12 posts tagged “theater”

It's around this time that I normally pick out the highlights my years entertainment and there have been some corkers.

I haven't counted the number of films I've seen but it numbers over 50 probably close to 60. Standouts include Bright Star for the pure emotion and beauty, Let the Right One In for a unique spin on an old tale and The White Ribbon for, among other things, expertise in creating atmosphere without music. Two others that also need a mention are Sin Nombre and Moon.
And of the 24 or so plays I saw, well among the big productions there was Hamlet with Jude Law which nearly filled the RSC/ Tennant shoes of the year before, Waiting For Godot with McKellan and Stewart which reminded me of why I loved the play when I studied it and for the same reasons A Streetcar Named Desire and the marvellous Ken Stott in A View From the Bridge.
Of the small productions there was of course the wonderful, wonderful Cock with my fav Ben Whishaw. Two others that stand out were You Can See the Hills at the Young Vic, a monologue looking back at the formative teen years and Future Me by new playwright Stephen Brown which delicately and thoughtfully examined paedophilia.
Gig-wise it will come as no surprise that Muse at the 02 are up there as are Skunk Anansie at the Brixton Academy.
None of this seems to really do justice to the rich and varied evenings out I've enjoyed but much is already recorded on this blog.
2010 has already kicked off with the St Trinian's film which was a silly piece of enjoyable entertainment and perfect for a cold sunday afternoon just before going back to work. Tomorrow theatre season kicks off with Red at the Donmar with Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne.
There is much to look forward to but that is another post.

OK OK I'll stop fishing for cheap laughs but in my defence, Mike Bartlett did choose a quite provocative title for his latest play.
I've already hinted in my tweets that I quite liked this play. Anything that has Ben Whishaw in it is going to immediately win points and, well, Cock was wonderfully entertaining.

The Jerwood Upstairs performance space is so intimate that it immediately felt special. It's in the round block stepped-seating and the stage is about the width of my living room. The actors are so close you hardly dare move. There are no props, scenery, fancy lighting or sound it is just the audience and actors.
The story centre's on John (Whishaw) who lives with his long term boyfriend M (Andrew Scott). The relationship is on the rocks and John meets and sleeps with a woman (W, played by Katherine Parkinson of the IT Crowd). He decides to confess his infidelity and mend his relationship with M but is still drawn to W and cannot quite give her up.
M decides to force John into choosing and invites W to dinner with the two of them in order have the whole thing out. But what he doesn't tell John is that he's also invited his Dad (Paul Jesson) to the dinner party for moral support.
It is both very funny and sad. John is at the same time irritatingly indecisive and endearing as he struggles with his feelings for both M and W.
 
I've wanted to see Whishaw in something that had more humour in it for a while now and this certainly fitted the bill. He turned in a great performance as they all did. I'll forgive Jesson for forgetting his lines and needing a prompt as I'm continually impressed by actors ability to learn their lines. And one of the waitresses I got chatting to in the cafe bar beforehand endeared me to the entire cast by saying how lovely they all were singling out Mr Whishaw and the nicest person you could ever meet, "not like the lot in The Priory*". (Curious, I asked "are they up themselves then?" and she said "yes".)
 
But anyway I digress. Cock isn't on for very long and can only accommodate a small audience so it's no surprise that it has now sold out and I am more glad than I can express that I gambled on liking it and booked to see it twice.
Second visit will be in just over a weeks time and has a Q&A with the director and cast afterwards. Excited moi?
Oh and here are a few other reviews from the pro's who probably aren't quite as biased about Whishaw as I am.

Guardian "You may, according to taste, find the title a come-on or a turn-off. But, far from being a sensational shocker, Mike Bartlett's play is a sharp, witty study of a man helplessly torn between his longtime male partner and a loving woman."
Variety "Tender or tortured, every scene is a bout in which punches are verbal, not physical. Yet the stripped-down physical language is amazingly expressive. John's nervous but increasingly excited first heterosexual experience is genuinely erotic, a feat of directorial bravura considering not a stitch of clothing is removed, neither of them touches the other, and all they do is lock eyes, sway and, well, act."
The Stage But although the text is a compelling account of emotional confusion and the struggle to comprehend the nature of love, Bartlett’s idea of having a bare stage and no props, realised here in James Macdonald’s experimental production, using designer Miriam Buether’s bear-pit set, has mixed results.

I can only assume that the dressing rooms at the Royal Court theatre are tiny or smell of block drains or something because the actors that are performing there seem to prefer the sofa's in the public bar for a pre-performance drink or chat.

