All posts by Edward Lukes

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“Chariots of Fire” at Hampstead Theatre

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The Hampstead Theatre’s production of Chariots of Fire couldn’t be more timely. As Olympic fever approaches London, this crowd-pleasing show capitalises on the long treasured memory of the film and the Vangelis soundtrack, highlighting those abstract ideals sport inspires. More remarkably, even if you don’t like sport, and concur with one character that “running is for hamsters and children”, the play is broad enough to win you over as well.

Mike Bartlett’s respectful adaptation makes the translation from film to stage a comfortable one and faultlessly attends to the personal drama of the two main characters, Olympic runners and rivals Harold Abrahams and Eric Liddell. And Bartlett is also good on the bigger themes: the religious beliefs of Liddell, who famously refused to run on the Sabbath, and the anti-Semitism experienced by Abrahams. But when it comes to examining nationhood and what it means for these men to represent their country, the play becomes a little trapped in its period: it’s all too jolly, and Abrahams’ drive to be a new kind of professional athlete leaves less of an impression than the smoking amateurs that provide the laughs – the use of Gilbert and Sullivan is inspired, but singing Jerusalem goes a bit too far.

Sport and drama mix well. The sheer Olympian effort of the cast, who seem to run a marathon during the show, is awe-inspiring. The performances from the leads, Jack Lowden and James McArdle, are meticulous. Their teammate Tam Williams, who plays the swaggering Lord Lindsey, almost manages to steal the show by getting some hurdling in. Hampstead is an intimate venue that makes designer Miriam Buether’s set all the more spectacular – transforming the whole theatre into a stadium in convincing, rousing fashion – she clearly deserves a medal.

But it is director Edward Hall who gets the gold. You might think you can only run around a theatre so many times – but Hall’s theatrical invention makes each occasion interesting and he maximises the drama of every race. It’s his skill that makes Chariots of Fire run so well. Regardless of the performance of British athletes at the upcoming games, in 2012 British theatre certainly leads the field.

Until 16 June 2012

www.hampsteadtheatre.com

Written 23 May 2012 for The London Magazine

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“The Hairy Ape” at the Southwark Playhouse

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Eugene O’Neill’s play The Hairy Ape begins with a fleeting encounter between a grimy labourer and a spoilt rich girl who is appalled by a voyeuristic trip she takes into the boiler room of a ship. Vilified by the girl as sub-human and “a hairy ape”, our hero becomes haunted by the meeting, and goes mad in his quest for a sense of belonging and revenge. It’s a fairly slim idea for a play and O’Neill employs more passion than finesse in its writing – to the extent that one wonders why it has been revived at all.

It’s clear, though, that director Kate Budgen doesn’t have reservations about the work. Along with designer Jean Chan she embraces the challenges of the play’s various locations with intelligence and style. Budgen’s staging of the hot, violent situations, on the ship or in a prison, add to the drama superbly. The play’s finale, occurring none too subtly in a zoo, which might be read as unstageable, is a riveting moment of theatre.

Budgen also secures fine performances from her cast. There are minor issues with intelligibility from the polyglot crew of the ship but the fine line between camaraderie and competition is satisfyingly palpable. Taking the lead is Bill Ward who brings out the force of O’Neill’s poetry with a suitably virile interpretation. Also commendable are Gary Lilburn as one of his older shipmates and Mark Weinman who plays a socialist sailor keen to retell the men’s story as a class struggle. Weinman is skilled but, like much of The Hairy Ape, his character seems dated and predictable, no matter how strong the presentation itself might be.

Until 9 June 2012

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

Photo by Jane Hobson

Written 21 May 2012 for The London Magazine

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“Top Hat” at the Aldwych Theatre

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Few people love their jobs like the character Jerry Travers in Top Hat. A Broadway star who can’t stop performing, on stage or off, he is lucky enough to check into the Hotel Excelsior, where the staff start dancing at a moment’s notice and where he meets the love of his life. Fortunately, she likes dancing too. It’s hard not to enjoy this enthusiastic adaptation of the classic film, famous for Irving Berlin’s songs and the performances of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It’s great fun, with a plot so daft it takes us back to the farces the Aldwych Theatre is famous for.

