THE FESTIVAL, The Catastrophe Trilogy, Lone Twin Theatre, Barbican Theatre 2-13 March
By Nicola Hollinshead
Lone Twin Theatre play with types of narrative forms and structures, space and spacial relationships. The devising process they use for their work includes music, song and dance; some of the performers are more adept at than others, but all of them have an energy and commitment to this style of working that is palpable.
In THE FESTIVAL the action centres around a chance meeting of a man and a woman at an annual music festival that coincides with the yearly viewing of the humpback whale at this particular costal town in Australia.
The company use a Brechtian style of storytelling, which sets a tone of objectivity around the themes of relationships, friendships and family bonds. The effect, especially as the main female character of the piece appears to have a Danish accent, is a slightly off-the-wall Nordic feel, as if the characters are part of an IKEA ad. This, added to the space they work in, a simple traverse staging, and the use of the functional looking set - simple tables and chairs set at either end of the traverse, add to the sparseness of the storytelling and delivery.
Expressions of inner feelings and other emotions are shown through repetitive movements and dance steps which are both oddly moving and comical to watch. The group sing accapella to popular pop songs such as 'Everybody's Got a Hungry Heart' to express the universal longing of human beings towards seeking relationships. Both the characters feel an attraction when they meet and vow to meet again the same weekend the following year, but when they do, they both want different things; the male character wants the reunion to initiate a potential relationship and the female character doesn't and decides her life, her relationship with her mother, her colleagues and her friends is enough for her. What we don't feel however is any real investment in them as characters as they are not presented to in a way for us to care about them or get to know much about them. We are presented with 'information' and acted out scenes of their lives with their respective circles of contacts, but they are, like the set, purely functional.
The use of group singing is also both comical and poignant because of their commitment to it and to the message of the song more so than being 'note perfect', even though they can almost all hold a tune well. It is the intensity they feel for the songs they sing together that touches us and how they unselfconciously physicalise each nuance of the song. We laugh as we recognise ourselves dancing alone in our bedrooms to our favourite tunes or playing air-guitar to a favourite rock song.
Whether the subject of this episode of the Trilogy can really be defined a 'catastrophe' is questionable, but the approach and style of work which is compelling. The actors Antoine Fraval, Guy Dartnell, Molly Haslund, Nina Tecklenburg and Paul Gazzola are totally committed to the work and style of perfomance and it shows, and once we adapt to the style, we quickly accept the theatrical conventions they use for their storytelling. The lightness of touch and playfulness of the piece leave you feeling uplifted and intrigued.
2010
The Catastrophe Trilogy:
Alice Bell, Daniel Hit By A Train, The Festival
Three pieces shown either on consecutive
nights or back-to-back.
Please check websites for details.
1st - 13th March
Barbican, London
www.barbican.org.uk
16th, 17th, 18th March
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
www.thelbt.org
20th March
The Point, Eastleigh
www.thepointeastleigh.co.uk
22nd, 23rd, 24th April
The Studio, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
www.royalexchange.co.uk
26th April
Aberystwyth Arts Centre / Canolfan Y Celfyddydau
www.aber.ac.uk/artscentre
1st May
Studio 1, Dartington
www.dartington.org/arts
8th May
Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster
www.nuffieldtheatre.com
18th - 22nd May
Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels
www.kfda.be
27th - 29th May
Festival Ad Werf, Utrecht
www.huisaandewerf.nl
The Festival
27th March
ICIA, University of Bath
www.bath.ac.uk/icia
28th April
Theatre 1, Roland Levinsky Building, University of Plymouth
www.peninsula-arts.co.uk
3rd May
Colcester Arts Centre
www.colchesterartscentre.com
6th May
The Civic, Barnsley
www.barnsleycivic.co.uk
11th May
Corn Exchange, Brighton
www.brightonfestival.org
Noel Coward’s Private Lives
By TREMAYNE MillerNoel Coward’s Private Lives PRESS NIGHT
at the Vaudeville Theatre on Tuesday 03 March 2010
Directed by Richard Eyre, starring Kim Cattrall (Amanda), and Matthew Macfadyen (Elyot). Produced by Duncan C Weldon & Sonia Friedman Productions.
Published by: Tremayne
"I think very few people are completely normal really, deep down in their private lives. It all depends on a combination of circumstances. If all the various cosmic thingummys fuse at the same moment, and the right spark is struck, there's no knowing what one mightn't do."
