We round up the reviews for the London premiere of Vicki McKellar and Guy Masterson‘s play, running at the theatre until the 27th July.
The Guardian: *** “Marilyn herself feels like an impersonation, breathless and volatile. She comes across as a spoilt child who plays with a stuffed toy and calls her therapist “shrinki”, her vulnerability not real or deep enough. Characters stew in repeated conspiracy theories, and it feels protracted. But the group dynamics show how people are bullied into collusion, and the theory that Monroe’s death was a result of naked male desire, power and control certainly lands.”
A Young(ish) Perspective: **** “The mark of an effective real-life story is whether the audience leaves wanting to know more about its subject matter, and judging by interval conversations The Marilyn Conspiracy delivers. Although I remain unconvinced of the importance of a movie star’s death more than 60 years ago, I was gripped throughout its two and a half hour runtime. The writers’ passion for Monroe clearly shines through, and they make a compelling case for the conspiracy theories which continue to swirl around her death. What results is a tense, simmering drama that nails its execution.”
Theatre & Tonic: **** “Gaunt’s performance as Marilyn was stunning to watch. She really embodies the little giggles, the way she spoke and presented herself as well as showing the more fragile and lonely side of Marilyn.”
Fringe Review.co.uk: “Acting, directing, script are clearly consummate. A first-rate revival of a first-rate conundrum. And McKellar and Masterson ask, literally, what would you do? There’s huge stakes beyond even presidents here, we’re told. Would the truth set us free at such moments, or land us in chains or obliteration?”
The Jewish Chronicle: *** “Yet with a structure that vaults back and forth from and to the night of Monroe’s death, this is not the thriller the creators apparently want it to be, a hope broadcast by the Hitchcockian mood music. The effect is more like a game of Cluedo, plus shouty exchanges revealing who did what and in which room. The facts are interesting, it’s true. But had conspiracy been shown rather than described, it would have made for a tenser evening.”
Lou Reviews: *** “I just felt this was lacking in tension and characterisation, giving us little to work with. Also, I knew the period and some of the characters, and still felt a little lost. Those who vaguely know Monroe and little else may struggle.”
The Reviews Hub: ** “For those who revel in such things, there is much in the play to mull over (and over), but, for the rest of us, this over-cooked melodrama has little to say and it takes far too long in saying it.”
The Spy in the Stalls: **** “We may not be presented with undisputed fact, but we feel that we are dangerously close to it. McKellar takes us behind closed doors and shows us the intricate mechanisms of the quintessential ’cover up’. When the pieces come together, whether true or not, what we have is ‘history’. It’s a daunting concept. “The Marilyn Conspiracy” perhaps treats this concept with a bit too much bias and preconception. But the mix of polemic and entertainment value is perfectly balanced. A thrilling piece of theatre.”
To book tickets visit: https://parktheatre.co.uk/event/the-marilyn-conspiracy/