Bumped into one of the actresses who's appearing in The Priory, complete with rollers in, in the ladies. And I can now cross sexy spy no 2, AKA Rupert Penry-Jones, off my list of sexy spy spots. He strolled casually through the bar at which point I nearly spat my rather expensive, but totally worth it Rioja, all over the person stood next to me. R P-J is also appearing in The Priory which I have tickets for in January, thankfully.
Then barely had I recovered and the man himself, Mr Whishaw, walked in and bought a banana and a tangerine (you think they'd get a bit of fruit laid on for them, the theatres aren't that impoverished surely?)
Then there was the theatre audience itself. It's like a Donmar in Pimlico with Imogen Stubbs enjoying the marvellous Cock (sorry but they will give modern plays such provocative titles) in the Jerwood Upstairs. Anyway I'm too tired now to do justice to writing about Cock except to say that it was my first visit Upstairs and the theatre was so deliciously thimble-sized that I was close enough to Mr Whishaw to touch him. I didn't, I hasten to add, I sat on my hands. However, at one point one of the other actors shoved him and I thought he was going to land into my lap.
Anyway tomorrow, tomorrow for more on that. Tired and have an early start.

Looks like I'm going to get the chance to be on the same stage as Ben Whishaw after all...

Thank you for booking to see Cock here at the Royal Court.
 
As you may know, the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs is an adaptable studio space that can be configured in many different ways. At the time of going on sale we had not agreed the design for this production, so were unaware of the exact seating arrangements. We can now confirm the seating layout for Cock. As always we have endeavoured to make the seating as comfortable as possible, however the unique design of this production has meant that a proportion of the seats are without back rests. There is also no space underneath the seating for coats and bags. We would therefore ask that you deposit all such items, free of charge, in the theatre’s Cloakroom, which is located downstairs in the Stalls foyer area.
 

Artwork for Cock at the Royal Court

Rehearsals are going well, with a current running time of 1 hour, 45 minutes without interval. The production’s design means that all seating is accessed by crossing the stage. We are therefore not able to admit latecomers or readmit anyone who leaves during the performance. We would kindly ask that you arrive in the Jerwood Theatre Upstairs in good time before the performance is due to start in order to deposit bags at the cloakroom and make your way to the auditorium.
 
If you have any concerns with the above information, please do feel free to contact our team who will be happy to discuss these with you.   We are contactable on 020 7565 5050, or via email at boxoffice@royalcourttheatre.com.
 
I do hope you enjoy the performance of Cock and we look forward to welcoming you to the Royal Court.
 
Best wishes
Dan Alicandro
Deputy Sales Manager

Just over a week ago I wrote about a week in prospect that would take in two plays and two eagerly anticipated films. Did it live up to its cultural and entertainment potential?
I've already written about Bright Star which was certainly the highlight but there was much else to be enjoyed.

First there was Dominic West making his debut before the Rev Stan in Spanish play Life is a Dream at the Donmar.
The play's writer Pedro Calderon de la Barca was sort of a Spanish Shakespeare and was writing at a time when Spain's golden age of discovery and the wealth and culture it brought with it had be frittered away.
Life is a Dream captures that feeling of having had something so good it was like a dream. It tells the story of Prince Seigusmundo (West) who is secretly imprisoned at birth by his father after hearing a prophesy that he'll be a tyrant. Grown up, his father releases him as a test of his character but having had a closeted life he behaves badly and is taken back to prison having been convinced his time of freedom was in fact a dream.
His existence now known of by the people of his father's kingdom he is broken out of prison and embarks on getting what is rightfully his but this time in constant fear that he is living a dream and is therefore determined to behave better.
It is both comedic and philosophical something some of my fellow theatre-goers had problems but I think the two are inextricably linked.
West put in a stirling performance and I've now ordered first series of The Wire by way of a contrast.
It was an enjoyable play, easy to follow with the language updated in its translation and entertaining enough that the two and half hours flew by.
Next up was The Habit of Art a new Alan Bennett play at the National Theatre. And what a contrast.
It is a play about a play about a fictitious meeting between poet W H Auden and composer Benjamin Britten. On one level it is about two talented men reflecting on their careers at a time when their creativity is dwindling.
On another it is a behind the scenes expose of theatre life: the ego's, the tantrums and again the creative process.
It was very funny with some typically brilliant Bennett one-liners, none of which I can remember. Richard Griffiths as the dial-a-rent-boy loving Auden commands the stage and sparks off the wonderful Frances de la Tour who plays the production manager.
A highly amusing evening all round.
And then stage comedy to film comedy: The Men Who Stare at Goats rounded off the week's viewing pleasure. At the beginning you are told 'More of this is true than you would imagine' and I really hope it is because it is laugh out loud funny.
It you try and explain it, it sounds ridiculous: Psychic spies.
The cast is formidable with Jeff Bridges, George Clooney, Ewan McGregor and Kevin Spacey all doing wonderful turns at comedy something which is refreshing to see.
I know it's had mixed reviews but I think it worked really well and perfect Sunday afternoon silliness.
Oh and you get to see McGregor and Clooney walking away from the camera with their bums hanging out of hospital gowns. Perfect.

