Category Archives: 2019

2019

“Waitress” at the Adelphi Theatre

Let the cooking puns commence: Sarah Bareilles’ Broadway hit has arrived in London. An appetite for the show is easy to understand – it has charm and a great leading lady. The story is an everyday tale from a female perspective with surprisingly gritty touches: a welcome change for such a crowd-pleasing, mainstream project. It’s essentially a show about motherhood, which makes it hard to knock and easy to be moved by. Nonetheless, Waitress is not to all tastes.

Despite efforts at realism showing life’s sour side, the show is (sorry) too sweet. Its ‘Queen of Kindness’ heroine Jenna fails to convince, despite Katharine McPhee’s efforts. Meanwhile her salt-of-the-earth friends, played by Marisha Wallace and Laura Baldwin, who sound fantastic, are sketchy characters. All these lives revolve around men – at least, until Jenna has a baby – and you don’t have to be much of a feminist to think that’s not good enough for 2019. Still, the trio are heart-warming, the performances winning, and the book from Jessie Nelson has a nice grasp on an early midlife crisis, alongside an interesting take on American ideals. In short, it’s not devoid of ideas.

The songs are good from the start and get better throughout. There’s an excellent main refrain and a stand-out number. A strong country music feel, with a touch of the musical Once, the score is by far the best thing about the show. And the delivery is superb. McPhee is visiting from the States and has real star quality. How much she overshadows everything else is a tricky issue – Jenna is a massive role and, ultimately to the show’s detriment, all the other characters feel insignificant. The humour is terrible: adolescent nudges at sex, a sassy African-American and couple of geeks are very dated. Diane Paulus’ direction is efficient and brisk but cannot gloss over the bad jokes.

A selection of dire roles for men makes you wonder if a point is being made about the poor parts women have had to suffer in the past. And none of the men performing helps give any role depth. There’s the odious husband who takes Jenna’s cash and demands she love him more than her unborn child, and the gynaecologist she has an affair with (in his consulting room… eek) and who loves her for her “sad eyes” – if your mother didn’t warn you about men who say that, let me take the opportunity to do so now. It’s no wonder this lot can be done away with so quickly, the question is why Jenna bothered with them in the first place. And that’s without adding the character sketches for her friends’ partners, who are also awful. Concluding with the owner of the diner Jenna works in, who ends up as her fairy godfather (sigh), the show’s wish- fulfilment ends up more than just silly. Jenna gets on in the world not through her cooking skills but by being the owner’s friend. Contrary to all intentions, we end up with a dumb waitress.

Until 19 October 2019

https://waitressthemusical.co.uk

Photo by Johan Persson

2019

“Feed” at the Vault Festival

If you like things a bit mad, then Theatre Témoin’s show is for you. Occasionally entertaining, sometimes funny, deliberately provocative and childishly offensive, this is a chaotic affair. And that’s not necessarily a negative. Feed is a mess, but you can understand why. You see, it’s about the internet.

There are two central stories that show promise: a well-intentioned but nonetheless fake news report that goes viral and a teen vlogger driven to insanity by her virtue signalling. It’s tempting to speculate that the work of contributing playwrights Eve Leigh and Erin Judge can be spotted here. But neither tale is explored enough, which is frustrating. The ‘devising cast’ – Louise Lee, Esmee Marsh, Jonathan Peck and Yasmine Yagchi – have elaborated too much around the stories and director Ailin Conant seems to have done little to restrain them.

As the journalist Kate sees her work go viral because of a photo she stole from her girlfriend, and Mia’s blog moves from being about beauty to martyrdom, we are bombarded with the ridiculous. Then some geese turn up for a subplot about foie gras. Again, it could be argued that the chaos comes from a close study of the subject matter. The commitment and the energy are unflagging. Unfortunately, there are too many problems on top of too much content.

