2016

“Hardboiled: The Fall of Sam Shadow” at the New Diorama Theatre

12 February 2016 Edward Lukes

This fun show brings film noir vigorously to the stage. It’s a detective adventure story that combines the gumshoe genre’s humour and sentimentality, updates the sexual politics and finds time for a conspiratorial twist. As the power goes out in Los Angeles, the theatre fills with atmospheric shadows. But what exactly is going on at Addison Electric to make all the filaments flicker?

This is a production with plenty of light-bulb moments. The staging, devised by the Rhum and Clay Theatre Company with director Beth Flintoff, sparks with invention. A case of smoke and sliding doors, props are used perfectly, including e-cigarettes. And as you’d expect, Nick Flintoff’s lighting design is essential. The dialogue might disappoint, given the show’s antecedents, but the focus is on movement, with long stretches that show the cast’s prowess and an impressive soundtrack.

There’s some fantastic talent here. In the title role Julian Spooner manages to convey a surprisingly complex hero. Inheriting the job from his father, this little-guy P.I. becomes his own man with satisfying subtlety. Christopher Harrisson and Matthew Wells take on numerous roles faultlessly, as well as gracefully moving around the props on wheels. Showing the mechanics of the staging, down to carrying around the smoke machines and filters for the lights, isn’t new but it’s seldom done with such understated charm.

Stealing the show is Jess Mabel Jones, who plays all the female parts, including Shadow’s secretary and the obligatory femme fatale, using tiny costume changes and great vocal skills. Even a ditzy secretary is given her due, showing a knowing nod to the role of women in film noir. All indicative of a fresh eye on a beloved style, performed with care and creativity.

Until 27 February 2016

www.newdiorama.com

Photos by Richard Davenport

2016

“Road Show” at the Union Theatre

11 February 2016 Edward Lukes

The construction of luxury flats on Union Street is a topical tag for Phil Willmott’s production of this Sondheim and Weidman musical. Following the fortune-seeking Meisner brothers, the focus is their later careers as Florida property developers, and the American Dream is examined through the land boom building of Boca Raton. It’s an odd subject matter and a strangely clinical piece.

There’s a good deal of brothers Addison and Wilson’s journey that’s entertaining and insightful: from the gold rush to gambling, with the familiar Sondheim theme of the arts and patronage. The songs and the lyrics are strong but this is sub-standard Sondheim – still good, of course, but much time is spent wondering why it isn’t better.

On his deathbed, the brothers’ father wonders what type of nation his boys will help to create, but this weighty central question feels forced. Too quickly afterwards there’s a deal of rushed campery as the hapless siblings struggle away. Road Show is notable for its explicit gay relationship between Addison and a poor little rich kid called Hollis. It’s the only time we’re allowed a glimpse of sentiment. Call me soppy, but this seems a bit mean.

There’s not much Willmott can do with these problems. However, while miming sequences in the show are a neat move, they could have been better (and should surely have been suspended for a scene in which one brother draws a knife on the other). Willmott is too keen to use his large cast, but having them double up to fill the stage proves distracting. And yet the director has secured a number of strong performances.

In the lead roles Howard Jenkins and Andre Refig perform well and sound great. The latter, as Wilson, convinces as a rogue, fool and thriller but his acting might be better suited to a larger venue. Jenkins’ appropriate restraint is preferable. The brothers’ mother has a great number that Cathryn Sherman makes the most of, and Joshua LeClair is a fine Hollis.

Another big problem is the show’s lack of humour. The laughs are set up but seldom land. Sometimes it’s a question of delivery but more often it’s the piece’s downbeat tone. Both brothers feel like devices to show societal ills, Wilson a con artist, and architect Addison denied his chance to be more a than master builder. The central relationship between them is poorly constructed, their closeness clumsily established and not fully explored until the conclusion. It’s simply not motivating enough, making this a show you can’t roll with, merrily or otherwise.

Until 5 March 2016

www.uniontheatre.biz

2016

“The Master Builder” at the Old Vic

10 February 2016 Edward Lukes

Matthew Warchus’ finest work since taking charge at the Old Vic marks new ground for the director – his first Ibsen play. With a vivid new adaptation by David Hare and a lavish set – with a trick up its sleeve – from Rob Howell, this is a luxurious production with a superb cast. In this demanding play of ideas, there’s a marriage in turmoil, plenty of hypocrisy, painful psychological insight and a mid-life crisis that, at times, poses as philosophy. Miraculously, it’s all present and correct.