Been to see some great theatre and interesting theatre in recent weeks but have been a bit lax in actually writing about it. So here is a bit of a catch up of the highlights hopefully short and sweet:

Mother Courage and all her Children - National Theatre

Loved the first Brecht I saw at the Young Vic a couple of years ago so was excited about this NT production.
Set during the 30 years war in Europe it tells the story of Mother Courage (Fiona Shaw) who profits from the war going from battle site to battle site selling her wares, changing allegiances when profitable and trying to protect her two sons and mute daughter along the way.
There has been much written online about the delay to press night and the various hiccups in the production and even though I saw it during preview, I didn't noticed anything going particularly wrong. Shaw put in an amazingly energetic performance, there was live music and and an Irish singer Duke Special who had the most beautiful voice. Brecht challenged sympathies and perceptions once again and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Oh and I didn't find out until I got home that another Harry Potter actor was also in the play - Harry Melling who plays Dudley. In this he was once again playing Fiona Shaw's son.

My sister's been sorting through stuff at my Mum's house and unearthed all sort of stuff from my youth. Most of it is rubbish (why would I want to keep my guide badges?) but there are the occasional hidden gem such a file of old theatre programs from plays I saw as a student.

It's been a trip down memory lane for example I went to see a production of Hamlet at Theatre Clwyd in Mold (I was studying the play at University in Liverpool so it was organised by my tutor). It was such a memorable performance, in a good way, purely because Getrude was played by a man. I could never remember the name of the actor but now have the program (it was Martin McKellan) and he did such an amazing job when it could have gone horribly, horribly wrong. Such was his performance that you completely forgot it was a man in drag and totally bought into the emotion he was conveying as Hamlet's distressed mother. (And yes I know in Shakespeare's time all the actors were male.)
The performance was also memorable because one of the characters costumes caught light on a candle but no one was hurt fortunately.
However, as well as revealing the name of the fabulous Getrude actor I am now stunned to see a smattering of names who back then were in the infancy of their careers but have since gone on to bigger and better things. For example Jack Davenport of This Life and Pirates of the Caribbean fame played the minor role of Francisco in his professional debut and Rhys Ifans who's been in loads of stuff since but I always remember as Spike in Notting Hill and Jed in Enduring Love (and soon to be seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as Luna Lovegood's Dad) also played the small part of Marcellus.
Sadly Martin McKellan's career doesn't seem to have taken off in the same way. The most recent listing for him on IMDB is an episode of The Bill. Which is a shame.
Other names you may have heard of are Stephen Beckett who went on to play key characters in Coronation Street and Emmerdale and Toby Jones who has one of those faces you know you've seen in a bunch of stuff and will be voicing Dobby the House Elf in the last two Harry Potters.

I have an expensive theatre habit as regular readers may have guessed. Many a DIY job sits undone because there is always a play I'd rather spend my hard earned cash on and I still don't get to see everything I'd like to. Naturally, I'm always on the look out for cheap tickets or discounts. 
And this innovative deal from the Southwark Playhouse, which is a fab tiny little theatre tucked under the railway arches near Waterloo Station, got my attention (thanks to theatre buddy Debbie). I've never seen this type of offer before, but the way it works is that you pay £35 and get five tickets to see any shows at the theatre. That's just £7 a ticket and there is no time limit on when you use them.
The only restriction is you can't use more than two tickets for any one show, so you'd only be able to take one other person but as I quite often go on my own anyway that isn't a problem.
Its a great idea and one that definitely appeals especially as £35 barely covers a decent seat at one of the West End theatres (Waiting for Godot was £52!). I like good seats but Southwark is such a small theatre you are always going to be close to the action.
It's pay day tomorrow so I'm going to sign up. Will keep you posted as to what I go and see.

Back in August Jenny and I were not only lucky enough to get to see David Tennant  play Hamlet at Stratford but somehow managed to get front row seats. It was an amazing experience and one we'll never forget and still high on the spectacle the next day we returned to the theatre to buy souvenir posters.
But that wasn't quite enough. I'm afraid we were overcome by a teenage-esque surge of obsession.
I did a bit of research on the internet, found the details of Tennant's agent and following the instructions to include an SAE or cardboard tube in this case, sent both posters off with a short note in the hope that they would get signed but requesting they were returned regardless. The agents website makes no guarantees except that it may take many months.
Well the posters went off in September and I'd all but forgotten about it until, hey presto, two days ago a cardboard tube arrives back.
With bated breath I unfurled the posters inside to see if Tennant had indeed put black marker to paper and he had - not the most crafted signature but each was personalised nonetheless. I can just imagine him locked in a room with a stack of pictures and posters to sign, slowly getting cramp in his hand. It's a tough life being famous but hey ho, he did it and so that is why David Tennant is currently my favourite actor.
Now I just need to get it framed and put up in a place where it won't fade but just slowly increase in (sentimental) value.

I'm loving this blog post from The Telegraph's theatre critic Charles Spencer about how two of Britain's acting legends hit back at a critic who rubbished their performances. I also like the fact that Charles Spencer has the good grace to say 'fair do's' rather than go on the offensive which would have been the easier option.