Spur of the Moment, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs | reviews, news & interviews
Spur of the Moment, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs
Spur of the Moment, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs
Tuesday, 20 July 2010
Girls just wanna have fun: Shannon Tarbet (second from right) in a scorching stage debutKeith Pattison
"She's just a kid," or so runs the mantra that weaves its way through Spur of the Moment, the Royal Court premiere from newcomer Anya Reiss, who was "just a kid" - well, 17 - when she wrote the play. How, then, to explain an exceedingly sharp, smart piece that will invite comparison with another recent Court find, Polly Stenham, who was a comparative "oldie" by the time she pitched up at Sloane Square? As ever, it's nigh impossible to calibrate talent with numbers of years old, beyond pointing out that Reiss possesses the former in abundance even if she is self-evidently lacking in the latter. As the great Tom Lehrer once remarked, riffing on this very topic: "When Mozart was my age, he'd been dead five years." If this play and the director Jeremy Herrin's customarily expert treatment of it are any indication, Reiss has a long and happy playwriting career ahead.
"She's just a kid," or so runs the mantra that weaves its way through Spur of the Moment, the Royal Court premiere from newcomer Anya Reiss, who was "just a kid" - well, 17 - when she wrote the play. How, then, to explain an exceedingly sharp, smart piece that will invite comparison with another recent Court find, Polly Stenham, who was a comparative "oldie" by the time she pitched up at Sloane Square? As ever, it's nigh impossible to calibrate talent with numbers of years old, beyond pointing out that Reiss possesses the former in abundance even if she is self-evidently lacking in the latter. As the great Tom Lehrer once remarked, riffing on this very topic: "When Mozart was my age, he'd been dead five years." If this play and the director Jeremy Herrin's customarily expert treatment of it are any indication, Reiss has a long and happy playwriting career ahead.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more
Blu-ray: Chocolat
Claire Denis' African debut is nostalgic yet unsparing at colonial life
Coote, LSO, Tilson Thomas, Barbican review - the triumph of life
A great, ailing conductor rises to Mahler's mightiest challenge
Conchúr White, St Pancras Old Church review - side-stepping the past to embrace the future
Northern Irish troubadour pushes forward
DVD/Blu-ray: The Holdovers
Bittersweet, beautifully observed seasonal comedy - not just for Christmas
Our Mothers review - revisiting the horrors of Guatemala's civil war
Hard-hitting first feature from director Cesar Diaz
Rhod Gilbert, G-Live Guildford review - cancer, constipation and celebrity treatment
Finding the funny in illness
Pop Will Eat Itself, Chalk, Brighton review - hip hop rockers deliver a whopper
Eighties/Nineties indie-tronic dance mavericks take the roof off
Album: Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
Intimate songs of unavoidable sorrow
Britten Sinfonia, The Marian Consort, Milton Court review - a journey around turbulent spirit Gesualdo
Contemporary homages among the works in this celebration of the Renaissance 'badass'
Music Reissues Weekly: Little Girls - Valley Songs
Deserved tribute to the Los Angeles new wave popsters who failed to click
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes review - a post-human paradise
A richly suggestive new era for the franchise reconnects with its 1968 start
Sappho, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - a glitzy celebration of sapphic love
Too much camp and not enough content in this tribute to the Greek poet
Add comment