- The Priory at the Royal Court from next Thursday
- Legally Blonde at the Savoy this December
- Doug Hodge returning to La Cage Aux Folles for the final month of the run
- The all-male Swan Lake coming to Sadler's Wells in December
- Addams Family Musical over on Broadway next April
And last but not least, the RSC Hamlet DVD release coming this December! If you can think of any more, let me know...
Monday, 16 November 2009
The Spanish Tragedy (Arcola Theatre)
With fantastic productions like Melly Still's 2008 Revenger's Tragedy at the National, revenge tragedy appears to be gaining currency in the London theatre scene - death and destruction are being enjoyed by an ever-widening array of theatregoers. If you didn't already know, Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy heavily influenced Shakespeare in his writing of Hamlet, a revenge tragedy but not in the typical sense. The Spanish Tragedy, however, is far more typical of the genre. It's blood, murder and angst all the way, and what blood.
Dominic Rowan helmed the production as Hieronymo, whose son Horatio (Hasan Dixon) dies early on at the hands of Lorenzo (Patrick Myles) and Balthazar (Msimisi Dlamini). This transforms the mild-mannered lawyer into a desperate, bloodthirsty mess who cleverly manipulates those around him before committing mass murder towards the end of the play. This really isn't spoiler material - in fact, it's pretty typical for revenge tragedy.
Rowan, who sparkled as Touchstone in the Globe's As You Like It this summer, showed his versatility as Hieronymo, moving from quiet to raging with complete control. Although the role of Bel'Imperia seemed a touch miscast, Charlie Covell still did a good job, her lush, deep voice showing off the verse to great effect. Also strong were Myles and Francis Ortega as Andrea, whose full-throttle, heartfelt performance managed to sufficiently cover the acting weakness of the young girl playing Revenge. The blood and death certainly drew attention - Horatio being stabbed and then hung upside down for an extended period shocked the audience, while the blood orgy of the last fifteen minutes, involving tongue-slicing, intestine-ripping and a final stab up the nose with a Biro, caused audible gasps and some hysterical laughter from the audience, seemingly unable to believe quite what they were seeing.
However, the rest of the cast seemed rather all over the place, though how much of this is down to the relative weakness of the verse in comparison to Middleton or Shakespeare is questionable. The comedy was severely lacking, while the decision to set the audience on either side of a walkway was interesting, but caused problems with sightlines and neck-craning. All in all, The Spanish Tragedy was a good theatre experience to have, but not necessarily one you'd be desperate to repeat.
Dominic Rowan helmed the production as Hieronymo, whose son Horatio (Hasan Dixon) dies early on at the hands of Lorenzo (Patrick Myles) and Balthazar (Msimisi Dlamini). This transforms the mild-mannered lawyer into a desperate, bloodthirsty mess who cleverly manipulates those around him before committing mass murder towards the end of the play. This really isn't spoiler material - in fact, it's pretty typical for revenge tragedy.
Rowan, who sparkled as Touchstone in the Globe's As You Like It this summer, showed his versatility as Hieronymo, moving from quiet to raging with complete control. Although the role of Bel'Imperia seemed a touch miscast, Charlie Covell still did a good job, her lush, deep voice showing off the verse to great effect. Also strong were Myles and Francis Ortega as Andrea, whose full-throttle, heartfelt performance managed to sufficiently cover the acting weakness of the young girl playing Revenge. The blood and death certainly drew attention - Horatio being stabbed and then hung upside down for an extended period shocked the audience, while the blood orgy of the last fifteen minutes, involving tongue-slicing, intestine-ripping and a final stab up the nose with a Biro, caused audible gasps and some hysterical laughter from the audience, seemingly unable to believe quite what they were seeing.
However, the rest of the cast seemed rather all over the place, though how much of this is down to the relative weakness of the verse in comparison to Middleton or Shakespeare is questionable. The comedy was severely lacking, while the decision to set the audience on either side of a walkway was interesting, but caused problems with sightlines and neck-craning. All in all, The Spanish Tragedy was a good theatre experience to have, but not necessarily one you'd be desperate to repeat.