In the lead role Tom Chambers, of Strictly Come Dancing fame, deserves credit for propelling the show and showing off his skills. He’s slightly upstaged by his love interest, played by Summer Strallen: not just because of her gorgeous dresses but also, as a line cribbed from Ginger points out, because she does everything Chambers does “backwards and in heels”. Strallen has the legs for a role like this, has clearly been practising her back bends, and with her sweet voice gives a heavenly performance. Together, Strallen and Chambers make a likeable couple and are convincingly glamorous in Hildegard Bechtler’s stylish set. Their courtship by tap dance is delightful and the big numbers such as ‘Cheek to Cheek’ are real crowd-pleasers.

Director Matthew White makes the most of the gentle comedy on offer from the secondary players. Martin Bell plays a theatre producer and Vivien Parry his wife with a comic panache that’s remarkable given the age and standard of the jokes they have to deliver. Stephen Boswell is superb as their butler Bates and Ricardo Alfonso gives a tremendous performance with actually quite a weak number. A lot of the show’s undoubted success comes from sheer momentum – it’s relentlessly upbeat and determined to entertain, and hardly anyone stops smiling the whole way through. Including the audience.

Until 27 April 2014

Photo by Alaistair Muir

Written 11 May 2012 for The London Magazine

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“Love, Love, Love” at the Royal Court

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Playwright Mike Bartlett is very much the man of the moment: notable productions at the National Theatre have established his success as a writer keen to tackle current issues. Love, Love, Love sees his return to the Royal Court, where he was previously Pearson writer in residence, with a play that looks at recent history.

The story of a couple, presented in three acts, showing them as students, middle-aged parents and in retirement, has created characters that must be a joy for the performers. Victoria Hamilton and Ben Mills are both superb. Charting their impetuous elopement when young, their marital breakdown and their reconciliation, the pace of both writing and delivery are perfectly handled by director James Grieve. The laborious scene changes involved in Lucy Osborne’s design slows things down, but Bartlett’s control and the acting are so strong that the play remains compelling.

Love, Love, Love aims to be more than a family drama and here it does slightly less well. With an eye on the news, Bartlett is looking at the baby-boomer generation: where they come from, what they did and what their legacy will be. It’s entertaining stuff; of course it’s easy to mock the hippies, especially when they become yuppies. Any line bemoaning the fact that you live in Reading is going to go down well in Sloane Square.

Bartlett’s observations might be too tentative for some, too conservative for others, but his satire gets the laughs and the delivery from Hamilton in particular is show stopping. But doubts are raised. Surely a couple that grew up in the 60s wouldn’t think the occasional cigarette in later life the height of debauchery and the effect their parenting has on both their children is overstated.

Commendably, Bartlett’s story takes into account not just the predicament of the now middle-aged children of the baby boomers but their own perspective in older age – they feel they have worked hard and don’t understand their children’s reactions to their success. This is a story we hear less often and it’s a twist that should make you think, whatever your age.

Until 9 June 2012

www.royalcourttheatre.com

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 5 May 2012 for The London Magazine

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“As You Like It” at the Lion and the Unicorn Theatre

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As You Like It isn’t an easy play for a small production to pull off – the cast is large and the settings of court and country promise a treat for a designer with a budget and space. That isn’t a possibility at the Lion and Unicorn Theatre but this excellent fringe production from the Custom/Practice Company actually benefits from the intimate scale. Director Rae McKen delivers a stripped-back show, appealing for its simple, no nonsense approach. With remarkably natural delivery her actors show such confidence that, like the action and thoughts they deliver, they seem “winged”.

Of course there’s that old fringe problem – the age of the cast. Maybe I am just getting old, as for me it’s the dukes and servants in Shakespeare rather than doctors and policemen who look too young. But I don’t want to be waspish. McKen has given her cast a great opportunity to display their talents and a number take on multiple roles with gusto. Kojo Kamara is especially notable as Charles in a fantastic wrestling scene.

The main players are outstanding. Fred Gray is admirably understated as the melancholic Jaques, giving an intelligent portrayal of a complex character. Oliver Mott is appealing as Orlando, and suitably heroic, but naturally As You Like It depends upon Rosalind. As Shakespeare’s finest heroine, she always outshines the frankly dreary character that captures her heart. In the role, Rebecca Loudon makes the unlikely coupling believable and is a delight from the moment she dons the guise of Ganymede. Loudon is surely a name to look out for in the future.

