ED2013 1/5 Reviews ED2013 Theatre Reviews

The Surrender (Spanish National Theatre (Centro Dramático Nacional), Traspasada and Jim Haynes)

By | Published on Sunday 18 August 2013

The central message of this production – based on Toni Bentley’s ‘erotic memoir’ – appears to be that for women to be happy and liberated, they need to be completely subservient to men. Oh, and to be sodomised: “the arse f*ck is the path to enlightenment!”, the narrator declaims. Though the crude, simplistic language may stem from translation (this is an English translation of a Spanish adaptation of a book originally in English…), it lends the piece a crude, juvenile tone and the acting – cartoonishly over the top, yet oddly stilted – cannot redeem the weak words. Near the end, it hinted at a more positive message, but this slipped away in a denouement that was depressing and unpleasant, not at all liberating.

Gilded Balloon Teviot, until 26 Aug, 1.30pm.
tw rating 1/5 | [Andrew Leask]

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