UK Theatre Network

                       We live, I regret to say, in an age of surfaces.

The Rose Theatre, undeservedly plagued by financial woes because it does not receive any arts council funding whatsoever, presents an excellent production of Wilde’s most popular play with a fantastic cast. Unwin sees The Importance of Being Earnest as a satire on the state of affairs: “The high propriety of Lady Bracknell in all things marital; the hypocrisy of Algernon and Jack; the indelicacy of Cecily and Gwendolen; the hidden secrets of Prism and Chasuble; the voracious appetites lurking beneath the genteel surface; and the never-ending inversion of the moral and the serious with the trivial and the pleasurable, are all designed to mock a particular set of Victorian mores.”  Unwin presents a fresh and new view of Wilde’s classic play. His comic timing and tempo are impeccable although I could not quite see the necessity for two intervals for this particular play. It rather slows things down. 

Quite often the young lovers seem interchangeable but in this production Algy (Bruce Mackinnon) is suave and urbane, a bit mischievous, whereas Jack (Daniel Brocklebank) is suitably nervous and indignant. Jane Asher plays a fairly young Lady Bracknell, quite different from the usually brazen character. Still authoritative her reaction to the handbag story is quite restrained, to great comic effect. Kirsty Besterman’s Gwendolen is charming and amiable yet already a younger version of her mother whilst Jenny Rainsford conveys the sweetness and shallowness of her character perfectly when she refuses to do her German lesson because it makes her look plain. Richard Corderey, who can also be seen in repertory with Jane Asher in Farewell to the Theatre, plays Rev. Canon Chasuble with gentle humour and affection when he carefully tiptoes towards a relationship with the delightful Miss Prism (Ishia Bennison). 

This is a production worth seeing so please make your way to the wonderful Rose Theatre in Kingston! 

Until 30^th October 2011
Rose Theatre - Kingston 2008. 24-26 High Street, Kingston, KT1 1HL

Box office: 08444 821556

 

THE GOD OF SOHO

BY CHRIS HANNAN

at the Shakespeare’s Globe

 ‘There used to be a certain amount of solidarity in all things but now what happens?  Everything is exposed to the public gaze.  Veils are thrown back, every wound is probed by careless fingers, we are forever present at an orgy of scandalous revelations.’ Fyodor Dostoevs

© Writer: Tremayne

We are lead into the show by a live band, whose sound is not unlike that of Suggs.  The front man encourages us, the audience, to raise our hands in the air in response to the music, and directs us to switch off our mobile phones.  An alternative, more imaginative way of incorporating stage directions into a performance, I felt, delivering them through a poetic-type Rap.

It is then that we establish we are in a camp-type heaven, as Phil Daniels, who plays Big God utters, ‘you can’t come back unless you forgive him, that’s the law I’m afraid’, to his daughter, who, when he exits, is set up as The Goddess of Love.

In the third scene the handbag tramp Edwardo (Richard Clews) comes across as holding all the secrets to celebrity star Natty’s life. She is played by Emma Pierson (best known to television viewers for the part she played in Hotel Babylon.) The God of Soho is her stage debut and she appears to thrive on publicity!

When The Goddess of Love finds herself in the company of Edwardo, he asks her if she has any illnesses.  He is blatantly obsessed with his own, having already made it known that he considers himself to be a bi-polar schizophrenic.  He seems highly disappointed when he learns she is of sound mind and body.

Big God delivers many corker lines but the most memorable is, when he says, ‘I’ll eat this problem and shit it!’

 

‘..From Hollywood’s earliest days there are reports of fans requesting film star’s soap, a chewed piece of gum, cigarette butts, lipstick tissues and even a blade of grass from a star’s lawn..  The term St Thomas effect refers to the compulsion  to authenticate a desired object by travelling to it, touching it and photographing it.’
Chris Rojek, Celebrity
 

The handbag, full of fetish items, becomes the focal point, as everyone’s lives are mapped out, dependent on where the bag ends up. 

We are at now about a third of the way through the play and, out of the corner of my eye, I spot one of  the Critics in my row make a swift exit. I felt this was unfair, not to hang on and allow the story to develop.

 

The Goddess of Love encourages Natty to go to open the bag, something the New God (William Mannering) sees from up above. 

His previous disinterest in her switches to immediate interest. The bag is a potential time bomb waiting to self destruct at any moment, a lethal weapon  that could be used to blackmail Natty  which The Goddess of Love tries to bring to her attention.