Ambition outstrips ability frequently. The imagery of cannibalism and coprophagy is vivid but poorly delivered. The set is clumsy. Interaction with the audience is poor. A central motif with performers ‘rewinding’, as if on video, and then repeating their actions with a tweaked word or gesture, seems nonsensical – why refer back to an old technology? And mock adverts inserted into scenes make for distracting and cheap comedy. A lot of this is easily solved, but there are bigger issues. A sinister SEO guru who bridges both stories is too comforting a fantasy; the idea of a controlling force behind internet success, someone that we can blame, is a fiction for conspiracy theorists. And the AI spoken of as having “no morals, no ethics, no monitoring” – yet another topic abandoned – is too much of a cop out.

For all its faults, Feed has a confrontationality that is bracing. It treads the line of accusing its audience with some self-deprecation. Ultimately, of course, it’s all of us who sustain the web. Asking us to look away or share some popcorn with them as events climax shows a sense of the theatrical as well as human insight. And there are intentionally uncomfortable moments when it’s clear nobody is afraid of challenging anyone – and that, at least, is a welcome addition to the theatrical menu.

Until 10 March 2019

www.vaultfestival.com

2019

“A Lesson from Aloes” at the Finborough Theatre

Janet Suzman’s revival of South African master-playwright Athol Fugard’s 1978 play is a masterclass in direction. There’s plenty to learn from this play about political activists suffering under the Apartheid regime, while Suzman’s sure hand is theatrically educative. And, although enjoyment can’t be said to be an aim of the piece, the performances prove gratifying despite the bleak content.

Dawid Minnaar and Janine Ulfane play a devoted couple, Piet and Gladys, whose lives have been traumatised by a visit from the security forces. Minnaar makes Piet a noble figure, possibly to a fault, and skilfully carries us through a deal of poetry quoting, potted personal history and philosophising on plants that might have dragged in lesser hands. Ulfane’s role as the prim and proper wife who has suffered a breakdown is more interesting. Intense from the start, Gladys’s anxiety only lets up when she shows a shockingly vicious streak. The character’s fragility weighs heavily on the play – it comes close to exhausting – but Suzman and Ulfane refuse to back down.

Most of the play is spent waiting for the arrival of Piet’s friend and political comrade, Steve. Suzman’s pacing is superb; that the couple are “flattering time with too much attention” is palpable yet the momentum is swift. Steve’s arrival, after the show’s interval, brings further energy and another strong performance, this time from David Rubin. The news of his approaching exile to the UK and the spectre of a police informer who played a part in his imprisonment provide further dynamics to puzzle over, while Rubin generates care for his character with remarkable speed.

A Lesson from Aloes is a play of ideas and emotions that may prove too static for some tastes. But, for a precise look at people under pressure, and a detailed insight into history, it is admirable. Fugard’s control of theme and plot are matched flawlessly by Suzman. And ideas about home, hope and hell, all of which can teach us much, are presented to perfection.

Until 23 March 2019

www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Photo by Alixandra Fazzina

2019

“Equus” at the Theatre Royal Stratford East

The last London outing of Peter Shaffer’s 1973 play boasted exciting star casting. But even the presence of Daniel Radcliffe, who did a great job playing the stable hand Alan who blinds the horses in his care, didn’t quite distract from the dated manner of this psychodrama. Equus can be a laboured whydunit, as the aloof Dr Dysart lags behind the audience in reconstructing events and struggles to provide an explanation for an all-too-symbolic outrage.

In this new production, director Ned Bennett gallops over many flaws, adding a physicality that balances the theorising monologues. Meanwhile, the lighting and sound design, from Jessica Hung Han Yun and Giles Thomas respectively, add psychedelic flashes of light and bursts of sound to great effect. With a strong cast, dashing on and off stage with unnerving speed, the piece is served superbly – this is one of the best revivals you’ll see in a long time.

