40 posts tagged “theatre”

The last year has given us David Tennant's mood-swinging, energetic interpretation and Jude Law's anger and clarity so who will be next to step into the shoes of the Bard's greatest character?

Well fellow theatre fan @polyg may just have the answer to that. Today she tweeted a link to this forum in which the lovely and talented John Simm hints, not too subtly, that his next project will be Hamlet.

He's an actor whose work I admire on both screen and stage. I first noticed him in the wonderful BBC drama The Lakes 11 years ago and of course you can't forget Life on Mars.

The first play was the comedy Elling two years ago. He proved to be talented comedy actor with impeccable timing and the ability to raise a laugh with just a look. Then this year he returned to drama with a role in Speaking in Tongues which once again proved his acting credentials.

So what sort of Hamlet do I think he'll make? Well, I think he will be a more subdued, slightly more considered Hamlet than both Tennant and Law. More brooding for sure.
 
The RSC's production with Tennant teased out the humour in the play and having seen Simm do comedy, there could be a bit of Tennant-esque cheekiness in there too.

If the hints prove true, and I really hope they do, then he has two big acts to follow but I'd like to see his interpretation and, of course, if my predictions are right.

I know, I know - couldn't resist.
So tonight was the second performance and just as good as the first. Interesting to see the subtle differences in the actors performances and despite the cast describing the audience as lively I felt the sadness of the play more this time.
There was a Q & A afterwards hence the cast comment. As predicted I didn't ask a question - I very nearly commented though (ooh go me!) but the conversation moved on quickly.
Mr Whishaw didn't say much but twiddled with his unruly hair a lot. He had changed into his civvies which consisted of white shirt and red braces. Can't remember what was on the bottom half because I was so taken with the red braces which I'm sure I've seen him wearing before in pictures. He's a braces man, obviously.

Rufus Wainwright was in the audience and sort of asked a question. I say sort of because it ended up being more of a statement of how he felt about the play. An interesting perspective though, he felt the playwright Mike Bartlett purposefully plays with the audience, drawing their sympathy and pushing them away again in equal measure.
There were a few other famous faces in the audience which I can't name. Coincidentally one was one of the older actors in the film I saw at at test screening just last night.
Great to get to hear what people thought of the play though and get the cast and director's viewpoint.
And aside from seeing Mr W beforehand and in the bar afterwards (alongside R P-J, Sadie Frost and the very tall Oliver Chris from Green Wing) I got to meet the lovely @polyg who is one of my theatre loving twitterers. We follow each other and via twitter discovered that we had tickets for the same night. A couple of DM's swapping mobiles and we meet for the first time.
Now that is social media.

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.

Which do you prefer? City life or country living?

Without a doubt city life. I grew up in the country and London terrified me to the extent that I vowed I would never live here. After graduating it became immediately obvious that if I was going to get a job in the media I needed to be in London.

So I arranged a couple of interviews at temping agencies, found somewhere to stay for a couple of weeks, packed a few things in a bag and jumped on a train. Didn't know a soul but on my second day I was at the National Gallery when I bumped into someone I knew at University.

That's London for you. I've been here for 17 years now and I can't imagine living and working anywhere else.

Lets face it no where else would satisfy my cinema and theatre addiction and give me such a wide variety of cuisines to dine on beforehand!

My Flickr pages are full of other reasons I love London

Walking to work one summer's morning

The last couple of things I've seen at the NT's Cottesloe Theatre have been a bit of a disappointment: Black Album and Dido, Queen of Carthage.
Our Class was theatre-buddy Debbie's choice and if she could apply the same judgement to picking horses she'd be very rich.

Written by Polish playwright Tadeusz Slobodzianek and translated by Ryan Craig it follows the lives of 10 classmates growing up in Jedwabne, Poland where hundreds of jews were massacred, from the 1920s to present day.
It's the first time I've seen the Cottesloe use the flexible seating arrangement it boasts and the stage was in the middle: A bare-boards pit with 10 chairs. The only other decoration was a pile of ash for the second half.
The opening scene is set in a classroom with the 10 each introducing themselves and saying what they want to be when they grow up - the playfulness, innocence and friendship you know is going to be slowly destroyed by horrific anti-semitism, politics and fear.
All actors remained on stage sitting on the edge of pit when not part of the action. There was a mix of re-enactment, first person narrative mixed with children's songs and live music stirred in.
It examines the tragedy of Jedwabne through the eyes of those 10 who lived (and died)
It's a thought provoking and harrowing piece of drama and a great bit of theatre, simply but effectively done.
And here are some others thoughts

Guardian What the play also proves, with unsensational dignity, is that, as one of the characters says, "you can never bury the truth"
Daily Telegraph It is hard to praise the 10-strong cast too highly as they bring the complex stories of 10 characters, some of them through many decades, to vivid life

PS I can tick yet another Harry Potter actor off the theatre list - Stan Shunpike the bus conductor in Prisoner of Azkaban AKA Lee Ingleby. Shame Michael Gambon has had to pull out of the Art of Class but I get Richard Griffiths instead, although it will be the third time I've seen him tread the boards.

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.

Nicked this from Minim although I have edited it a bit as I get the impression it was originally devised as a bit of sly market research for computer manufacturers. Haven't done one for ages but I really like reading them...

Alcohol: Wine and at the moment I'm going through a rosé phase
Believe in God?: No I don't believe in God or Gods
Chocolate: Montezuma's because they do vegan truffles
D&D character: Adam. He's the only person I know who plays
Eggs: Soft boiled, gotta love a runny yolk
Food: Yep but have a particular penchant for south east Asian and Japanese
Gemstone: Er...only have semi precious that I've made into necklaces and the choice of stone depends on the colour scheme
Hairdresser: Shingo at the Witches Hut. Genius who never lets me down
Icecream: Dairy upsets my stomach sadly and if I was going to risk it I'd have cheesecake
Jeans: Gap, boot cut, short fitting, stretch
Karaoke choice: Private performances only, my voice is best not shared
Left or right handed: right
Music: Oh gawd this is tricky because it totally depends on my mood and what I'm doing. My favourite band is Muse and I do lean towards guitar-based music but I listen to all sorts from Classic FM at work to Edith Piaf on a sunny Sunday morning
Nationality: British
Occupation: Journalist
Perfume: Jo Malone French Lime Blossom
Quest: To win the lottery, buy a flat in Covent Garden, get a personal yoga instructor and become a patron of the arts. Failing that just to enjoy life as much as possible, it's the only one I've got.
Rant: At the moment, still railing at the NHS for its treatment of my Mum
Seafood: Nommy, nommy, nommy (except whelk and sea snails).
Twitter: Yep for work (increasingly useful) and pleasure (fun and informative)
Uncontrollable urge to: Buy more theatre tickets
Vice: Only because of the amount I spend on it: Theatre and cinema
What I wear to work: Casual/smart-casual/smart depending on mood and/or meetings
X-men character: Can I go for Wolverine because I fancy Hugh Jackman?
Yesterday I: Cleaned the windows, hoovered, met a friend for tea and cake at Patisserie Valerie in Soho, bought friends membership at the Royal Academy and went to the breathtakingly beautiful John Waterhouse exhibition there, went to see Broken Embraces at the Clapham Picture House. (I had the day off work, my Friday's aren't normally so indulgent)
Zodiac sign: I'm full of bull