"The effortlessly charming Jennifer Ehle and John Lithgow"

On the Fitch front



New critics have flourished all over the net, some of which much nicer than the first ones.



Entertainment Weekly has given a B+ to Mr & Mrs Fitch, stating that:

The media-urbanite will savor every crazy morsel of Mr & Mrs Fitch (...) That's mostly because the characters, the minutiae they talk about, and, natch, where they live, are just so neurotically New York. Tony winners John Lithgow and Jennifer Ehle smashingly portray a married couple who write a gossip column (hello, Daily's News' rumor patrol Rush & Malloy!).

The banter-filled dialogue is so rapid-fire that it can get a tad exhausting. But overall, Mr & Mrs Fitch is the work of a fine writer.

One of the play's major strengths lies in its meta-awareness. "Yes, you know, theater", Lithgow intones during one of his many linguistic sword fight with Ehle. "That thing that movie people do when they want to announce they're available for television." It's that heightened, self-conscious cleverness that makes Mr & Mrs Fitch a riotous deep dive into the shallow waters of gossip.

Another (short) positive review to be found at flavorpill:

Douglas Carter Beane tackles the growing blur of journalism and fiction in his new acerbically funny play. The title characters, played with amazing acuity by the effortlessly charming Jennifer Ehle and John Lithgow, are a gossip columnist couple who live a vampiric lifestyle (...)

Hilarity and madness ensue as they try to stop the monster they've created in this savvy comment on our celebrity-obsessed culture.

Witty Sandy MacDonald at Theatermania has a lot of good words for Fitch too:

The script for Douglas Carter Beane's latest comedy (...) consists mostly of a warp-speed badinage. But the words are of so entertaining a caliber - and so gloriously delivered by stars Jennifer Ehle and John Lithgow - that audiences likely won't mind the play's lack of forward motion. (...)

Hints are dropped early and often that Mr Fitch is predominantly gay. (Bisexuality makes women appear "adventurous", whereas men simply seem "indecisive", quips Mrs F.) Still, the couple's own rapport is as fond and fizzy as a teenage romance (...) And yes, it's sexual. Dinosaurs though they be, the Fitches' blood runs hot. Love comes in all shapes, sizes, and configurations, suggests Beane. And most of all, certain accomodations ought to be made to ensure the survival of the wittiest.

Other less enthusiastic and/or less original reviews can be found at TheVillageVoice, the WallStreetJournal or NY1. A quite complete review of reviews (!) at StageGrade. Reviews from the audience include the positive one of freakgirl.com, and the very negative one of Broadway & me.

On the Thrones front

A lot has happened during the week following the HBO greenlight announcement of Game of Thrones, including reactions from Northern Ireland Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster and Culture and Arts Minister, Nelson McCausland:

This is extremely positive news for Northern Ireland (...) At this stage, it is estimated that £20M will be delivered into the local economy though the production of the nine-part series.

Filming is due to begin in Belfast in June, for a release in spring 2011.

You'll find extremely good recaps of the events of the week at Game of Thrones news and Winter is coming - the latter has even decided to reinforce his contributors team to stay "on top of the latest news" !

For French and francophile readers, more about Thrones at lagardedenuit.com, a French site dedicated to the Game of Thrones.