Julie Raby

Deposit (Hampstead Downstairs, Friday March 20th 2015)

The Hampstead downstairs works well as the setting for a small one-bed flat. There’s also that nice reveal at the Hampstead downstairs where your taken into the theatre space. The stage floor was made of pennies, and some were becoming detached, falling to the floor. This set the scene for a play about saving every penny and the effect this has on two professional couples.

The play is basically about two couples who move into flat as a way of saving money, so after a year they can put a deposit down on a flat of their own. Mel and Rachel have been friends since university, and they talk their partners into the scheme. The sharing starts as fun, but as time passes things become tense.

Conversations can be overheard. People can’t use the bathroom when they need to get to work. Toilet habits become frustrating. Sex becomes problematic in such a small space. Things become cluttered. Boundaries are crossed.

One thing I enjoyed about the production was that the time passing and the tension that arises is represented through dance and movement.

The problem with the piece was even though the issue of house prices in London is clearly a real one for many young people, it didn’t warrant some of the responses the play presented.

The play portrays a generation, that can’t get s foot on the property ladder. The cost of living in London is so bad that the couples cannot enjoy London.

Having to commute or relocate for some people is a reality as well. The fact the marketing professional is paid more than a teacher is something that does lead to the question that if teachers’ salaries remain this low who will teach the children in London. However, ‘I can’t believe those words came out of you mouth approach’ was rather over the top, or some the rant about Stevenage doesn’t give support to the issue of high London property prices. They are not dreadful alternatives.

Much if the dialogue is stilted, and often preachy, to the point I didn’t care about the couples and what happened to them.

Further Information http://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2015/deposit/

March 20, 2015

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Much Ado about Love's Labour's Lost and Won (RST, September 2014 to March 12th 2015)

I thought that the RSC’s idea to pair Love’s Labour’s Lost with Much Ado About Nothing was an interesting one, and provided an opportunity to explore the two plays together. The rationale behind this decision was that Much Ado About Nothing must be the lost play, Love’s Labour’s Won, and so the RSC called it’s production of Much Ado About Nothing as Love’s Labour’s Won. Indeed, there was much that worked well in the juxtaposition between the two plays. The concept allowed the director, Christopher Luscombe to set the two plays at either side of the first world war. Love’s Labour’s Lost ended with the four men, now soldiers, going to war. In Much Ado About Nothing the play commenced with the soldiers returning from the first world war. The pre-war and post-war periods worked well in giving the two households a claustrophobic feel where there wasn’t much they could do but play at being scholars, and lovers. What also worked very well was that Love’s Labour’s Lost was set in the Sunmer. There was a nice touch was the poppies in the background in one scene. Much Ado About Nothing became a winter play and presented the company with an opportune moment to include a Christmas element in Much Ado About Nothing as it played over the Christmas period. Indeed, Benedick’s gulling scene made much use of the Christmas tree.

The set was stunning. Modelled on Charlecote close to Stratford-Upon-Avon, the productions took place in different rooms, and the audience was presented with interiors and exteriors as well as the chapel, but the star piece was the scene on the roof in Love’s Labour’s Lost. A determination to set up different rooms in the house meant that the sight lines in some places were poor. From the ends of the front rows, chairs often obscured views for whole scenes, and these did not improve during the run. Even though this was a thrust stage, I felt that the whole thing was designed for a proscenium arch stage. Moments from both gulling scenes in Much Ado About Nothing were completely lost for audience members sat in seats that were upstage.

The setting of the plays in a specific location and time period also presented an opportunity to explore Englishness, though the revealing of the French flag in Love’s Labour’s Lost felt strange and out of keeping with the whole aesthetic.

