UK Theatre Network

I have nothing to declare except my genius

As part of the Charles Court Opera season at the Rosie celebrating the centenary of Gilbert’s death, Martin Lamb’s lecture recital introduces the real life people behind the Savoy Operas. His lecture is interspersed with songs from Patience, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, and many others.

In 1918 Lytton Strachey published a famous book about eminent Victorians. His work redefined biography and took the glitter off some very prominent Victorians -  Cardinal Manning, Dr. Arnold, Florence Nightingale, and General Gordon. In Strachey’s view the Victorian age was overrated and their only true achievement were the operas by Gilbert & Sullivan. And their operas did make fun of prominent figures of the Victorian age. 

In H.M.S. Pinafore a bureaucrat and politician who is more used to shuffling papers than seamanship is made Ruler of the Queen’s Navy. It is, of course, the hilarious character of Sir Joseph Porter KCB. Lamb assumes that this character was based on the businessman and moralist W.H. Smith who held the monopoly of bookshops in railway stations and received an appointment to the admiralty. Porter is a caricature of Smith, not a fair portrayal, but Gilbert meant Porter to represent a wider trend in society.

Patience satirizes the aesthetic movement and their leaders – Oscar Wilde and Whistler who are represented by the character Bunthorne. Wilde was an artistic icon although, at that time, he had published only his first volume of poetry. Gilbert saw the tendency of people to fall under the spell of movements just because they are fashionable. Little has changed since then.

Martin Lamb’s illuminating lecture covered much more than the two examples I have given here. His recital of some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most popular songs, accompanied by David Eaton, was truly beautiful.     

 

 

 

 

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde’s “trivial comedy for serious people”, gets a seriously good revival in the final production to grace the Library Theatre stage.

In just over a century this pearl among plays has taken its place alongside the classics of the canon.  Wilde’s sparkling wit and idiosyncratic style reach their acme in a text which is now so universally familiar that, like Hamlet, every line seems to be a quotation.

Director Chris Honer has assembled a cast of familiar faces (including old favourite Leigh Symonds as a brace of butlers) alongside a new generation of acting talent.  Among his discoveries is floppy-haired fop Alex Felton, a long-limbed, lissom youth who seems to have been born to play the role of the incorrigible Algie.  Florence Hall’s Cecily is perfect as the Victorian type of unspoiled innocence, although Natalie Grady as the more worldly Gwendolen has the edge on them both when it comes to comic timing.

Simon Harrison brings humour and sweetness to the otherwise stolid Jack Worthing, and Olwen May’s very funny turn as dotty governess Miss Prism gives the character more than her usual share of charm.  However Malcolm James’s cameo as the inveterate celibate Rev Chasuble nearly steals the whole show, wringing a laugh from every line without ever overplaying.  In fact the whole production is an example of what can be achieved from truth and taste, something Wilde would have appreciated.

It may seem strange, but the best example of this self-imposed restraint is the director’s decision to have Lady Bracknell played in drag.  Russell Dixon’s solid bulldog build and uncompromising masculinity mean that even though he speaks in low and moderate tones his Lady Bracknell has an underlying authority.  Ironically this enables him to play her as a living, breathing woman, rather than as the shrill caricature which is often the character’s fate. 

Designer Judith Croft’s opulent sets consist of a wall of slats with a beautiful cut-out design and a well-matched assemblage of antique furniture,  And her mouth-watering costumes almost deserve their own billing: the Lady Bracknell tout ensemble plays a huge part in Russell Dixon’s transformation, while Alex Felton seems to have become Ms Croft’s fashion muse.  How else could she have dreamed up those divine crimson shot-silk breeches?  And who else could possible have carried them off with such aplomb?

There can’t be a theatre-goer in the region who doesn’t have a soft spot for Manchester’s lovely Library Theatre and who doesn’t regret the closure of the little auditorium buried in the Central Library’s basement.  However the Library Theatre Company itself lives on and will be performing at The Lowry for the next few seasons.  And at least The Importance if Being Earnest is a high-point for the company to take leave of its home of more than half a century.