The play’s problems are still there, of course. A contemporary audience is probably too used to tracing trauma – and too familiar with psychobabble – to find such a quest revelatory. But Bennett manages to make it exciting. The clever move is to focus on the doctor, played superbly by Zubin Varla, as much as the patient, and to make the philhellenic clinician’s dissatisfaction with his own life a source of questions. With increasing distress, Dysart sees his treatment will deprive Alan of a life-enhancing passion – the key word is worship – which is a challenging proposition, given Alan’s actions. Varla provides convincing fervour, and plumbing Shaffer’s text to bring out the theme works well.

The production flirts with a period setting, sometimes to its detriment. Georgia Lowe’s minimal design of clinical curtains is used to great effect, but the costumes, as a nod to the 1970s, are confusing. And too little is done about the female roles. Norah Lopez Holden, who plays Alan’s love interest, feels so contemporary she could come from another play. While Alan’s mother is in 1950s mode with Syreeta Kumar’s oddly wooden depiction.

Ira Mandela Siobhan and Ehtan Kai

The cast is superb though when it comes to doubling up as the horses, led in this endeavour by Ira Mandela Siobhan. Avoiding fancy puppetry emphasises the sensual to an almost risqué level – the show is confrontationally sexy. For a final exciting element, there’s the performance of Ethan Kai as Alan. Theatregoers love a career-defining role and this surely counts as one. As well as creating sympathy for the character – no easy leap – he also makes Alan scary. Presenting a young man so dangerously unaware of his own strength, Kai allows Alan to stand as an individual rather than an object in Shaffer’s intellectual game – and all benefit as a result.  

Until 23 March 2019

www.stratfordeast.com

Photo by The Other Richard

2019

“The Pirates of Penzance” at Wilton’s Music Hall

Sasha Regan’s all-male productions of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas are truly special. Starting at the Union Theatre a decade ago, receiving rave reviews from the beginning, the greatest success – so far – has been this comedy romance of sweet corsairs, beautiful sisters and bumbling authority figures. Having toured the world #PiratesIsBack returns to what must be the perfect venue for this five-star show.

So, what’s so great? While clever cynicism on stage is common, increasingly so with musicals, and is present here, Regan brings back an innocence that is enchanting. There’s nothing infantile about the show – Gilbert’s lyrics show a master of sarcasm and irony, while the class consciousness that he parodied in 1879, and throughout his career, makes him seem forward thinking. For all the childish fun, Gilbert takes a grown-up look at how silly the world is. Some 140 years later, Regan understands that. Look at the famous Major General role – pompous as ever, yet still endearing in David McKechnie’s fantastic interpretation. Or the lamenting policeman, led magnificently by Duncan Sandilands, getting a lot of laughs but also a touch of sympathy. And best of all the “Piratical Maid of all work” Ruth, a role that Alan Richardson, fresh from success in the West End – whose voice is truly sublime – saves from any trace of distasteful sexism with a performance that is as sensitive and empowering as it is funny.

David McKechnie as the Major General

Then there is a romance in the piece, a peculiar kind that feels out of time. This is, after all, a fairy-book story of love at first sight, no matter how tongue in cheek. James Thackeray masters the blend as the Pirate King who is sensitive yet still dashing and sure to steal hearts. The gallant Frederic and charming Mabel are made a gorgeous couple by Tom Senior and Tom Bales respectively. Senior actually manages to make you admire the character’s silly sense of duty. There’s a real sense of tenderness here that might very well bring a tear to your eye. Regan takes the love story seriously, no matter how old-fashioned the sentimentality, in a necessary leap of faith that allows it to work as theatre.

Tom Senior and Tom Bales

The stars are backed by a fantastic ensemble, with a real sense of camaraderie that must surely be credited to Regan. Their first switch from pirates to girls, giggling around the balcony, is divine. The air is one of improvisation, a sense of dressing up for fun with wooden swords and a broom for a horse, that takes us back to the basics of theatre. The rough-and-ready aesthetic of Wilton’s Music Hall complements this, as well as serving the acoustics brilliantly. All this belies the skill behind a top-notch production: Lizzi Gee’s ambitious choreography, the expert musical direction from Richard Baker (that transforms Sullivan’s orchestral score so perfectly) and Regan’s never-failing eye for detail. A lot of work goes into creating something that feels this spontaneous, that has such a sense of effortless energy, and the result is a joy that is contagious.