Until 19 May 2012

Written 4 May 2012 for The London Magazine

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“The Great Gatsby” at Wilton’s Music Hall

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It seems to be the year of The Great Gatsby, F.Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel about the American dream: The New York Public Theatre is bringing its enactment, Gatz, to London in June and later in the summer The Kings Head premieres a new musical version by Joe Evans. First up is Peter Joucla’s adaptation at Wilton’s Music Hall. The show has already been on tour and runs like one of the well-oiled, expensive cars its protagonists drive – it’s a fun affair full of atmosphere.

Joucla’s version is admirably precise and concise, snappy even. He adds an a capella choir, bespectacled as a nifty acknowledgement of Fitzgerald’s theme of vision, which performs jazz numbers. The cast gets to show off its musical skills and the delivery is superb – it adds a great deal of humour, possibly too much, as the songs dilute the tragedy of Gatsby’s doomed love affair.

In the title role Michael Malarkey is so appealing it seems a shame not to see more of him and Nick Chambers, who plays the central character of Nick, doesn’t seem to have been given enough time to establish himself as our narrator. Joucla’s adaptation benefits smaller roles: Christopher Brandon is superb as the “hulking” Tom and Vicki Campbell electric as glamorous hanger-on Jordan.

The Great Gatsby benefits immeasurably from its setting in Wilton’s Music Hall, as do all the shows it hosts. The venue exudes a decayed glamour and is one of the few theatres worth arriving early and staying late for to enjoy the bar. Capitalising on the play’s speakeasy era, cocktails are served and the party carries on after the show. Wilton’s closes soon for an essential refurbishment, but please note that it’s still open for donations, so make sure you don’t miss the party.

Until 19 May 2012

www.wiltons.org.uk

Photo by Michelle Robek

Written 26 April 2012 for The London Magazine

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“Big and Small” at the Barbican

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Among the many unmissable opportunities the Cultural Olympiad gives Londoners is the chance to see the renowned Sydney Theatre Company at the Barbican. Their star supporter, indeed Artistic Director, Cate Blanchett is performing, so no wonder its production of Big and Small is a hot ticket.

Don’t get too excited. Big and Small, originally Gross und Klein, is by the influential German playwright Botho Strauss and it is difficult stuff. It’s about, well, everything: big issues like society and the environment as well as how we experience the world epistemically. It’s difficult to describe without using big words – maybe it’s just about a woman who goes mad. In a series of disjointed, distinctly odd, scenes we see our heroine Lotte deal with a “sick minded” world and face rejection from friends, flatmates, lovers and family. For Lotte there is “disaster everywhere”.

Naturally, all eyes are on Blanchett. Lotte is a daring role for an actress to take on: childlike in her naivety, she becomes a kind of prophet with a belief she is one of the “righteous”. She has to be both an enigma and an everywoman. Blanchett prowls around with lots of “heavy breathing shit” and manages to do so convincingly: if she can talk to God then why shouldn’t she do so dancing, wearing a sequined dress and a crash helmet. It is a sense of fun, and some remarkable comic timing, that allows Blanchett’s star appeal to illuminate this occasionally opaque play.

The production is impeccably directed by Benedict Andrews. And it looks great with Johannes Schütz’s slick minimal design lit superbly by Nick Schlieper. The brave ensemble is precise, bold and committed. Even if you can’t quite keep up with the crazy antics you are sure to be impressed. Martin Crimp’s English text feels swift and sure and makes the most of the humour in the piece, managing to defeat a lot of the pretentiousness.

Until 29 April 2012

www.barbican.org.uk

Photo by Lisa Tomassetti

Written 18 April 2012 for The London Magazine

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“The Custard Boys” at the Tabard Theatre

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As a housemaster at Harrow, John Rae knew plenty about boys: how vicious they could be and how silly. His 1961 novel, The Custard Boys, looks at a group of evacuees from the Blitz as they grow up in Norfolk. This is a coming-of-age story with depth, a touch of William Golding, and a homosexual sub-plot that must have been shocking at the time.

Rae’s novel is now out of print, which is a shame since director Glenn Chandler’s adaptation really makes you want to read it. Chandler seems to have taken a great deal from a rich source to produce an ambitious play. The cast scampers around Cecilia Carey’s boys-own adventure set with terrific invention.

The talented young ensemble excels with humour about stiff upper lips, playing schoolchildren superbly and managing only slightly less well when it comes to being their parents or schoolmasters.
Josh Hall is especially funny as the earnest Felix, while Jack Elliot Thomson gives an enthusiastic performance as the ‘new bug’ Peter, whose place as newest recruit to the gang is supplanted by Mark Stein. Stein, played sensitively by Andrew St Pierre, is a wildly sophisticated Viennese Jew. Having to eat spam sandwiches is the least of his problems as he becomes a target for bullying. Curley is given the task of befriending him and they fall in love.

