Strange Interlude

'Strange Interlude' is an adaptation by Simon Stone of the experimental play by Eugene O'Neill which dates back to about 1928. O'Neill's play ran for about five hours and included a meal break for the audience and presumably the cast. This production staged by Belvoir Street Theatre is a far more manageable two hours plus twenty minutes interval. I gather this adaptation includes all of the original characters which isn't that many actually; nine by my count and three of those appear in only one scene each.

The character around whom the play is structured is Nina (Emily Barclay) whose true love and fiancé is killed at war. She marries another, with whom she does not share the same love, only to learn that he unknowingly carries a 'madness' gene, and thus she should never bear children with him. She falls pregnant, and in love, with another but raises the child with and as her husband's.

This adaptation is interesting. The staging is the usual spare Belvoir Street performance space, the cast themselves changing what few items pass as sets.

I think this is about the fourth Simon Stone staging we have seen in the past year or so and like the others there is a nude scene, in this case Nina and her husband separately shower naked on stage. I'm not sure what Stone's fixation with nudity is nor whether it is essential to this production but as nude scenes go it is handled fairly tastefully.

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