The Motive and the Cue

This play by Jack Thorne – directed by Sam Mendes -is the hottest ticket in town.

Its subject is the direction of Sir John Gielgud (Mark Gatiss) of Richard Burton (Johnny Flynn) in a 1966 Broadway production of Hamlet.

I went to the matinee yesterday with my customary companion after we managed to get two seats in the Dress Circle.

Mark Gatiss was superb as John Gielgud as my companion observed that he WAS Gielgud. Dressed in brown corduroy, impishly camp, he had in the mid-1960s suffered a career downturn.

He had been the definitive Hamlet.

Richard Burton who had starred in Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor (Tuppence Middleton) was arguably the best known film actor in the world but drinking heavily.

He and Elizabeth Taylor came to New York and stayed in a luxurious hotel suite.

The play dealt with the rehearsals and the strained relationship between an established theatrical grandee who was known for the rôle and an irascible movie star who did not appreciate being told how to act.

There were two defects to the play.

One was its length (2 hours 40 minutes) and, secondly, Johnny Flynn could not be regarded as Richard Burton.

I would also add the theatrical experience.

The tickets are expensive, the Noel Coward theatre website not friendly for the ticket purchase, and the theatre itself old – for example, only one male toilet in the stalls.

I could hear the sound of snoring but – though fearful I might nod off – the dialogue and the drama of confrontation between the two principal leads were sufficiently engaging to keep me awake if not always engaged.

I could only admire the whole cast for their stamina as, hours later, they had to deliver another evening performance.