Photos are what’s inside and these expose Natty playing with sex toys. We, the audience, then learn that Natty’s sister Teresa (Jade Williams),  is, in fact, homeless, which cleverly enables playwright (Chris Hannan) to show the extreme differences there are in class.

My preferred character in the play would have to be Mrs God (Miranda Foster) displays great comic timing, particularly in her response line to Big God, who has said the line: ‘What’s the difference between class?’, as she comes back matter of factly to him with, ‘The difference between you and me, dear!’  Brilliant!.

Natty, convinced that her sort of boyfriend, Baz (Edward Hogg) had the handbag planted expressly to ruin her reputation as a Celebrity,  says to him: ‘you took private things that belonged to me, then scattered them around the streets’.  She then makes a comparison between Sex and a scratchcard, implying that you feel very excited before the act, only soon to be upset by a disappointing comedown.

Natty tackles Baz saying: ‘why’d you do it? You’re never gonna win?’, only highlighting the fact that she is of a higher status than him.

Her sister, Teresa reveals the bag to the audience, with the sex toys intact.

 

The stage is made up of neon lights, the type you would expect to find around  a dressing room mirror in fluorescent pink, which spell out the words ‘heaven’.  There is a pop art version of Marilyn Monroe towards the back of the stage. Think Andy Warhol.

 

‘you had a self questioning beauty’, the words spoken by the Young God, who finds himself in the company of the Goddess of Love, hit with the realisation that he has fallen for her.  Natty asks Baz if he has anything more to add, after her sister suggests she uses Charity as a means to help promote her Celebrity.

 

In Act II Natty’s sister, Teresa, proves to have a good singing voice.

The overacting that becomes part and parcel of Celebrityland is displayed at its fullest at Natty’s mother’s Funeral.  Here Natty is dressed in something you would imagine on Sophia Loren, sexy even at a time of sadness.  Also Baz rocks up with a vulgar, heart-shaped wreath.  A strong message should be read from this scene and that is how the Celebrity thrives off ‘a big fat crisis!’

From ‘falsity’ we move to ‘forgiveness’, when Baz asks the Goddess of Love to get bag Natty’s bag to spare her any humiliation.

The New God is given some of the more poetic lines, and he would otherwise be inconspicuous, were it not for his fine delivery and presence on stage.

An amusing scene follows with Baz and Natty in a hotel room trying to put the spice back in their sex life.  Baz looks on the bag as having been the item to spoil everything, saying ‘shit that needs to be buried!’

Many comparisons may be drawn from the two sisters, rich versus poor, the positive and pitiful steps we choose to take in life, and those that we have had decided for us.

The final words of the piece are spoken by the Goddess of Love as she removes her gown to reveal her nakedness.  One could take this to mean one of two things but most of all that, as humans, none of us is perfect, we all have imperfections but we all come from the same body.

The Cast then enter the stage one by one, Baz and Natty at first, locked in an embrace having laid any issues they had to rest.  The ending is brought to a crazy close just as it had begun, leaving the audience with an uplifting feeling to take away with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nick Hendrix and Daniel Betts, photo by Robert Day

I wasn’t the great actress I thought I was going to be.

English Touring Theatre and Royal & Derngate, Northampton present J.B. Priestley’s Eden End directed by the highly talented Laurie Sansom whose credits include the excellent productions Beyond the Horizon and Spring Storm  and lately The Holy Rosenbergs at the National Theatre.

Written in 1934 but set in 1912, this rather Chekhovian play exposes the fissures in the lives of a respectable Northern family and their search for happiness. Priestley looks back at an Edwardian age of innocence before the start of the First World War when people were still expecting a better life.

Stella Kirby left home nine years ago to pursue her dream of becoming a celebrated actress. Sadly, her ambition has been left unfulfilled and after years of mediocre productions and dingy dressing rooms she has decided to return to the warmth of her childhood home – Eden End. The prodigal daughter is welcomed by her ageing father, a country doctor, her brother Wilfred, on leave from his position with a British company in Nigeria, and the housekeeper Sarah. Stella’s younger sister Lilian is not pleased with the unexpected visitor who she considers a threat to her authority as head of the household and a rival for the attention of the gallant Geoffrey Farrant. After their mother’s death Lilian has decided to sacrifice herself by staying with their ageing father taking over the role of their late mother – which is even reflected in the way she dresses. Resentful and envious of her older sister Lilian plans to make Stella’s visit a short one.

