Mark Rylance won the Tony this year for his work in JERUSALEM, and ten minutes into this production, you can kind of sense why. He gives an all-out flesh-eating performance. He does everything in here he could possibly do to show everyone, "Hey I am doing everything...Give me a Tony." Well, that's what it seemed like to me, anyway. At most times, it seemed exhausting in an everything-but-the-kitchen sink kind of way. Actually scrap that - even the kitchen sink and everything else is included. It feels almost as if he was begging, and doing everything so he would win that Tony. Moreover, I thought the play was interminable bore, with an almost unbearable first act. I felt the same way about "Rent." Who and why would you want to watch a bunch of kids do nothing but drink and do drugs? Maybe it's my age showing, maybe it's my ignorance of a lot of the British slang words that they use, but I thought that the whole act was pointless. Things pick up (plot-wise) by the second and third act for me, but I fear that they have lost me by then. Even John Gallagher Jr, couldn't make me rise up from being annoyed. I was asking myself, almost all the critics loved this - did they see the same thing I am seeing right now? Well, it turns out I am not alone, because because audiences are sharply divided about the play, too. So, I feel better about not feeling it.
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