Not strictly a play but I thought I'd include it as I'm ahead with my 52 plays anyway!
Seeing dance at Sadlers Wells is one of my favourite things to do. It's astounding to see people who are allegedly the same species as you moving in ways that to my mind simply shouldn't be physically possible. I also feel like it's one of London's great opportunities, I don't know anywhere else in the country where you can see such variety and quality of modern dance.
The Ballet Boyz were really impressive. When there were two pairs of them dancing on stage it was as if one pair of them were dancing in front of a mirror. The technical lighting and projections were great too: atmospheric and impressive without distracting from the dance. If I had a criticism it was that they did seem a bit full of themselves, showing a little film about their audition process half way through which didn't add particularly to the performance and made them come across as a bit arrogant. But then if I could dance like that I'd probably want to go on about it too.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
19 - The Mikado in aid of the Japanese earthquake appeal
More opera! This was a scratch performance in aid of the Japanese earthquake appeal, a brilliant idea. Performers made a contribution to take part and pulled this performance together in just a day, and we went along to see the result in the evening.
The Mikado is a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. Despite being set in Japan it is all very English and very funny, contemporary references had been added to some numbers too. I really enjoyed it, not that I'm any judge of singing or orchestras but it all sounded totally lovely. I was really impressed it had all been brought together in one day it was very slick. Also because the event was all very well planned (using the wonders of Facebook) the performers even had simple costumes, everyone in red, white and black, which looked really effective.
The church setting was very dramatic, though sitting near the back for the first act I had difficulty hearing all the words becaus of the reverberation of the sound. We moved to the front in the second half so we could get all the jokes.
The Mikado is a Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera. Despite being set in Japan it is all very English and very funny, contemporary references had been added to some numbers too. I really enjoyed it, not that I'm any judge of singing or orchestras but it all sounded totally lovely. I was really impressed it had all been brought together in one day it was very slick. Also because the event was all very well planned (using the wonders of Facebook) the performers even had simple costumes, everyone in red, white and black, which looked really effective.
The church setting was very dramatic, though sitting near the back for the first act I had difficulty hearing all the words becaus of the reverberation of the sound. We moved to the front in the second half so we could get all the jokes.
18 - The Graduate, CODA at the Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon
There were some strong performances in this production of The Graduate which were a joy to watch. Danielle Lautier was an enigmatic and very sexy Mrs Robinson, perfectly cast. Christopher Rudd was engaging as the young graduate Benjamin who she seduces. His wide ranging performance had the right balance of stuttering insecurity and arrogant rebellion. I also particularly enjoyed David Sanders’ performance as Ben’s father Frank which was very funny.
I quite liked the atmospheric set but there were too many clunky and slow scene changes for me which left me feeling like this hadn’t been an entirely successfully adaptation for the stage. The muted palate of the set also made the scenes very samey especially as the characters spend most of the play sitting about talking nonsense.
They just don’t talk or act like real people these characters, and this is a problem with the play rather than the actors in this production. Elaine seems to impress Ben on their first date with her intelligent and sparkling conversation, but later she’s presented as an unoriginal thinker who has simply acted to please her parents all her life. She finds out her mother has slept with her boyfriend, then hangs around drinking with her all afternoon like a world-weary pragmatist. But she isn’t one, she’s supposed to be a relatively naive young women, who surely would react to the news by locking herself in her room, crying and playing pop music.
These undeveloped characters might work in a novel where their changeability and unrealistic nature might come across as existentialism or surrealism. (I can’t be sure, I haven’t read it.) But in a naturalistically acted play they were just irritating.
It felt a bit like this play had been wheeled out by CODA as an audience-pleaser because it was a popular film and men love to see a sexy cougar. But I was less than pleased, because the play pretended to have something clever to say about the human condition and in the end I don’t think it did. I want to see an experienced and well-established group like CODA in the large Ashcroft theatre give me as an audience member a bit more credit and put on some good plays rather than movie blockbusters please. Let’s have some Checkov next time, or better yet some Brecht.