Laurie Sansom adds expressionism and music hall to this very Edwardian drawing room drama. The backdrop of the set (design by Sara Perks) resembles a theatre. In the opening scene we see Stella (Charlotte Emmersen) performing and being applauded. This scene has an unreal, almost magical quality and is followed by a quiet scene introducing us to Stella’s frustrated sister Lilian (Daisy Douglas) and the boyish Wilfred Kirby (Nick Hendrix) who shares Stella’s love for the theatre. The first half of the play is rather slow but the pace picks up speed in the second half with a cliffhanger right before the interval.  

William Chubb and Charlotte Emmersen, photo by Robert Day

The acting is very good throughout. Nick Hendrix who has just graduated from RADA is outstanding in his professional debut. His drunken scene with the energetic Daniel Betts who plays the actor Charles Appleby is absolutely delightful. William Chubb conveys Doctor Kirby’s vulnerability and strength, a very touching performance. Carol Macready is the warm, caring housekeeper Sarah, Stella’s confidante. Daisy Douglas’s dour Lilian is a good contrast to Charlotte Emmersen’s interpretation of Stella.   

 Until 9 July at the Richmond Theatre, then touring.

Richmond Theatre
The Green
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 1QJ

Box Office
0844 871 7651

http://www.ambassadortickets.com/2445/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/Eden-End-Tickets

• 12 Jul - 16 Jul 2011 
  Oxford Playhouse
  Oxford
• 19 Jul - 23 Jul 2011 
  Cambridge Arts Theatre
  Cambridge

Noel Sullivan came to our attention in 2001 as one fifth of the Popstars winning group Hear’say.  Since then he’s popped up in TV cameos but concentrated on musical theatre roles on tour and in London’s West End.  This year he plays the lead role of Galileo Figaro in the UK National Tour of the Queen and Ben Elton musical “We Will Rock You”.

 

How does playing Galileo Figaro compare to other theatre roles you have experienced?  It’s been a massive undertaking because of the scale of the role compared to others that I have played.  I’m really pleased to land this role because I know that they have never cast a ‘name’ in the role of Galileo before.  I feel like I’ve earned my stripes in the industry and this role represents serious progress for my career.

 

The songs are massive in terms of range and impact; how do you keep your voice in condition when you play 8 shows a week?  I have to look after myself because the role is as much a lifestyle as a job in terms of keeping my voice healthy.  I occasionally do ’24 hours of silence’ but I’ve found my voice getting stronger in the tour and it’s easier to maintain.

 

The tour runs until January 2012 reaching just under 1 million fans in that time.  How does it feel to reach so many people with your performance?  It’s amazing.  Those numbers are huge and I’ve never been on a tour for this long.  It’s daunting in a way … but it becomes possible when you take each venue and each performance one at a time.

 

Cardiff is the next UK city stop!  Are you excited?  I can’t wait.  For me, it will be a personal highlight because I feel that The Millennium Centre is one of the finest venues that we have to offer as a country and this will be my first time as the lead in a show of this scale coming home. 

 

Which songs get the best reaction for you?  Some are just blatantly obviously brilliant like “I Want To Break Free” where you can almost feel the audience enjoy it from the off.   As a singer “Who Wants To Live Forever”, “We Are The Champions”, …  and more are amazing to perform and have a range that you just don’t get in any other shows.  They’ve not been written for a tenor or a baritone, they’ve been designed for Freddie as a rock song, so they are unique.

 

Describe the audition process.  I was petrified by it all!  I did six auditions and an acting workshop onstage at the Dominion Theatre with Ben Elton.  That was quite a big deal because I remember him as a stand-up and comedy writer for TV when I was younger.  In the finals I sang in front of 35 people on the panel including Brian May and Roger Taylor.  Massively nerve wracking but ultimately satisfying when you land the role.

 

Its 20 years since the untimely death of Freddie Mercury and almost 9 years since WWRY opened in the West End.  What do you think drives the undying popularity of Queen’s music?  The songs are all so dramatic and each one has a brilliant hook or an amazing arrangement.  I said to Brian May that, as a kid, with my choral background, I really admired his arrangements.  He replied that having watched me go through the Hear’say process he would never imagined that I was the kind of guy who would come up to him to say I admired his arrangements!

 

You shared the stage with Brian May a couple of weeks ago as he surprised Glasgow fans with a special guest appearance … what was going through your mind as you sang your last note?  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  It was one of those moments that makes all the hard work and disappointments of your career worthwhile.  And there was a feeling from the audience that I have never experienced before.

