It’s hard to imagine two screen actresses with more divergent images than Kristin Scott Thomas and Lindsay Lohan – the former with her reputation for controlled emotions and an acclaimed theatrical CV, the latter with a publicly troubled life and no experience of the stage.
So, it’s fascinating to see Scott Thomas with her habitual poise laid bare by despair, her usual elegance shrouded in a ragged robe in Ian Rickson’s powerful in-the-round production of Sophocles’ tragedy, Electra. Ok, so some of you might have preferred glitz over rags, which is understandable, but bear with me.
Reduced almost to the role of a servant in her own household, following the murder of her royal father Agamemnon, by her mother Clytemnestra (Diana Quick) and step-father, her life has been consumed by obsessive grief and the desire for revenge. See; it’s getting juicy already. Anger and vengeance overshadow elegance any day, right? Ok, well, in theatre anyway.
On Mark Thompson’s barren, sandy set, she immerses herself in a compelling performance of raw, psychologically fragile intensity as she receives news of the apparent death of her exiled brother Orestes, and, as his loyal servant, a weighty Peter Wight makes every utterance count. Yes, this show really does have it all.
Meanwhile Lohan makes her West End debut in a smaller (but pivotal) role in Speed-the-Plow, David Mamet’s 1988 three-hander, which, coincidentally, was revived at the Old Vic a few years back. Who could forget Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum sparring as a couple of tinsel town producers. This time round, though, the publicity has focused on Lohan’s Karen rather than on Nigel Lindsay’s hustling Charlie Fox or on The West Wing’s Richard Schiff (rather low key) who plays newly promoted head of production Bobby Gould.
Ok, it’s not exactly award-winning, but, in this bilious satire on the values of the LA film industry, her performance as the manipulative temporary secretary (whom Gould wants to bed for a $500 bet) is far from the predicted car-crash. And in a production crammed full of Lindsays (Lindsay Posner directs) it’s the unnecessary interval, rather than Lohan, which should be ditched.
Electra
Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 8NB
Tube:-Waterloo
Until 20th December
Tickets £10.00- £55.00
Speed-the-Plow
Playhouse, Northumberland Avenue, WC2N 5DE
Tube:- : Embankment / Charing Cross
Until 29th November
Tickets £25.00 -£59.50
