Lindsay Lohan made her much-anticipated stage debut in a London revival of David Mamet’s 1988 play, “Speed-the-Plow,” on Thursday night (October 2). So, how did she do?
Although those early reviews from last week sounded anything but promising, her performance as Karen on opening night drew a much more positive consensus from the critics, even if they couldn’t say the same about the Lindsay Posner-directed Playhouse Theatre Production as a whole. Here’s what they had to say.
I know who slayed me.
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“Lindsay Lohan gives a perfectly creditable performance in this revival of David Mamet’s acerbic, anti-Hollywood satire. Whatever her colourful past, Lohan brings on stage a quality of breathless naivety that is far and away the most interesting thing in Lindsay Posner’s otherwise tame, under-powered revival.” — Michael Billington, The Guardian
(It was Lindsay.)
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“She has real presence as a gauche, husky-voiced operator who keeps you guessing as to how far she goes around using her idealistic naivete and wide-eyed questions (“Does it have to be like this?”) as a stalking horse for naked ambition.” — Paul Taylor, The Independent
Though her performance could’ve been stronger…
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“Lindsay Lohan, that notably notorious American actress and the most gossiped-about celebrity invitee to London’s theatreland in ages, made her stage debut with a surprising — and smouldering — degree of style… Yes, her flat delivery needs more work, but so does the rest of the show.” — Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
…And a little more personal (raw).
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“Far from being the train wreck that’s been gleefully predicted, Lindsay Lohan’s theatre debut is competent — without being exciting. She has the smallest of the three roles in this revival of David Mamet’s Hollywood satire, and while there’s nothing here to suggest a stellar future on the stage, the sceptics who’ve been dying to see Lohan fall on her face will be disappointed.” — Henry Hitchings, The London Evening Standard
One critic called Lohan’s casting “a travesty.”
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“Miss Lohan last night forgot her lines once. That did not really matter. Her acting is that of a not specially gifted schoolgirl. I do not blame her. At least she had a bash. At least she tried her very best. But she should never have been thus exposed. Acting on the West End is no joke.
“The villains of this piece are the stage professionals who have sold their art for a potage of notoriety… Director Lindsay Posner should be ashamed of himself. Mr Schiff looked sheepish at the curtain. This was a travesty of art. Poor Lindsay.” — Quentin Letts, The Daily Mail
OK, Daily Mail, we get it.
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