The relationship is fascinating and empowering, and Curley is performed wonderfully by Charlie Cussons. As paranoid as any of the boys about being regarded as a cowardy custard, and conservative in the way children often are, Curley’s sense of British Bulldog justice gives him the confidence to rebel.

The subplot highlights only one of the themes within The Custard Boys. With the strange logic children sometimes display, the romance becomes less important than the boys’ ability to fight. In a jingoistic atmosphere, encouraged to “play games and pretend” war, the children become perverted by patriotism, leading to a tragic and moving conclusion.

Until 12 May 2012

www.tabardtheatre.co.uk

Photo by Derek Drescher

Written 16 April 2012 for The London Magazine

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“A Long Day’s Journey Into Night” at the Apollo Theatre

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Director Antony Page’s new production of Eugene O’Neill’s A Long Day’s Journey Into Night marks a welcome return to the London stage by David Suchet. Taking the glorious role of tyrannical patriarch James Tyrone, successful actor and obsessive miser, Suchet’s performance is spectacular. In charge of a family haunted by the past, and with little hope for the future, Suchet isn’t just technically brilliant – listen as his American accent carefully slips into an Irish brogue – his stage presence is so commanding that it has you on the edge of your seat.

American Laurie Metcalf also returns to London, playing Tyrone’s wife Mary, and her performance is magnificent. Addicted to morphine, administered after the birth of her son, Metcalf’s lucidity wavers as she misguides her family and deals with her own demons. Sometimes painfully honest, at others simply a “ghost” inhabiting her own world, hers is a harrowing rendition.

Mary’s addiction serves to point out the failings of her whole family – the “fake pride and pretence” of her husband and her sons, finely performed by Trevor White and Kyle Soller. As the day becomes drink and drug fuelled, there’s “gloom in the air you could cut with a knife” but in this talented cast’s hands the play manages to remain tense despite its frequently delivered doom-laden conclusions.

To add tension to A Long Day’s Journey Into Night is no small achievement as the play isn’t exactly suspenseful: this long day starts out fraught and doesn’t get any better. O’Neill’s miserabilist masterpiece is a cruel, brutal, examination into family life. Page has cut down the time we spend with the Tyrones – just under three hours – but this is an intense experience that can be hard work. When “the old man” bemoans being typecast you can’t help but think of Suchet and Poirot but, happily, Suchet couldn’t be further from fiction – this is a job he is up to and does achingly well.

Until 18 August 2012

www.nimaxtheatres.com

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 13 April 2012 for The London Magazine

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“Anastasia” at Pushkin House

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When the Bolsheviks massacred the Tsar and his family, they knew that any trace of the corpses would cause uproar. They took dramatic measures – not just burning the bodies but covering them in acid. Therefore, when someone claiming to be Anastasia, one of the Tsar’s daughters, is presented to the world as a survivor it captivates imaginations worldwide. Marcelle Maurette’s play uses all the dramatic potential of the tale, presenting a moving human drama.

The play begins as a thriller, with conspirators plotting to present an unknown girl as the Princess. We see her cruel recruitment and then trial by interview as various members of the Russian émigré community challenge her identity.

Director and adapter Kate Sellers builds upon Maurette’s 1950s play in a satisfying manner by highlighting the character of Andrews Byron’s imposing Bounin, a Mephistophelean figure, full of menace. The fiction Bounin constructs, providing, “new manners, new clothes, new memories” make him a formidable impresario.

However, the triumph of the show is the role and performance of The Girl said to be Anastasia. Alice Bird takes the transformation from pauper to princess in her stride. The real achievement is presenting such an unstable enigma. The trauma experienced and the power of the dreams Anastasia provokes are dangerous to all. And there’s a twist you won’t see coming.

Sellers secures fine performances from her large cast and utilises them in tableaux that evoke harrowing scenes of murder. They are just a memory, part of the real Anastasia’s story, but seem so real to the “small world” of the Russians in exile. The production benefits greatly from its location: Pushkin House, a Russian cultural institute based in a beautiful townhouse in the elegant Bloomsbury Square, that is a perfect match for this sophisticated and intelligent play.

Until 21 April 2012

www.pushkinhouse.org

Photo by Jack Ladenburg

Written 3 April 2012 for The London Magazine