Late night in Barcelona. An American tourist goes home with a handsome Spaniard. What begins as a carefree, one-night stand becomes an invitation to danger, as the personal and political catastrophically intertwine.
By turns funny, sexy and surprising, BARCELONA is a seductive thriller that will keep audiences guessing - exploring the fantasy of who we pretend to be, versus the truth of who we are.
With star turns from Lily Collins (Emily in Paris, To The Bone, Mank) and Álvaro Morte (Money Heist, Wheel of Time, Immaculate), Lynette Linton directs the West End premiere of Bess Wohl’s explosive play - running for 12 weeks only at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre.
__Assisted Performances__
Audio Described – Monday 25th November 8.00pm
Captioned – Monday 2nd December 8.00pm
It isn’t just Wohl’s script that feels anodyne: the timing for tense arguments is off, meaning language sometimes crescendos unnaturally, making disagreements between the pair feel forced. There are also issues with the structure: when Lily Collins’ Irene runs for the door halfway through the show, Manuel begs her not to leave, but Irene is so irritating that you don’t believe him. When the script does finally start to heat up like a Barcelona morning, the twist is too gentle to rouse more than a cursory interest.
This is an infuriating play. It’s packed with plot contrivances that see it spinning its wheels to audience patience-testing effect, in service of a final-act reveal. As Irene once again fails to exit the apartment for seemingly no good reason, you want to shout: “Why don’t you just leave?” Wohl’s constant withholding of information results in a strained, artificial tone. In spite of Linton’s directorial scaffolding, the writing isn’t strong enough to make us invest in these characters before we get to the genuinely moving point of the story.
West End |
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