 

Do you feel “under pressure” performing Queen songs?  Yeah! Even just from a financial level, there is so much money behind this show.  The technical support in the form of sound, lighting and effects is a level above what you would expect to see on a national tour.  But also the music … when you are singing those songs live there is a sense of responsibility … these are like ‘fabric of the nation’ songs.

 

Are you enjoying the experience in Glasgow? I really think that there are only a few places in the country where people go out with an attitude where they want to have a good time.  Glasgow is one of those places.  When you perform here, it feels like an event.

 

Do you get any time to relax or socialise when on tour?  I try to cram it in!!  It is really tempting with a cast that are so young and have a lot of fun … but you also have to have the responsibility on your shoulder that you’ll be knocking out those notes again tomorrow night.

 

You’ve had some quite diverse experiences since your 2001 talent show breakthrough on Popstars.  I saw you on Gavin and Stacey the other night!  Any particular highlights for you?  This part is definitely a career highlight for me and particularly sharing the stage with Brian May.  My first West End lead as Danny Zucco in Grease is up there and I got to sing with Cat Stevens on his Moonshadow tour … I should make a list of legends I want to work with …!

 

Any ambitions that you can tell us about?  I would really love it if I had the opportunity to play Galileo in the West End.  I have committed wholly to theatre this year.

 

http://www.wewillrockyou.co.uk/tour/

It’s only a bloody play. What harm could it possibly do?

 

LINES is the first production by new writing collective Littlewit, a group or writers and directors committed to providing opportunities for the performance and development of new writing. If LINES is typical of Littlewit’s work it is worth seeing everything they do.

 

Director Thomas Martin stages LINES in a rehearsal room which is almost empty except for two chairs and a board (design by Katie Bellman). The actors do warm up exercises before the performance begins. It is a very appropriate setting because we are going to see a play about the theatre, or to be more precise about the responsibility of theatre.

 

An actor has been murdered. He was stabbed by Terry Stein, the police officer who he was portraying in a play about the Ian Tomlinson incident. Robin, a seasoned writer of verbatim theatre, had interviewed Stein and a police sergeant as part of his research for his docudrama Ian and Bill . Although Stein was only a witness to the Tomlinson incident the writer singled him out and used him as comic relief in his verbatim drama, carefully selecting those parts of the interview that he considered especially ridiculous. The director and the actor, Michael Kinney, made sure that they got their laughs during the fifteen minutes the Stein character featured in the play.  

 

James Fritz asks very important questions in his drama. Is it acceptable to drag an ordinary person into the limelight, disregarding the fact that he might not be able to cope with being a public figure all of a sudden? How far should docudrama or verbatim theatre go? Docudrama engages the audience more than a documentary. But at what price? 

 

All five actors are on the stage all the time. Their characters tell their stories while the others listen. Michael Kinney’s parents talk about their son’s acting career and their feelings about his death. Richard Ward is excellent as the victim’s father when he sadly explains: “Your whole world changes when you lose a child.” He cannot understand why his son was a victim of a hate crime over a play! Jeryl Burgess gives an impressive performance as the actor’s mother as she fondly remembers his first successes including the TV series Doritos – “about the difference between men and women”. Ian Mairs is outstanding as the playwright who refuses to accept any responsibility and tries to distance himself from the event. The director of the play (Carl Knighton) does not feel responsible either, he was just helping one of his actors to find the character. John Canmore is defensive and accusatory as the Sergeant who persuaded Terry Stein to partake in the interview in order to show the police force in a good light.   

 

Please see this wonderful production before it closes.

 

Until 27th November at 7.30 pm
Tickets £7

BOX OFFICE: 020 7704 6665

The Rosemary Branch, 2 Shepperton Road, London N1 3DT

 

 

 

Christopher Marlowe’s re-telling of the Faust legend is a theatrical extravaganza, and Toby Frow’s vibrant in-the-round production at the Royal Exchange uses puppetry, masks and magic tricks to fill the stage with an unforgettable pageant of angels, devils, spirits and vices.

John Faustus is a German scholar who has become bored by conventional studies in theology, natural sciences and philosophy, and forsakes them for the intellectual challenge of necromancy and its rewards - even at the risk of eternal damnation.  Patrick O’Kane powerfully conveys the character’s internal conflict as Faustus struggles intermittently with his conscience, and if his descent into puerile trickery and practical jokes leaves us with the impression of Derren Brown in a doublet then that is Marlowe’s fault. 