I quite liked the atmospheric set but there were too many clunky and slow scene changes for me which left me feeling like this hadn’t been an entirely successfully adaptation for the stage. The muted palate of the set also made the scenes very samey especially as the characters spend most of the play sitting about talking nonsense.
They just don’t talk or act like real people these characters, and this is a problem with the play rather than the actors in this production. Elaine seems to impress Ben on their first date with her intelligent and sparkling conversation, but later she’s presented as an unoriginal thinker who has simply acted to please her parents all her life. She finds out her mother has slept with her boyfriend, then hangs around drinking with her all afternoon like a world-weary pragmatist. But she isn’t one, she’s supposed to be a relatively naive young women, who surely would react to the news by locking herself in her room, crying and playing pop music.
These undeveloped characters might work in a novel where their changeability and unrealistic nature might come across as existentialism or surrealism. (I can’t be sure, I haven’t read it.) But in a naturalistically acted play they were just irritating.
It felt a bit like this play had been wheeled out by CODA as an audience-pleaser because it was a popular film and men love to see a sexy cougar. But I was less than pleased, because the play pretended to have something clever to say about the human condition and in the end I don’t think it did. I want to see an experienced and well-established group like CODA in the large Ashcroft theatre give me as an audience member a bit more credit and put on some good plays rather than movie blockbusters please. Let’s have some Checkov next time, or better yet some Brecht.
17 - If Destroyed Still True, Sedated by a Brick at Tobacco Factory Theatre, Bristol
Sedated by a Brick is a performance company featuring Fraisia Dunn, Neil Puttick and Gareth Mayer, who has been my friend since we were both five. Gareth and I have a long-standing agreement to differ on our views of theatre and performance: Gareth thinks I don’t ‘get’ his kind of contemporary performance and I think no one does and people pretend to ‘get it’ because they are pretentious and anyway can’t we just go and see a nice Shakespeare? In the good natured spirit of this long-standing clash of perspectives I hope he won’t mind me reviewing their latest production from my perspective.
All three members of Sedated by a Brick are talented performers and they have a knack for presenting strong imagery on stage. If Destroyed Still True is a classic example of their style: a collision between theatre and performance art. However I felt that it was just missing the most vital elements of both, and reinstating these would turn it into a more powerful theatrical experience.
Theatre is about telling stories. This performance hinted at a story, but didn’t present us with any characters so we were not emotionally involved enough to care. And there were not quite enough hints for us to piece together a story out of the string of vaguely connected images we were shown.
Performance art on the other hand, and actually I think all art, should be about emoting an emotional response from the person watching it or putting across a message or thought of some kind. When I have seen iconic performance art in the past I have felt strongly afterwards: whether disturbed, upset, amused, drained. Here too I don’t think this performance quite succeeds. Because we didn’t have any context for the events or characters, we didn’t know what was happening and couldn’t derive anything from it. An image I particularly liked involved Gareth breathing into the mouth of an inanimate Fraisia who is lying next to Neil with their necks overlapping. Gareth then compresses Fraisia’s chest and this action inflates Neil’s chest. He compresses Neil’s chest and as he breathes out, Fraisia’s chest inflates again. This action seems to imply Gareth is resurrecting the inanimate figures and bringing them back to life, but this conflicts with what he does shortly afterwards- removing their clothes and wrapping Fraisia, Neil and the clothes in bin liners. This left me confused and with the impression that the performance didn’t actually communicate anything.
In the bar afterwards another member of the audience said it a disdaining tone of voice ‘there were a lot of people laughing in the audience.’ I said ‘yeah, it was funny.’ And at many points it was. Whether developing this piece further or working on their next project, Sedated by a Brick should look hard at the audience’s response and build on it. Organic performance like this can’t be about deciding how the audience should respond to something and then, if they react differently, dismissing them as not intelligent enough. Happily Sedated by a Brick are a company that is interested in the audience’s reaction to their work, to the extent that in the foyer after the performance we were invited to react to it by finishing a basis line drawing of a face which was printed on the back of the programme. These were put up on the wall for everyone to see and added to the mood of creativity among the audience who had just emerged. Conversations about interpreting the piece were flying around the bar and I liked the way the performance had provoked discussion among so many different people.
