This was good and effective. I must admit I did have doubts about (a) someone taking over Margo Channing after the classic portrayal by Bette Davis and (b) the wisdom/necessity of putting it on stage. What exactly would be gained by it?
However both these doubts were, by and large, laid to rest. The adaptation (by the director, Ivo van Hove) kept, wisely, very close to the original script (you would have to be mad to make any significant changes to something as superbly written as this). I do not know the original well enough to know exactly what or how much was changed, but certainly it had the edgy spark of the original. It also reminded me (as if I needed reminding) of how any great film always has a great script - and the fact that it could be put, almost word for word, onto the stage, confirmed that. It also confirmed the supremacy of the script as, thinking about the film again, made me realise that there were very few purely and uniquely cinematic moments in the film that could ONLY work on film - for comparison, try and think how one would (or wouldn’t/couldn’t) put something as purely cinematic but also with a top-flight script like Apocalypse Now. In the film it was a combination of script and performance that made the film, not uniquely cinematic moments - although there were a few like that marvellous and moving scene with Margo in the back of the taxi giving us that wonderful monologue about women/aging/acting (if I recall it correctly) with the static camera just framing Davis’s face as she sits there, swathed in furs delivering that wonderful speech as much to herself as the companion with her - or indeed us, the audience.
In re-creating a film for the stage, van Hove made intriguing and very effective use of, ironically, cinematic technology, with some scenes being played on a screen above the stage while other characters who were not a part of that scene continued their lives and interactions while at other times, we saw offstage scenes on the screen while the action continued on the stage. These devices were used effectively but sparingly and often illuminated a character or their situation. In addition, details of some scenes were sometimes simultaneously projected on the screen with the camera operators clearly visible as a part of the scene, reminding us of the artificiality both of stage events and cinematic events. Again ,these were not overdone but just sparingly used at significant moments.
Performances were all excellent and I tried very hard to avoid mentally comparing film and stage - although the uniquely piercing accent of Addison de Witt was missed. Gillian Anderson made the part her own - actually a slightly softer character than that shown by Bette Davis - but then Davis’s voice, with that uniquely cracked ‘edge’ to it gave it that element I think.
A fine evening - and running it without an interval was a good move. And of course getting back into the best theatre in Budapest was a treat - and only the second time I have been to the theatre since normality started to happen. Lets hope there will be more.