Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Play review - "Barefoot in the Park" by Neil Simon

 Listened to an audio recording - Laura Linney is perfect as the female lead, you'd think Eric Stoltz would be ideal as the male but he isn't... lacks a certain strength and definite-ness that Robert Redford brought to the part.

A lot of this has dated - jokes about hitting little old ladies, the woman staying home - but it has a genuine love for its female lead that is very endearing, and the jokes come along so consistently, and some of them are still very effective because they are character based. The conflict is obvious but effective (she's spontaneous, he's conservative), the sub plots work well (mother, crazy neighbour), its understanding of stage craft is solid.

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