Review: Bluets, Royal Court Theatre - technically impressive but emotionally unengaging.
27/05/2024
I haven't read Maggie Nelson's book Bluets, but after watching this stage version adapted by Margaret Perry at the Royal Court Theatre, I don't feel the need to.
It's directed by Katie Mitchell, and given the technical/live film treatment I last saw her use in ...some trace of her at Soho Theatre, which I really enjoyed.
In Bluets, three actors, Emma D'Arcy, Kayla Meikle and Ben Whishaw, play the same character. They stand in a row, each with a table and video camera, and above each is a screen.
They take turns delivering lines, sometimes just a few words, that tell the story of how, after a relationship breaks up, a woman falls in love with the colour blue.
It is voice-over style, so who you see on screen doesn't match who you hear. Only one screen is active at a time, allowing the other performers to set up the next snippet of live film.
The film performance is focused on reenactment/positioning shots to illustrate the story on screen. So the actor will stand side on to the camera, arms positioned to look like they are driving, while footage of a street passing plays behind them, for example.
Among the visual effects are 'walking' along a street, drinking whisky, laying in bed looking at a phone, those sorts of things.
It's technically mesmerising and fascinating to watch, at least for a while. The actors have to remember not only their snippets of dialogue but also all the video cues, where they need to be standing, what props to hold, etc.
But I have problems with it.
It's a slow and introspective story but the technical way it is presented is distracting and alienating. Or maybe the narrative just isn't emotionally moving enough to break through the filming element?
The variety of screen visuals is also limited, and actions are repeated. A lot.
When you've watched one of the performers pretending to walk in front of a film clip of a street once, twice, three times or more, any novelty of seeing that put together live is lost.
The Soho Theatre, where ...some trace of her was staged, is arguably a better venue for this style of theatre. The seating is raked so you can take in the screen and actors as one rather than looking up at what is happening on the stage and then above on the screen.
But I'm not sure the play itself lends itself to this treatment. This is very much watching a technical performance, but it lacks the emotional performance and connection that the material perhaps merits.
It's getting ⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me mainly for the way the actors rose to the technical challenge.
Bluets, Royal Court Theatre
Based on the book by Maggie Nelson, adapted for the stage by Margaret Perry.
Performed by Emma D'Arcy, Kayla Meikle and Ben Whishaw.
Running time 80 minutes with an interval.
Booking until 20 June. For more information and to buy tickets, visit the Royal Court Theatre website
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