Noel Coward
The play follows divorced couple, Elyot and Amanda, who, five years after their divorce, not only wind up marrying at precisely the same moment in time but also book the exact same hotel to spend their honeymoon in. And if that were not coincidental enough, their suites are next to one another. The contrived situation they find themselves in allows for that Coward structure of wit and deft comedic stagecraft to come out.
“There’s something behind all this”, comments Victor just before he discovers that his newly wed wife, Amanda, has spotted her ex-husband, Elyot, at the same resort as them. The setting is the terrace of an elegant hotel on French Riviera. Although not written into the script, actor Matthew Macfadyen struggles to find his way through the net curtains and onto the balcony, which only adds to the tense atmosphere that has escalated between him and his new bride, Sybil. With each couple’s ‘first disagreement’,Victor stiffly walks off to the bar, as does Sibyl. On their own, Elyot and Amanda,face one another. Amanda asks Elyot for a much needed cigarette. Kim Cattrall (Amanda), fresh faced and elegant as ever, hitches up her Oscar-style cocktail dress to step over onto his side of the balcony. Elyot and Amanda though angry, give the air of being profoundly happy with their new spouses, whilst secretly having already reached a level of boredom.
“You said that Norfolk was flat”, says Elyot who picks Amanda up on her language. She bites back with “Well, that’s no reflection on her (Sybil), unless she made it flatter!, clearly not giving her consent to the new marriage. Music is playing conjuring up fond memories for them both and suggesting that this may have been “their special song”. Amanda, reminiscences over times gone by but is restraining old feelings, as she speaks of what their love led them to: "selfishness, cruelty, hatred, possessiveness, petty jealousy." “Darling, I love you so” says Elyot. Amanda, talking right over the top of him, pretends not to have heard these words. He continues “There isn’t a particle that I don’t know (of you)”, as she succumbs to his every want. They decide to run away together to Paris, regardless of the effect it will have on their reputations, freeing themselves from the ‘outside world’. But, it is only a matter of time before the uncontrollable arguments (‘private lives’) from their marriage past rear their ugly heads.The tour de force and impeccable comic timings of Matthew Macfadyen and Kim Cattrall make this a contagiously funny play to watch.
Private Lives showing at the Vaudeville Theatre from 24 Feb 2010 to 01 May 2010.
The Hare and the Tortoise. Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch.
By kelly potterVicky Ireland's adaptation of The Hare and the Tortoise at the Queen's Theatre forms part of the Theatre for Young Minds programme which is run by the Theatre's Education and Outreach Department. The scheme will be taking the production to schools and children's venues around Essex and East London, aiming to introduce young children to live performance.
Members of Cut to the Chase welcomed the audience into the small village, children could sit in the middle to enjoy the action from all sides. I was shown to my seat by Earnest the Tortoise, the unlikely hero, whilst Gussy Spike, the melodic hedgehog sang us a song and the other characters played us in with a guitar and an accordion.
The evil, fiddle toting Rhoda Skunk informs us, "I'm a business skunk," as she reveals her plans to turn the whole countryside into tarmac, leaving Earnest and his friends homeless in the process. Earnest and Gussy intend to fight Rhoda and Judge Fairweather decides that the matter will be resolved in a race around the town. Harold Bigfeet, the Hare who performs cartwheels and ballet style leaps, will represent the fast team and Earnest, the methodical and thoughtful tortoise, will race for the slow team.
Harold plays many tricks on the honest Ernest including switching road signs, but the audience (eventually) inform Earnest of this. Suddenly the story takes a twist when aliens appear from another world and abduct the racers, leaving the fate of planet Earth in their hands.
Important issues were touched on, such as the need to slow down our fast paced lives and the danger of roads was nicely included during the Green Cross Code song. All sound effects and musical accompaniment were provided by the ever resourceful cast.
Never work with children and animals? Well, the animals in this production were extremely well trained and the children were quiet as mice, sometimes too quiet, but judging by the looks of awe on their faces at the singing and dancing characters, they were highly entertained.
Listings Information
Sat 6 Mar | 11am
Sat 13 Mar | 11am | 2pm
Sat 20 March |11am | 2pm
The Hare and Tortoise
The Queen’s Theatre Foyer, Billet Lane, Hornchurch RM11 1QT
Tube: Hornchurch
Tickets: £5
Box Office: 01708 443333
Website: www.queens-theatre.co.uk
The Hare and the Tortoise stars cut to the chase… members
Sarah-Lee Dicks
Rew Lowe
Lucy Rivers
Adrian Salmon
Joe West
Directed by Patrick O’Sullivan
Design by Rodney Ford
Music by Steven Markwick
Choreography by Emily Parker.