In Love’s Labour’s Lost, the women were fabulous, and a lot of the comedy came from their coordinated gestures. Michelle Terry managed to capture Rosaline’s dry humour, and was able to do this again with her portrayal of Beatrice. The women’s reaction to the men attempting to impress as Russian dancers was very enjoyable. In Much Ado About Nothing, the pool table trick was impressive, and the masked ball a lot of fun. There are nice touches such as Costard (Nick Haversham) taking his boots off to enter the house, and noticing the background music. The duet between Moth and Don Armado (John Hodgkinson) was very funny. In Much Ado About Nothing, the moving of the furniture in the interrogation of the Watch scene is hilarious and often resulted in applause, and Dogberry (Nick Haversam) plays up the slapstick. However, there was a very skillful twist in the scene and the laughter turns to sadness when the audience realises that we are actually laughing at who is suffering from shell shock.

I felt that more through lines might have been explored. For example, I thought that it might have Sam Alexander playing Don Pedro as well as the king, rather than Don John, which would have given an opportunity to focus on leadership and youth in the two plays. I also thought that and Moth (Peter McGovern) might have returned as the boy and/or Balthezar in Much Ado About Nothing.

Some things changed through the run, such as a comic moment at the start of Love’s Labour’s Lost where the King spins the Globe so that Navarre is visible to the men seemed to disappear after the Live Screening.

It might be possible to say the star of the two productions was the teddy bear in Love’s Labour’s Lost, but Ed Bennett’s stand out performances as Berowne and Benedick were sensational. He mastered the comic timing and draw the audience into the production with him. and perfected the ability to give the impression that he was just about to corpse. His gulling scene in Much Ado About Nothing was the best of slapstick and comedy taking elements from Morecombe and Wise and Some Mother’s Do Have Them. However, Edward Bennett stole the show in the scene where Beatrice is sent to call him in to dinner. Disheveled, Sprawled across the chaise Lounge, covered in powder and Christmas decorations trying to look sexy eating a chocolate. His determination to woo. but appearing to look so uncomfortable, was masterful.

Much Ado About Nothing is becoming one of my favourite plays. It’s funny and it’s dark. Here it was cut and some of the emotional complexity was lost. That was a shame because I think the production was able to explore those elements in the depth they deserved and could have done that alongside the song and humour that the production gained.

It looked like the RSC struggled to market Love’s Labour’s Won and were constantly having to add the Much Ado tag line for clarity. The line in Much Ado About Nothing, ‘few of any sort and none of name’ have died, and that line had to be cut because it was just so inappropriate in reference to the first world war. It was clear that Berowne and Benedick are two very different characters. What the experiment did for me was show that Much Ado About Nothing is not the sequel to Love’s Labour’s Lost.

Reviews, previews

Storify Link

References

Charlecote Park

Cast

Love’s Labour’s LostSam Alexander – King of Navarre
Peter Basham – Gamekeeper
William Belchambers – Longaville
Edward Bennett – Berowne
Nick Haverson – Costard
John Hodgkinson – Don Armado
David Horovitch – Holofernes
Tunji Kasim – Dumaine
Sophie Khan Levy – Housemaid
Oliver Lynes – Footman
Emma Manton – Jaquenetta
Chris McCalphy – Dull
Frances McNamee – Maria
Peter McGovern – Moth
Chris Nayak – Footman
Jamie Newall – Boyet
Roderick Smith – Marcadé
Flora Spencer-Longhurst – Katharine
Michelle Terry – Rosaline
Harry Waller – Gamekeeper
Thomas Wheatley – Sir Nathaniel
Leah Whitaker – Princess of France

Love’s Labour’s WonSam Alexander – Don John
Peter Basham – Butler
William Belchambers – Conrade
Edward Bennett – Benedick
Nick Haverson – Dogberry
John Hodgkinson – Don Pedro
David Horovitch – Leonato
Tunji Kasim – Claudio
Sophie Khan Levy – Housemaid
Oliver Lynes – Soldier
Emma Manton – Margaret
Chris McCalphy – Sexton
Frances McNamee – Ursula
Peter McGovern – George Seacoal
Chris Nayak – Borachio
Jamie Newall – Friar Francis
Roderick Smith – Verges
Flora Spencer-Longhurst – Hero
Michelle Terry – Beatrice
Harry Waller – Balthasar
Thomas Wheatley – Antonio