A trio of women make life, let’s say, complicated, for the eponymous subject of the play, Halvard Solness. Fearing for the future, Solness is paranoid that “the young will arrive”, while also guilty about his past – his career success making him the archetypal Man who had all the luck. There’s the overdevoted bookkeeper (Charlie Cameron) he uses despicably. There’s his dutiful wife, a role made weighty by an excellent performance from Linda Emond. Above all, there’s the enigmatic Hilde, who Solness once encountered as a child and creepily promised to make a princess. Now Hilde’s at the door, demanding her castle in the air and showing an unhealthy interest in steeples. This London debut from rising Australian star Sarah Snook is one people will be talking about for a long time – Snook brings a deep-voiced, earthy quality to this ethereal, childish and dangerous heroine.

Linda Emond (Aline Solness) and Sarah Snook (Hilde Wangel) in The Master Builder at The Old Vic. Photos by Manuel Harlan. — Linda Emond and Sarah Snook

In the title role, Ralph Fiennes gives one of the finest performances of his career. In his studio, his bullying lothario is convincingly charismatic and dry witted – Fiennes has always been good at lofty but here we’re allowed to laugh at the character as well, a clever layering that squeezes out the text’s suggestions and innuendo. Solness’ ego never takes a break. But there’s something wrong. His artistic output is linked to an argument with God and any mistakes or errors of judgment become a question of free will. Accounting for Hilde’s strange hold over him, there’s talk of trolls and devils, and a belief that he has some kind of supernatural help, making his wishes comes true “mercilessly”.

With Ibsen revealing cruel truths and Fiennes up to the job of depicting them, we come to see the “soft and gentle” side Solness’ wife claims exist. The pain at the loss of his children and disappointment that, while he builds homes, there is “nothing but despair” in his own, means the solipsism slips. And finally, there’s fear, expressed as crippling vertigo, through which we fully appreciate the deconstruction of the character Fiennes so carefully presents. It’s a masterfully built performance that should not be missed.

Until 19 March 2016

www.oldvictheatre.com

Photos by Manuel Harlan

2016

“Rabbit Hole” at Hampstead Theatre

7 February 2016 Edward Lukes

When it comes to sensitive subject matter, a family’s grief at the death of a child is a particularly brave topic to tackle. But the sensitivity and intelligence that playwright David Lindsay-Abaire brings to his play will make you glad to have seen a work that feels so truthful.

The marriage of Becca and Howie is placed under pressure after the accidental death of their son. Claire Skinner and Tom Goodman-Hill are tremendous as this unfortunate couple. Following their ups as well as downs, seeing the differences in how they manage their bereavement, their strengths and weaknesses are revealed. Skinner is especially strong in the single scene where she breaks down. Restraint is the key to her character and the whole play – emotions are palpable but skilfully held in check in a rich text full of suggestions and suspicions, which explores grief but never feels exploitative.

Such is Lindsay-Abaire’s skill that, remarkably, this is a play with plenty of laughs despite the subject. Much of the humour comes from clever observations of social class in America. This is a family split demographically, with Becca’s mother and sister having a little of the “Jerry Springer” about them. Impeccably performed by Georgina Rich and Penny Downie, both are fully realised, appealing, characters and could easily have a play of their own. The point is that neither the play, nor its characters are paralysed by grief. After all, in the real world, you can’t be.

Becca and Howie are the focus but they come to fear “the face” from others who can’t deal with their tragedy – in particular, Jason, the driver of the car involved in the accident, who looks to find his own closure. In three short scenes, Sean Delaney makes his mark in the role. Becca’s willingness and Howie’s reluctance to meet him provide the play’s most heartfelt moments. Fittingly, Jason provides hope in the play, providing a scientific theory of parallel universes that Becca can take solace from (she movingly speculates that her present shows only “the sad version of us”).

Rabbit Hole is the second play by Lindsay-Abaire to be performed at Hampstead. Previously, Good People was a theatrical highlight of 2013 and a West End transfer that it’s to be hoped sets a trend. It’s a fruitful association for the venue and director Ed Hall, who shows a through appreciation of the writing and an ability to empower the cast to face the comedy in the piece. I can’t wait to see more from the combination.

