So the battle of the big plays with the all-star casts. Pinter v Shakespeare. The Birthday Party v Julius Caesar. Do this.
Given that The Birthday Party is Pinter's most famous play, and probably the most famous play I hadn't not seen, I was a bit surprised at how little I knew about it. In my head it was an Ayckbourn-esque comedy of manners. Out of my head it's very different. I didn't enjoy it. Don't get me wrong, it was well acted and amusibg enough in places; I just felt a bit cheated at the end.
Julius Caesar (with Cat Stark, The Guv'nor and, erm, Paddington Bear) was a bit less of a wild card - although when I first stepped into the Pit at The Bridge it was channelling the spirit of Brixton Academy and that wasn't how the RSC version started. Anyway, the Pit was ace; got right into the civil war. Made it the most immersive Shakespeare I've seen since That Macbeth. Boom. Quite literally.
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