March 15, 2015

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Top Theatre 2014

Shakespeare

1. Twelfth Night (Liverpool Everyman)
2. Richard II (RSC, RST and Barbican)
3. Hamlet (Manchester Royal Exchange)
4. Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare’s Globe)
5. The Merchant of Venice (Almeida)
6. Much Ado About Nothing (Manchester Royal Exchange).
7. Taming of the Shrew (RSC)
8. Much Ado About Nothing (Love’s Labour’s Won) (RSC)
9. Love’s Labour’s Lost (RSC)
10. King Lear (National Theatre)
11. Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe)
12. Henry IV part 1 (RSC, RST, Newcastle and Barbican)
13. Henry IV part 2 (RSC, RST, Lowry and Barbican)
14. Henry IV (Donmar Warehouse)
15.Twelfth Night (Sheffield Crucible)
16. Julius Caesar (Shakespeare’s Globe)
17. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Propeller, Sheffield Lyceum).
18. Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC)
19. Richard III (Trafalgar Studio)

Other

1. The Drowned Man (Punchdrunk)
2. A Human Being Died That Night (Hampstead Downstairs)
3. The White Devil (RSC)
4. Jonah and Otto (Park Theatre
5. Teh Internet is a Serious Business (Royal Court)
6. Charles III (Almeida)
7. The Knight of the Burning Pestle (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)
8. ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)
9. = Wildfire (Hampstead)
9. = Thérèse Raquin (Malvern)
10. Pests (Royal Court)
11. Handbagged (Vaudeville)
12. Great Britain (Haymarket)
13. Happy Days (Young Vic)
14. A View from the Bridge (Young Vic)
15. Wolf Hall/Bring Up the Bodies (RSC)
16. Birdland (Royal Court)
17. The Pass (Royal Court)
18. The Duchess of Malfi (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse)
19. The Roaring Girl (RSC).
20. God Bless the Child (Royal Court).

…and lots of other great theatre..

December 27, 2014

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Shakespeare up north (Twelfth Night and Much Ado About Nothing)

Paul Ready as Benedick and Ellie Piercy (c) Manchester Royal Exchange

I was very lucky to see two excellent Shakespeare productions recently. The first was Twelfth Night at the newly refurbished Liverpool Everyman and the second was Much Ado About Nothing at the Manchester Royal Exchange. Both productions were directed by women, Much Ado About Nothing by Maria Aberg and Twelfth Night by Gemma Bodinetz and were fresh interpretations of the text that brought new readings to the plays. Both [productions used colour and the space in interesting ways, and as an audience member I was captivated by both productions, feeling included and involved.

The production of Twelfth Night was rather dramatic and was an echo of David Farr’s 2012 RST production when the Captain (Paul Duckworth) and Viola (jodie McNee) are spewed out of water which was in a tank under the stage. However, the Liverpool Everyman version was much more effective. The entrance was surprising, but subtle. The pool from which they appeared became a mirror, and there was no teasing who was going to fall in as there was throughout Farr’s production. Viola and the Captain are both thrown on stage together. It’s a moment that becomes incredibly significant at the very end of the production.

It was the attention to detail that made this production work. For example, Orsino’s court can be rather dull, but in the Liverpool Everyman production, flowers descending from the flies gave a sense of pleasure and decadence. I really believed that this Orsino (Adam Levy)was in love. Antonio (David Rubin) made you very aware of Antonio’s presence through the play and emphasised his desire for Sebastian.

What both productions used very effective stage business to introduce minor characters early on, so there was a clear rationale for them being in the households. In Twelfth Night, Fabian snored up stage, and in Much Ado About Nothing, the priest had been invited to the masked ball.

Both plays explored Gender. Twelfth Nightis a play about Gender swapping, but the play explored this with Feste transforming into a Boy George figure.

The Much Ado About Nothing director, Maria Aberg, is know for her interesting exploration of gender portrayals, having cast Pippa Nixon as the female bastard in her recent RSC As You Like It, and King John where she cast Pippa Nixon as a female bastard.

