Lee Hall (1) (1966–)

Excellent blend of fact and fiction here with the uncovering of the hidden story of Victoria's relationship with an Indian servant who became very close with her. Much of the truth of the relationship was destroyed by the royal family after her death but this is a look that was well overdue. Based on a book written after Victoria's diary of learning a language from India (apparently quite well) was uncovered and examined this looks at that relationship in an interesting way.

Victoria and show more Abdul is an important part of English History, it shows that the relationship in the Empire were somewhat messy and how the colonial attitudes permiated all the strata of the society at the time.

Touching and interesting. show less

Some plays have scripts that perfectly capture the essence of the play; others have scripts that pale in comparison to what an audience would see onstage. I imagine Network is one of the latter. I suspect Network is one of those plays that is a lot better when actually seen performed as opposed to just reading the script. There's not much to this script and it doesn't work all that well on the page - which is somewhat understandable. A great deal of very good plays don't entirely work on the show more page alone. But, as I haven't seen this adaptation on stage, I can only evaluate it based on the script. And, honestly, it's fine; not great, not bad, just fine. It doesn't seem to have anything new to say and has a slavish devotion to the original film that might honestly be detrimental. It's been a few years since I've seen the film, but the script seems to literally just be the script of the film, just with a few tweaks for the stage. And Hall's introduction to this edition of the script would seem to confirm that. I understand not wanting to mess with something that works, but honestly, if you're not gonna do it differently or have something new to say, why bother adapting something that's easily available in another medium.

Most times, when a film is adapted for the stage, it's changed into a musical. Musicalizing an existing film is definitely a new way of telling an existing story. I'm not saying that Network should have been turned into a musical, but something new should have been done with it. As written, it's nearly exactly the same as the film I can already see. I feel that Hall really missed a trick by not updating the setting to the modern day, at the very least. He talks in the introduction of this edition of the script about how the film is even more relevant today than it was in the 1970s and I fully agree with him. Much of what was considered satirical in the original film is reality nowadays and it's for that reason that I believe this play should have updated its setting to the modern day. Imagine Beale as a Fox News style anchor and suddenly he doesn't seem so over-the-top. The play could explore more of how the 24-hour news channels have corrupted news journalism even further. Or how the internet has changed everything. Or the immense amount of fake news. Instead, it just does exactly what the original film did with no new commentary on the events of the past forty, or so, years. And that's immensely disappointing.

From watching some behind the scenes videos on the original London production of Network, it's apparent that the creative team has modernized the look of the play a bit. The newsroom looks more like a modern newsroom than one from the 1970s. The play integrates four cameras and a massive projection screen in a way rarely seen in theatre and it sounds like all these technical elements (combined with, what I expect, is a superb performance from Bryan Cranston) are what make this adaptation of Network unique and interesting. Unfortunately, the script reflects none of this. On the page, everything feels disjointed. There's no sense of the passage of time, scenes seem very disjointed and often unconnected, and everything feels a bit flat. I suppose that's to be expected with a story like this, but it doesn't really excuse it. The script could have included some stage directions that better hinted at the vision behind this production. But, alas, no such luck.

All in all, Lee Hall's script for the stage adaptation of Network is little more than a copy and paste of the film script with a few tweaks made here and there. Luckily, that film script is an excellent one. Unfortunately, it still doesn't make this script a particularly enjoyable or satisfying read. Everything feels flat and scenes feel disjointed and unconnected. It does a poor job at reflecting the visual changes made to the film for the stage version. Narratively, it really could have benefitted from an update and a modernization. Instead, it seems that Hall had a slavish devotion to the original script and it's hurt his adaptation. As a script, it's a weak play. I'd be very interested in seeing it onstage, though. All the visual elements combined with the performances from the actors might very well be enough to make this adaptation a unique experience that I can't get from just watching the film. But, without having seen the play, I can't say that the script is different enough from the film to make it worthwhile. Why read a play that's basically the same thing as the film when I can just watch that original film? show less

I remember really liking the movie, and the play is slightly different but more or less how I remembered it on screen. Some of the lines are still in my head. Very breezily paced, I'm not the biggest Shakespeare fan but this? This, I like.

Unexpected, moving stageplay based on the real experiences of Ashington coal miners. Brings the purpose, power and once-privileged aspects of art to light.