Last-minute cuts saw some explicit language and a sex scene cut from Cate Blanchett’s controversial return to the London stage last night.
The Hollywood actress regularly swaps roles with co-star Stephen Dillane in When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other which sees the pair cross-dress and simulate sex with each other.
The National Theatre Play, written by Martin Crimp, explores “the often violent nature of desire” and caused controversy when an elderly audience member fainted at an early preview. But theatre-goers last night insisted it had been “blown out of proportion”.
Isabelle Munilla, 35, a media administrator from Chiswick, said: “I read reviews before I went which said it was shocking with a lot of sexual content. But afterwards I thought there was a lot of hype. It’s not really shocking.
“I’ve seen it four times so far, there’s been a couple of changes — a sexual scene has been cut and the dialogue is less explicit now. The acting is perfect, as you can expect from Cate.”
The show at the National’s intimate Dorfman Theatre, which can hold 450 people, is already a sell out success with people queuing from before 4am for the limited number of day tickets.
A theatre spokeswoman said: “As with any piece of new writing for theatre, as the creative team work on the play throughout the previews a number of changes to the production can take place.”
Blanchett, 49, plays Woman who is seeking freedom from a domineering bully, known as Man, played by Game of Thrones star Dillane, 61. She was joined at the after-show party by fellow actors Ben Whishaw and Uma Thurman who told the Standard she thought Blanchett was “brilliant”.
Andrija Petkeviciute, 24, a barista from Cricklewood, said the play’s final scene which sees Blanchett strap on a sex toy was “jaw-dropping”.
He added: “The play is gruesome, but I think it was blown out of proportion a bit. A lot of articles have been written by people who haven’t had the chance to see it.”
Others viewers were left cold by the play, with social media commentators branding it “pretentious” and “boring”. Rachael Anne Gore wrote on Twitter: “[It] was a huge pretentious pile of boring cr*p. Blood smears and simulated w**king do not make up for a hole where the plot and character development should be.”
