Insomnia in the Vertical Hour

I'm resurrecting the blog now that my insomnia has returned. I'm not sure if it's strictly insomnia or due to the fact that I saw the Vertical Hour last weekend and cannot get the play out of my head. I went to the play without having read any reviews--I like to try and go in with a clean slate when possible. After I came out however, I felt compelled to read as many as I could to see how many other people agreed with me. The best came from Variety via David Rooney:

"[Moore] is stiffly self-conscious here. Early on, it's as if she's trapped in a L’Oreal commercial, tilting her face into the light with an expression of beatific serenity that goes against the scene's argumentative nature."
I think that just about sums it up the first few scenes. I really admire Julianne Moore's work, especially in Vanya on 42nd, but it took a while to warm up to her--and her character--in this play. There's something about David Hare's writing of Nadia that is too clunky, and makes it quite obvious that a man wrote her.

A side gripe: did they really need to hire a legend like Ann Roth to "design" those costumes? I could have run over to the Gap and H&M with a $200 budget and gotten the same stuff! Clearly, she was slacking.

Also, this was another great quote from Rooney's Variety review: "Nadia's closing line displays a heavy hand that's perplexing, if not downright inexcusable, from a writer of Hare's intelligence."
What was also inexcusable to me was when Oliver says to Nadia, "I can tell you're a woman that's been badly hurt."
Umm what woman hasn't been? Was that a quick summary for those members of the audience that had decided on a quick snooze and just woken up? David Hare did a much better job at conveying a woman's longing for her former life in PLENTY. That too was a bit of a mess, but then, whose life isn't?

I am a huge fan of David Hare's work, so naturally was a bit disappointed. Not to fear however, with exquisite acting by Bill Nighy (I LOVE that Americans are now 'discovering' him) the play is saved by him during its own vertical hour.