Цитата сообщения lj_bitsofhugh Gasping

In the department of non-traumatising photos ...
... although my blue sheets with musical notes, in the background, may distress those with delicate sensibilities.



I took the liberty of circling the important bits:



Here's a classy photo from Act I, Scene 2 in which Philip (that'd be Hugh) demonstrates the Suck and Blow machine - and forgets the part about sucking all the air out of the room.



Ok, this is actually a photo I cut n pasted off that one article reviewing the play since (sadly) there are no photos attached to the script. You know, the review that says Hugh doesn't have much of an acting range. Clearly, he's emoting the hell out of this scene.



Note: I don't tell the ending or real details.

All those photos of Hugh on stage damp and in only a towel come from this play. That in of itself should probably be enough of a description to guarantee staggering sales were a copy of the play ever to make its way onto dvd. And, of course, one (yes one) of the scenes in which Hugh's donning said towel includes this bit of stage direction: He flings his legs all the way over so that his toes are on the bench behind his head. Yes. I'll leave the far too easy jokes to someone else.

As you might've gathered, Philip is very much a stereotypical Hugh Laurie role. He's dim, a bit dark, has misguided intentions, and falls down and/or flails a lot. Oh, and he has a mouth on him like Stephen Fry a sailor. Well, not cursing so much as hilariously filthy. Or, maybe it's only funny because it's Hugh's character who said these things while at the same time being the typical wide-eyed daft as a brush type.

The writing itself is unmistakably Ben Elton. I guess it's personal preference if you find that to be a good, bad, or simply tiresome thing.

The basic plot is that a company (which all the characters work for) creates a machine that allows them to charge people for air. At first, it was being sold as designer air, but then people started hoarding it and competition sprung up which, for various reasons, lead to there being less and less free air in the world. The play follows the progress of the characters and the machine. It's a satire on the terrible things that corporations do to the faceless masses.

I thought the play got its, unfortunately still very much relevant, point across - although the ending did leave me wanting to know what happens next. Though, I guess, it didn't matter in the context of the play since it was about the characters and their roles and reactions to the machine rather than what's next for the world in general.

http://community.livejournal.com/bitsofhugh/245174.html