After a school theatre trip to see King Lear as a teenager, I was convinced I would prefer to have teeth pulled than see the play ever again. Maybe I was too young, maybe the production just wasn't good enough – but it took me until my early 20s to venture out on the blasted heath once more. If I hadn't started writing about theatre professionally – and therefore had less choice than most theatregoers as to what shows I saw – it's perfectly possible I may never have seen another King Lear. Which would have been a tragedy, because I've seen some really brilliant revivals since then.
Still, over the years I've seen Uncle Vanyas that would make you think Chekhov had absolutely no grasp of stagecraft, and Blood Weddings by Lorca that have left me feeling murderous on behalf of audiences who may never know how pulsatingly brilliant the play can be.
How about you? Have you had a theatre experience that left you certain you never wanted to see the play again? Curiously, it isn't always a bad revival that stops people from revisiting a play: I once invited a friend to see The Winter's Tale with me, but he refused on the grounds that he had seen Propeller's production, and he had found it so sublime that he didn't want to risk seeing a lesser production and ruining the memory.
I'm not sure he's right. After seeing Arcadia at the National Theatre in 1993, I thought it probably didn't get more thrilling than that, and although I've never seen a better revival of the Tom Stoppard masterpiece I'm glad I've had a chance to see it since: each viewing has deepened my appreciation of the play. Matilda and Shockheaded Peter were both as good second time round (in the same production) as they were the first. I'm currently a wee bit anxious that Kneehigh's revival of Tristan and Yseult will live up to the memory in my head. But wild horses still won't keep me away.
The problem can lie, of course, with the play itself. I really didn't get on with The Taming of the Shrew until I saw Jonathan Miller's revival and suddenly it made sense to me. It was like cracking a puzzle, and that single production made me want to see more revivals to see how other directors tackled the play.
So while I'm inclined to think that there is always hope that a different production will make you love a play, I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks. Tell us about the plays you've seen that you've loved – or hated – so much that you can't imagine ever booking to see them again.
