An excellent play which lived up to the hype. AB weaves all the differing stands of arguement about the nature and value of education. In today's world of league tables and parental anxiety about schooling, AB's play gives much food for thought. What is the point of being able to simply pass exams when you can't really learn? Can knowledge be examined? Is there no merit in learning for learning's sake? It was laced with so much humour and wit in the repartee between pupil and teacher. I liked the 80's soundtrack and use of filmic material - can't see how it would work on film when it has some highly theatrical and poetic monologues. Definitely want to try to read the script at some point.
Showing posts with label Theatre. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theatre. Show all posts
Tuesday, 6 March 2007
The History Boys by Alan Bennett @ Wyndhams, London
An excellent play which lived up to the hype. AB weaves all the differing stands of arguement about the nature and value of education. In today's world of league tables and parental anxiety about schooling, AB's play gives much food for thought. What is the point of being able to simply pass exams when you can't really learn? Can knowledge be examined? Is there no merit in learning for learning's sake? It was laced with so much humour and wit in the repartee between pupil and teacher. I liked the 80's soundtrack and use of filmic material - can't see how it would work on film when it has some highly theatrical and poetic monologues. Definitely want to try to read the script at some point.
Monday, 12 February 2007
Uncle Vanja @ Wilton's Music Hall
Saturday 10th Feb
Have wanted to check out this venue for a while now and this Mamet adaptation spurred me to action. What a fabulous space! Light blue crumbly walls and Indian murals at the back of the Balcony - it was shabby yet sophisticated like some grand dame. It was therefore such an apt venue for a play about decay. Michael Billington has said that he measures his life out in Uncle Vanya's and funnily enough, the last production that I watched was the one with SSB @ the Donmar. Okay so Colin Stinton wasn't as charismatic but the bitterness of his existence was very moving, his tears flowing freely in the final scene with Sonya. I was pretty curious to watch him as he's worked with Mamet a lot and he managed to pull off a British accent really well. Rachael Stirling was a complete chip off the old block - I've watched her mother in Medea many years ago and it was startling to see it mirrored- the voice, the gestures and the poise!
Turns out that Charlie Cridlan who I went to uni with and was extremnely talented even then designed the show so we had a reason to hang around for the after-show drinks where I tried really hard not to gawp at Sue Johnson (from The Royle Family)! It was very sad though to see Max Stafford-Clark once the Artistic Director of The Royal Court wheelchair bound and frail. Pretty sobering to see evidence of how time ravages the physical self, all the more poignant after the Margaret Salmon exhibition.
Have wanted to check out this venue for a while now and this Mamet adaptation spurred me to action. What a fabulous space! Light blue crumbly walls and Indian murals at the back of the Balcony - it was shabby yet sophisticated like some grand dame. It was therefore such an apt venue for a play about decay. Michael Billington has said that he measures his life out in Uncle Vanya's and funnily enough, the last production that I watched was the one with SSB @ the Donmar. Okay so Colin Stinton wasn't as charismatic but the bitterness of his existence was very moving, his tears flowing freely in the final scene with Sonya. I was pretty curious to watch him as he's worked with Mamet a lot and he managed to pull off a British accent really well. Rachael Stirling was a complete chip off the old block - I've watched her mother in Medea many years ago and it was startling to see it mirrored- the voice, the gestures and the poise!
Turns out that Charlie Cridlan who I went to uni with and was extremnely talented even then designed the show so we had a reason to hang around for the after-show drinks where I tried really hard not to gawp at Sue Johnson (from The Royle Family)! It was very sad though to see Max Stafford-Clark once the Artistic Director of The Royal Court wheelchair bound and frail. Pretty sobering to see evidence of how time ravages the physical self, all the more poignant after the Margaret Salmon exhibition.
Thursday, 21 December 2006
Caroline, or Change @ the National Theatre - Lyttelton
Another fantastic show at the National, it's fast becoming my favourite venue. Don't think i've been to a musical in years but the fact that this was written by Tony Kushner swayed me. Found out after that Michael Billington had given it 5 stars in The Guardian (5 stars!! that's so rare, the man is so notoriously difficult to please). Despite all the glowing reviews, half the auditorium was empty which was such a shame. It's a show that really deserves to be seen by more people, I was so moved by the story I had to hold back my tears. Caroline's impotent anger at how her life has turned out coupled with the longing for the return of her son in Vietnam and the loneliness of single motherhood is hardly the such of musicals. The bluesy, soul music just added to the verve and poignancy of her piece. Even in the minor roles, the actors gave such great performances; from the Jewish, clarinet playing father stuck on the stairway pining for his dead wife to Caroline's sassy daughter furious at her mother's silent surrender. The show even had a singing moon, a favourite image of mine harking back to the Queen of the Night in Mozart's Magic Flute.
Wednesday, 20 December 2006
The Seafarer @ the National Theatre, Cottesloe
I'd been looking forward to the new Conor McPherson play for quite a while 'The Weir' being one of the earliest Royal Court production I watched when I first came to London. It was outstanding and such great-story telling that you forgot you were in a West End theatre. The disparate stories became completely intimate and the emotions so intense it was an unforgettable experience.
