All posts by Edward Lukes

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“Sweeney Todd” at Harrington’s Pie & Mash Shop

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Stephen Sondheim’s wonderful musical about the demon barber of Fleet Street, a psychotic shaver whose murdered customers were put into pies by Mrs Lovett, is always worth going to see. Staging it in a real pie shop is a stroke of genius. Believe it or not, you even pick up your tickets for the show in the barbers across the road.

More than on being on trend with immersive theatre, the staging goes to the heart of the production company’s ambitions: The Tooting Arts Club aims to unite theatre with the community in inspired fashion, and has created a very special event.

Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop, close to Tooting Broadway Tube, was established in 1908 and is still family run. It’s a tiny place with the kind of basic design beloved of hipster photographers. There’s nowhere to hide and, with only a trio of musicians accompanying, the weight on the cast to make this show work is huge. With director Bill Buckhurst’s help, the production rockets higher than the sales of Mrs Lovett’s pies. Standing on the tables, chatting to the crowd, each performer works incredibly hard. The singing, against the stripped-back score, in such a confined space, is awe-inspiring and the acting skills hard to beat.

Jeremy Secomb makes a superb Todd. Respect to him for playing it really scary, as it would be easier to go for the laughs in a space like this. Secomb provides the grim depth the character deserves and his voice is superb. The hugely talented Siobhán McCarthy plays his accomplice in crime, Lovett, with excellent comic skill. There are few chances to applaud during Sweeney Todd  – clapping seems like an interruption – it’s hard not to with McCarthy’s numbers.

Sweeney Todd usually soaks up a plentiful cast, with lots of extras for those big London crowd scenes, but here we have just six other performers, all of whom are wonderful. Grace Chapman and Nadim Naaman play the charming young couple Johanna and Anthony, Duncan Smith and Ian Mowat are excellent as the villainous men in power, and Joseph Taylor is great as the young Toby. Special mention to Kiara Jay, who seems to be everywhere, though credited as performing just two roles. The whole ensemble revels in the extraordinary buzz around the setting.

What does the unique setting add? To be honest, less than you want to admit. And it has to be said that it’s incredibly uncomfortable; crammed onto a bench with a twisted neck all night. But if you like your musicals up close and personal you can’t get more intimate than just 32 seats. The staging is a huge achievement but the real boast is the excellent production itself.

Until 29 November 2014

www.tootingartsclub.co.uk

Photo by Bronwen Sharp

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“Memphis” at the Shaftesbury Theatre

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Memphis was a success on Broadway, winning four Tony Awards, including the coveted Best Musical trophy. Now at the Shaftesbury Theatre, it’s easy to see why it was such a hit. One of those shows that wears its heart and soul on its sleeve, it is, in the cast’s joyous catchphrase, totally hockadoo!

Aspiring white disc jockey Huey, based on real-life radio pioneers in the 1950s, falls in love with black music and starts to make it mainstream. Huey’s career provides one story arc, with racial tensions abounding and exacerbated by a burgeoning love affair with the talented black singer Felicia. While simplistic, to its credit, Memphis doesn’t shy away from the realities of sexism or violence, giving the show plenty of dramatic tension.

The book by Joe DiPietro is tightly constructed and the themes inspirational enough to guarantee a thoughtful feelgood factor. The script has enough one-liners to inject humour and director Christopher Ashley’s efficiency produces a fast moving show that builds momentum nicely. Music is from former Bon Jovi star David Bryan. Sighs of relief that this is an original score (it could so easily have been another jukebox musical) but more impressively, that there are some great numbers. In keeping with the topic, the musical sources are broad; rock ’n’ roll, blues, gospel (my favourite) and a nice pop hit called ‘Someday’, which I bet you’ll be humming as you leave.

The set design by David Gallo is slick and the high-energy choreography by Sergio Trujillo thrilling. The gymnastic ensemble is vigorous and if some of the secondary roles could be fuller, in particular that of Huey’s mother who has an unconvincing comedy number, each performer embraces time in the spotlight as if they were in a stadium. This is a star vehicle; the story of Huey and Felicia so perfectly embodies the bigger themes, and in these roles Killian Donnelly and Beverley Knight shine.

cropmemphisinsert-credit-Johan-Persson
Killian Donnelly

The focus of the story is madcap MC, Huey, and Donnelly doesn’t waste a line, be it sung or spoken. He’s one of those performers who makes of virtue of showing how hard he is working, and we warm to him throughout. As for the luminous Knight, it’s hard to believe Memphis is only her second stage role. Each time she hustles on stage, starting to sing as soon as she can, the atmosphere is magnificent. Knight’s acting skill isn’t negligible – she can hold a big stage and that is hard – but she’s really there for the singing and her voice will make you want to visit Memphis more than once.