Sedated by a Brick are a talented and experimental group. By polishing their production and feeding from the audience responses they have provoked I think they will continue to develop and produce divisive and challenging work. Go and see their next production and let me know what you think, I’ll be there.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
16 - Richard II, Tobacco Factory Bristol
I love adaptations of Shakespare, but it is nice to know some companies are still producing productions which concentrate on and showcase the language and poetry of the plays.
This deceptively simple staging was cleverly blocked for a theatre with audience sitting on all sides. The simple set consisted of a few pieces of set bought on for some scenes with a wooden throne like the one in the best known picture of Richard II framed from behind by a lovely stained glass set of doors. The setting was dressed by the fabulous costumes, flowing coats, authentic-looking fabrics and each person had a distinctively different outfit.
This was a very strong cast, we particularly enjoyed Benjamin Whitrow's performance as John of Gaunt chastising the King on his death bed, and he returned in the second half to give another engaging performance as the gardener.
The real star of the show of was Richard II, played by John Heffernan. Before his deposition he strode around the stage like a spoiled child, occasionally throwing a hilarious tantrum. But when he realised his kingdom had been won from him, we felt genuinely sorry for him. I felt like he was a young man who had been cruelly deceived into thinking his position as king was divinely appointed and therefore unshakable and watching him disillusioned was very affecting. When he wasn't on stage, although the other actors were all great, I felt eager for him to appear again and he represented a complicated character with a wide range.
It was a bit of a shock to find the play didn't seem to have been cut at all. I didn't expect to be emerging from the theatre at 11.20 and if the length was a little bit much for me it was certainly a killer for the large group of young girls sitting around us who I think were on a school or college trip. One of them fell asleep half way through the second half and while they were well behaved and polite they were certainly getting restless by the end, as was I. By the time Richard's moving speech in the tower came up and he proclaimed "I wasted time, and now doth time waste me" my immediate reaction was "tell me about it!"
That aside it was lovely to see the play in a way which showcased the beautiful language and I'd definately recommend this production to Shakespeare fans.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
15 - The Children's Hour, Comedy Theatre
And so I return to the West End, this time to see The Children's Hour.
Forgive this rather hurried review here, I'm a few behind after a busy period of seeing 3 plays a week so I'm ahead on play viewing but a bit behind on play reviewing.
This was an engaging play. The heartbreaking tale of what happens when a little girl doesn't like it at school so she tells a lie, that the two teachers are engaged in a lesbian love affair. Immediately as the story spreads, all the parents pull their daughters out of the school and the reputation, business and lives of the two teachers are ruined. I love Keira Knightly on stage, she's not the most stellar stage presence ever but she is an enthalling and watchable actor. Elisabeth Moss was also enrgetic and gave a heart-tugging performance. I also enjoyed seeing Bryony Hannah as the obstinate young Mary who tells the lie who I saw in Earthquakes in London, one of my favourite plays of last year. She was vulnerable and frightening by turn, a really complex character.
While I enjoyed the production it did leave me a bit bemused though about why this play was being revived. It's from the 30s when they didn't say 'lesbian' and even this script about a lesbian romance that didn't happen was banned for being offensive. But we don't really live in that world any more. Surely there are plays that would say something about the kinds of prejudice gay people experience in today's world that would be more relevant and still get the audience rush that combining the words 'Kiera Knightly' and 'Lesbian' have no doubt provided. Compare it to the refreshing modern and relevant reinterpretation of The Misanthrope, Knightley's recent West End debut, and this all falls a little flat.