At the end of the production we realise that the Captain and Viola share a secret. it was an incredible moment.

There was a dance at the end , which was incredible. It really worked to comment on the play, rather than feel like it was an add on.

When the awards are usually dominated by Shakespeare productions seen in London, and the What’s On Stage Award is won by the lack lustre Michael Grandage A Midsummer Night’s Dream, looking in a different direction can produce very high quality Shakespeare productions.

Paul Duckworth as Feste Photo by James Maloney

December 25, 2014

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A Little Theatre in Candlelight (The Duchess of Malfi and The Knight of the Burning Pestle – 11th January 2014 to 30th March 2014)

(Photo shows Alex Waldmann as Jasper and Paul Rider as Old Merrythought in The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Photo by Alastair Muir)

I would say that a visit to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse is a delightful experience. Without doubt, it is a beautiful little theatre, with its oak interior and the candelabra hanging over the stage. What is particularly special about the space is that there is a feeling of intimacy and the audience is positioned so they look across at each other. As the space is so alluring, the challenge might be to engage the audience in the performance, rather than the audience feeling that it is the visit to the space which is the main attraction.

It’s true that some views are a little problematic and sitting on the benches can at times be uncomfortable. Having said this, I really like some of the Pit seats. They are not as expensive as some of the Lower Gallery seats, and some of them have a very nice view, especially those on row D.

The theatre opened in January with a production of John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi and this has been followed by Francis Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Both plays were very good choices in which to show off the space and experiment with how candlelight can be used to light the productions.

The Duchess of Malfi seemed to tick all the boxes in terms of how you might use the theatre in its historical context. There were candles shinning on the Duchess’s dress to make the jewels sparkle as they caught the light, a scene played in the dark, and the impression of daylight through opening shutters at the back of both upper and lower galleries. There was also a sense of the actors making the most of the whole theatre space, rather than just using the stage itself. The play opens with a banquet taking place in the inner stage. Characters entered onto the stage through the Pit, spoke lines from the upper balcony, and used the outer space behind the galleries to great effect. The use of the Upper Gallery for the echo scenes was particularly successful. There was music and song, and the traditional Globe dance at the end.

I felt that The Duchess of Malfi was a very good production of one of my favourite plays which explores psychological torture. David Dawson gave a stellar performance as Ferdinand. He brought a mixture of humour and horror to the role and as he grew in confidence directed lines at the audience and was successful in creating some connection between audience and space. Gemma Arterton, as the Duchess, did a good job, but she could be a little bit too fragile at times, and embraced her death with a serenity that in many ways took away any sense of a tragedy taking place. In a q and a session (16th February), Arterton talked about how at the moment she seduced Antonio (Alex Waldmann) she was at the same time flirting with the audience. I thought this was a nice touch, but a little too subtle to have a great effect. Alex Waldmann was excellent as Antonio and it was really easy to believe that he really loved the Duchess. Though the Duchess seemed to have the upper hand in most of their life, and it felt like he was always the steward, he was the master in the bedroom, and a good father to the children. Waldmann did very well with a part that can be rather limited, and gave Antonio a presence that made his death feel like a waste. There were some lovely moments of stage business as well, such as the body of the dead Duchess brushing against Antonio as he enters for his next scene.

I just felt that the production didn’t go far enough in its exploration of the play, and in moving away from obvious types. It felt it was directed for the space, rather than an opportunity to explore some of the texture and complexity of the play. For example, I would have liked to have seen Waldmann play Bosola, I think it would have been interesting for him to play that conflicted menace and I think a bold move to have an actor known for his handsome looks playing the malcontent in this way.

What The Knight of the Burning Pestle does is respond to the very closely directed Duchess of Malfi and show how the space could be opened up further and how the audience could be drawn into a performance. It interweaves several narratives, and experiments with types. What I liked was the way it explored metatheatre and also attempted to involve the audience, which I enjoyed enormously.

