indecent relationship
Festen was a disappointment. Though the Lawrence Olivier Award (2005) did not favour it over the other productions, they must have liked it enough to nominate the play, and so does Michael Billington and various friends. Based upon these reviews, and that the story was adapted from a cult movie about a madhouse, I was looking forward to the performance. Yet the issue of child molestation is not really a subject I'd like to explore on a Saturday evening; I'm sure it isn't yours either. The audience could tell that the sounds of children's laughter and water dribbles seek to create an uneasy atmosphere, but the long pauses and moments of people running disorderly on stage became dull and did not make sense. I hoped that there would be an unexpected twist towards the end, but no, the core of the story was revealed at the very beginning. Sitting besides me, HY wasn't enjoying it very much. Judging by the selection of plays I recommend him to see, he now considers literature majors a sick bunch: a male teacher touching his students (The History Boys), an architect falling in love with a goat (The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?) and finally a father who has sex with his children (Festen). I once read an article about the decadence of Danish literature. The Danes have a dearth of wit to produce quality works, for their society is advanced and civilised, life is smooth and they have nothing to worry about. Good writing requires a bit of angst. Perhaps the writer did not see Festen.