Ian Redford’s trilby-wearing Mephistopheles is an Anglican version of Father Brown, stuffy, middle-aged and pompous, an interpretation which completely ignores the depths and contradictions within the character.  However Stephen Hudson is louche and quietly wicked as Faustus’s servant Wagner, and Rory Murphy makes an excellent professional stage debut with a genuinely funny turn as the dim-witted clown Robin.

The cast is swollen by an enthusiastic ensemble of acting students from Manchester Metropolitan University who throw themselves wholeheartedly into the endless orgies, fights and scenes of general depravity.

Designer Ben Stones’ imaginative giant puppets and masks, coupled with Mark Jonathan’s atmospheric lighting and Richard Hammerton’s evocative sound design, make for a night of amazing spectacle.

 

Doctor Faustus is on until Saturday 9 October 2010

Prices: £9-£30

Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30, Sat @ 8pm [no performance Tues 21 Sept]

Matinees: Wed @ 2.30pm, Sat @ 4pm and Tues 21 Sept @ 2.30pm

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

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 Caucasian Chalk Circle at Richmond Theatre on Tuesday 20^th October 2009

 

Published by: Tremayne (Potter)

 

‘Set in an imaginary “Caucasus”, the work has dominating male and female leads.  One is Grusha, a maid in the royal palace.  When the governor of Grusinia is killed by revolutionaries, and the royal son and heir, Michael, is abandoned by his luxury-loving mother, Grusha gathers the royal child in her arms and flees with it as her own’.  *(445:2002)

 

‘In The Caucasian Chalk Circle there is a scene in which Grusha has to walk across a small, unreliable bridge above a deep chasm.  This strikes me as a good metaphor for translating a play.  As he treads a narrow walkway, the translator looks down on one side and sees an arid landscape of fidelity, adored by academics but not much visited by ordinary folks.  On the other side, he sees below him the floodlit outlines of an egocentric ‘version’, bright, accessible and designed to draw attention to the translator rather than the play.’

(Alistair Beaton)

 

In the opening scene the musicians arrive.  The Singer (James Clyde) introduces us to story of The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

We instantly recognise Adjutant (Steven Meo), who also plays the Monk and Shawa, from the part he played in BBC3 series Grownups.

Simon (Peter Bankole) proposes to Grusha (Matti Houghton) with the words “I sincerely ask for your hand in marriage.”  She accepts.

He adds, “when the war is over, I’ll be back.”

Grusha bursts in to song on his departure, singing “I will wait for you under the green elm.”  The music could be described as Irish Folk.

The Governor’s Wife (Josephine Butler) flees on hearing of her husband’s murder, leaving baby Michael behind.  Grusha convinces herself she will leave him on his own but finds herself discussing it with the Cook (Clare Perkins) : “he looks at me like a human being.” Her response back is : “then don’t look back at him!”

The Chorus, with their oh so powerful voices, start up singing again  to continue narrating  the story: “She went for a last look at the child.  Just for a moment before leaving.  A town filled with fear..  For many hours she sat beside the child..  Picked up the child and carried it away.  Like a thief she slipped away.”

Grusha begins to question her decision: “What did I take on when I took you on?”, after paying out 2 pesetas for a mere drop of milk.

They stumble across an Inn where The Innkeeper (Christian Patterson) says to her and two upper class ladies, one played by Josephine Butler, the other by Clare Perkins: “just be thankful you’re not being thrown into shallow graves like thousands of others."  Clare Perkin’s character on realizing Grusha is a servant reacts in a rather Catherine Tate caricature-type way, saying “This woman has snuck in here”, branding her as a thief, purely because of her status in society.

The Sergeant (Nicolas Asbury) says to the character played by Steven Meo : “I was watching you dickhead.  Don’t think you’re heading for a promotion.”  At which point Steven Meo bursts into song. I am pleasantly surprised by how sweet and pure his voice is, with a natural trill in it.

The Sergeant continues with his verbal abuse: “How am I meant to find the Governor’s little bastard when I’ve got you for company?!”, ‘little bastard’ could be seen as a biblical reference.

Grusha leaves the baby on Farmer’s doorstep. The Chorus sing: “Why so happy to be heading home?  Why so sad?  ..because I’m free and single”, after she has unburdened herself of the bundle.  But then, she finds herself within the clutches of The Soldier. 