MATRYOSHKA by Tomas Hirst at the Landor Theatre
By Carolin Kopplin
There There is no happy love.
Writer Tomas Hirst and director Oliver Lyttelton return to the stage after their success of In Parallel at the Arcola Theatre to take a fresh look at the traditional courtroom drama. Matryoshka illustrates the brutal mechanism of a seemingly cold and aloof legal system and its effects on those caught up in it.
Sophie (Nanou Harry) and Alexander (Alex Walker) are locked in an increasingly ugly divorce battle. Their focus is not on dividing their considerable assets but on who will be given custody of their daughter Catherine. They hire two ambitious lawyers – Charlotte (Tara Hart) and Leo (John Sandeman) – to help resolve the impasse. Instead of reaching a solution, however, the warring pair drag their legal council into the fraying web of their relationship.
At the same time, Luke (Stefan Doolan), the bipolar son of Charlotte’s cleaner Sue (Ruth Evans), decides to wean himself off his medication. With his state of mind unravelling his mother is given the choice of risking to be judged as an overbearing control-freak or remaining passive while her son is slipping into complete isolation from those around him.
The six characters desperately try to stay in control of their own lives but they find themselves merely fuelling the chaos. The divided couple and Sue are trying to do what is best for their children but their actions only seem to make matters worse.
There are fine performances by the entire ensemble. I was particularly impressed by Ruth Evans as the tormented mother and the cool aloofness of Alex Walker’s husband. Jean Apps convincingly portrays the judge who bears the responsibility for the fate of the child.
Feb. 23 to March 13, 2010 at 7.30 pm
Box Office: 0207 737 7276
Tickets: £ 10 Conc.: £ 8
Landor Theatre, 79 Landor Road, London SW9
Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley
By Katherine HayesDirected by Frances Loy
Theatre delicatessen’s first production in its new home at Picton Place is Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur. A play told at full throttle, Ridley's world is a dark place, survivors on edge creating dark fantasies for those that will pay to play
Elliot (Matt Granados) and his brother Darren (Chris Urch) prepare places for ‘parties’ where people can film their fantasies, Lola (Isaac Jones) helps them prepare for these events.
The play opens with Elliot and Darren finding an abandoned flat to hold the party, they encounter Naz, (Mikey Bharj) a squatter who quickly ingratiates himself in the hope of cadging some drugs from Elliot and to avoid being alone.
The outfit is run by Spinx (Ben Wigzell), a man whose power is seemingly untouchable. The group await the arrival of the party guest, the client whose whims are catered for. Things do not go according to plan and the action moves swiftly to lead the characters to a horrifying and inevitable conclusion.
Much symbolism is present in this work, links between the characters are hinted at but never fully explained.
There are some compelling performances in this production and Loy's confident direction has employed full use of the space to encourage the audience to feel they are in the moment with the characters.
Mercury Fur
3-4 Picton Place W1U 1BJ
Audience should note Strong language is throughout.
Lear and His Daughters at the Rosemary Branch Theatre in Islington
By Carolin Kopplin
Lear
Lear and his daughters fight it out in the swinging sixties.
Bobby Fincher, the founder of Spadra Bus Theatre Company, transports King Lear into the swinging sixties as the youth rebellion begins. The 1960s were typified by a fraught division between the old and the young. Fincher sees this as a perfect backdrop for Lear and his daughters. When the play opens Lear is bestowing his kingdom on “younger strengths” but are they ready to take the world into their own hands? And is Lear ready to give it up?
Fincher interprets the tale as a rebellion of youth against age and tradition and compares it with the rebellion and sexual revolution of the 1960s. Sadly, this idea does not quite work. It remains unclear what Fincher thought he could bring to the play by setting it in the 1960s. The actors wear sixties costumes and there is the occasional slide show depicting relevant events of the era such as the student rebellion, the deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King jr. or the Vietnam War accompanied by music - mostly by the Beatles. Lear liberates his daughters from his paternal care and empowers Goneril and Regan by dividing his kingdom between them. True. But why is Goneril’s and Regan’s affair with Edmund compared to the sexual revolution of the 1960s? I don’t see the connection. These extramarital affairs had been going on for centuries. Interpreting their desire for Edmund as Goneril’s and Regan’s “sexual liberation” is stretching it somewhat. It does not help that the play was cut down to a length of less than two hours.
However, it was interesting to see two actors playing Lear. Robert Rowe portrays the king with quiet authority and stubbornness. Chris Bearne takes over when Lear is beginning to lose his mind giving a very intense and touching performance. The only character who truly took me back to the 1960s was Suzanne Kendall’s Foole. With her shrill excitement the Foole reminded me of Barbra Streisand in her best comic roles of that era.
