derived from unresolved pain from suppressing her identity: to avoid confronting her identity, she directed aggression towards me.

I genuinely and deeply loved her, and wish I could have been there to support her, but I guess she had to work it all out through her own path.

Because, I understand through the grapevine that she and Alice are now more open about their identities.

But, if I did have the chance to talk with Leslie I'd tell her that I'm her ally and always have been.

I'm sad that she betrayed me, but it breaks my heart that she felt she had to betray herself for so long.

And herein lies the power of the Broadway play Betrayal with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz: it sparks reflection and self-knowledge with the possibility of personal change.

And it is a damn entertaining performance.

See it!
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Post by CockHargreaves »

Ah, as someone who won't be able to go and see the play, I like the spoilers. Thanks for sharing this review.
I kind of guessed about the other betrayal - DC gave clues when he joked about homoeroticism in the performance. And I figured there would be layers of betrayal within the plot (it would be a misleading or pointless title otherwise!). But the idea of betraying oneself is interesting.
I so wish I could see this play, but c'est la vie I suppose :cry:
In the meantime, any snippets about it and how it's interpreted in this version, as well as viewpoints on the individual performances by the actors, are most welcome :)
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Post by Sylvia's girl »

NY THEATER REVIEW: BETRAYAL


This is a situation were the relationship of expectations vs. reality really comes into play. If I had walked into this play randomly, without knowing a thing, I would have Really enjoyed it, and called it a solid evening of great theater. That is the problem with expectations. For this show mine were high. Extremely high you might say. You have an almost sold out show for which getting tickets was an ordeal. A fabulous cast of superstars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, who not only are great actors ( she an Oscar recipient) but are also married and therefore should have good chemistry. You have an institution of a director who has done more wonderful stuff that you can list. And you have a Nobel prize winning playwright. How can that produce nothing short of a spectacular evening? Well it can and it does in my book. The show was good, but fell short of spectacular. My first issue was with the play itself, it was short, i wished we could get like 30 minutes more of it, and a bit more development. As for the performances, Rachel Weisz was great, but i really did not get a great chemistry between her and Rafe Spall. However Rafe was a revelation for me, a fabulous actor! As for Daniel Craig, he was ok, but not as good as i expected him to be. Which leads me to think that my issue was with the play. I don’t think it served the actors justice and they could have done more with other material. I might be saying something blasphemous to some people here, but even one of the people I saw the play with agreed, the play seems a bit dated. Neither the reverse chronological order not the subject matter is that fresh anymore, it’s just been done to death. The sets, however, were fabulous. All in all its a good show, but try not to go in expecting a magnificent theatrical event. Its only a solid b+ type of show for me.


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Post by Germangirl »

May I suggest, that we close this thread? As it happens, everything is more or less in the news thread, which - I believe - should continue in order to not irritate ourselves.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by Dunda »

I want to keep this open to put some professional reviews here (at least a copy from the other thread). I woiud like to have the Stage-Work section complete somehow...
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Post by Germangirl »

OK :wink:
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by CockHargreaves »

"only a solid b+ kind of show"? Ouch, that's got to hurt.
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Post by Germangirl »

CockHargreaves wrote:"only a solid b+ kind of show"? Ouch, that's got to hurt.
Well, the other critic buff (posted above) gave it a very good review. I suppose, its pretty much a matter of expectation AND whether Pinter works for you or not. Same with the performance of each actor. Some like it loud, some like it quiet. Some are able to read between the lines, have the pauses speak for them, others are not.
You cannot satisfy them all.
IMO, the reveiws will be mixed, as it seems everybody expects something else and some will not be satisfied. Way of life.

Daniel has proven IMO, that he CAN dominate the play - so if he has a good day, he will do fine.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by Sylvia's girl »

Not a good one I'm afraid....

Craig and Weisz freeze in Betrayal

http://bonviveurnyc.wordpress.com/tag/daniel-craig/
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Post by CockHargreaves »

Sylvia's girl wrote:Not a good one I'm afraid....

Craig and Weisz freeze in Betrayal

http://bonviveurnyc.wordpress.com/tag/daniel-craig/
Phew! That's an understatement. Did they watch the same play that others have written about?
As for the remark "someone has muzzled the media": what utter tosh. (I had a much ruder word in mind, but thought I should restrain myself). Who would have the power to do this? Why should the press allow themselves to be silenced if they don't like it? We're not talking Watergate here, for crying out loud.
The comments about the individual acting performances are damning but I can't help wondering if they stem from the desire to watch DC and RW acting out their real-life love affair on stage for all the world to see. It doesn't sound like the RW who wowed audiences and brought many layers of understanding to her generally unsympathetic character in Streetcar. I hope other critics will like it more.
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Post by Germangirl »

Remember the UK critic from the Times, now HE is a REAL critic and he liked it a lot. Like I said, I don't think, there will be love from everyone, but this sounds like someone, who was - as you said - waiting for the little signs of "personal" chemistry. They are professionals, for ***'s sake.

There was so much good, that some thought, we are filtering, so lets be positive, that that was the general impression.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by Sylvia's girl »

I think the reviews will be generally mixed. For the price people are paying expectations will be high. Betrayal is a particularly English play and not to everyones tastes and to only see James Bond in what they perceive to be a lesser role will no doubt be disappointing for some.
I think it's not going to be able to compete critically with The Glass Menagerie which has had rave reviews or Twelfth Night with Mark Rylance which is currently in previews.
We'll see. :wink:
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Post by Germangirl »

We have to remember, that ASR had very mixed reviews. I believe - apart from how good they actually are - the bigger the name, the more merciless they are.
But if all three deliver and I believe, they will, they will be fine.
The top notch acting in the Weisz/Craig/Spall 'Betrayal' is emotionally true, often v funny and its beautifully staged with filmic qualities..

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Post by Sylvia's girl »

The one hour-and-a-half-long, flawless one-act play was one of those rare performances that, after an initial burst of applause, allowed for the audience to comfortably move past the famous names on stage and lose itself in a captivating, reverse chronology of the plot. This is a theater that is intimate enough to smell the cigarettes being smoked on set.

Rachel Weisz, as a convincing Emma, stepped onto Broadway for her stage debut. Brave considering the caliber of her male counterparts. Rafe Spall, who most recently appeared on the big screen as the reporter in Life of Pi, was the most pleasant surprise, almost, but not quite upstaging the other two.
The play set a box office record for its first week on Broadway. It runs through January 5th, 2014.


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