Close up theatre

More VIP hospitality treatment from the Grange hotels:
The Grange Holborn hotel has turned three of their suites (across three floors) into stages: The Defibrillator Theatre Company is putting on three previously unseen Tennessee Williams plays - the Hotel Plays.

The idea is simple and quite unique: the audience takes place on chairs and the sofa in each suite. Each play lasts about half an hour, after which the audience is moved one floor up to the next suite. Each suite fits about 20 people or so. Wherever you sit - you are VERY close to the action, as the suites are quite normal sized rooms.

I have to admit that I don't know a lot about Tennessee Williams and his work. The website only gives very short summaries, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

Green Eyes is about a couple on honeymoon. It's the morning after a boozy night out and you witness them arguing about what happened the previous night.
I found it incredibly uncomfortable having to witness the arguing, with an increasing level of violence. And it felt wrong to watch the two half-naked actors so close up. His white boxers were sometimes a little too revealing... And I found it difficult to understand their (fake?) Southern accents. The boy is played by Matt Milne - one of the new faces on Downtown Abbey (which I personally don't watch - but for those who do - you can get up close and personal with him in this hotel room!)

Sunburst revolves around an ageing actress, who gets taken hostage by one of the hotel employees and his lover. They are after her diamond ring. Things don't quite go according to plan though.
At one point, the actress spits wine at the hotel boy - I was unfortunately sitting in a strategically bad place... Not that nice to get spit at in the theatre...

The Travelling Companion evolves around an older writer who has paid a young boy to be his travel companion. The young boy pretends he wasn't aware that their arrangement would involve intimacy in the hotel room...
I really liked both actors of this one: John Guerrasio and Laurence Dobiesz.

Overall, I really liked the idea of a different sort of theatre. Being right where the action takes place, getting to see the actors from just a few centimetres away, was quite a different experience. Changing the room every half hour and generally just watching a half hour play suited me fine, too, given my short attention span.

Unfortunately, all of the plays made me feel a bit uncomfortable; the second and third not as much as the first - but they were all essentially evolving around abuse of some sort. And all of this right in your face.
But certainly a worthwhile experience. The plays are still running until 27 October.