Friday, 13 November 2009
Re-Review: Prick Up Your Ears (Comedy Theatre)
Prick Up Your Ears, the story of the slow disintegration of the relationship between Kenneth Halliwell and playwright Joe Orton, has had a doomed run at the Comedy Theatre, which most recently hosted the so-terrible-it's-amazing Too Close To The Sun. Little Britain star Matt Lucas, who had been portraying Halliwell, was forced to pull out after his ex-husband committed suicide, leaving theatre veteran Con O'Neill to step into his shoes with little rehearsal time. The show has struggled to pull in the punters now that Lucas has left, and sadly it closes on Saturday, despite best attempts by the very talented cast, who also include Chris New and Gwen Taylor.
It's particularly sad because O'Neill makes a far better Halliwell than Lucas could ever have hoped to be. While Lucas was fantastic at the dramatic side, he utterly overplayed the comedy, while O'Neill was able to balance the two much more satisfactorily. His portrayal of the relationship between Orton and Halliwell seemed much fresher than Lucas' and his ability to show the depressive nature of Halliwell through a much more centred performance worked spectacularly well.
With a physical presence completely disparate from Lucas, who is shorter and big and naturally bald, O'Neill did seem to hulk over New in a number of scenes, making the character far more dangerous than Lucas' bulk enabled it to be. New was just as brilliant as before, but his chemistry with O'Neill was wonderfully strong, and as the relationship broke down and the two became increasingly vitriolic and aggressive, you really felt a frisson of fear at the violence breaking out on stage.
There's not much to say about Gwen Taylor, who played the somewhat comic cipher role of Mrs Corden with applaudable aplomb. Although it could certainly be said her character doesn't really bring anything to the story, it was a very welcome diversion from the darkness gradually spreading on stage. In addition, it was nice to hear certain scenes as they should have been performed (the previous time, an unruly audience member caused the actors to break down in laughter and struggle to make it through a scene). The ending was shocking, transfixing and terrible, as it was before, but in a completely different way. The wonderful detachment O'Neill brought to Halliwell as he snapped and murdered his partner was so much more dramatic for the sheer calmness he imbued Halliwell with. A really wonderful performance - it is a real pity this must close now.
It's particularly sad because O'Neill makes a far better Halliwell than Lucas could ever have hoped to be. While Lucas was fantastic at the dramatic side, he utterly overplayed the comedy, while O'Neill was able to balance the two much more satisfactorily. His portrayal of the relationship between Orton and Halliwell seemed much fresher than Lucas' and his ability to show the depressive nature of Halliwell through a much more centred performance worked spectacularly well.
With a physical presence completely disparate from Lucas, who is shorter and big and naturally bald, O'Neill did seem to hulk over New in a number of scenes, making the character far more dangerous than Lucas' bulk enabled it to be. New was just as brilliant as before, but his chemistry with O'Neill was wonderfully strong, and as the relationship broke down and the two became increasingly vitriolic and aggressive, you really felt a frisson of fear at the violence breaking out on stage.
There's not much to say about Gwen Taylor, who played the somewhat comic cipher role of Mrs Corden with applaudable aplomb. Although it could certainly be said her character doesn't really bring anything to the story, it was a very welcome diversion from the darkness gradually spreading on stage. In addition, it was nice to hear certain scenes as they should have been performed (the previous time, an unruly audience member caused the actors to break down in laughter and struggle to make it through a scene). The ending was shocking, transfixing and terrible, as it was before, but in a completely different way. The wonderful detachment O'Neill brought to Halliwell as he snapped and murdered his partner was so much more dramatic for the sheer calmness he imbued Halliwell with. A really wonderful performance - it is a real pity this must close now.
Monday, 9 November 2009
Review: Life Is A Dream (Donmar)
Harking back to the 17th century with their production of de la Barca's intriguing drama, the Donmar pulled in some star casting with The Wire's Dominic West, pretty much ensuring a sell-out. Theatrical Leanings has never seen The Wire so had no preconceptions about what to expect from West - thankfully, Life Is A Dream managed to live up to expectation, as did West, whose background is in theatre. Although the play itself could be somewhat uneven, beginning with physical action ala Revenger's Tragedy but suddenly dropping into traditional dramatic stomping, much of the acting cannot be faulted.
West's Segismundo was incredible; hugely nuanced and thoroughly entrancing. There are surely few performers who can equal his ability to switch from despairing, sympathetic prisoner to arrogant, violent prince in seconds and make it believable. His stumbling first steps after being brought to the palace wrenched the heart - until he bared his teeth and showed his proud nature to awful effect. He explored Segismundo's animalistic qualities best when hanging from the wall or hunching himself in the palace throne, expressing the 'beastly' side of the man brought out by the entrapment enacted upon him by his father at birth. When brought down to earth again at the end of the first act, his pain and anguish was almost too much to take. Easily one of the best performances of the year in London theatre.
