Andersen's English (Out of Joint at West Yorkshire Playhouse), Jerusalem (Apollo Theatre), An Enemy of the People (Sheffield Crucible), Beating Berlusconi (York Theatre Royal), Murder in Samarkand (BBC Radio 4) w/c 22nd February 2010

The outsider seemed to be dominating the theatre in the performances that I have seen over the last few weeks.  I had listened  to David Hare’s radio play Murder in Samarkand on iPlayer, and following this saw several theatre productions which had the outsider as an ongoing theme.  Murder in Samarkand told the story of Craig Murray (played by David Tennant), who was the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Uzbekistan until he was removed from his post in October 2004 when stood up to the British establishment.  This seemed to set the tone for the week which  ended with watching Paul Duckworth solo performance in the studio at York Theatre Royal in Beating Berlusconi.  I also saw incredible performances from Mark Rylance as John ‘Rooster’ Byron in the spellbinding Jerusalem and Antony Sher as Tomas Stockmann in Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People at the newly opened  Sheffield Crucible.

Connections have been made between An Enemy of the People and Murder in Samarkand, and listening and watching the two productions so close together it is impossible not to miss the similarities of the two men standing out against society and standing up for their beliefs.*  In the Out of Stock Company production of Anderson’s English at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, the outsider Hans Christian Andersen observes the domestic life of Charles Dickens, as he stays with him and his family at Gads Hill Place in Kent.  Andersen does not fit in well with this English world, and in many ways Andersen does not pick up on Dickens’ cruelty to his wife and children, but he presents the household to the audience who can clearly see this.  The Out of Stock production is thoughtful and surprising as well.  With its pretty domestic set, we think we are in for a comfortable evening, but without laying it on, the production subtly reveals Dickens’ rejection of his wife and lack of understanding of his children.

I addition, the theme of the outsider, Anderson’s English and Beating Berlusconi and Jerusalem explore nationality and specifically what is to be English.  Paul Duckworth plays a Liverpool fan, Kenny, who desperately tires to get a ticket for the 2005 European Cup Final.  Though this trip to the match in Istanbul  is the focus of the show, the play actually tells the like of Kenny Noonan, a lifelong Liverpool against the political background of Thatcherism and Blair.  it is clear from which political perspective Kenny comes from as invites the audience to boo at an image of Margaret Thatcher.  On the other hand, Jerusalem explores what it is to be English now, and deals with many issues which we are uncomfortable in discussing.  In his portrayal of Byron, Rylance takes the audience on his side.  We  laugh so much, but at the end I was left shocked.  It felt like a the destruction of a man, an individual, but also a way of life and to make choices in life.

Further Information

Jerusalem

WOS on Jerusalem transfer to Apollo
Jerusalem at the Apollo in The Independent
Jerusalem at the Apollo in The Telegraph
Interview with Mark Rylance in The Telegraph
Mark Rylance interviewed in Official London Theatre
Jerusalem at the Apollo in The Evening Standard
The Independent on Royal Court Jerusalem
The Mail on Jerusalem
The Times on Jerusalem transfer interviews with Rylance…
Jerusalem article in The Telegraph
Jerusalem transfer to Apollo reviewed in The Guardian
Jerusalem at the Apollo in The Financial Times

An Enemy of the People

An Enemy of the People in The Independent
An Enemy of the People in the IOS
What the Critics say about The Enemy of the People
An Enemy of the People in The Telegraph
An Enemy of the People in The Observer
An Enemy of the People in The Financial Times
An Enemy of the People in The Times
An Enemy of the People in The Stage
An Enemy of the People in The Guardian

Andersen’s English

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/leisure/theatre/5022551.Andersen__…

Beating Berlusconi

Beating Berlusconi in the Press
Beating Berlusconi (in Edinburgh) reviewed in The Stage

* Poly G on Twitter said:  
Having listened to David Hare’s Murder in Samarkand on Rd4 http://bit.ly/bKkCpS two plays 130 years apart complimenting each other perfectly

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Frankie and Johnnie (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 18th February 2010)

Watching Frankie and Johnnie at the West Yorkshire Playhouse felt like a very intense two hours.  The play explored the lives of two lonely people getting together after they have had sex on their first date.   It focuses on the conversations between Frankie and Johnnie who both work together in a diner.  The characters move through a range of emotions and there is some humour.  We learn a little about their backgrounds, but at the end I’m not sure I cared enough about the two characters to hope they did have a future together.

There were two good performances from Rolf Saxon and Kelly Mcgillis, though Mcgillis did tend to scowl and grimace a lot.

Further Information

http://www.wyp.org.uk/events/event_details.asp?event_ID=5524

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The History Boys (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 11th February 2010)

It is interesting that it is Alan Bennett’s image which is on the publicity materials for the new West Yorkshire Playhouse production of  The History Boys.  Normally, publicity materials give a feel of the production, can portray images of actors, but do not tend feature the image of the playwright, even Shakespearean productions.  However, for me, the image of Bennett does encompass the overall feel of this production.  In my view the production feels as events are projected through a Bennett lens in that they are nostalgic and homely Yorkshire working class with a touch of palatable tragedy.  The History Boys is set in the early 1980s, but there is a timeless feel, except for the snippets of early eighties electronic hits played between the scenes.  I like the way this play captures the lives of a group of young men at a crossroads point in their lives.  The play deals really well with sexual and intellectual awakening and embeds three different approaches to education in the characters of the three teachers.  The set is not  over cluttered and the revolving stage is used to great effect.  This cast interact really well together and this is an excellent production.