Forgive this rather hurried review here, I'm a few behind after a busy period of seeing 3 plays a week so I'm ahead on play viewing but a bit behind on play reviewing.
This was an engaging play. The heartbreaking tale of what happens when a little girl doesn't like it at school so she tells a lie, that the two teachers are engaged in a lesbian love affair. Immediately as the story spreads, all the parents pull their daughters out of the school and the reputation, business and lives of the two teachers are ruined. I love Keira Knightly on stage, she's not the most stellar stage presence ever but she is an enthalling and watchable actor. Elisabeth Moss was also enrgetic and gave a heart-tugging performance. I also enjoyed seeing Bryony Hannah as the obstinate young Mary who tells the lie who I saw in Earthquakes in London, one of my favourite plays of last year. She was vulnerable and frightening by turn, a really complex character.
While I enjoyed the production it did leave me a bit bemused though about why this play was being revived. It's from the 30s when they didn't say 'lesbian' and even this script about a lesbian romance that didn't happen was banned for being offensive. But we don't really live in that world any more. Surely there are plays that would say something about the kinds of prejudice gay people experience in today's world that would be more relevant and still get the audience rush that combining the words 'Kiera Knightly' and 'Lesbian' have no doubt provided. Compare it to the refreshing modern and relevant reinterpretation of The Misanthrope, Knightley's recent West End debut, and this all falls a little flat.
13 and 14 - Comedy of Errors and Richard III, Propeller
You haven't seen Shakespeare adapted until you've seen Propeller. My friend Marianne, a long-time Propeller groupie who introduced me to them, prompted her friend Charlie and I to travel to Cheltenham with her to see both the plays they're touring this season - Comedy of Errors and Richard III.
Propeller are an all male company who perform modern, high energy, accessible, addictive Shakespeare. They tour two plays at once and this is the first time I've had the chance to see both on the same day. If you love Shakespeare, theatre, comedy or slasher horror or if you have any plans to study or perform Shakespeare at any point in the future EVER I can't recommend enough that you do the same.
Comedy of Errors seems to be performed all over the place at the moment. It's a ridiculous play, not one but two sets of identical twins separated as children in a storm at sea. For some reason each ends up with the same name as their twin, years later Antipholus and his servant Dromio stumble into a strange town where everyone seems to know who they are and confusion and hilarity ensues. Propeller recognises the ridiculousness of the play and instead of trying to make the series of events seem plausible, adds more ridiculousness. So the slapstick in the play is accompanied by comedy musical sound effects, the camp policeman is straight out of the YMCA and his leather trousers squeak when he walks. The Abbess wears a short nun’s habit with fishnets and purple suede boots and we are even treated to the sight of Tony Bell running bollock naked through the audience with a lit sparkler sticking out his behind.
To the uninitiated this kind of interpretation might sound like a lack of respect for Shakespeare's work. But Propeller's productions work where others fail because they understand the plays inside out and a real love of Shakespeare is what comes across. They just want the plays to be as vibrant and relevant to today's audience as they would have been to an Elizabethan audience. We laughed all the way through, and so did the rest of the packed audience.
After laughing until our stomachs ached at the vibrant, colourful spectacular, we returned after dinner to see Richard III after dinner in a merry mood. We were not prepared for the same company to come back and rip out our stomachs, leaving the three of us speechless and for a good ten minutes afterwards feeling, as I eventually managed to comment to Marianne, a bit like we'd been mentally raped.
With the same cast and similar innovation, it was as if Richard III was a dark and distorted mirror version of Comedy of Errors. Like a photographic negative, the Hyde to the friendly and funny Jekyll. We were confronted with a stage decked out like a bleak mental asylum, actors staring out at us from masks that looked like bandaged faces. This bleak chorus shifted medical screens around to reveal characters, held victims down and threw around the ever increasing pile of body bags. And the bodies don't half stack up. The plot of Richard III is basically a list of murders and here every one was more creative, we saw disembowelling, chainsaws, a mother crying over heads in a jar. And behind it all the horrific but charismatic character of Richard himself played by Richard Clothier. It's a masterful performance, there's the classic repellent villainy, but you can also see how King Richard manipulates the world around him to climb to the top. He's somehow magnetic, enigmatic. He's also at points hilariously funny. The production doesn't shy away from black comedy and this was what really added depth to both the title character and the production as a whole.
