Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Block

Mycroft saw the Sydney Theatre Company production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Saturday night and was pleasantly surprised that it was a 'well made play'.  I was secretly expecting to be confronted by some bizarre reinterpretation which would, to not put too fine a point on it, suck.

Fortunately this production does not suck.  The audience was a little confused at first, as the players were on stage as the audience entered.  Undaunted, the Sydney crowd did what it usually does best: sat there and brayed about itself.  Fortunately the orgy of self adulation eventually ended and we were able to watch the play.  It was so conventional and 'well made' that it was perhaps the 'chocolate box' experience on (anonymous) critic derided when saying that the Belvoir theatre (by way of comparison) does not put on 'chocolate box' type experiences, only confronting incomprehensible rubbish.  I have now beheld a chocolate box experience, and it was good.

Sadly one cannot say the same about The Block.  The appalling speech and grammar continues to flow from the 'reality stars' in not so much a mangling but a destruction of the English language.  I am hoping that the scriptwriters have told them to speak like dullards. If they are doing this by themselves it is rather alarming.  Does someone who is married to a school teacher really say "I seen that I did not fill up all the nail holes," instead of "I saw...."?  I hope fervently that he was reading from an auto cue.  The most irritating trend on the show is that the 'stars' have little interview spots where they tell you what you can see on camera:

Scene: Sovereign Hill gold rush mine theme park thingy
Enter: the cast (cast walks up hill and sees Scotty)
Bogan 1: "So we walked up the hill....."
Bogan 2: "And we seen Scotty...."

Riveting, fantastic reality television, I must say.