Sweet Nothings, Young Vic

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Sweet Nothings, Young Vic

Luc Bondy directs a sleek, stylish if not wholly sexy Schnitzler update

by James WoodallFriday, 05 March 2010

He loves me, he loves me not: Kate Burdette as Christine (David Sibley as her father) in Luc Bondy's new Schnitzler farragoRuth Walz

Arthur Schnitzler belonged to a culture of inquiry and experiment, in which dreams and desire were crying out to be articulated and delineated; sexual needs were the unexplored stuff of life - how well Vienna painters like Klimt and Schiele knew this - and, as Freud worked it all out for us, not necessarily dangerous. Where better to bring this to flesh-and-blood life than on stage?

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Permalink Submitted by Roger Goldsmith (not verified) on Wed, 31/03/2010 - 20:59

All I can say is that the reviewer here, James Woodall must have a very high boredom threshold. The only thing I agree with is the acting of Natalie Dormer, in her portrayal of Mizi. She was outrageous and yes, sassy is a good word. But for the rest of this play, it lacked any semblance of real drama, nothing at all to grab you and make you sit on the edge of your seats. Coupled with the fact of course that the real drama, which should have been the main plot, was not in evidence at all. What we got was an insipid and passionless subplot between Fritz and Christine, a young woman who thinks he is in love with her, when we have seen no evidence as such. All in all two hours of pretty boring stuff.

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