Until 16 March 2019

www.piratesisback.com

Photos by Scott Rylander

2019

“Call Me Vicky” at the Pleasance Theatre 

Representation on stage has its own affirming power. Identifying with characters in a play can be special and it’s sincerely hoped that Nicola and Stacey Victoria Bland’s story of a young transsexual satisfies a target audience. The value of the endeavour isn’t under question, but its execution is regrettably flawed.

Taking the title role, Matt Greenwood gives a credible performance that powers the show. And there’s admirable support from Nicola Bland as best friend Debbie. But the rest of the cast are hampered by clichéd dialogue, especially poor Wendi Peters whose salt-of-the-earth mum character is an embarrassment – she literally has a lap tray of pie and mash at one point. Meanwhile, Fat Pearl, host of the seedy club Vicky ends up living in, makes a very uncomfortable role for Ben Welch. It’s not clear how much exploitation of the vulnerable staff is going on. And what self-respecting drag queen has only one pair of shoes? Nobody is helped by Victoria Gimby’s fussy direction, while the use of the space is poor and there’s far too much running around carrying drinks. 

Welch manages to get the crowd going despite his material. But hasn’t an important issue been lost? Drag queens and the trans community are not always happy fellow travellers – it’s puzzling that this isn’t raised. And similar oversights run throughout the play, becoming increasingly frustrating. Maybe it’s because there is so much going on: substance abuse, prostitution, police prejudice and Vicky’s horrific imprisonment. All are rushed through at terrific speed with short scenes and sloshy sentiment thrown in – one character (admirably performed by Stacey Victoria Bland) dies of an overdose with only the most basic back story.

Ironically, all this pushes the story of Vicky’s transition aside, as it does another subplot that really suffers – a burgeoning love story with a punk rocker, played tenderly by Adam Young, that is yearning to be fleshed out. That the events are based on a true story is certainly awful – but bringing them to the stage needs more of an effort. This is a debut piece and, in a rush to bear witness to events, too many sacrifices have been made to characters and even comprehension – it’s difficult to keep track of events as trauma after trauma occurs and the impact of each is unexplored. The aim may be laudable, but the play is not.

Until 9 March 2019

www.pleasance.co.uk

Photo by Fabio Santos

2019

“Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train” at the Young Vic

Prison dramas are pretty much a genre in their own right and this play from the year 2000 by Stephen Adly Guirgis must rank as one of the best. Tackling faith and justice, it’s a big issues piece with brains that leaves you with plenty to think about. It’s also full of compelling stories with a great plot. Entertaining and intelligent, what’s not to admire?

Guirgis writes the most wonderful roles and dialogue. Still, in presenting a debate, no matter how smart, each part could become a mere mouthpiece. With the help of a strong cast and expert direction from Kate Hewitt, every character is compelling and believable.

Ukweli Roach and Oberon KA Adjepong perform as two convicts thrown together during the one hour outside their cells allowed to them. It’s a simple enough device, but the detail provided by Guirgis is used to great effect by both men. Roach gives an emotional performance as the young Angel Cruz that shows the strain of incarceration gradually and wins sympathy carefully. As Lucius, you might guess that Adjepong gets the best lines, but the combination of charm and mania with which they are delivered is magnificent.

Unwell Roach and Dervla Kirwan

On the other side of the “cage”, Dervla Kirwan gives a great performance as Angel’s lawyer, driving the plot with excellent story-telling skills. The prison guards, played by Matthew Douglas and Joplin Sibtain, present moral ambiguities in a way that feels natural, respectively relating to the criminals in a personal and psychopathically macro level. These three, presumably the characters we are supposed to identify with most, pose provoking challenges to the audience.