Booking until 31 October 2015

www.memphisthemusical.com

Photos by Johan Persson

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“Our Town” at the Almeida Theatre

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David Cromer’s production of Our Town, which has arrived at the Almeida after great success in America, is a strange night at the theatre. The play is famous in the US but, for an English audience very possibly encountering Thornton Wilder’s text for the first time, it seems an odd affair. It’s not unusual to make us aware of the fabled fourth wall that separates actor from audience but to abandon it, as Wilder did in 1938, is startling. The town is Grover’s Corners, a deliberately ordinary place with deliberately normal inhabitants, thereby challenging our ideas about what makes a good drama. And yet, despite being initially disconcerting, Our Town is a magical journey about life.

Cromer takes the part of the Stage Manager. In charge at all times, setting the scene and interrupting the action, his stage presence is vital to the success of a show that has no scenery and just a few tables and chairs. A sardonic, Garrison Keillor figure, Cromer never patronises and always demands one’s attention. The warmth of the play (which occasionally nods at the twee) glows but is carefully tempered by a sense of reportage that adds an intriguing layer.

The cast is large. The actors wear contemporary clothes and speak with their own British accents – moving us from a specific American town in 1901 into England and the present day. The demands on our suspension of disbelief, with a great deal of miming, are forceful and a connection to the generic is established. These lives are like our own – not famous or important – but nonetheless moving and worthy of attention. The performances are understated, sometimes to a fault, but care and control are evident. Kate Dickie and Anna Francolini stand out as two matriarchal figures, while Laura Elsworthy and David Walmsley give convincing performances as their children Emily and George.

So at first Our Town is all quite strange. And, given that the house lights stay up for the first act, a little uncomfortable. Dealing with ‘Daily Life’ the deliberately humdrum action starts to settle and then become almost soporific. The best is certainly to come. After establishing the scene, we move to ‘Love and Marriage’ with Emily and George’s courtship depicted tenderly and intelligently. We follow the couple through their schooldays to their wedding and, even if an ice-cream soda is involved, the balance holds between sentimentality and a colder observational tone.

And the final scene of Our Town is fantastic. As Cromer says, we guess it will be about death, but this distinctive vision of the afterlife is both painful and reassuring. A coup de théâtre is created as the newly deceased Emily, going against the advice of others now dead, returns to observe one day of her life. The scene is hugely poignant and makes you appreciate how attached you have become to this fiction. Her ‘haunting’ allows Emily to join the other residents who have passed away, now sitting resignedly in graves. While she takes up her position as an impassive watcher of life, the audience moves on, maybe altered a little by our visit to this special place.

Until 29 November 2014

www.almeida.co.uk

Photo by Marc Brenner

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“The Scottsboro Boys” at the Garrick Theatre

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A sell-out last year at the Young Vic, with rave reviews, The Scottsboro Boys has now transferred into the West End. Kander and Ebb’s last musical, the story of an infamous miscarriage of justice in 1930s Alabama, is a harsh, uncompromising look at racism that makes for powerful musical theatre.

The performances are great, with key cast members visiting from Broadway: Brandon Victor Dixon, Colman Domingo and Forrest McClendon all take on demanding lead roles with inspiring confidence. The whole ensemble is tight and standards of acting high. The staging is sparse – director and choreographer Susan Stroman uses chairs to create the sets – it’s inventive but feels a little lost in a big space.

Kander and Ebb never shied away from ‘difficult’ subject matter. Don’t forget, Cabaret and Chicago are about Nazis and gangsters. Their final work together was just as brave: accused of raping two white girls, nine blatantly innocent black men spent years in prison and fought trial after trial, becoming a focal point for the civil rights movement.

