Camden New Journal - Theatre: James Dean Is Dead

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The Review - THEATRE by EMILY DUGAN
Published: 19 April 2007

Dean drama disappoints

JAMES DEAN IS DEAD (LONG LIVE JAMES DEAN)
Pentameters

I LIKE everything about Pentameters theatre. I like the way they give you your own cushion on the way in. I like the beautiful pen and ink drawings on their ticket strips. I like the horseshoe pub downstairs.
I even like the toilet, with its odd collection of china dolls and cracking soap.
But as hard as I tried, I could not entirely like this play.
Jackie Skarvellis’s James Dean drama, in which the iconic figure is caught in limbo, giving him the opportunity to reflect upon his life, the myths that surround him and his tragic death.
It is a seriously ambitious task for a fringe theatre to attempt a show on a man as distinctive and notorious as James Dean.
It's not that Weisz was bad in the role – while you never got a sense of Dean’s real passion or aggression, there were some moments of sheer brilliance.
The best illustration of this came in Weisz’s imitations of the other characters in Dean’s life.
Whether transforming himself into Alec Guinness, Marilyn Monroe or a lisping fan, he was always convincing and funny in a way that far surpassed his performance as the protagonist.
The biographical detail of Dean’s life was obviously quite well researched, and I also learned a few things about James Dean.
Until April 25
020 7435 3648

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