Guirgis presents a fallible justice system and religious questions while avoiding the quagmires of moral relativism or scepticism, which means we can get some real-world thinking done! Any revival of a play this good is worth checking out. Hewitt’s production is certainly stylish. In a sense, she works harder than she has to. Using bright lights and discordant jazz in between scenes proves wearying and the set from Magda Willi, while effective, is a little showy. But the most important job, namely understanding and doing justice to the text, is precise and impeccable throughout.

Until 30 March 2019

www.youngvic.org

Photos by Johan Persson

2019

“Berberian Sound Studio” at the Donmar Warehouse

This must be the show of a lifetime for composers and sound designers Ben and Max Ringham. It follows a fictional sound engineer – the oddly named Gilderoy – who is working on an Italian horror film, and a claim might be made that sound is the subject matter for this whole show. Let’s be ringing, crystal clear that the Ringhams do a great job throughout. It is their night… but perhaps theirs alone.

A too thin plot fails to hold attention even at just over 90 minutes. As Gilderoy works behind the scenes to find a particularly horrible noise, and as his backstory is clumsily developed, there’s little tension and no surprises. Tom Brooke makes for a charismatic lead, doing well to restrain the hammy humour in the piece, but the character’s timid English manners are too caricatured, and contrasting his inhibitions with his continental colleagues becomes painful. As for the continually promised horror that’s played with, you’d have to be very timid to jump even once. While Gilderoy is searching for what frightens us most, his biggest fear is literally written above him in lights – no wonder the quest ends up dragging.

Weightier themes painfully forced into the play are the real terror here: Art and Ethics, screamed out loud. We get two sides of the debate, first from a voiceover actress offended by torture scenes. Eugenia Caruso does well and manages to craft a credible character here, but her points are pretty obvious. Then the auteur director himself comes in with a seductive defence. Credit to Luke Pasqualino, who has a good stab at making the part memorable, but the appearance is too brief and, by the time he arrives, it’s already obvious that the film being worked on is too awful to bother about.

Director Tom Scutt tries hard to raise the stakes. This show is clearly a pet project for him and writer Joel Horwood, who have brought Peter Strickland’s screenplay to the stage. As well as bells and whistles, Lee Curran’s lighting design includes complete blackouts (rarer than you’d think in the theatre). And there’s an effort at comedy with two assistants, both called Massimo (chortle), played by Tom Espiner and Hemi Yeroham, whose creation of the sound effects before our eyes proves a diversion. But restricting action to the booths that make up Scutt’s and Anna Yates’ design makes the show static, as surprisingly little of the stage is used. And placing the actresses’ booth in one corner of the stage is a big mistake – if you do bother to see the show, don’t sit stage right. Time and again it’s too clear that a film would be (and was) more effective. There’s a growing frustration that anyone bothered to stage the piece at all. Let’s hope that the Ringhams, at least, had fun.

Until 30 March 2019

www.donmarwarehouse.com

Photo by Marc Brenner

2019

“Keith?’ at the Arcola Theatre

If there was ever a time ripe for lampooning, we’re living through it now. So thanks to Patrick Marmion for having a go with his new play. The effort isn’t an unquestionable success but there are some good jokes in this tale of a Dionysus of our day. As the god points out our problems, there’s satire and a touch of farce. You should laugh, even if it’s all too predictable to really lose yourself in.

The trouble is, if you set out to write a play that toyed with being risqué, it would probably end up like this one. There’s a startup millionaire turned hippy, his radical feminist ex-wife in trouble for transphobia and their entitled snowflake daughter who brings back a Muslim fiancé from her voluntary work. All pretty easy targets. There’s plenty of potential, of course – especially when it’s staged in North London – and some good lines. But you do know what’s coming next. And the characters are too flat even for caricatures.

