National Theatre Live screen Obsession live from London in Walsall - review

Cost, working patterns, being a parent - there is so much in modern life that may prevent somebody from taking that plunge and thinking, ‘you know what, I have always wanted to do this. Where’s that laptop and debit card?’

Furthermore, with free time and disposable income so sparse these days there is also a reluctance to take punts on things as you feel you have squandered both commodities if something fails to live up to expectation.

This can stretch to live sport, gigs and movies, too. But what if one of these mediums had devised a sort of halfway house where you could be part of the glitz and glamour of the West End but just down the road at a picture house or local theatre?

That is the whole point of National Theatre Live. It takes a West End theatre – the laughs, gasps and coughs of the crowd, the sights of the actors playing their roles and the reactions of the audience – and transports them live to you.

It can be likened to watching sport in a stadium compared to the TV at home or in the boozer. While it is great to be able to experience the pleasures remotely in your own comfort zone it can’t quite equate to the real thing. But it is a close-run and enjoyable alternative nonetheless.

Showcase Cinema has plenty of room for legs, snacks and drinks. Probably more than you’d get at the Barbican itself. After a brief introductory segment with star Jude Law and director Ivo van Hove we were thrown in to a play which begins suddenly and unexpectedly.

Obsession is an adaptation of a 1943 Italian film by Luchino Visconti about a passionate affair that goes wrong.

Handsome drifter Gino (Law) stumbles into the small-town bar owned by Giuseppe (Gijs Scholten van Aschat) and his unhinged wife Giovanna (the excellently watchable Halina Reijn). Immediately attracted to one another Gino and Giovanna become embroiled in a passionate affair that leads them to killing off Giuseppe so they can be alone.

But this is where their troubles begin…

Unfortunately, this slightly pretentious folly failed to hit any kind of spot. The characters were slightly caricature. Their extreme and quickly changing emotions gave them all an almost bipolar or schizophrenic vibe.

It is probably fair to say the story was of its time. Maybe the relationship dynamics were more relatable and relevant, and the story just hasn’t been modernised enough for our age.

Van Hove’s minimalist interpretation screams pretention and trying to over-shoehorn meaningfulness in. The floating car engine throughout is a confusing example of this.

It makes it all feel a bit silly, especially Gino’s lurch from one extremity of emotion to another at the flick of a switch.

So while our fare might not have been the best to start our venture into the modern concept of NTL with, I can see theatre and film fans growing an Obsession with this new way of bringing the West End to the Walsall suburbs.