Predictable, Great singing, Indulgent, Clichéd, Quirky
See it if
You’re up for an affable, good looking mostly well acted but thin script that crosses Pinter and Beckett with an alt/indie song tossed in.
Don't see it if
”Should I stay or should I go” situations leave you anxious or bored, or if you prefer your possible apocalyptic futures clearly resolved.
Good lighting & sound design, a minimal set & and an attractive, engaging lead actress aren’t enough to compensate for a pretty lean situational melodrama that never really develops past the scene study stage, deliberately coy and contrary.
The long table, old-fashioned wall of servant’s bells & dramatic lighting at rise, combined with the four-poster-looking set place us “below stairs,” and visually, what feels like “below bed.” Add in the formally dressed maid & butler, & the immediate thought is British manor house — an idea snapped away as soon as the actors start speaking American: we are displaced.
Indecision & despair run rampant below stairs & in the outside world, all very much Beckett, while upstairs with Sir, the tension, talk and mental games are pure Pinter. It's an interesting contrast, but Husk's script never reaches any narrative or philosophical bite. Katie Kleiger breathes life into Miranda; but her climactic song inaudible, we're left hanging.
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