 Further Information

http://www.wyp.org.uk/events/event_details.asp?event_ID=5536

Reviews and Previews

The History Boys (West Yorkshire Playhouse) reviewed in The Guardian
The History Boys (West Yorkshire Playhouse) reviewed…

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The Hypochondriac (York Theatre Royal, 28th October 2009) and The Grapes of Wrath (West Yorkshire Playhouse 4th November 2009)

Over the last two weeks, I have seen two very different English Touring Theatre productions, one a comedy and the other a tragedy.  The thing about English Touring Theatre is you do know you’re on safe ground, and the story will come first and I feel with these productions that there is little ambiguity.

All of a sudden there are lots of Molieres around.  There was The Miser at Manchester Royal Exchange, The Tartuffe at York Theatre Royal, The Misanthrope about to open in London and this English Touring Company production of The Hypochondriac. This is great because with Moliere we know that we will be laughing in the theatre.

I like the aesthetic of the English Touring Theatre production of The Hypochondriac, and it made me think of all those eighteenth century French painting such as Watteau and Chardin.  It was very funny as well, though I am starting to understand the Moliere structure and finding it easy to work out will happen.  This was a good night out at the theatre.  For me, it was entertaining and not something that made me think about the issues raised.  I think what the company are aiming for is about good storytelling in the theatre and so there are no frills or risks taken, which can be a good thing at times, because a production can feel clean and clear.  

In comparison to The Hypochondriac, The Grapes of Wrath  at the West Yorkshire Playhouse was also a very good example of storytelling on stage, and it was bleak and sad rather than funny like Moliere.   The approach to The Grapes of Wrath  reminded me of the Brecht I’d seen a couple of weeks ago in that it is episodic and we follow characters through lots of different situations.  I’ve never read the novel, and so I don’t know the story well, but I just felt that I knew where this was going.  As we followed the family on the journey and I felt that, like the Moliere, I could guess what would happen at the end, but I didn’t want to know because it would be heartbreaking.   The stage was fairly bleak with an interesting use of multimedia to portray the American Dream, which was an ironic commentary on what was actually happening.  The stage started as a wheat field and became a road, a barn and the camps.   The car which moved around the stage representing the long and difficult journey where death visits the family on the way to a kind of promised land which is really an illusion. 

I think English Touring Theatre’s approach has its place, but I feel it needs to be alongside other types of approaches to text-based drama such as Belt Up and Kneehigh, and what is happening at the National Theatre, Donmar and RSC.

Reviews and Previews: The Hypochondriac

Preview of The Hypochondriac in York Press
The Hypochondriac reviewed on York Press

 

Reviews and Previews: The Grapes of Wrath

The Grapes of Wrath at Chichester reviewed in The Stage
Evening Standard on The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath at Chichester reviewed in The Telegraph
WoS The Grapes of Wrath at Chichester

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The Black Album (West Yorkshire Playhouse, 21st October 2009)

I wouldn’t say that this was gripping theatre and some of the effects were just a little bit cliched.  All those flashing lights on the white set with phrases about life in the 1980s such as ‘Greed is Good’ and ‘Material Girl’  and all that music from the 80s that was about power and material items, just became a little cloying.  I felt that the pre show didn’t really add much more to the narrative other than to say this was the eighties, because I wasn’t sure that the play was a tale of morals against the coverting of material wealth.   I suppose the play’s title, in its reference to the pop sar Prince’s album, the Black Album, was supposed to have some significance to the narrative.   Apart from the fact that the central character, Shahid Hasan, liked Prince, I struggled to see the point unless the title related to Salman Rushdie’s book and if it the association did not work for me.  However,  I did learn something from watching the play and I did get caught up with the story, so I don’t want to be negative about my experience.  The problem was the story was so predictable and I did feel that all the way through I wasn’t surprised or challenged.  I felt that everything was laid out for the audience in such a way that at each moment I just knew what was going to happen in the next moment.  Characters had long speeches about what they stood for, so it just didn’t feel like they were engaged in dialogue with each other.  I became annoyed about the characters doing the scene changes in character and as they were only moving a desk and sofa from one place to another, it didn’t feel like it served a purpose.  I got so fed up with the clothes and the main character taking is trousers on and off, because yes I know clothes are about identity, the play didn’t need to lay it on with a trowel.

Yes the issues were complex and we were being asked to explore different points of view.  However, the play presented it all in a too simplistic way and the characters were often one-dimensional and feeling clearly that they were intended to represent types, rather than be rounded interesting complex characters.

Reviews and Previews (National Theatre)

Official London Theatre review of Black Album
Black Album reviewed in The Telegraph
Black Album Reviewed in The Stage
The Black Album what Michael Billington the Guardian…
Black Album in the Independent (National Production)
WOS Review of the Black Album
The Guardian roundup of the reviews of Black Album
The Black Album in the Financial Times
Independent review of Black Album
Evening Standard on Black Album
Independent on Sunday on Troilus and Cressida and Black Album

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