Marmion’s self-consciously clever move is to subtitle the work ‘Moliere Rewired’. He says he has eviscerated the French writer although, if anything, the Puckish lead and sub plot with twins make the inspiration more Shakespearean. Still, there’s a fine Tartuffe type in our titular hero, a god disguised as a South African gun runner turned Buddhist monk. And Joseph Millson gives a strong performance in the lead: he has the charisma to give the role depth, the presence to make the incredible work and the confidence to give the jokes time to build.

Sara Powell and Natalie Klamar

Millson adds a conviction that the show lacks overall. Director Oscar Pearce rushes through the work as if speed might guarantee humour. The racing delivery, of Sara Powell and Natalie Klamar especially, is impressive but the jokes need more room. Pearce is more hampered by the script’s other shortcoming – it’s very static, more of a radio play than anything, with only one visual gag (well done to Aki Omoshaybi here). The dance at the end is a good idea.

Along with a checklist for crazy characters, Marmion’s strategy of trying to offend everyone equally is a tried and tested one. Regardless of age, gender or religion you’ll probably find a joke at your expense and I suppose that the Brazilian cleaner with a dust allergy (a nice turn from Lizzie Winkler) might cover class, too. Making light of weighty issues can be useful and I doubt Marmion would revel in really offending anyone – there’s no malice in the piece and, as it becomes sillier and funnier, there are glimpses of charm. It’s just a shame that Keith? is too calculated to really win you over and never crazy enough to really make you think anew.

Until 9 March 2019

www.arcolatheatre.com

Photos by Idil Sukan

2019

“The American Clock” at the Old Vic

Of the current and forthcoming productions of Arthur Miller plays in London, this piece from 1980 may count as the oddest and perhaps the most personal. The play gives an outline of The Great Depression, based on the work of oral historian Studs Terkel. And with much of the action focusing on a young man, similar in age and ambition to Miller in the early 1930s – whose family loses its money just as his did – it’s hard not to see it as an autobiographical fragment. Unfortunately, as a trip into the past it’s too potted. And as analysis of events it’s too pedestrian. That American optimism is relentless is rammed home, but doing so brings monotony. And while the idea of an American political left that challenges corporations might be intriguing, it has clearly been consigned to history. It all makes for a text that’s both slim and slow.

Clare Burt, Golda Rosheuvel and Amber Aga

With an episodic structure and presentation that includes song and dance An American Clock still intrigues and the work of director Rachel Chavkin is strong. Making the lack of plot a virtue, the central family is played in triplicate: there are three sets of once wealthy mothers and struggling fathers, while a trio of sons grow up and start careers. It’s a neat way of showing the universalism of the economic disaster and is staged superbly – the device works to make the large ensemble cast really stand out. Clare Burt and Amber Aga both excel as the mother Rose while Golda Rosheuvel becomes the star by also punctuating scenes with a powerful singing voice. James Garnon has most time in the role of the father, and leaves the biggest impression, while three youngsters performing as the son Lee – Fred Haig, Jyuddah Jaymes and Taheen Modak – all impress. Worried about losing track? Thankfully, Clarke Peters is on board as the show’s narrator to make everything smooth. Few actors could make a story this predictable still entertaining and Peters is, as ever, superb.

Ewan Wardrop

Miller renamed the play a Vaudeville piece after its flop on Broadway. Chavkin embraces this by ensuring her production has variety, fun and also rhythm. There are songs throughout and the choreography from Ann Yee is excellent, not least in taking into account that the cast are not dancers. It’s a good way to inject much needed energy; Ewan Wardrop’s tap-dancing CEO proves a real highlight. The music makes points – a manic lust for money and then panic with the Stock Market crash – while complementing the sketch-like quality of the play itself. With the motif of marathon dancing competitions that runs throughout the play, Chavkin’s vision is clear, akin to a live Reginald Marsh painting, but the scenes themselves amount to little, feeling anecdotal or didactic. It’s Chavkin’s skill to weave them together so skilfully – and it’s easy to see why she is one to watch. Still, this play isn’t one to give time to.

Until 30 March 2019

www.oldvictheatre.com

Photos by Manuel Harlan