The music will sound familiar to fans, but the approach here is as bold as the subject matter. Taking on the format of a minstrel show (akin to appropriating cabaret and vaudeville for their previous hits) the black actors perform white roles, serving as a commentary on racial stereotypes that is provocative and tense. It’s a reflection on the entertainment industry as well, with the stock characters of Mr Tambo and Mr Bones creating an uncomfortable undertone.

There were small protests at the use of a minstrel show on Broadway. I can’t see the reason myself – the criticism of the genre is so implicit and the final rejection of the format by the performers, who refuse to do the Cake Walk, is rousing. But the humour here is harsh and bleak making The Scottsboro Boys unusually devoid of laughs. This show is a huge achievement, but not an easy night out.

Until 21 February 2015

 www.scottsboromusicallondon.com 

Photo by Johan Persson

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“Henry IV” at the Donmar Warehouse

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The Donmar’s all-female production of Julius Caesar was one of the theatrical highlights of last year. Now director Phyllida Lloyd returns with Henry IV, set once again in a women’s prison. An amalgam of Henry IV Parts I and II, the text is performed by the ‘inmates’, making this two plays in one in more than one sense, since we have Shakespeare and also the staging of Shakespeare. It’s layered, obviously, but what makes the production fascinating is the weight given to the prisoners’ own staging – is it the focus or just an addition? The question is open for the audience.

Henry IV is a riveting evening, not least because you want to know what has been done to the text. But it starts out dreadfully. With a nod to the trend for immersive theatre, the audience waits over the road in the Seven Dials Club, where you can use the bar and the loo (don’t forget this – there’s no interval and the show is two hours plus) before walking over the road and entering via the back stairs. Punch Drunk it ain’t. Although a few prison posters threaten punishment for those using phones – incarceration is too good for them after all – the whole effort seems feeble.

Once the acting starts, Henry IV is magnificent. Clare Dunne plays Prince Hal, the hero of both plays, with startling energy. Caught between the responsibilities inheritance brings, embodied by the superb Harriet Walter in the title role, and another father figure – Falstaff. As the rogue knight, Ashley McGuire gives a tremendous performance, fully embodying the ambiguities this production offers – it’s a great Falstaff but the sense of a disturbed woman in prison who is taking on the role is tangible. This triangle of ‘men’ is the focus of the production and the ramifications, when performed by female characters in a jail, positively outshine any episode of cult women’s prison drama Orange is the New Black.

When Shakespeare and the performance being staged by the prisoners intersect, Henry IV is electric. Some adlibbing results in an emotional break to the action, highlighting the sexism of the original text along with the cruelty of prison life. And the whole evening is abruptly cut short by the prison guards – leaving you feeling somewhat shell-shocked. The lives of the characters performing these famous roles provoke speculation; ‘Hal’ reveals she is to be released soon, and the whole cast have worked to create back stories. The prisoners’ own production is deliberately lo-fi – their props have to be improvised and costumes are minimal, adding to a sense of raw immediacy. What shines through is the strength of Shakespeare’s story, magnified by these imagined lives and made all the more powerful for it.

Until 29 November 2014

www.donmarwarehouse.com

Photo by Helen Maybanks

Written 15 October 2014 for The London Magazine

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“Notes From Underground” at The Print Room

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Established as a first-class fringe venue over the last four years, The Print Room has now moved from Hereford Road to the former Coronet Cinema. The potential to transform this Notting Hill icon is exciting and the theatre is off to a stunning start with Notes From Underground.

Arriving from Paris, this adaptation of Dostoyevsky’s work by all-round clever fellow Gérald Garutti, collaborating with the show’s performer Harry Lloyd, is a fantastic piece. Taking the dense text and making it feel naturally performable is a huge achievement: the intellectual rigour of the Russian master is retained and a piece of superb theatre created.

Garutti and Lloyd have worked hard to create an immediacy, which, in this intimate space, becomes almost intimidating. Lloyd greets the audience as they arrive: we are the “ladies and gentlemen” he addresses throughout. And there is no historic distance here – we are in the now: the office life he has abandoned, which made him “a slave and a coward” is our very own nine to five.

