FOREPLAY (by Carl Djerassi)

Review excerpts

London run at King’s Head Theatre April 30 – May 31, 2014

Foreplay insists that ideas do not arrive in isolation.The play shows thinkers as sexual beings with their ideas inspired by love.

Matt Trueman, The Guardian, http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/apr/29/carl-djerassi-inventor-pill-sex-lives-philosophers-foreplay

The play hinges on one of academia’s greatest puzzles: namely, the lost contents of the briefcase carried across the Pyrenees by the critic and philosopher Walter Benjamin as he fled Nazi-occupied Paris. Foreplay imagines a PHD student to have cracked it – and allows Djerassi to lay out his own theory in dramatic form....It’s a fascinating theory, expounded carefully, but at pace. Djerassi’s case relies on mounting speculations… but it’s persuasive and he makes a dry academic curiosity surprisingly bracing. Foreplay also muses on intimacy and envy, contrasting Adorno’s marital jealousy with the professional rivalry between him and Arendt, and his frequent carnal infidelities with Gretel’s cerebral one ... It’s a whodunit-with-whom-and-how. The Mousetrap-atus Logico-Philosophicus, if you will.

Matt Trueman, The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/theatre-reviews/10808566/Foreplay-Kings-Head-Theatre-London-review.html

Foreplay brings together some of the most important philosophers of the post-War European generation – Theodor Adorno, Hannah Arendt and Walter Benjamin. The language of the protagonists is sophisticated and intellectual but Djerassi shows that even the most brilliant minds get caught up in sexual and professional jealousy and relentless competition.... The love letters Gretel and Benjamin exchange are poetic and full of passion and beautifully read by Laura Hanna as the young Gretel and Mark Oosterveen as Walter Benjamin.

Carolyn Kopplin, UK Theatre Network, http://www.uktheatre.net/magazine/category/4212

In this play we are voyeurs into the personal lives of some of Germany’s most weighty 20th century intellectuals..... We have a balanced bit of theatre here. One that plays between the darkness of potential marital breakdown along with professional and personal shame, and a comedy born of the debate between exceptionally witty characters.... The acting from the experienced, well chosen cast is superb throughout, bringing life to an absorbing, intimate story.... Andy Jordan and Jake Murray’s direction along with Ana-Sofia Londono’s set and Simon Slater’s music choices complete a finely tuned group. The attention to detail in the set, costumes and overall visual aesthetic is fantastic. Overall, a highly intelligent, funny and educational play.

Karl O’Doherty, Bargain Theatre Land, http://bargaintheatreland.com/foreplay-kings-head-theatre-london/

The King’s Head is the perfect theatre for the UK premiere of Foreplay...I cannot write enough praise for the cast who are absolutely superb, as I absorbed the detail in their performances I could have easily been watching something at the National.... Foreplay is one of the most high quality pieces of theatre I have ever seen at King’s Head. An interesting future could lie ahead for Carl Djerassi’s piece. I am certainly looking forward to watching more of his work.

Andrew Tomlins, West End Frame, http://www.westendframe.com/2014/05/review-foreplay-at-kings-head-theatre.html

Great acting – the cast handled magnificently the wit and the comedy of this piece.

Foreplay is a brilliant speculation on the sexual and intellectual intrigues of some of the world’s most towering thinkers.... You don’t have to be a brainiac to enjoy this psychosexual thriller. An entertaining look at the private lives and ideas of some of the greatest minds of the postwar central European generation. ....above all else, the comedy of this text shines through. The contrast made between erotica and pornography – one involving a feather, the other the whole chicken – got the most laughs. The cast were fantastic at handling the wit and the more cerebral lines of the play.

During the second half of the show, the tension builds and intellectual thinking gives way to its emotional impact. The most powerful scene is the confrontation between Theodor and Gretel as they argue and compete over their mutual infidelity. Here they come across as an ordinary married couple, as they dispute Theodore’s open and physical adultery to Gretel’s secret and psychological unfaithfulness.

The staging and set design helped to build a picture of this cutthroat world of post-war German academic life.

I also appreciate the healthy dose of continental culture. The Bertold Brecht Poem, „I want to go with the one I love“, that Walter reads out was a delight to hear. As were his musings on the Angelus Novus, a Paul Klee drawing that hung to the left of the stage. This work wasn’t part of the recent Klee exhibition at the Tate Modern, so here’s your chance for a good look at a reproduction.

Alan Flynn, everything theatre, http://everything-theatre.co.uk/2014/05/foreplay-kings-head-theatre-review.html

Carl Djerassi is a professor of chemistry with 33 honorary doctorates...(and) also a prolific writer with 9 plays to his credit. Luckily for his audiences he has wit and style and an impish sense of humor. In this play he satirises some of the distinguished academics he has encountered and studied during his ninety years of life. They are real people but he uses them to illustrate a theme of jealousy in the style he calls „Science in Fiction“. In addition to this, the story of his play exploits a very topical problem of today – someone who uses personal knowledge of a famous person in order to blackmail them.