It was hard to sympathise with any of the other characters, however, and it's unclear whether we should sympathise with Segismundo at all, considering his behaviour during his first 'dream sequence', when he murders, assaults and speaks with alacrity. However, the behaviour of characters like the aggressive, whiny Rosaura (Kate Fleetwood), the two-faced Clotaldo (David Horovitch) and Malcolm Storry's thoughtless, dictatorial Basilio matched up to Segismundo's actions and left the audience feeling more for him than they did the courtiers.
The only character to garner any sympathy was Lloyd Hutchinson's fabulous Clarion, whose comic duties throughout did not prevent the audience empathising with his difficult position and, indeed, gasping in shock at his unexpected death. Although the second act felt hurried and Rupert Evans as Astolfo hugely under-utilised, West's presence and versatility strengthened the play and made the rather surprising ending work. The ideas posited by de la Barca (what if life IS a dream and we are all dreaming) are interesting, thought-provoking and different from those conceived by his contemporaries and all the more worthwhile for it.
West's Segismundo was incredible; hugely nuanced and thoroughly entrancing. There are surely few performers who can equal his ability to switch from despairing, sympathetic prisoner to arrogant, violent prince in seconds and make it believable. His stumbling first steps after being brought to the palace wrenched the heart - until he bared his teeth and showed his proud nature to awful effect. He explored Segismundo's animalistic qualities best when hanging from the wall or hunching himself in the palace throne, expressing the 'beastly' side of the man brought out by the entrapment enacted upon him by his father at birth. When brought down to earth again at the end of the first act, his pain and anguish was almost too much to take. Easily one of the best performances of the year in London theatre.
It was hard to sympathise with any of the other characters, however, and it's unclear whether we should sympathise with Segismundo at all, considering his behaviour during his first 'dream sequence', when he murders, assaults and speaks with alacrity. However, the behaviour of characters like the aggressive, whiny Rosaura (Kate Fleetwood), the two-faced Clotaldo (David Horovitch) and Malcolm Storry's thoughtless, dictatorial Basilio matched up to Segismundo's actions and left the audience feeling more for him than they did the courtiers.
The only character to garner any sympathy was Lloyd Hutchinson's fabulous Clarion, whose comic duties throughout did not prevent the audience empathising with his difficult position and, indeed, gasping in shock at his unexpected death. Although the second act felt hurried and Rupert Evans as Astolfo hugely under-utilised, West's presence and versatility strengthened the play and made the rather surprising ending work. The ideas posited by de la Barca (what if life IS a dream and we are all dreaming) are interesting, thought-provoking and different from those conceived by his contemporaries and all the more worthwhile for it.
Review: A Small Town Anywhere (Battersea Arts Centre)
A Small Town Anywhere is unlike pretty much any show you'll ever have been to. Without giving too much away, thirty strangers are put in a room together (a small town), assigned roles and left to work out the mysteries of the town, forge relationships with each other and behave as well or as badly as you'd like. If you don't like to interact with your fellow theatregoers, stay well away from this one - but don't be afraid, it's not like your normal audience interaction. The only actor in the whole thing is Henri, the town historian, who appears at the beginning and end of the show to give exposition and conclusion to the proceedings.
Yours truly took on the role of Le Prisoner, wrongly imprisoned (or so I told everyone). I gossiped, flirted, sent letters, accused (in particular, the schoolgirl, who seemed to be stealing and reading everyone's letters and acting a little drunk). I drank (Ribena, ahem) at the pub, sang a song to the community and generally had a fantastic time. The two or so hours we must have spent in that set seemed to flash by.
The great thing about Small Town Anywhere is that you're not forced to do anything, pulled up on stage or any of that. You can do as little or as much as you like, be as mean or lovely as you want and you're not even being yourself. It's playing pretend for two hours, like when we were children and we did it every day. Small Town Anywhere has now finished, but plans to tour next year - we can only hope this comes to pass. It is an original and exciting experience, enabling you to lose yourself and forget about real life for a little while. One of the best evenings I have ever spent at the theatre.
