Little Eagles, Silence, and American Trade (Hampstead Theatre)

I decided to go to the three new plays at the Hampstead Theatre, as part of  the RSC long ensemble project.  To do this required some complex travel arrangements and a hit on my budget. I’d been watching this long ensemble for three years, and really wanted to see their final performances together on British soil before the project finished. After that very special last matinée/evening performances of King Lear and Romeo and Juliet in April, there was just one last chance to see the long ensemble, and I wanted to make sure I was there.

I did enjoy the actors’ performances, and it was good seeing them in the different character roles, especially Debbie Korley who was really funny as Girl Wonder, and Kirsty Woodward in American Trade. I felt the new plays gave the actors the opportunity to show their range, and have a go at different things. I thought Noma Dumezweni and Darrell D’Silva gave fantastic performances in Little Eagles and I thought Katy Stephens, Christine  Entwistle, Jonjo O’Neil were also superb in Silence. However, I felt that the actors in general didn’t have enough in the plays to work with to demonstrate their outstanding skills. It is not an exaggeration to say that Jonjo O’Neill has performed the best Mercutio I’ve ever seen, and Katy Stephens’s Goneril and then her Cleopatra are highly developed nuanced performances. Noma Dumezweni’s nurse and Paulina were wonderful interpretations and Greg Hicks’ Lear took me on his emotional journey every time I saw it. This new writing just didn’t reach those depths in the same way. It’s not a draw just to see an actor in a thong, especially the actor who was so excellent as Gloucester. For me, when we get down to that it becomes slightly voyeuristic in an odd uncomfortable way and watching an actor of Freshwater’s talent playing such a stereotypical role was disappointing, even though he did a good job at it.  It was all a little bit of an anti climax.

I liked the narrative around Little Eagles, that was the thing that kept me enthralled and the actors’ performances.  However, the play itself was a little wordy and slightly clichéd at times. In comparison Silence was a devised piece exploring sound.  Three narratives were intertwined.  I liked the way that the whole stage was used and that the sense of sage and backstage were broken down. I did find that I cared about the characters and what happened to them. In American Trade, I found I didn’t really care what happened about the characters. I think the point was that they were types, and every type that there was crammed in, which at times made it just too much.  I thought the play was funny and it was fun. I did laugh a lot.

I think I enjoyed the three new plays at the Hampstead Theatre, as I might enjoy an evening out with friends.  They were entertaining and it was always a fun and interesting evening/afternoon out. The plays themselves were just not exceptional. What I didn’t feel was the same sense of excitement afterwards as I did watching the long ensemble in the six Shakespeare plays. I wasn’t left with that sense of wanting to see a production again in the way that makes trekking round the country to see the long ensemble really worth it.  However,  I didn’t go and expect Shakespeare, just some really thought-provoking and interesting new writing, that warranted the RSC to bring it alive.

I am glad that I went to see these plays. It was that one last time to see the long ensemble. I wish the long ensemble luck in New York, and thinking about it makes me want to see Romeo and Juliet again for – one more time.

Previews and Reviews

Julie Raby1 Comment

Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Royal, Newcastle and York)

Two productions of the same play in Theatre Royals in the North of England, yet very different experiences.

In the past month, I have had chance to revisit the RSC’s production of Romeo and Juliet in Newcastle and have seen the Pilot Theatre’s production of the same play in York. Having seen both productions so close together, I wanted to think about them at the same time.

The biggest difference between the two productions is clearly that the creative team working on the RSC production have had the opportunity really fine tune it, as the production has already been running for six months. The work that has gone into the production shows in its transfer to Newcastle. In addition, the RSC production has benefited from the actors working together for some time as part of the RSC’s long ensemble, which has an impact on how they relate and respond to each other.  In contrast the York production is an example of a fresh approach to the text, with some raw edges, from a company who have met recently just for this production.

The RSC production started its life on the Courtyard Theatre thrust stage. When I saw it for the first time, I felt it was the best thing coming out of the RSC long ensemble (first seen 17th May). In moving to Newcastle, the production has had to transfer from the thrust stage to a proscenium arch stage, and there were many things that had changed in Newcastle in order to take the space into account.  In many ways it is the creation of the distance from the audience  which has also strengthened this particular production. Indeed, the new space highlights the aesthetic  more than the space in Stratford did.  For example, one of things that makes this production so engaging is the way it references film and other media, such as the fight in the opening scene and the masked ball. Both scenes use slow motion to great effect, and are more effective being played in the stage frame. Other features which work well on the Newcastle stage is the reflection of the rose window on the stage when the audience enters the auditorium and it is very clear in the dark cube of the stage area.  Seen from the front across a smaller stage, the chapel within the inner stage is stunning .  There are some additions in Newcastle, one of the nicest is Jonjo O’Neill taking advantage of  the proscenium arch stage to play to the whole audience and  serenade them with a few snatches of Chris de Burgh.  His Mercutio is just as impressive in Newcastle, as it was in Stratford, and I think it is the best performance in the role that I have ever seen.  In moving the fights up stage, and from the raised platform centre stage,  there is a greater emphasis on Mercutio’s surprising and shocking death.  Sam Troughton’s Romeo is laddish and a very exciting  portrayal.  In the balcony scene, he hides amongst the audience as he observes Juliet enter her balcony.  In this case the whole audience become  trees which is a little amusing.  However, this is one thing that was lost for me in the transfer and it was some of the intimacy with the actors that the thrust stage brought. For example, in the Courtyard Theatre, Sam Troughton speaks his lines in the balcony scene from the front of stalls and when I saw it, he actually sat next to me at this point in the play.   Having to climb up steps and go onto the stage takes away that moment he has to be close to the audience.

In contrast, the Pilot version made use of flowers on the stage which were shaped into heart at the start of the play. It was in modern dress production, which made it feel very current for the young audience that was in the night I saw it, who cheered and applauded with delight at the end.  I liked the use of the neon window and the way it became the cross and chapel towards the end of the play.  However, the combination of dress from different historical periods used in the RSC production is very powerful and illustrates the gulf between the generations, but also that sense of the play itself travelling through time and constantly being replayed worked very well for me, especially seeing it again in a different theatre (I discuss this more in my original blog).

The strap line for the Pilot Theatre promotion is ‘Kiss by the book’. I think that the way this line is delivered was one of the things that really illustrated how far the RSC version has benefited from the long ensemble approach. Mariah Gale makes so much more of the line, giving it a real poignancy and establishing the personalities of her Juliet and Sam Troughton’s Romeo that play through the rest of the action.  Indeed, Mariah Gale’s performance is a fantastic performance which is getting even better with time.

Further Information

Pilot Theatre

RSC Romeo and Juliet

Reviews of RSC version

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