{"id":1431,"date":"2017-01-04T15:46:51","date_gmt":"2017-01-04T15:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2017-01-04T15:50:31","modified_gmt":"2017-01-04T15:50:31","slug":"12-plays-of-xmas-8-ecstasy-by-mike-leigh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/2017\/01\/12-plays-of-xmas-8-ecstasy-by-mike-leigh.html","title":{"rendered":"12 Plays of Xmas: 8 Ecstasy by Mike Leigh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A friend points out that this hasn\u2019t been the cheeriest of series. Few hugs and precious few puppies. This may say something about me, or my bookshelves. And prospects for joviality don\u2019t seem much brighter with today\u2019s choice, despite its title. Ecstasy<\/em><\/a> (1979) by playwright turned (mostly) filmmaker Mike Leigh. A long night in a cramped bedsit with a heroine who is more despairing than delighted.<\/p>\n

For many years, Leigh was a byword for grim. Abigail\u2019s Party<\/em> is often hilarious, but cruel towards its characters\u2019 crimes against good taste. The first films of his I saw \u2013 High Hopes, Naked, Career Girls<\/em> \u2013 felt punishing, towards audience and characters alike. People outside his orbit of sympathy were pilloried; people within suffered. Life wasn\u2019t sweet.<\/p>\n

And then, it seemed, something changed (I date this specifically to the moment Marianne Jean-Baptiste\u2019s quietly resolute optometrist entered Secrets and Lies<\/em> and transformed her birth family\u2019s disgruntled dynamic). Vera Drake, Turner and his landlady, the complicated Savoyards in Topsy-Turvy<\/em>, the hospitable couple in Another Year<\/em>, all offered a wide, wise emotional range. Leigh\u2019s characters could now be vulnerable without being pummelled; self-involved without being mocked. They could be kind and that kindness could have an effect in the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ecstasy at the Hampstead Theatre, 2011. Photo: Tristram Kenton\/Guardian<\/p><\/div>\n

It doesn\u2019t initially seem like that in Ecstasy.<\/em> Like Caryl Churchill\u2019s Owners,<\/em> my first pick in the series, it\u2019s set in a down at heel corner of north London, even closer to the Thatcher ascendancy. The structure is unusual \u2013 a short first of shortish scenes, in which Jean\u2019s miserable shag sessions with a married man are rumbled by his wife. The much longer second act is one extended scene, in which Jean and three pals return from an evening in the pub, sliding gradually from tiddly to stocious to sobering up. It\u2019s cunningly composed, the dialogue apparently nothing but meander, the atmosphere often scratchy or despondent. A mid-act singsong deepens the mood \u2013 songs sad, angry and saucy.<\/p>\n

And then Jean, upset and lonely, is left with awkward, gentle Len, who she has clearly brushed off in the past. You worry that it will darken \u2013 that she\u2019ll be abandoned utterly, that her last shreds of self-protection will be stripped away. But no \u2013 the play ends in quiet, considerate companionship. It\u2019s kind to the characters, and to us, a reminder that kindness is no small thing in hard world.<\/p>\n

So, not a cheerful play. But one which offers a glimmer of hope, like a fitful pilot light in a Kilburn bedsit. It\u2019s just about enough.<\/p>\n

Sample stage direction<\/strong> \u2018Jean cries throughout the following, never raising her head from her lap. And somewhere during this speech, Len starts to cry too.\u2019<\/em>
\nSample quote<\/strong> Jean: \u2018I didn\u2019t enjoy meself tonight. Didn\u2019t want to talk about anything, just got upset.\u2019<\/p>\n

12 Plays of Xmas<\/strong>
\nI have, surprise, a lot of books. And I have, surprise, not read them all. So, 12 unfamiliar plays, 12 posts: welcome to 12 Plays of Xmas.
\nOwners by Caryl Churchill<\/a>
\nBirth by TW Robertson<\/a>
\nRuined by Lynn Nottage<\/a>
\nThe Roaring Girl by Middleton & Dekker<\/a>
\nAlkestis by Euripides\/Anne Carson<\/a>
\nPal Joey by O\u2019Hara, Rodgers & Hart<\/a>
\nEgor Bulychev by Gorky<\/a><\/p>\n

Follow David on Twitter @mrdavidjays<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A friend points out that this hasn\u2019t been the cheeriest of series. Few hugs and precious few puppies. This may say something about me, or my bookshelves. And prospects for joviality don\u2019t seem much brighter with today\u2019s choice, despite its title. Ecstasy (1979) by playwright turned (mostly) filmmaker Mike Leigh. A long night in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[402,34],"class_list":{"0":"post-1431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-12-plays-of-xmas","9":"tag-theatre","10":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1431"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1436,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1431\/revisions\/1436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/performancemonkey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}