There is an entertaining pre-show, with the two apprentices lighting the candles, avoiding being hit by a candelabra and setting themselves alight. The play begins with the citizen (the grocer played by Phil Daniels), his wife (Pauline McLynn), and their apprentice Rafe (Matthew Needham), entering the auditorium and taking their seats at the front of the Pit. Like the audience that had just entered they are a little in awe of the space. The citizens insist that Rafe gets a part in the play. Throughout the play they chatter, hand out grapes and constantly interrupt the action. The citizen’s wife watches the play as if it she believes the events are truly happening. The other actors respond to this heckling with annoyance which becomes extremely funny.

The play we believe that we are seeing is The London Merchant, but it suddenly becomes a romance called The Knight of the Burning Pestle because the citizens want to make Rafe’s part more interesting. There are echoes of the Mystery Plays here, and the guilds putting on the plays. There is a wonderful child-like quality in Needham’s portrayal, and he seems to grow and become the most competent actor at the end of the play.

Alex Waldmann plays the young lover, Jasper, as an over the top actor. He over exaggerates the actions making visual every metaphor and at one point forgets his lines, and exits with a claptrap, which worked beautifully on the occasions I have seen the production. It is a lovely performance as an over eager and arrogant actor, and Jasper’s frustration with the citizens interrupting him is extremely humorous. There is a little bit of an irony here and I was thinking of the times when Waldmann was at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the young women in the audience would giggle at the wrestling scene in As You Like It, and phones would go off at points interrupting the performance, but the actor has to keep going.

There are actually three main narrative strands in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, the city comedy, the romance and the frame of the story of the citizens and their apprentice, Rafe. The play becomes at its most interesting when the narratives collide into each other and suddenly snatches of the The London Merchant end up in The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Indeed, the Knight of the Burning Pestle tends to gather characters from The London Merchant as it progresses. The play also references other Elizabethan and Jacobean plays. There are echoes of Romeo and Juliet, Banquo’s ghost in Macbeth and Henry IV part 2.

There were some delightful moments, such as Mr Merrythought (Paul Rider), who felt like an exaggerated version of Falstaff, and became more repulsive as he becomes ridiculously merry. Whatever is happening around him, he insists on singing and dancing, and at one point embraces a lady in the audience. His message seemed to be very positive and optimistic, but there is something grotesque about it as well. The singing really gets on his wife’s (Hannah McPake) nerves, but it becomes infectious. It is very entertaining when his younger son, Michael (Giles Cooper), starts to copy his father and starts dancing as well.

When I saw the production on the first Sunday of Previews, Needham had hurt his knee and he couldn’t take part in the fight scenes. This unfortunate accident worked so well in the context of the play, because there he was stood at the side of the stage observing the action as other characters commented on what should have happened and at one point Waldmann’s Jasper ran round the side of the Lower Gallery giving the impression he was in mortal conflict, but he was having a fight with himself.

I have found this production to be extremely satisfying, and have laughed a lot when I have seen it. It runs until 30th March so well worth a visit.

I felt that the theatre could do some very exciting things with the space in the future. The recently announced transfer of two Globe plays to the Sam Wanamaker will be an interesting experiment. As an audience member, you’re not experiencing the theatre as a theatre was in Jacobean times, it is akin to a visit to a heritage site. You are asked to leave coats in the cloakroom, because they interfere with the air conditioning. You are constantly reminded to switch off your phone by users in Sam Wanamaker tabards, and you are told not to take photos. You walk out of the theatre and the gift shop is close by. There’s clearly cameras in the theatre because the play can be seen on monitors, and just outside I click into the wi-fi and look up the cast list. I always found this kind of intrusion into the Globe space rather amusing, and again at the Sam Wanamaker playhouse, you are constantly being reminded that you are in a contemporary space. I can’t help feel that my ticket price includes the experience of being in the space as much as the performance – though the two are intertwined I know.

What happens when we have experienced the experience as such? Will we continue to see lots of plays in candlelight? I’d like to see new writing in the space, and maybe something not lit with candles. After The Knight of the Burning Pestle, I think a production could be bolder in working with the audience and playing against type. It is an interesting studio space in which to experiment in.

I look forward to seeing what happens in the future.