The anti-hero of the work is a recluse, living in a “hole” and “over-philosophising” about existence. Retelling the events of a dinner party and an experience with a prostitute, the underground he talks about isn’t just the underbelly of society but the underpinnings of the human mind. The “higher consciousness” he claims to possess isn’t exactly appealing – it would be easy to see posturing and pretension – but Lloyd brings out the humanity behind the anguished ruminating, making sure we aren’t alienated from the ideas and share their “sting”.

This is no easy monologue. Dostoyevsky’s philosophy is radical: a rejection of reason pushes his character to madness, and the masochism embraced is particularly hard to swallow. But the ideas are presented elegantly, forensically followed through and create a remarkable rhythm. We are warned, “You’re not going to like this”, but this assessment is a long way off the truth.

Until 1 November 2014

www.the-print-room.org

Photo by Mirco Cosimo Maglioca

Written 12 October 2014 for The London Magazine

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“Electra” at the Old Vic

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Frank McGuinness’ version of Electra is currently playing at the Old Vic. Directed by Ian Rickson, with satisfying confidence, this no-nonsense version of Sophocles’ tragedy, about a daughter’s revenge on her mariticidal mother, is direct and powerful.

This is a fine production with Kristin Scott Thomas in the title role. She’s the star attraction, but it should be stressed that the whole cast is strong. Diana Quick is suitably regal as the detested mother Clytemnestra and Jack Lowden gives a moving depth to Electra’s prodigal brother Orestes.

Hauteur has been a career specialty for Scott Thomas and, since Electra is a princess, it’s used to advantage here. But this is a remarkably earthy performance, free from vanity and physically charged. She is dynamic, pacing around as if caged. Even when on the ground, little of her body touches the earth. Convulsed with grief, every muscle is expressive. And animalistic: her centre of gravity is low and every sense heightened to suggest a hunted figure. This intimation of the feral doesn’t disappear with a cry of joy as Orestes reappears – Electra sniffs her brother as if to confirm that he is one of her brood.

As well as its easy appeal, McGuinness’ text gets to the heart of the tale with efficiency. Along with the horror of the story, dilemmas are presented cogently with an emphasis on religion that Rickson develops.
Quick and Lowden both represent the questions surrounding their bloody family legacy well. The urgency of Electra’s need for justice, which creates a manic “fire in her head”, is balanced with cogent arguments, delineated by Scott Thomas with eviscerating intelligence.

Until 20 December 2015

www.oldvictheatre.com

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 8 October 2014 for The London Magazine

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“The Unquiet Grave of Garcia Lorca” at the Drayton Arms Theatre

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Former theatre critic Nicholas de Jongh’s second work, The Unquiet Grave of Garcia Lorca, is currently playing at the charming Drayton Arms pub theatre in South Kensington. As with De Jongh’s first piece, Plague over England, which gained a West End transfer, it explores an event in history through the fate of a gay icon – this time the Spanish Civil War and one of Spain’s most famous writers. You can’t doubt the play’s ambition, and the subject matter is interesting. Unfortunately, the work will disappoint many with its confusing structure, pretentious touches and poor performances.

The identity of Lorca’s last, secret lover was only revealed in 2012 and The Unquiet Grave of Garcia Lorca looks at the impact this romance had on the young man, Juan Ramirez de Lucas, both at the time and in his old age. De Jongh seems swayed by his journalistic past into using the topical peg of a recent discovery. Sadly, the decision to finally tell the story to the world isn’t as interesting as what actually happened.

Switching between the past and present shouldn’t be as confusing as this production makes it. Even worse, interaction between Lorca and Juan feels truncated, while a scene with Lorca in prison ends up more bizarre than weighty. Matters are further complicated by an examination of Britain’s involvement in the Spanish Civil War. This is interesting enough to be a play in its own right, but is reduced to a blatantly superfluous opening scene where a British couple discover Lorca’s body in the grounds of their holiday home.

Working out what to make of De Jongh’s play is tricky; the raw material is promising but Hamish MacDougall’s direction makes little effort to aid clarity. There are good performances from Damien Hasson and Matthew Bentley; a convincing Lorca and intense Juan who work well together. However, the other performers seem woefully lost. It’s unusual to see such a low standard of work on London’s fringe, and vaguely embarrassing. Lorca would be more than unquiet in his grave – he would be spinning in it.

