Review: Common

Last night was the night for Common at the National Theatre.
They say:

An epic tale of England’s lost land.

Mary’s the best liar, rogue, thief and faker in this whole septic isle. And now she’s back.

As the factory smoke of the industrial revolution belches out from the cities, Mary is swept up in the battle for her former home. The common land, belonging to all, is disappearing.

... but I don't really know what to say about it.

I liked it less than Salome, for a start, because that at least was beautiful to look at: Common, was just a mess.

Once again, a production with a lot of potential was been let down by a shockingly poor script. The story was confused, the dialogue stilted and needlessly sweary, and this left me struggling to care about any of the characters.

Anne Marie Duff was very watchable, it's just a shame she only had DC Moore's script to work with. The language of the script itself was almost unbearably frustrating, because it could have been brilliant: the use of non-standard English and hyphenated coinages could have been a fascinating exploration of how meaning is made, but it fell well short of achieving such a lofty aim.

The pagan-inspired design of the villagers in costume could have been exploited more, and to great effect. It wasn't.
The whole piece felt too long and dull.

The music was great though.

It isn't very often I would tell you to avoid a production at the National, but I just can't recommend Common: your money would be better spent elsewhere.

2/5: A mess of untapped potential
National Theatre
Until 5th August