The Sergeant tries to intimidate her saying: “How to the hills.  How do you fasten your stockings?  ..to put it in military terms, I’d like to get a child out of you!” And as the missing child is mentioned, she runs for the hills. 

“Quick, hide him!”, says Grusha as she makes her way inside the Farmer’s house. 

The Farmer’s Wife (Claire Perkins) asks her: “why did you abandon your baby?  That’s a sin!”

The Sergeant tackles Grusha: “Why did you run away from me? ..to be frank, I could imagine quite a lot of things”, he says pervertedly.

An impressive physical theatre combat scene takes place between The Farmer’s Wife, The Sergeant and Grusha, where Grusha hits The Sergeant over the head with a spade.

Grusha sings: “Since no-one wants to have you (referring to baby Michael).  In this hungry.  You’ll have to make do with me.”  They manage to make it across to the other side of a precarious bridge and on to Laverto’s (Grusha’s brother’s) place.

Laverto’s wife (Josephine Butler) is less than welcoming.

Winter draws near and the bundle, whose face is never revealed to us, is transformed into a wooden doll-like puppet with the most piercing blue eyes, ironically matching those of Grusha.

Laverto finds his sister a father ‘on paper’ in the shape of Jussup (Nicholas Asbury), who is meant to be close to drawing his last breath.  By being given an official stamp Grusha’s and Michael’s lives will be made easier.

Grusha is overcome with emotion on hearing the war is over and the soldiers,including Simon, are set to return from Iran.  The man she married is still alive!

 

 

Experimental theatre is not generally to my taste, with hard-hitting subjects being mixed in with puppetry. For example severed heads were quite obviously made out of cushion-type material but as the pace picked up in Act II I warmed to it.

 In Act II Grusha (Matti Houghton) and Simon (Peter Bankole) meet again at the stream.

Grusha says:“winter was a bit grim.  ..I can never go back.., I hit someone..”, referring to the Sergeant (Nicholas Asbury) whom she hit and left for dead.

Simon instinctively says: “Is the young lady saying the soldier is too late?  Bring me back the cross I gave you (a symbol of their commitment to each another).  Better still, throw it in the stream.”

The play is brought up to date with its references to the current situation in Iraq.  It is ultimately a play about Justice and when Azdak (James Clyde), who also plays the Singer, or rather, the narrator says: “they fought over arms..”, he is referring to George Bush Jnr. Azdak’s character is played like a Hugh Laurie in Blackadder as he spouts forth the words: “you should be hung, by the neck and so forth and so forth.”

Act I having gone at a much slower pace, we rely heavily on James Clyde to draw us from out of this hole.

We learn the child is now 2.

Simon has come round to Grusha’s situation and makes this clear when he says: “I would like to swear to the woman that the child is mine.”

In Court Grusha fights to keep custody of Michael against his biological mother and says to the Judge (James Clyde): “I’ve brought him up to the best of my ability.  I’ve taught him the meaning of work.  Well, as much as I could, he’s still so small.”

The second Act, in my opinion, is of a much higher calibre, revelling in its Blackadder feel.

The Judge’s counter argument is: “I don’t see that the child’s yours.  ..don’t you want him to be rich?”, which he would be if he were allowed to live with his biological mother

The approach of the baby in puppet form is most thought-provoking and engaging  His movements are so fluid that the actors’ skills in puppetry are shown to be in fine tune.

Azdak insists he be placed inside a chalk circle and by the true strength of the mother she will be able to pull him out of it.

The first time the experiment is carried out, Michael’s biological mother is the one to make it possible but then the Judge overrules his decision and allows Grusha to bring up the child as her own.

And also, accidentally divorces her, supposedly, from her horrid husband, when it seems quite apparent that he wishes the very best for her and Simon, and for them to live happily ever after, without any extra baggage.

 

 

* Cited by John Fuegi in Brecht & co (Grove Press, 2002).

Colder Than Here

By Laura Wade

 

Venue:

The Courtyard Theatre, 40, Pitfield Street, London, N1 6EA.

www.thecourtyard.org.uk

 

Dates:

1^st September – 19^th September 2009-09

(Tues – Sat at 7.45 p.m.)

 

As Myra dictates the arrangements for her own funeral, her family get on with life’s little disasters: the boiler refuses to be fixed, the cat’s moved out of its own accord and Jenna, her daughter (the reluctant head of the burial site committee), has a long awaited epiphany.

