City of Glass gets you into the theatre by pretending to be a type of film noir story, but after you have been watching for about ten minutes, you realise that it is attempting to be something deeper and more challenging. This is a problem, because when you go in expecting a nice murder mystery, you may not be in the right frame of mind to consider the slipperiness of language and people or how the slow descent into madness might feel.
This is a stage production of a 1980s book and, perhaps, it is easier to follow if you have read this first; however, I found the dialogue too oblique, and the way the characters morphed into each other was confusing. I felt like each person was speaking in a vacuum. I did not feel empathy towards any of them or from any of them towards other characters in the play.
This was a shame because the set design, direction and cinematography was among the best I have seen on a theatre stage. I loved the way the same stage moved between places and times so seamlessly, and I enjoyed the way the changing set was able to propel the story onwards all by itself at times.
Although I don’t feel able to recommend this particular show wholeheartedly; when 59 Productions pick a less tortuous and more coherent story to put on, I think they have the potential to deliver an amazing show.
The London Lark 
4 replies on “City of Glass, Lyric Hammersmith, London”
Interesting review thank you. It’s a pity it didn’t meet your expectations because it sounds as though a lot of hard work went into the production.
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Yes, it was a shame; because the production was excellent, just the source material was not to my taste. But it will make me look out for their other productions in the future.
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Is the book a screenplay or a novel?
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The book was a novel, the first part of a trilogy. It was released later as a graphic novel, I believe.
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