The production is presented by the Spadra Bus Theatre Company and was produced and co-directed by Suzanne Kendall and Hannah Mercer who also perform in the play. They received support from guest director Luke Dixon of Nomad Theatre.
16 to 24 February Tue – Fri 7.30 pm Sat and Sun 3.00, 6.30 pm
Tickets: £ 12 / £ 10 (concessions)
BOX OFFICE: 020 7704 6665
The Rosemary Branch, 2 Shepperton Road, London N1 3DT
Night Fright: The Nightmare of Your Life
By Steve Burbridge
Night Fright: The Nightmare of Your Life
The Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage
Ian Dickens and Chris Moreno have joined forces, gathered together a talented cast, and produced a spine-tingling thriller that takes you down more blind alleys and dead ends than a dysfunctional sat-nav.
Night Fright, by Roger S. Moss, tells the story of newly-married Frank and Jenny Gilman. Having found the home of their dreams in an idyllic country village, they look forward to their future together. However, all is not as it seems and their dream soon becomes a nightmare.
Returning from their exotic honeymoon a day earlier than expected, they are thrust into the middle of a macabre secret enterprise that is going on all around them. As they attempt to discover what is happening, they are attacked by intruders, lied to by locals and forced to fight for their very lives.
Paul Opacic and Helen George play Frank and Jenny to perfection. The sexual chemistry between them is palpable and they are a convincing couple. Ben Roberts is brilliant as the evasive and slightly untrustworthy estate agent, Mr Watson, but it is Louise English, as the Lesley Joseph-esque Jacqui Henderson, who absolutely steals the show as she prowls around in black knee-length stiletto boots and a black leather mini.
The script is tight and the direction is slick as the tension builds to its nerve-jangling crescendo. Several ingenious red herrings and plot devices throw you off the scent, and the revelation of what has been happening under the Gilman’s noses drew gasps of breath from the audience.
Night Fright is a top-notch thriller that has been beautifully staged and is superbly performed.
Steve Burbridge.
Theatre Royal Bath Productions presents ‘Pride and Prejudice’
By TREMAYNE MillerTheatre Royal Bath Productions presents ‘Pride and Prejudice’,
Richmond TheatrePublished by: Tremayne (Potter)
An impressive opening displaying a raised stage which character Mary Bennett, played by Victoria Hamnett, approaches plucking on her violin as she does so. The music builds up as each member of the cast, alternating between male and female comes onto the stage. After they have taken up their positions there is a steady build-up of stamping feet, almost replicating Riverdance.
When we are introduced to The Bennett Family and Kitty (Leah Whitaker) I felt her coughing in the scene a little overacted.
The scene where Jane (Violet Ryder) has taken to her bed with a cold it is creatively put together through imaginative stagecraft. The actress stands on top of a chair holding a white sheet up against her as a blanket, whilst another actor holds a pillow in place.
Elizabeth (Katie Lightfoot) comes to join her beloved sister Jane, scampering across the countryside, shown through a use of abrupt violin sounds and sudden, jerky running movements across the expanse of the stage.
I particularly liked Kitty’s sudden shrieks of laughter when she visits Mr Bingley’s (Alex Felton) abode with her mother (Susan Hampshire).
As Mr Collins (Tom Mothersdale) arrives, he is introduced standing on top of a chair, reading a letter aloud, the spotlight shining down on him. As he greets Lizzie the second eldest Bennett daughter, and Jane, he bows right down to the floor.
When the dining table is brought in we can see that the food is quite literally stuck to it, along with the plates and cutlery, and wine glasses. Very comical!
To denote the time passing, a male member of the cast crouches underneath and behind the various pieces of furniture and intermittently rises up and down as the big hand strikes.
Tom Mothersdale plays Mr Collins in a Mr Bean/Lee Evans style, particularly when Elizabeth Bennett opts to dance at The Ball with Mr Darcy (Nicholas Taylor), escaping his clutches.
One of my two favourite scenes in ‘Pride & Prejudice’ is where Lizzie declines Mr Darcy’s initial proposal of marriage, quite clearly in love with him but is, at this point in the story, wanting to ascertain what, if any, are his exact motives.
In Act II, The Bennett Family contemplate a holiday in Brighton when two soldiers ride past them, waving as they go. These men each ride on another person’s shoulders, that person sporting a horse’s head. The audience found this very amusing.
With the mention of Derbyshire, Chatsworth and Dovedale fond memories are conjured up inside my head of where I grew up.