 

‘Colder Than Here’ was first produced in the West End five years ago.  It has gone on to tour across America and is currently being adapted for the BBC.

 

Act I, Scene I opens on a picnic area where we are introduced to mother, Myra and her eldest daughter, Jenna.  After much small talk on Myra’s part, she suddenly comes out with: “do you think we should bury me here?!”  It is then that we establish, as an audience, that she does not have much time left.  Jenna moodily shakes off what has just been said, obviously not yet willing to accept it.

Although minimal props are used to create the idea of the characters being in a park, Jenna’s descriptive speeches help us to imagine the setting.

 

Scene II takes place in a lounge, where we are introduced to the youngest daughter, Harriet and, as Myra describes her scan, pools of emotion well up in her eyes.  Actress Clare Davenport (Harriet) does this most convincingly.  My only criticism of this scene would be the sightlines, which prevent us from seeing the mother’s reactions to her daughter’s distress.

Alec, the father, walks in at this point and is shortly followed by Jenna who is carrying a suitcase. Jenna awkwardly hugs her mother before taking her case upstairs.

During this scene we hear of Jenna’s cat who has decided to set up home elsewhere. Here I felt Jane Dodd’s (Jenna’s) movements were somewhat stiff, when they could have been less obviously thought about and just naturally fluid.

Myra persuades Jenna to take control of the powerpoint programme she has set up to show them how she would like her funeral proceedings to be carried out.  She tells her she will say “Jenna” whenever she wishes her to click on to the next page.

They are all baffled by the first image which appears to be more like that of a film director, her response is: “it doesn’t have a funeral director, it’s a first draft.”

The next page reads: ‘Cardboard coffin’.  Myra says: “you can order them ahead of time.” Alec, who is not amused, says: “that’s not the point!”

He walks off shortly afterwards, followed closely behind by Harriet.

 

Scene III: The two daughters in a probable funeral ground.  “If we see it about the place, we’ll get used to it” is Jenna’s positive take on the speedy delivery of their mother’s flat-pack cardboard coffin.

Jenna continues to speak saying “I felt like, I want my mummy, coming back after a shit day at work”, already beginning to imagine the void that will be left behind when their mother departs.

On hearing this Harriet picks her up, saying “and now mum’s disappearing, it’s not about your disaster”, becoming angry with Jenna and her selfishness over moving back home when their parents need to spend some quality moments together.

The subject is broken by a new topic.  Boyfriends.

Curious, Jenna enquires how long after she has had an argument with her boyfriend does she leave it till they make up, obviously relating it to the row she has just had with her own boyfriend.

“same day?” (Jenna, stunned)

“always.” (Harriet)

 

Scene IV.  Father kicks back to listen to Brahms.  His silence is soon broken when his youngest bursts into the room complaining how all the food is dying in the fridge.

Mother enters, awoken by the squeaky pipes.

Harriet tries to shock her over the state of the fridge by saying “There was bacteria in there” but she responds back positively with “Beautiful. Circle of life.”

When the father has left the room mother and daughter go through a keep/chuck process, sifting through all their old herbs.  Something I could relate to in my own family!

Harriet exits and Alec comes back into the room with a mended heater.  Myra, realizing she is cranky, says to him “Am I horrible?”, he responds with: “You’re ill.  Now, get out of the way!”

 

Scene V, Father and daughter Jenna meet at another prospective funeral ground. Myra has had a funny spell, so Alec takes her place that day.

“Well, it’s colder than the house!”, his reaction to resting place.

Not relevant to the play itself but I found the performance that was going on above us most disturbing!

Richard Woolnough, who plays Alec, plays the scene very naturally, particularly when the focus is shifted on to Jenna and her troubled relationship.

Jenna says “Dads aren’t supposed to like your boyfriends”, as she describes her boyfriend spending less and less time with her and more time with his new found college friends.

(Father continues with his crossword.)

“We don’t even have sex any more”, Jenna says, to which she gets a response back, “No need to tell me about that!” (from her father, whose physical relationship with his wife we can assume is now non-existent).

“..don’t do problems”,is a mumbling, realistic response back when you think that most conversations like this are held between a mother and daughter.

The haunting music that runs throughout the play at the end of each scene, although pretty, is beginning to get on my nerves by now!

 

The final scene of Act I, the 2 sisters are sitting in the lounge room in front of the cardboard coffin.

“It looks big”, says Jenna.

“Sometimes fat people die!” (Harriet)

Harriet, not able to handle the situation, exits as father enters and reacts to coffin by saying “well, that’s it then? Do the more expensive ones look less like a cardboard box?!”

