THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
“As good as it gets - Mind the Gap's Birthday Party”
REVIEW by Graham Cleverley, Luxembourg Times
With “chillingly perfect” performances, reviewer Graham Cleverley finds it “difficult to find any criticism” of must-see show The Birthday Party at the Théâtre National du Luxembourg…
…On this night, Timothy Lone’s direction was pacy where required but flexible, varying from Pinter’s pauses to the machine gun exchanges (beautifully done) between Goldberg (Adrian Diffey) and McCann (Gav Guilfoyle) as they hurl questions and predictions at the terrified Stanley (Tom Shells). In terms of the performances he and the cast produced, it’s difficult to think of any criticism…
…Fran Potasnik as Meg floats through the action displaying just the right amount of dizziness and ignorance of what is going on about her: I did think though the characterization was somewhat too young, making her mild dementia seem more abnormal than a function of age. Still, that’s a matter of interpretation rather than acting, which was as close to perfect as matters…
…The same is true of Adrian Diffey’s playing of Goldberg, unmistakably Jewish, Cockney Jewish if you like, but not stereotypically. The part really carries the play, in that with a bad Goldberg, no-one else would have much of a chance, but here his shoulders are well up to the burden. The part is very complex inasmuch as Goldberg keeps making up his own family backgrounds, and blends chameleon-like into all of them, becoming, when necessary, all things to all men. Diffey copes with them all – indeed masters them all…