'The Seafarer' surpassed 'The Weir' - the structure was much more sophisticated and the interplay between the four characters delicately balanced. Conleth Hill (he of 'Stones in his Pocket' fame) especially was priceless conveying a man on the edge of domestic breakdown with comic pathos. Jom Norton playing the blind Richard Harkin made me think of Hamm in Beckett's 'Endgame' (one of my all-time favourite plays). But the play essentially dramatised the individual (represented by Sharky) confronting their demons, facing a final judgement and having to account for past sins, the story fundamentally revolves around Sharky's interior dialogue with the devil whose description of hell was spine-shilling. Massive 'Thank you' to Craig for getting us such great seats - it was Bob's first time at the theatre and I'm so glad it was such a good experience for him.
'The Seafarer' surpassed 'The Weir' - the structure was much more sophisticated and the interplay between the four characters delicately balanced. Conleth Hill (he of 'Stones in his Pocket' fame) especially was priceless conveying a man on the edge of domestic breakdown with comic pathos. Jom Norton playing the blind Richard Harkin made me think of Hamm in Beckett's 'Endgame' (one of my all-time favourite plays). But the play essentially dramatised the individual (represented by Sharky) confronting their demons, facing a final judgement and having to account for past sins, the story fundamentally revolves around Sharky's interior dialogue with the devil whose description of hell was spine-shilling. Massive 'Thank you' to Craig for getting us such great seats - it was Bob's first time at the theatre and I'm so glad it was such a good experience for him.
Friday, 10 November 2006
Orestes presented by Shared Experience @ The Tricycle, London
Electra was really good although I couldn't help thinking that they should have cast someone younger for that role. Same for Orestes - both are good performers. Another encounter with a new play so it was therefore quite invigorating. I realise that I tend to watch certain plays over and over again; e.g. Hamlet - with Toby Stevens, Ralph Fiennes, Adrian Lester or Death of a Salesman or your various Ibsens, plays which I've read or studied and watching it becomes a bit of a Brechtian reconstruction of events with an academic detatchment.
Amongst all other genres of theatre, Greek drama has got great, strong and flawed female characters - Antigone, Medea, Electra, Clytemnestra, Helen of Troy even... Pretty Rad!
Amongst all other genres of theatre, Greek drama has got great, strong and flawed female characters - Antigone, Medea, Electra, Clytemnestra, Helen of Troy even... Pretty Rad!
Thursday, 9 November 2006
The Life of Galileo @ The National, Olivier
What a little gem of a play, have watched Brecht's 'Mother Courage' and 'Caucasian Chalk Circle' both at The National but never this one before so it was nice to have an entirely new encounter with fresh eyes. Betrayal, renouncing, recanting,... they all have such potent historical reverberations in modern history.
How do we define this thing called Faith? Is that purely religious? What about the faith that Galileo shows in Science and Reason? The faith that young Andreas shows in integrity and truth that he thinks Galileo exemplifies? What have we got in place of faith if we destroy it? Does knowledge corrupt? Is ignorance bliss? Can Brecht be saying that education teaches you doubt and is therefore a destructive force that makes you question everything?
There is a pivotal scene that takes place in Florence with the Grand Duke's tutors where Galileo insists that the debate be held in plain language so that his craftsman friend who does not understand Latin can follow the arguements. He insists on removing the boundaries that seperate academia from the common people, to bring enlightenment to fellow humans who have been deliberately kept out of the dark. But in the end, in an unexpected twist (perhaps another recantment) the book that he gets Andreas to smuggle out of the country is written in Latin. It also becomes the main reason the book survives as its contents are incomprehensible to the border guards. A play to set you thinking about a whole host of issues. SSB was pretty good, played Galileo with such passion and conviction. Watched him before in the Donmar's 'Uncle Vanya' which suited Chekhov's intimate drama which also had Helen McCrory. I'm now looking to pick up a copy of the play to read through.
9.5/10
How do we define this thing called Faith? Is that purely religious? What about the faith that Galileo shows in Science and Reason? The faith that young Andreas shows in integrity and truth that he thinks Galileo exemplifies? What have we got in place of faith if we destroy it? Does knowledge corrupt? Is ignorance bliss? Can Brecht be saying that education teaches you doubt and is therefore a destructive force that makes you question everything?
There is a pivotal scene that takes place in Florence with the Grand Duke's tutors where Galileo insists that the debate be held in plain language so that his craftsman friend who does not understand Latin can follow the arguements. He insists on removing the boundaries that seperate academia from the common people, to bring enlightenment to fellow humans who have been deliberately kept out of the dark. But in the end, in an unexpected twist (perhaps another recantment) the book that he gets Andreas to smuggle out of the country is written in Latin. It also becomes the main reason the book survives as its contents are incomprehensible to the border guards. A play to set you thinking about a whole host of issues. SSB was pretty good, played Galileo with such passion and conviction. Watched him before in the Donmar's 'Uncle Vanya' which suited Chekhov's intimate drama which also had Helen McCrory. I'm now looking to pick up a copy of the play to read through.
9.5/10
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