Mr Darcy’s abode is visited. The family portraits are admired by all and are cleverly depicted by cast members holding up chairs and peering through their empty backs, creating the appearance of picture frames.
Slight disappointment came when the production managed to leave out the ‘wet shirt’ scene made famous by the BBC interpretation, when all of womankind then hankered after Colin Firth’s Mr Darcy!
A line that rests in my mind is one spoken by Mr Darcy to Elizabeth right at the end of the play when he says to her, having realized just how much they mean
to one another: “..by you, I was properly humbled.” It is then brought to a cleverly thought out finale through a series of letters, thus allowing for a strip in scene changes. I found this production extremely imaginative, well produced and highly entertaining.
11 and 12 Peter Brook - C.I.C.T/Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, Barbican Theatre until 27 February
By Nicola Hollinshead
The air of reverential expectation was almost palpable amongst the audience at the Barbican on Wednesday night for the opening of Peter Brook's latest offering 11 AND 12. In keeping with his tradition of simple staging, the vast canvas was spread out before us - colourful cloths and a few African objects effectively placing us within the setting for the story based on the novel by Malian writer Amandou Hampate Ba, adapted by Marie-Helene. Set in Mali during the French occupation it tells the true tale of the feud that developed over whether an Islamic prayer should be repeated 11 or 12 times and how the reprecussions of this tiny incident develop into bloodshed and controversy.
However, 90 minutes later, the audience are not even aware of it having ended and there is a prolonged delay before one brave soul breaks the silence and applauds and the rest of us as if woken from a trance, join in. There is a reason - the energy of the piece is sermon-like and deadening, the action is almost non-existent and the exploration of the central theme being largely narrated adds a further distancing. The performances are competent but somewhat stiff, the accents of the multicultural cast are heavy and there is no shape or change of pace to the storytelling.
It has a meditative feel, which in some respects is comforting and safe, like the folds of the cloths around the distinguished sages, but watching it as a piece of theatre ultimately makes you feel you are slowly being drugged into a state of catatonic amnesia.
Brook, it seems, is a great admirer of the writer Amandou Hampate Ba and has been wanting to create this piece for 50 years and this feels like his personal homage to him. At its centre is the absurdity of religion and religioius fundamentalism but the piece is full of truisms that take us nowhere new. What we are longing for is a learning or a realising of something new and profound and this offers us neither.
There are moments however, such as the final meeting between the two main spiritual leaders Tierno Bokar and Cherif Hamallal, where the two walk slowly together at the back of the stage in the way of deeply spiritual and actualised beings who are not of this world, that you really do feel you are in the presence of two such leaders. The tempo and feeling is one you would find on a spiritual retreat.
Whether or not this works as a piece of theatre is another matter; or maybe that is the 'experience' that Brook wants us to undergo with this production. It doesn't take us anywhere new or offers new insights, but is a slice of storytelling that does capture at times a true feeling of the essence of spirituality. It is both disappointing yet curious. Sometimes compelling in the beauty of its simplicity of staging and interestingly punctuated by the emotional music of Toshi Tsuchitori and yet at the end you are left wondering if you have missed something or if you have just been expecting too much.
Waxing Lyrical - The Story of Madame Tussaud
By Carolin Kopplin
The Rosemary Branch Theatre in Islington - winner of „Best Theatre“ in the 2010 Fringe Report Awards - presents a solo performance by Judith Paris about the life of Madame Tussaud. Although her name graces one of the main tourist attractions in London little is known about the life of Marie Tussaud.
Aptly directed by Ninon Jerome, Judith Paris recounts the story of this remarkable woman who was arrested as a royalist during the horrors of the French revolution and barely escaped the guillotine. Marie Tussaud tells her younger son the story of her life before the opening of her new show. Now aged 72 she has been working hard since she was a child to become a gifted artist as well as a successful business woman. She describes how she was taught the art of waxwork by her uncle Philippe Curtius against the explicit wishes of her mother who saw her daughter in a more traditional role. Marie eventually married but left her husband and her younger son to tour the towns of Britain with her wax cabinet, fighting off competition against a background of fire, riot, shipwreck, and betrayal. Madame Tussaud became one of the greatest showpeople along with P.T. Barnum - which makes one wonder: How much of her story is really true?
Judith Paris, who has also written the play, gives a beautiful performance as the admirable Marie Tussaud.
9 – 14 February 2010, Tue – Sat 7.30 pm, Sun 3 pm
Tickets: £ 12 / £ 10 (concessions)
BOX OFFICE: 020 7704 6665
The Rosemary Branch, 2 Shepperton Road, London N1 3DT
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