Late night in Barcelona. An American tourist goes home with a handsome Spaniard. What begins as a carefree, one-night stand becomes an invitation to danger, as the personal and political catastrophically intertwine.
By turns funny, sexy and surprising, BARCELONA is a seductive thriller that will keep audiences guessing - exploring the fantasy of who we pretend to be, versus the truth of who we are.
With star turns from Lily Collins (Emily in Paris, To The Bone, Mank) and Álvaro Morte (Money Heist, Wheel of Time, Immaculate), Lynette Linton directs the West End premiere of Bess Wohl’s explosive play - running for 12 weeks only at London’s Duke of York’s Theatre.
__Assisted Performances__
Audio Described – Monday 25th November 8.00pm
Captioned – Monday 2nd December 8.00pm
The ill-advised hook-up that quickly stutters and the couple's arguments feel authentic; shouting over each other, voices and frustrations rising higher and higher. There are twists in the tale; some obvious, some less so. But overall, the production fails to rise above feeling contrived: it doesn't ring true that Manuel fails to ask Irene to leave as soon he tires of her and it also seems odd that Irene herself would run to the door, but not actually leave when things take on a more sinister tone.
This is an infuriating play. It’s packed with plot contrivances that see it spinning its wheels to audience patience-testing effect, in service of a final-act reveal. As Irene once again fails to exit the apartment for seemingly no good reason, you want to shout: “Why don’t you just leave?” Wohl’s constant withholding of information results in a strained, artificial tone. In spite of Linton’s directorial scaffolding, the writing isn’t strong enough to make us invest in these characters before we get to the genuinely moving point of the story.
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