The very attractive setting by Ana-Sofia Londono is the book-lined studio of Theodor Adorno.... Directors Andy Jordan and Jake Murray have cast the play very well. Adorno is played with pomposity ad arrogance by Andrew P. Stephen, Jilly Bond is perfectly cast as his attractive, ever loving and incredibly intelligent wife Gretel and there is a fine acerbic performance from Judi Scott as Hannah Arendt who has a love-hate relationship with the two of them. ... This play is unusually stylish and elegant for a fringe production.

Aline Waites, Remote Goat, http://www.remotegoat.com/uk/event_view.php?uid=188768

This fascinating play emerged from Carl Djerassi’s research for his book, „Four Jews on Parnassus“.... The performances are well judged and hold the audience in suspense. Andrew P Stephen as Adorno captures a difficult blend of arrogance and vulnerability as his womanising self is forced to confront the difference between sexual freedom and unfaithfulness. Jilly Bond, as Gretel, has less promising text to work from but effectively conveys the pain of having her youthful passions dragged into the light.... The moments of confrontation as hidden truths are revealed work well and hold the audience in suspense. The play is never less than gripping – and its denouement is well handled.

Owen Davies, Plays to See, http://playstosee.com/page.php?sad=play&id=1874

Carl Djerassi’s script is tight and clever.... Ana-Sofia Londono’s set design makes perfect sense. There’s something wonderfully eerie about rows and rows of books with their spines facing the wall. What looks like an impressive collection of literature could, in fact, hold anything on its shelves. Simultaneously a tutor’s study and psychiatrist’s office, the stage buzzes with secrets, hidden meanings, parched letters whose recipients may well be long dead. Andrew P Stephen’s Adorno marks the academic’s fall from certainty to confusion well, and his distress is palpable in the closing acts.

Zoe Apostolides, The upcoming, http://www.theupcoming.co.uk/2014/05/04/foreplay-at-the-kings-head-theatre-review/

When philosopher Walter Benjamin committed suicide while trying to escape Nazi persecution, the briefcase he carried with him was lost for good. In this work of fiction based on fact, playwright Carl Djerassi suggests that it contained correspondence of a pornographic nature between Benjamin and his contemporary Theodor Adorno’s wife Gretel. The discovery of this briefcase sets off a chain of events that ponders the question of whether mental infidelity is as pleasurable or indeed as wounding as physical infidelity.

Andrew P Stephen and Judi Scott are good value as the bickering academics Adorno and Hannah Arendt, taking intellectual pot-shots at each other…. Lesley Harcourt is striking as the mysterious Felicitas, while Jilly Bond as Gretel gives evidence of something tangible in a distinctly dysfunctional relationship with both Adorno and Benjamin.

Paul Vale, http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/39823/foreplay

It is obvious that Djerassi loves his characters and knows them like old friends, making them substantial and believable protagonists.... In fact, all Djerassi’s characters were just that – likeable – which could be a direct result of his committed investment in them.... Arguable, the overall success of the play rides upon superb dialogue. Djerassi writes conversation fluidly, and with references and puns that clearly delighted the audience, it cements Djerassi’s skills as not only a biographer, but as a talented playwright.

Sophia Linghi, PostScript Journal, http://www.postscriptjournal.co.uk/#!Foreplay-at-the-Kings-Head-/cyc6/C644E202-6698-46EC-866B-5B55D8E21130

A psycho-sexual thriller of betrayal and revenge, Foreplay takes us into the lives of some of the greatest intellectuals of the 20th century, exposing the chasm between the public and private, what is erotic and what is pornographic, and the uneasy relationship between genius and hypocrisy in us all…. This is the world premiere of Carl Djerassi’s new play at the King’s Head Theatre and the staging of the production, the skill of the actors and the intimacy of the space certainly do justice to the piece. The claustrophobic nature of the play is conveyed to perfection and there isn’t a weak link in the cast with some very strong performances, my favourite being Judi Scott as the fearsome Hannah Arendt.

Chris Bridges, The GayUK http://thegayuk.com/magazine/4574334751/tags/TheatreReview

Foreplay by Carl Djerassi is an intensely complex piece investigating the intricacies of human nature and more importantly human desire. Powerful performances tell this story of love, sexual fantasy and betrayal and most notably Judi Scott as Hannah Arendt brings a powerful and exciting performance. Laura Hanna brings a gentle loving touch as Young Woman to a play that is otherwise embroiled in a world of deep and dark secrets.... Excellent heart-warming performances through flashbacks allow us to piece together the past with the present and follow the interwoven story of all characters. Although slow in places this piece is engaging and really quite fascinating with all its twists and turns.... Foreplay has ties to modern day themes and issues. Love, betrayal, manipulation and ego all feature strongly and at points have the audience on the edge of their seats.

The nature of this space involves the audience in the story so if you are looking for an evening of gritty drama and strong performances you won’t be disappointed by visiting The Kings Head Theatre in Islington. After all we all love a bit of Foreplay . . .

Matthew Wren, West End Wilma, http://www.westendwilma.com/foreplay/

The acting is good-quality with well researched and funny renditions of Adorno, Arendt and at time moving renditions of Walter Benjamin. Set and costume fit the play and period well. Quite entertaining.

http://alondontheatergoer.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/foreplay-play-by-carl-djerassi-kings.html