 

The Importance of Being Earnest is on until Saturday 3 July 2010

Prices: £8.00-£18.00 (concessions available)

Eves: Mon-Thurs @ 7.30pm; Fri & Sat @ 8pm

Matinees: Thurs & Sat @ 3pm

Box Office: 0161 236 7110

www.librarytheatre.com

 

The Picture of Dorian Gray was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine in 1890. There was a mild scandal because of the homoerotic tone of the story. Wilde later revised this edition, making several alterations, and adding new chapters. This version performed by Keith Drinkel omits the additions and concentrates on the relationship between the three men - Dorian Gray, the artist Basil Hallward and Lord Henry Wooton, the society wit.

Drinkel skillfully portrays all characters in this play and keeps the audience's attention throughout. He demonstrates Hallward's dependence on Dorian Gray as his muse, he is "all my art"; Lord Henry Wooton's influence on Dorian Gray as he leads him astray to a life of hedonism; and Dorian's inevitable fall.  Oscar Wilde's lines are excellently delivered when Lord Henry states:"The only way to resist temptation is to yield to it." 
(Carolin Kopplin)

Aug 15 - Aug 22    6 pm nightly
0131 226 0000

Stoker is original piece commissioned by Organic Productions. It is based on the life of Bram Stoker while writing one of the most famous novels of all time – Dracula.

The period drama opens in the home and office of Bram Stoker played by Fergus Kealy with his wife Florence Balcombe Stoker played by Sharon O Donnell. We are brought rapidly into the 1920’s with excellent costume and stage design as we continue to meet all 10 characters of this production including Oscar Wilde played marvellously by Neill Flemming.

This production brings us on bouts of excellent comedy, dapper and sometimes violent waves as we are enthralled into the mind of the writer and what he does or becomes while writing his masterpiece. This period drama is an exciting new work that digs up and dishes out an important part of history well captured with brilliant period design, acting and writing.

We meet such characters as Henry Irving, Arthur Conan Doyle, Oscar Wilde and of course Bram Stoker as well as all of their female partners at the time. We are reminded of the brief liaison Oscar Wilde once had with Florence and sense rivalry between Oscar and Bram while swiftly getting hints of sarcasm and comedy with reference to the sexuality of Oscar at the time.

Henry Irving is portrayed by the dashingly likeable and tall Brian Robinson who you can’t help but love. He carries an air of “save the day while you love me” while Florence Balcombe played by Sharon O’Donnell so dazzlingly brings us into the realness of a wife coping with a husband who is dangerously crossing over to the dark side as we see her so inevitably caring and dealing with the trials and tribulations of her time and her relationships.

Fergus Kealy takes us on the journey of Bram Stoker so superbly as you can’t help but wonder about him immediately as he gives off his writer exterior and introvert interior so slightly in order for the audience to capture him within minutes. He takes us from husband - to writer - to office worker swiftly with superb technique as he brings us on the journey he encountered in his head while writing and creating Dracula.

This production portrays brilliantly the mind of the writer and life of one of the most famous novelists of all time. It is the first time a story has been done on Bram Stoker and his life and is most definitely something you should go and see. The acting and costume design is second to none and you will feel like you are getting beyond your monies worth as you are continuously introduced to some of the most interesting characters of the 1920’s.

 

 

 

VENUES

26 Jan -31 Jan                           New Theatre, Dublin

1 Feb  -18 Feb                           Smock Alley, Dublin

20 Feb – 15 March                     Everyman Place Theatre, Cork

19 March -29 March                   Old Red Lion Theatre, London

4 April – 24 April                        Lowry, Manchester

 

Ticket Price: €15 in Ireland and €12 in London

Show times: 7.30pm

For booking go to www.myspace.com/organicproductionsdublin