It's not just me who loved this; critics are saying the variety in Clothier's performance makes his Richard III better than Laurence Olivier's. Edward Hall is a genius and this is the most riveting Shakespeare you are ever likely to see. If you can only see one of the plays, see Richard III. But DON'T do that, see them both or once you have seen one you will wish you had tickets for the other, sell your grandmother, sell your house, travel to Madrid just BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW. Here you, go here are the tour dates. I'm going to go again and I still have 38 other plays to see this year!
Propeller are an all male company who perform modern, high energy, accessible, addictive Shakespeare. They tour two plays at once and this is the first time I've had the chance to see both on the same day. If you love Shakespeare, theatre, comedy or slasher horror or if you have any plans to study or perform Shakespeare at any point in the future EVER I can't recommend enough that you do the same.
Comedy of Errors seems to be performed all over the place at the moment. It's a ridiculous play, not one but two sets of identical twins separated as children in a storm at sea. For some reason each ends up with the same name as their twin, years later Antipholus and his servant Dromio stumble into a strange town where everyone seems to know who they are and confusion and hilarity ensues. Propeller recognises the ridiculousness of the play and instead of trying to make the series of events seem plausible, adds more ridiculousness. So the slapstick in the play is accompanied by comedy musical sound effects, the camp policeman is straight out of the YMCA and his leather trousers squeak when he walks. The Abbess wears a short nun’s habit with fishnets and purple suede boots and we are even treated to the sight of Tony Bell running bollock naked through the audience with a lit sparkler sticking out his behind.
To the uninitiated this kind of interpretation might sound like a lack of respect for Shakespeare's work. But Propeller's productions work where others fail because they understand the plays inside out and a real love of Shakespeare is what comes across. They just want the plays to be as vibrant and relevant to today's audience as they would have been to an Elizabethan audience. We laughed all the way through, and so did the rest of the packed audience.
After laughing until our stomachs ached at the vibrant, colourful spectacular, we returned after dinner to see Richard III after dinner in a merry mood. We were not prepared for the same company to come back and rip out our stomachs, leaving the three of us speechless and for a good ten minutes afterwards feeling, as I eventually managed to comment to Marianne, a bit like we'd been mentally raped.
With the same cast and similar innovation, it was as if Richard III was a dark and distorted mirror version of Comedy of Errors. Like a photographic negative, the Hyde to the friendly and funny Jekyll. We were confronted with a stage decked out like a bleak mental asylum, actors staring out at us from masks that looked like bandaged faces. This bleak chorus shifted medical screens around to reveal characters, held victims down and threw around the ever increasing pile of body bags. And the bodies don't half stack up. The plot of Richard III is basically a list of murders and here every one was more creative, we saw disembowelling, chainsaws, a mother crying over heads in a jar. And behind it all the horrific but charismatic character of Richard himself played by Richard Clothier. It's a masterful performance, there's the classic repellent villainy, but you can also see how King Richard manipulates the world around him to climb to the top. He's somehow magnetic, enigmatic. He's also at points hilariously funny. The production doesn't shy away from black comedy and this was what really added depth to both the title character and the production as a whole.
It's not just me who loved this; critics are saying the variety in Clothier's performance makes his Richard III better than Laurence Olivier's. Edward Hall is a genius and this is the most riveting Shakespeare you are ever likely to see. If you can only see one of the plays, see Richard III. But DON'T do that, see them both or once you have seen one you will wish you had tickets for the other, sell your grandmother, sell your house, travel to Madrid just BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW. Here you, go here are the tour dates. I'm going to go again and I still have 38 other plays to see this year!
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