Until 5 March 2016

www.hampsteadtheatre.com

Photos by Manuel Harlan

2016

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” at the National Theatre

5 February 2016 Edward Lukes

Part of August Wilson’s decathlon of plays about race relations in America, this 1982 work is set in a 1920s Chicago recording studio. While the titular diva, known as the mother of the blues, fights with her manager and producer over adapting her signature song into a modern jazz style, her backing band’s members reveal personal and political tensions of their own.

It could be heavy stuff. Yet, by setting up plenty of laughs and endearing characters, Wilson’s play is hugely entertaining. Most impressively, by showing how racism infuses – indeed poisons – lives, the politics here are as emotive as they are educational. The segregated society the play is based in takes some getting your head around – the gap between races so fundamental – but showing how the players take it for granted has a humbling effect.
If the play has a failing, it’s that you can’t – and don’t – get enough of Ma Rainey. A flaw compounded by the fact that the excellent Sharon D Clarke takes the role. Written relatively thinly, the motivation behind her often-amusing artistic temperament is portrayed confidently and certainly makes you think. But with a voice this strong, it seems downright foolish not to get more music out of Clarke.

Impeccably directed by Dominic Cooke, Ultz’s design creates a sound booth aloft and a basement room that the band rehearses in. The feeling is sparse, almost wasteful given the size of the Lyttleton stage, but the claustrophobia is fitting enough. In a narrow space a quartet of excellent performers carefully reveal frequently harrowing stories from the boys in the band.

Giles Terera and Clint Dyer make a great double act as long-standing friends who play together. O-T Fagbenle has the star part as Levee, a talented, troubled and ambitious youngster, who embodies the power of new music – jazz. A tough call, we have to take Levee seriously while laughing at him quite a bit and Fagbenle manages this balance well, skillfully revealing the character’s tragic background. Lucian Msamati’s philosophising Toledo wants to open the eyes of his illiterate colleagues. Exquisitely delivering the most didactic of lines, he deserves our applause – our affection for him paying off with the play’s startling, tragic, conclusion. The impact and legacy of racism is clear here, making the play still frighteningly apposite.

Until 18 May 2016

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Photos by Johan Persson

2016

“Escaped Alone” at the Royal Court

1 February 2016 Edward Lukes

Sometimes the theatre seems obsessed with youth: plays about teenagers, hot new stars and valiant efforts to attract ‘new’, i.e. younger, audiences. But here’s a play that takes old age and experience seriously, while highlighting another important debate – about women in the theatre. The 77-year-old Caryl Churchill’s new play is for four older women, a brilliant piece confirming that being radical isn’t about age but about sheer skill and vision.

Escaped Alone is short, under an hour, and director James MacDonald tightly controls the duration. It’s worth paying attention to Christopher Shutt’s audio work here, with sounds and silences in the piece as carefully constructed as the impeccable script.

Despite the brevity, Churchill manages more than most playwrights. This is a buy-one-get-two-free play, mixing genres to startling effect. First a group of friends, chatting in the garden – the conversation observed to perfection and their relationships conveyed with marvellous economy – is funny, wise and topical.

Monologues interrupt, revealing the women’s current fears. These are poems on anxiety, depression and regret, each one capable of moving you to tears. Circling around the theme of loneliness, the show is explicit about the “bitter rage” we all contain.

ESCAPED ALONE by Churchill, , Writer - Caryl Churchill, Director - James Macdonald, Designer - Miriam Buether, Lighting Peter Mumford, The Royal Court Theatre, 2016, Credit: Johan Persson/ — Linda Bassett

And then there are scenes of storytelling. Dystopian tales of earth, wind, fire and water that Churchill has wicked fun with. The outrageous scenarios bring laughs, but the abject isn’t far away. Absurd suggestions, worthy of any conspiracy fantasist, these apocalypses come close to our darkest imaginings.

Linda Bassett takes the lead in these stand-alone scenes, so she excels among an amazing cast. She’s joined by Deborah Findlay, Kika Markham and June Watson, who each seem incapable of putting a foot wrong, and it’s hard to imagine another ensemble this strong.

The production marks a stellar beginning to the Royal Court’s anniversary year. The venue’s tagline, ‘sixty years young’, feels appropriate for Churchill’s fresh work. Settling into the home of previous career triumphs, Escaped Alone is just as experimental and challenging, bold both structurally and thematically. Forget those angry young men… it’s time for these wise old women.

