Won't be everyone's cup of tea

There’s going to be strong opinions on this release - expect mostly negative - and after the first few minutes I too thought ‘oh my this is going to be bad?’, but persevered and was glad I did. Both monologues are well written, the issue for me is in their delivery.


Harry Clarke, 75 minutes

David Cale, a British born playwright originally wrote Harry Clarke to perform himself, though for the New York stage production Billy Crudup plays the titular role. Harry Clarke is the alter-ego of an American man, Philip Brugglestein, who believes that he feels more comfortable with an English accent. The character has a certain resemblance to Patricia Highsmith’s ‘Tom Ripley’ [The talented Mr Ripley].

The problem is with the strong opening statement “I could always do an immaculate English accent”. For an American audience Billy's impersonation is probably quite authentic, though for an English ear it sounds a bit odd - have a listen to the sample. For the first 10 minutes I was really not sure, but if you forgive him his questionable accent he does a mighty fine job in bringing the story to life.


Lillian, 62 minutes including short introduction

Lillian, a female role, is performed by the writer himself. I'm really not sure whether this is totally brilliant, due to its insanity, or just a bit odd. Never heard anything like it before, but the more I listened, the more it grew on me. Though am still conflicted whether it would have improved the recording by having a woman playing the part. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you enjoy monologues/ experimental theatre give it a try.


Plus behind the scenes interviews, 55 minutes

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2 people found this helpful

Not very good

Okay, I'm willing to accept the fake English accent, but it's incredibly inconsistent, which makes it grating. It goes from Michael Caine cockney to young London hip, with flashes of semi-posh.

Aside from that, the story touches on being interesting, but never dips into being unforgettable. I haven't yet listened to the "bonus performance," and I hope it's better.

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A compelling ride - stick with it and get lost in the story!

The first couple of minutes of Harry Clark are a little grating - probably more so if you are British - as the bold claim in the opening line to have ‘an immaculate English accent’ does set this one up a bit - it’s such an energetic performance with about 20 characters all voiced by one actor so the accents shift a bit here and there as characters come in and go out - and the force of the (incredible) story strains the actor’s phonetic acrobatics - …but if you think of it like attuning yourself to watching or listening to a Shakespeare play, once the energy of the story gets going this is quite simply a great ride!

The characters are vivid and utterly compelling, the writing is surprising, funny and thrilling and I couldn’t get enough of it and had to listen to both again immediately afterwards.

The performance of Harry Clark by Crudup is a feast of vulnerability and brutality; a twisting, churning and painful joy. Afterwards I couldn’t breathe and couldn’t stop thinking about the character underneath it all…


It is true that for many people the audio book perhaps isn’t the perfect way to enjoy these David Cale plays - I also really wished I’d seen them both at the theatre - but this is the next best thing and I am so glad they recorded it for those of us who couldn’t have seen it at the theatre - I got completely lost in the characters and the storytelling - more quality performances like this please!

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