The Line, Arcola Theatre | reviews, news & interviews
The Line, Arcola Theatre
The Line, Arcola Theatre
Timberlake Wertenbaker's play about Edgar Degas is too literary and polite
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Henry Goodman has intensity to burn as the artist DegasSarah Ainslie
The habit of art - a favourite topic of late, or so it would seem - gets a pummelling in The Line, a sort of Several Decades in the Atelier with Edgar (as in Degas) that would defy even Stephen Sondheim to shake a wordy and dour play into impassioned life. Henry Goodman brings his customary fervour to an assignment whose published text is dedicated to him, but Timberlake Wertenbaker's bitty drama seems like a blueprint for the TV mini-series that in different televisual times would surely lie in wait.
The habit of art - a favourite topic of late, or so it would seem - gets a pummelling in The Line, a sort of Several Decades in the Atelier with Edgar (as in Degas) that would defy even Stephen Sondheim to shake a wordy and dour play into impassioned life. Henry Goodman brings his customary fervour to an assignment whose published text is dedicated to him, but Timberlake Wertenbaker's bitty drama seems like a blueprint for the TV mini-series that in different televisual times would surely lie in wait.
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Theatre
You Me Bum Bum Train, secret location review - a joyful multiverse of anarchic creativity
This latest incarnation of the show is a wild, spinning ride through different forms of reality
The Tempest, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane review - Sigourney Weaver's impassive Prospero inhabits an atmospheric, desolate world
Magic is minimised in Jamie Lloyd's pared-back version
Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812, Donmar Warehouse review - a blazingly original musical flashes into the West End
War and Peace - but not as you know it
The Invention of Love, Hampstead Theatre review - beautiful wit, awkward staging
Tom Stoppard’s evocation of Victorian golden age Oxford stars Simon Russell Beale
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, New Adventures, Sadler's Wells review - 30 years on, as bold and brilliant as ever
A masterly reinvention has become a classic itself
The Little Foxes, Young Vic review - timeshifted production blurs the play's focus
Lillian Hellman’s family feud set in 1900 Alabama doesn’t survive a confused updating
The Legends of Them, Royal Court review - reaching out for serenity
Gig theatre piece about the pain and redemption of a pioneer reggae artist
The Producers, Menier Chocolate Factory review - liberating taboo-busting fun for grown-ups
Director Patrick Marber does Mel Brooks's musical proud
A Midsummer Night's Dream, RSC, Barbican review - visually ravishing with an undercurrent of violence
This psychedelic mashup conveys a sci-fi-style alternate reality
The Devil Wears Prada, Dominion Theatre review - efficient but rarely inspired
Relaunch of Elton John musical needs further tinkering still
Hansel and Gretel, Shakespeare's Globe review - too saccharine a retelling for our times
Songs and sweeties, but insufficient sourness and sadism for fans of fairytales
The Importance of Being Earnest, National Theatre review - no shortage of acid-tipped delight
Oscar Wilde speaks just as strongly to the 21st century as he did to his own
Add comment