Until 12 March 2016

www.royalcourttheatre.com

Photos by Johan Persson

2016

“Herons” at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre

27 January 2016 Edward Lukes

Featuring yet more troubled youths, playwright Simon Stephens’ 2001 play has been revised under the direction of Sean Holmes. Set one year on from a murder (details are deliberately vague) – there are bullies, broken homes and lots of lies. This is a frustratingly slippery, provocatively outrageous play. But by carefully playing with naturalism, Stephens’ unsettling world of disturbing imagery and ambiguity is brought to life.

The direction emphasises Stephens’ oddities too emphatically: think gnomic pauses and sudden shouting. But Holmes has a crisp hold on the play’s tension and it’s exciting even while you scratch your head. Hyemi Shin’s ambitious design, with its flooded stage looking great during fight scenes, is fussy, if impressive. But with the heavyhanded symbolism of a dam wall threatening to burst at a pivotal moment, the set assaults us with metaphor.

The production has, appropriately, a fledgling cast. At times all the strangeness causes problems. The school uniforms are bizarre, the behaviour outlandish. And who on earth walks around with an inflatable doll? The point is that these teenagers frequently behave like infants. Face painting and blowing bubbles one minute, swearing enough to make a sailor blush the next. Do the characters even understand how offensive they are? The play’s most troublesome scene – an anal rape with a golf club handle that’s difficult to justify – leaves the protagonists themselves in shock.

Moses Adejimi, Ella McLoughlin and Billy Matthews (above) make a tight trio of bully boys, creating a choral round out of Stephens’ expletive-obsessed script. It’s a shame more wasn’t made of the writer’s lyricism. Matthews takes the lead, reminiscent of Pinkie in Brighton Rock. But, like his nature-loving victim, performed valiantly by Max Gill, extreme reactions place a barrier between characters and the audience; maybe it’s best to think of this as a fence through which we watch a human zoo?

Another bludgeoning simile – films of primates distractingly projected throughout the play – confirms the production as a nature study rather than anthropology. There’s the observation (twice) that the youngsters aren’t allowed to be children anymore but Holmes moves us a long way from social comment: the focus is that “in nature terrible things happen all the time”. It’s a questionable exercise of dubious appeal.

Until 13 February 2016

www.lyric.co.uk

Photos by Tristram Kenton

2016

“Yen” at the Royal Court

26 January 2016 Edward Lukes

Anna Jordan’s play won the Bruntwood Prize in 2013 and has already had an acclaimed run at Manchester’s Royal Exchange. A bold look at the ever-topical issue of our problem youth, Jordan’s unflinching eye earns her work the distinction of being one of the most depressing plays you could go and see.

Hench and Bobbie, 16 and 13 respectively, have been left to fend for themselves. Jordan lists signs of poverty and depravity relentlessly: dirt, crisps, lager and pornography. Incapable of caring for themselves, let alone the large dog they have imprisoned in their bedroom, the boys can’t call for help as they have no credit on their phones. Remind yourself the situation is unusual – but it isn’t unbelievable.

Writing gritty is relatively easy. Writing something this grim is harder. To steer clear of a documentary feel there are embellishments. A portable heater stands in for the dog. And Bobbie becomes literally feral at one point (he barks when distressed) – a brilliant and powerfully unsettling moment. And there’s the PlayStation, their only source of solace (which they pass out while playing), superbly staged as a bank of lights.

The performances and Ned Bennett’s direction are first class. Sian Breckin manages to evoke sympathy as the boy’s awful mother, indicating a tragic back story: throughout the play we are reminded that you can love someone (or a dog) yet treat them horribly. Annes Elwy makes a credible character out of Jenny, who tries to stop the animal cruelty and then starts an unlikely romance with Hench. It’s Jenny’s nickname that gives the play its title, but having another young character as such an obvious foil, painfully showing what it is boys yearn for, feels forced.

In the lead roles Alex Austin and Jake Davies’ performances are marked by an awesome physicality. A mix of hormones, menace and boredom, they inhabit their characters fully and it’s all about frustration. Each instance of physical contact, indeed the potential of touching, becomes intense. It makes the unspecified trauma that affects Hench and the violence Jennifer experiences all the more potent. Austin and Davies’ efforts bring out the very best in the text and do justice to a play that is both hard working and hard work.

