Harry Clarke

With Bonus Performance: Lillian

By: David Cale

Narrated by: Billy Crudup, David Cale

Length: 3 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

Tony Award-winning actor Billy Crudup shines as Harry Clarke, a shy Midwesterner leading an outrageous double life as a cocky Londoner.

Moving to New York City and presenting himself as an Englishman, Harry charms his way into a wealthy family's life, leading an outrageous double life. As the seductive and clever Harry, his increasingly reckless behavior threatens to undo more than his persona. David Cale’s nuanced storytelling and Crudup’s magnetic performance combine, making Harry Clarke a sexually charged and wickedly funny thriller. The New York Times hailed Crudup’s performance in “a sly role terrifically suited to his gifts” while praising Cale’s story as a delicious conceit.

This Audible Theater production also features a special performance of Cale’s Obie Award-winning, one-man show Lillian, starring the playwright himself in a typical tale of romance told through the eyes of a proper, middle-aged Englishwoman. 

©2017 David Cale (P)2017 AO Media LLC

Ugh - hated it

It's amazing to me how far from others I feel about this story. Billy Crudup was great - absolutely excellent. The story - dull and all over the place. I seriously didn't get it. It's not that its too complex, it just has no direction. I'd love to hear Billy narrate a better story. The end.

Excellent!

Yes! Yes! Yes! This was a fantastic production! Having seen this at the Vineyard Theater, I was truly looking forward to the audio edition. Billy Crudup’s performance was nothing short of amazing! The bonus story of Lillian was also a nice surprise! Bravo!

Misleading Synopsis

Based on the synopsis I downloaded this book and did not get what I wanted or expected. not my cup a tea at all. I don't like romance awkward love stories. had to stop listening when he started seducing the guy on his fathers yacht.

Live Theater at Home

I returned to Audible when I learned that live theatrical performances had been added to its selection list. This play is wonderful. The chat with the writer/director/actor is a special bonus. So happy that this great production has been captured and preserved.

Come for Harry, stay for Lillian

The writing and both performances are absolutely brilliant. I couldn’t stop listening.
I found the experience of being inside Harry/Philip’s head hard to take at times. It was quite a ride.
I will probably listen to Lillian many times. I found her story to be inspirational and more relatable (maybe because I’m a middle aged woman;)
Again, so well done! Bravo!

Wish I Had Liked It

The premise sounded great. The reviews were great. But it was far from great for me.
I can't explain why the material and the performances escaped me. I think I had expectations that it was going to be a thriller, that the title character would be a serial killer or something instead of just a dysfunctional person who ended up not doing much.
Perhaps that was the point of this narrative play, but all it gave to me was a rather boring plot with average narration (that everyone else loved) and awful music and unnecessary sound effects.
I confess that after the Harry Clarke part, when the David Cale and others started lauding their brilliant production, I turned it off and didn't listen to the next part.
Thank goodness this was free.

Not worth it.

This was my first purchase of a “theater performance.” There are two performances. The first is about a gay man played very well by Billy Cudrup. There were scenes that teetered on the edge of vulgarity. It had weird sounds/music interspersed within that was more distracting than beneficial. The second performance involved a heterosexual woman played by a man. Though the story was interesting, it left me with that icky feeling of watching a person in drag. The last long 45 minutes were spent on the production team, writer & actors gushing all over themselves & each other. I regret wasting my credit.

couldn't keep listening to this garbage

not what the description says. turning into a gay love story by 25 minutes in

Perfection.

Absolutely amazing. So glad I was able to see this live. The recording lives up to the live performance. Highly suggest. I have always loved Billy Crudup, but have such a different level of respect for him after seeing/hearing Harry Clarke.

Performance good but story cliche and offensive

What disappointed you about Harry Clarke?

The performance is quite strong but the story of an emotionally abused Jewish American gay boy who grows up to use and abuse another Jewish family is laced with such subversive anti -semitism that it needs to be called out. It is offensive both to the gay/bisexual population as well as to the Jewish population. I felt as if the writer was affected in his portrayal. All the characters are weak, perverted and selfish.

What could David Cale have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Make the characters complex enough to have conflicted feelings about them. None of the characters have positive attributes. Just weak character development to the point of offense. I understand Audible is trying to develop its own art, but the writing has to move away from such stereotypical, cliche depictions for sale

What does Billy Crudup and David Cale bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

the voices.

What character would you cut from Harry Clarke?

All the characters are weak--

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

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!

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.