Until 26 October 2014

www.thedraytonarmstheatre.co.uk

Photo by Ed Clark

Written 5 October 2014 for The London Magazine

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“The James Plays” at the National Theatre

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Rona Munro’s trilogy about Scottish Kings James I, II and III has arrived at the National Theatre, co-producer of the shows, after opening at the Edinburgh International Festival. The plays make a theatrical marathon, each a meaty two-and-a-half hours long, but are an easy race to run. And while satisfying as a threesome, each stands alone and is startlingly individual.

James I: The Key Will Keep The Lock gets off to a rollicking start. It’s the story of the first King’s return to Scotland from England, where he was held captive, establishing power amongst warring chiefs and battling with the powerful Stewart family. James McArdle takes the lead in style – his might be the finest male performance of the trilogy. There’s plenty of action and even the ghost of Henry V. Best of all is his romantic relationship with his English Queen Joan, performed with spirit by Stephanie Hyam, which has an authentic and unsentimental ring to it.

James II: Day of the Innocents takes a different approach, looking at the trauma the next King suffers from seeing his father murdered and being abandoned by his mother. James’s early years are manically reconstructed, using puppetry and a lot of running around, so it takes a white for Andrew Rothney (pictured above) to get into the title role. There’s another strong wife, but of greater interest is his relationship with Mark Rowley’s Douglas, the best friend he subsequently betrays. This is a fascinating mix of rivalry and compassion as the two bullied young men fight for their independence.

Although the writing for women is strong throughout, Munro really focuses on the ladies at court in the final play, James III: The True Mirror. This King is an aesthete, and a lascivious one at that: think Edward II in a PVC kilt. The play has an even more modern feel to mark this ruler out as the first Renaissance monarch. Jamie Sives takes on the role with an extravagant bravura. But the attraction is his Queen Margaret, played by The Killing star Sofie Gråbøl, who is thoroughly engaging in every scene and benefits from being joined on stage by the excellent Blythe Duff, who excels in all three plays.

Munro’s writing is assured. What could have been dry history and, given the recent referendum, a victim of obvious political points, is fresh and often funny. She brings out questions of autonomy and responsibility lightly and her thoughts on family and loyalty are absorbing. Full of modern touches, most notably some ripe language, Munro creates distance with the Shakespearean parallels her work inevitably evokes. Laurie Sansom’s direction is a grand achievement, although there are moments when it feels unsubtle, a little like the giant sword that presides over the action. The prop is big but not clever, unlike the plays themselves, which are grand and intelligent. Try to see as many as you can.

Until 29 October 2014

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Photo by Manuel Harlan

Written 26 September 2014 for The London Magazine

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“Charles III” at Wyndham’s Theatre

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Mike Bartlett’s biggest hit to date, Charles III, has made a much-deserved transfer to the West End after rave reviews at the Almeida. Billed as a ‘future history play’, Bartlett imagines Prince Charles ascending to the throne and a constitutional crisis that arises when he refuses to sign a bill privileging privacy over the freedom of the press.

As well as being topical and very funny, the ideas are so outlandish – especially the presence of Princess Diana’s ghost – that it might all have turned out a bit silly. But it works. Royally. With a set of buzzing performances headed by a superb Tim Pigott-Smith in the title role, all the actors manage a fine balance between impersonation and a deeper intent. There are laughs at first, but these are well-developed roles and the serious subject matter is fascinating. Director Rupert Goold is uncharacteristically restrained; he knows the play speaks for itself.

Bartlett takes on the Shakespearean mantle with courage and panache. The play is written in verse, a demanding choice that adds humour and holds the attention. References to Shakespeare’s plays are light; it’s not so much the form and language that Bartlett borrows from the Bard as those ambitious themes of responsibility, family and identity – all of which are dealt with so intelligently that the royal soap opera is left far behind.

Not that the house of Windsor doesn’t make great raw material. The drama of youth vs experience, so ably depicted by Princes Harry and William (two sides of Shakespeare’s Hal?), is embraced by actors Richard Goulding and Oliver Chris. Imagining future events in such a fashion makes the heritage of Shakespeare’s history plays a kind of prism, creating layers of speculation. Bartlett handles the possibilities with wit, ensuring that Charles III  is both entertaining and unpredictable, while raising big questions and creating real pathos.

Until 31 January 2015

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 23 September 2014 for The London Magazine