Until 13 February 2016

www.royalcourttheatre.com

Photo by Richard Davenport

2016

“4000 Days” at the Park Theatre

22 January 2016 Edward Lukes

Peter Quilter’s new play is summarised as a story of “accident, coma, memory loss, vandalism” and shows a recovering patient, torn between trauma, his mother and his lover. The intriguing twist is that Michael, the victim of a freak cerebral haemorrhage, can’t remember the last decade or so – the whole time with his partner Paul – a fact his mother aims to take advantage of.

4000 Days is well performed. Daniel Weyman gives a sensitive portrayal as marketer Paul who, it’s revealed, has attempted to control Michael over the years, stamping on his potential as an artist. This is partly the reason Michael’s mother Carol, played by Maggie Ollerenshaw, hates Paul. Carol “reserves the right to be very disappointed” and Ollerenshaw delivers this blunt-to-the-point-of-brutal, age-induced cynicism perfectly. The tension between Paul and Carol is palpable. It’s taken a coma to get them in the same room, where they fight and even make a competition of the flowers they bring in.

Last but not least, Alistair McGowan renders the role of waspish Michael, who’s recognisable, realistic and far from appealing. Fans of his comedy work beware – McGowan gives a serious and studied performance, stubbornly reining back the script’s wry humour: the pay-off is a nuanced character who raises the issues and observations about relationships Quilter wants to explore. Still, although skilled, it seems odd that all three performers actively stop the laughs landing.

There are nuggets of wisdom and plenty of questions here, if delivered somewhat flatly. Should Michael take the fresh start his mother wants for him or try to recapture, even improve, his relationship? Catching up on what’s happened in the world over the last ten years is a dead end for the play. And similarly the potential drama around what is, after all, a life-threatening condition is not exploited. The overriding problem is director Matt Aston’s slow and static approach, stretching the script to breaking point with a delivery that’s just too lethargic. Nice premise, shame about the pace.

Until 13 February 2016

www.parktheatre.co.uk

Photo by Rory Lindsay

2016

“Guys and Dolls” at the Savoy Theatre

21 January 2016 Edward Lukes

Another hit transfer from the Chichester Festival Theatre which, after its production of Gypsy, must be feeling at home in the Savoy. This exquisitely polished show matches the venue’s sophisticated glamour perfectly. New Yorker Gordon Greenberg directs, bringing an appropriate feel for Broadway to Frank Loesser’s “musical fable” of men about town and their much put-upon women.

Great material, superbly executed, the show’s hit songs sound better than ever. At the risk of being ungallant, the guys have the edge slightly, creating a big sound and working together to get the laughs. Greenberg pays attention to the humour in Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ book, following two gamblers, the high-rolling Sky Masterson and fixer Nathan Detroit, placing their bets on matrimony to, respectively, a Salvation Army sergeant and a nightclub hostess. Space is created for a series of strong comic performances, especially from Gavin Spokes and Ian Hughes, as Nicely Nicely and Benny – a double act to die for. This gang of gamblers forms a coherent group that’s more than just a background note to the love affairs on offer.

A further highlight is the production’s strong choreography – they’ve got both Carlos Acosta and Andrew Wright on board – with a trip to Havana generating a genuine fantasia as well as a spirited fight scene. Peter McKintosh’s design is a simple affair that will serve the production well on tour, but aids the dancers immeasurably. The key is the lighting (bravo designer Tim Mitchell) impressively adding structure to scenes. And special mention goes to the gloriously colourful costumes.

The central performances are superb. These characters are grown-ups and the balance between romance and realism is deftly handled. While Siubhan Harrison stalls slightly as Salvation Army Sarah, failing to exploit the book’s satire, Jamie Parker is a hit from the start as Sky. Charismatic and sounding superb, Parker adds tension to Luck Be A Lady – a revelatory performance of a well-known number. Close to stealing the show are David Haig and Sophie Thompson as Nathan Detroit and Miss Adelaide (we all recognise the cracking chemistry from Four Weddings And a Funeral). Haig is at his most charming and Thompson makes both renditions of her Adelaide’s Lament something to celebrate.

Until 12 March 2016

www.guysanddollsthemusical.co.uk

Photos by Johan Persson