Category Archives: 2012

2012

“The Madness of George III” at the Apollo Theatre

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It seems we love the Royals right now. What with last year’s wedding and the forthcoming jubilee, there’s a feelgood factor about pageantry that our first family is riding high on. It’s well known that the Windors aren’t big theatregoers, which is a shame since they will probably miss this new production of The Madness of George III.

Alan Bennett’s 1991 textbook play, dealing with one of George III’s periods of mental breakdown (probably from the hereditary condition of porphyria), has aged superbly. Progressing from the Theatre Royal Bath, this production is highly polished. Against the backdrop of Janet Bird’s intelligent design, Christopher Luscombe’s direction is clear and pacey. While lacking satirical bite, the politics of the period are presented well, with fine performances from Nicholas Rowe and Gary Oliver as Parliamentary rivals William Pitt and Charles James Fox using the Royal family as pawns to gain power.

And Bennett’s gags about the parlous state of 18th-century medicine still shine. Peter Pacey plays the King’s first doctor with suitable sycophancy. Clive Francis is commendable as the radical physician Dr Willis whose techniques reveal the ridiculous dangers of court protocol (such as not being allowed to question the King directly) and who gets the play’s best line: “the state of monarchy and the state of lunacy share a frontier.”

The role of George III is a dream for any leading man. David Haig lustily rises to the challenge of bettering Nigel Hawthorne’s much loved representation in the 1994 film. Haig is best at showing us the King as a likeable character: the benevolent ‘farmer’ George whose “indirect and infinite curiosity” annoys his equerries but charms the audience.

Often, if you are rich, you aren’t mad – just eccentric. So Haig works hard to convince us that George losing his mind isn’t just quaint but something painful. His performance forces this point home. We can smile when the King says he would rather go to Japan than Kew, but portraying George as an intelligent man, aware of his own tragedy is Haig’s main achievement, making this a more moving evening than you might expect.

Until 31 March 2012

www.nimaxtheatres.com

Photo by Robert Day

Written 24 January 2012 for The London Magazine

2012

“Constellations” at the Royal Court Theatre

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Constellations, a new play by Nick Payne at the Royal Court, applies the theory that there are multiple universes onto one couple. “Everything you’ve ever and never done” is played out in different ‘multiverses’ creating many stories. In a series of short scenes the relationship on stage is presented in parallel narratives – from friendship to marriage, in sickness and in health, rejection to reconciliation. These multiple realities make Constellations a truly wonderful play.

By turn hilarious, with sharp comic observations, then dealing with tragic events, there’s an ironic eye to this multiverse idea that makes Constellations a playful affair. The decisions any playwright faces when making a drama mirror those we face in life: Payne wants to show all these choices with a virtuoso display that runs his actors and audience through the gamut of possibilities.

Repeated dialogue and stops and starts that occur on entering each new universe are handled skilfully by director Michael Longhurst. And the repetition of lines allows Sally Hawkins and Rafe Spall to give stellar performances as they modulate their delivery of the same conversations in different contexts. Spall’s comic ability and incontrovertible charm are perfect for the likeable character he plays, while the moments of vulnerability show his sensitivity.

Both actors have to turn on a dime, as they switch from universe to universe, and they excel at this. Sally Hawkins is truly remarkable not only at getting laughs, but at exploring the play’s darker moments. Whenever she despairs it is deeply moving, all the more so since only a second before she was making us giggle. Seldom have I laughed and cried in such close proximity.

Constellations marks a development in Payne’s writing not to be missed. It’s an ambitious, confident piece which retains his warm wit yet has a bleak edge. The work is also beautifully poetic – the revisited phrases are not only a comic device, but wrought to create a hypnotic symphony of feelings.

If this sounds pretentious then think again: Payne works in another universe where experimentation like this isn’t pompous. There’s no intellectual posturing here and, while the ideas are a challenge, this is a practical play extolling experience, embracing our condition and offering consolation not with philosophy but physics.

Until 11 February 2012

www.royalcourttheatre.com

Photo by Simon Annand

Written 20 January 2012 for The London Magazine

2012

“Travelling Light” at the National Theatre

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Cinema and theatre have always had a close symbiosis. The relationship is often fruitful but, for those who love live arts more, Nicholas Wright’s new play, Travelling Light, about the fascinating early days of the motion picture, is an opportunity to convey emotions and ideas with an intimacy that stage, rather than screen, promotes.

There are moments when Travelling Light uses the power theatre has to grab your attention like nothing else. It’s the tale of Motl Mendl, a Russian Jew, falling in love with the new medium of film and a girl who acts in his first picture. Punctuated with witty observations on the nature of art (a scene of the first focus group for a movie is delightful) and nostalgically interspaced with reflections from Mendl in later life, it’s an interesting story, well told – unfortunately there never seems very much at stake.

Damien Molony and Paul Jesson are both commendable as the flawed hero Mendl and there is a strong performance from Lauren O’Neil as his love interest. But the core of the play is Mendl’s relationship with his first ‘producer’, the rough and ready mill-owner of his hometown performed by Antony Sher. Clearly loving being back on stage at the National, Sher gives a robust, heart-warming performance in a difficult role that could easily turn into parody.

Unfortunately, Sher’s performance is the only thing that makes Travelling Light really compelling. Nicholas Hytner’s direction is clear and concise but the projection of film on to Bob Crowley’s design seems to have missed a trick or two.

Wright’s text seldom rises above the level of entertainment, and that isn’t much of a fault, but we often expect more from theatre, don’t we? It’s a double standard, of course, but Travelling Light is a little too light and this story of moving pictures not moving enough.

Until 6 March 2012

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 19 January 2012 for The London Magazine

2012

“The Kreutzer Sonata” at the Gate Theatre

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Having broken box office records a couple of years ago, the Kreutzer Sonata’s return to the Gate Theatre gives us the chance to take an extraordinary journey once again. Designer Chloe Lamford transforms the auditorium of the Gate Theatre into the inside of a railway carriage, her clever set further condensing an already intimate space. We are about to travel with a quiet unassuming man sitting in the carriage corner.

The man is Pozdnyshev, who will reveal to us the story of his marriage and how he came to murder his wife. While hardly charming, his frankness endears him to us – he seems honest, albeit disturbed. As his jealousy and the play’s tension mount, his irrational fears begin to seem understandable – trapped in a loveless relationship, his musical wife is attracted to a violinist. Pozdnyshev becomes the victim of his own rage but believes his actions to be entirely understandable.

Pozdnyshev’s unsettling position is grippingly portrayed in Hilton McRae’s quietly nuanced performance. Considered and philosophical, what really pains him is what he views as the inevitability of events. Most impressively, McRae has the stage presence to hold our attention during this 85-minute monologue. His wife and her lover, played by Sophie Scott and Tobias Beer, make music and appear through screens on the carriage doors.

Nancy Harris handles the adaptation and translation of this short story from Tolstoy with great skill. Highlighting the narrative increases the drama and does away with the (to be frank) rather madder elements of Tolstoy’s philosophy. The misogyny is still present but just more believable – a question of character development rather than political creed.

A live performance of parts of the sonata accompanies the piece, focusing attention on the relationship between music and passion: a preoccupation for Tolstoy as an aesthetician. It also serves as a potent dramatic device, as the musicians present directly to the audience the turmoil of emotions that haunt Pozdnyshev. It’s stirring stuff. In fact, this is a train not to be missed, so get your ticket soon as I suspect many who have already seen it will be buying a return ticket.

Until 18 February 2012

www.gatetheatre.co.uk

Photo by Simon Kane

Written 12 January 2012 for The London Magazine