“It won’t do once we’ve drawn on it” (Jenna replies).

 

(Father goes to fetch mother as the daughters continue to draw.)

They chuckle together when Jenna comes out with: “My clouds look like turds.”

“I’d have learnt how to draw if I’d have known.” (Harriet)

Jenna intrigued to know what it is like inside a coffin, lies down inside it, quickly jumping out as she hears her mother’s footsteps creeping up upon her and saying to Harriet “This didn’t happen..”

“It doesn’t look how I expected.” (Myra)

She continues to speak: “I’d like to be buried on my side.. ..like I’m sleeping.”

Her reasoning behind it explained when she says: “I think I’ll be scared of the earth coming down on me.”

“Oh would one of you, for a change, know what to do?”, frustrated by their apparent lack of input.

 

Act II, Scene I includes the 2 sisters at burial ground.

They are considering the irony underlying the cardboard coffin.

“.. I walk in and she’s sitting in the coffin watching Have I got news for you, laughing..” (Harriet)

Distraction once more from the performance upstairs, argh!

When they are both sitting Jenna informs Harriet: “I finished with Mark, when I realized I didn’t want him at the funeral.”

(They get up to go, exit laughing, having somehow been brought closer together by the news.)

 

Scene II has to be my favourite scene in the entire play for its emotional warmth.  Alec, the father, is on the phone to the electricity board, who have left them without heating for 5+ months.

“Can I call you mate, I feel we know each other well?..

 ..Good God, it’s no wonder you’re not worried about my problems when you’re in Glasgow!”

“..You actually don’t have the power to do anything.”

“I tell you my wife’s dying.  No, it’s not your problem” (the person on the other end of the line concerned they may be held liable.)

He continues “The very least you can do is to let her die in the warm.”

(The wife enters the room.)

She remarks “I’m going off baths. Too much thinking time.”

 Then she makes it clear she has something important to discuss with him.

“You might meet someone else..”, she says.

She continues with her spiel, despite his reluctance for her to do so.  “You might hold back.  And I don’t want that for you..

..You’re not expecting it now.  You might fall in love.”

(Alec gets up from his chair.)

“You should switch to paper hankies.  Women don’t like those”, she says as he puts his handkerchief back in his pocket.)

“The funeral isn’t for you..”, he says.  “.. people need something to do..”, allowing himself to get more upset and thumping himself down on the couch beside her.

(They snuggle up close.)

“..weeks left..”, she says, trying to ease his pain.

“..lots more awkward talks”, after he admits he is only human and does cry.

Myra resists being helped to bed, preferring to continue to snuggle up and decides she wants to sleep in his room tonight, using the excuse of it being tidier than her’s.

 

The Final Scene, Jenna with her mother in yet another burial ground or is it the same one as before?! Ending is in a similar space to where the play first started.

“Should have died last Thursday, as it’d got to 6 months”, the mother says.

“It’s easier to be open in summer.”(Myra, referring to the time of year her funeral is likely to fall.)

“..I don’t know if we’ll do it without you, sorry”, Jenna concerned that the family may not be able to express their emotions in public.

The mother spots one of Muggins’ (Jenna’s cat’s) hairs on her top and tells her to make a wish as she blows it away, even though a wish is normally made on an eyelash.

Jenna speaks of her new boyfriend who isn’t ‘a wanker’.

What is lovely about this scene is the dialogue between mother and daughter which had always been a bit of an issue before.

She is hardly able to restrain herself from sharing her sexual experiences with her but realizes that her mother is in need of her tablets and that she must quickly nip back and get them before she continues her story. As she goes she ironically says: “Try not to die.  I haven’t finished telling you”.  Myra lies back, finding a comfortable position, falling into a deep, deep sleep, from which we know she will not this time wake up.

 

I was surprised to see the play end quite so soon in to the second half. Having said this, it did seem an appropriate place to. We had seen the eldest daughter, Jenna, come to terms with her mother’s imminent death and find solace in her new found love. I feel it  would have just been rather nice to have also seen what happened with the youngest daughter, Harriet.  If a little irritating, perhaps this was truer to life where not everything is always resolved.

However, this bears no reflection on the acting. I think it fair to say that Lily Ann Green (Myra) and Richard Woolnough (Alec) come across as the actors with the most experience behind them, including that of life. This is reflected in their natural, effortless and true to life performances.