Intense and compelling drama with Obsession at Barbican Theatre

My season of big-hitter dramss continued with Obsession at Barbican Theatre. This time the big-hitter was Jude Law who I had seen on the stage a couple of times before, Anna Christie and Henry V,  and that was plenty enough to make he want to see him perform again.

I was nimble on the booking and was able to capture seat Circle A12 for a respectable £60. Barbican Theatre has an unusual layout (matching the building it sits in) so I was pleased that the first row in the Circle gave me the view that I was hoping for.

The stage was vast and almost empty, the width I expected but the depth was a surprise. Obsession adopted several contemporary theatre tropes, e.g. smoking and nudity, and this included starting the play with people already on the stage. The heroine, if that is the right word, Giovanna was in the kitchen area on the left and was joined by her husband, Giuseppe, who worked on the car engine in the middle.

The lights dimmed, most people stopped talking, and Gino (Jude Law) appeared at the doors at the back of the stage playing a harmonica. He entered the bar/diner looking for food and having eaten but not having any money to pay for it he offered to use his engineering skills to fix the car. He identified the problem quickly, Giuseppe went out to buy that required part leaving Gino and Giovanna behind and that's when the obsession started.

Jude Law was the obvious draw and he was excellent but did not outshine Halina Reijn and Gijs Scholten van Aschat as Giovanna and Giuseppe.

Obsession ran for 110 minutes without a break telling its story with fabulous theatre craft. I loved the pace of the play most of all, there were short scenes of intense passion mixed with long scenes of slow reflection. Here the full width and depth of the stage was used to let the few players make sedate entrances and exists.

The mood was also tempered brilliantly with music. This started with the laconic harmonica playing, featured a full aria from la Traviata, had an automated accordion (it's the odd shaped thing just to the right and behind the kitchen) and included hefty dollops of This Land is Your Land.

Because of the way that Obsession superbly managed the mood of the play (which was the whole point of it) I was reminded of Hedda Gabler and Obsession shared it's final trope with that production with the play moving seamlessly from dramatic ending to curtain call. And a very raucous curtain call it was too.

Oddly, Obsession was probably the big-hitter play that I had the least expectations for and is the probably the one that had the most impact on me. I loved it to bits and then some.