Yours truly took on the role of Le Prisoner, wrongly imprisoned (or so I told everyone). I gossiped, flirted, sent letters, accused (in particular, the schoolgirl, who seemed to be stealing and reading everyone's letters and acting a little drunk). I drank (Ribena, ahem) at the pub, sang a song to the community and generally had a fantastic time. The two or so hours we must have spent in that set seemed to flash by.
The great thing about Small Town Anywhere is that you're not forced to do anything, pulled up on stage or any of that. You can do as little or as much as you like, be as mean or lovely as you want and you're not even being yourself. It's playing pretend for two hours, like when we were children and we did it every day. Small Town Anywhere has now finished, but plans to tour next year - we can only hope this comes to pass. It is an original and exciting experience, enabling you to lose yourself and forget about real life for a little while. One of the best evenings I have ever spent at the theatre.
Review: Showstopper - The Improvised Musical (Drill Hall)
The idea of an improvised musical is tremendously appealing, as it turns out. Everyone likes seeing theatre in its rawest form, so to go from the seed of an idea to a full-flung show in the space of two hours is a massive task and one that only really very talented artists should ever attempt. Improv is fun, but doing it well professionally means you should come out looking like you had the inside scoop from the beginning. Showstopper: The Improvised Musical manages all of this in abundance.
Helmed by co-creator Adam Meggido, the ever-varying cast use a 'composer' who takes suggestions from the audience as to subject, musical styles (on the night we went, choices included Jason Robert Brown and Benny & Bjorn) and various other bits that might crop up during the show, such as the former occupation of a character. The cast work from this minute amount of information and make up songs as they go. Their energy is spectacular, their ingenuity impressive and their work actually of a pretty high standard. This show won plaudits when it showcased up at the Edinburgh Festival and has been running off the success of this for the last while down in London at venues including the Drill Hall off Goodge Street and the Leicester Square Theatre.
Particularly worthy of mention in this particular production (story: The Race To The Moon) was Ruth Bratt, whose hilariously eccentric former astronaut caused the only corpse of the night and who kept the audience in fits every time she appeared on stage. Meggido was also a lot of fun, and extremely versatile to boot. Dylan Emery as the charismatic narrator amused too, with his amused interjections and sarcastic asides. Although it took a while to get going, once the cast had got into it and figured out who their characters were, the audience joined in too, building the somewhat lacking atmosphere to a buzzing, brilliant level by the end of the show.
This is the kind of show you could take all the family too without too much fear of being mightily offended, but at the same time it's not dull or PC. It's the perfect date show - one person can't be put off by their prior knowledge of the show. See it while you still can.
Helmed by co-creator Adam Meggido, the ever-varying cast use a 'composer' who takes suggestions from the audience as to subject, musical styles (on the night we went, choices included Jason Robert Brown and Benny & Bjorn) and various other bits that might crop up during the show, such as the former occupation of a character. The cast work from this minute amount of information and make up songs as they go. Their energy is spectacular, their ingenuity impressive and their work actually of a pretty high standard. This show won plaudits when it showcased up at the Edinburgh Festival and has been running off the success of this for the last while down in London at venues including the Drill Hall off Goodge Street and the Leicester Square Theatre.
Particularly worthy of mention in this particular production (story: The Race To The Moon) was Ruth Bratt, whose hilariously eccentric former astronaut caused the only corpse of the night and who kept the audience in fits every time she appeared on stage. Meggido was also a lot of fun, and extremely versatile to boot. Dylan Emery as the charismatic narrator amused too, with his amused interjections and sarcastic asides. Although it took a while to get going, once the cast had got into it and figured out who their characters were, the audience joined in too, building the somewhat lacking atmosphere to a buzzing, brilliant level by the end of the show.
This is the kind of show you could take all the family too without too much fear of being mightily offended, but at the same time it's not dull or PC. It's the perfect date show - one person can't be put off by their prior knowledge of the show. See it while you still can.
Saturday, 31 October 2009
Battersea Arts Centre
After an interesting induction today, I am now a volunteer usher at the Battersea Arts Centre. It's a really interesting building, holding over 70 performance spaces. Dating back to the 19th century, its rooms range from huge to tiny and its performances could be called nothing less than eclectic. They focus on encouraging and developing new work and have previously hosted such fantastic projects as Punchdrunk's Masque of the Red Death (which we missed, sadly, but is obviously perfect for the building) and are currently presenting A Small Town Anywhere. Although the show is sold out, I'm going to usher it, so will get to see it from that perspective, which should be interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
