2017

“The Braille Legacy” at the Charing Cross Theatre

This new French musical’s world premiere benefits from the talents of director Thom Southerland. It’s the story of Louis Braille, who battles against prejudice to improve lives with his invention of a reading and writing system for the blind. The aim is to inspire and, with a rousing, diligent score, here’s a chance it’ll induce goose bumps and maybe a tear or two.

Now, while Braille changed the world for the better, he did so from behind a desk, his “silent revolution” being slow rather than dramatic. So it’s quite a task for Sébastian Lancrenon’s book to animate Braille’s story for the stage and the results are unsteady.

The first good idea is to show Louis as a rebellious teenager, affording Jack Wolfe in the lead role enough to work with to ensure that this makes a strong professional debut for him. Wolfe’s singing is great and he clearly has a promising future.

But the awful discrimination faced by the blind in the 19th century isn’t established well. The banning of Braille’s system shows the shocking extent of inequity and could have been given greater impact, while a dramatic subplot (about children being used in fatal experiments to “cure” blindness) should have been introduced much earlier. The battle of wills at Louis’ school for the blind becomes deadly serious: and only then can both Jérôme Pradon and Ashley Stillburn, as rival pedagogues, really show their mettle.

Further efforts to enliven the story are similarly flawed. Humour is thin, despite the efforts of Kate Milner-Evans as the wife of Captain Barbier, whose “night writing” formed the basis of Braille’s work. Themes of family and friendship, leading to emotional songs for Ceili O’Connor and Jason Broderick, are powerfully delivered, but hampered by woefully under-inspiring lyrics, translated by Ranjit Bolt.

With this uneven mix, Southerland’s skills come to the fore. He clearly believes the show deserves a large stage and a big sound. Knowing that sentimentality is the strongest element in the show, the director doesn’t shy away from it. And he is a persuasive man.

Jack Wolfe and Jason Broderick
Jack Wolfe and Jason Broderick

Tim Shortall’s revolving set literally adds the motion needed. The singing is flawless, the whole cast showing an impeccable delivery that makes a lot of a competent score by Jean-Baptiste Sauray. Taking just one detail, the use of blindfolds discarded when blind characters can “see” (if dreaming or using Braille), shows the impressive creativity on offer – a saving grace for a show struggling with some big problems.

Until 24 June 2017

www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk

Photo by Scott Rylander

2017

“Nuclear War” at the Royal Court

A combination of dance, song and poetry, Simon Stephens’ new creation will make heads spin and hearts ache.

While the writer might dislike the word, ‘experimental’ is an accurate description. This is a piece that pushed boundaries well before an audience even got near it, by privileging the always collaborative nature of theatre-making. Stephens affords remarkable liberty to those he works with: his script is a “series of suggestions” left deliberately open – just a dozen pages of text with no characters. Both his role as a playwright and the job of director/choreographer Imogen Knight are reappraised and opened up.

So what’s the result? The text’s main theme rings out: Nuclear War is a meditation on grief, movingly depicted. Maureen Beattie takes the lead, recounting a day like a contemporary Mrs Dalloway, but stricken by loss. Recollections of moments in hospital are the clearest and most effective. This is a woman out of her mind with mourning and loneliness.

The character Beattie so meticulously depicts is accompanied by performers Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Gerrome Miller, Beatrice Scirocchi and Andrew Sheridan. All four give committed performances but with the actions of the group they form, the evening becomes confusing. You could call this quartet a chorus, why not: revealing internal thoughts and adding a running commentary…of sorts. Mortality is linked to time, with snatches of Arthur Eddington’s ideas injected. And then come some puzzling props. Lasting only 45 minutes, Knight hasn’t allowed long enough to explore the depth of Stephens’ text.

If you’re grumpy, a sense this was all more fun to work on than to watch creeps in. However, aided by lighting guru Lee Curran, there’s some incredible imagery here. The chorus become dogs, and bizarre fetishists, before transforming into ghosts to say a goodbye to their grieving companion. It’s a peremptory departure, despite the resolution it offers, and I wished for more of these unforgettable moments from such an intrepid trial.

Until 6 May 2017

www.royalcourttheatre.com

Photo by Chloe Lamford

2017

“Romeo and Juliet” at the Greenwich Theatre

Merely Theatre has a commonsense approach to its policy of ‘genderblind’ casting. A crew of ten pairs up to rehearse roles and half of the actors perform at a time – regardless of their gender. It’s a voguish idea that scholars and pundits love to comment on but, for director Scott Ellis, it’s more about equal employment than proving a point. Thankfully, Ellis appreciates that what matters to the theatregoer is a great, well-acted play, and that’s what he aims for.

For my trip, Emmy Rose took the role of Juliet, giving a bracing “headstrong” rendition, alongside a clear-eyed and heroic Luke Barton as Romeo. There’s a strong sense of suicidal teenagers battling against the world. Barton is full of petulant frustration and Rose is wonderful when she rejects advice from her trusty old nurse. With only five in the cast, there’s a lot of doubling up, most startlingly when Rose plays an aggressive Tybalt. Pairings add a frisson without feeling theorised.

It is Merely Theatre’s ambition as a repertory group that really marks it out – the company is also performing Twelfth Night. The simple set and everyday costumes (Florence Hazard) give an air of travelling players. The cast works slickly and tightly – support and encouragement are palpable. Among multiple roles, Tamara Astor’s nurse, Ffion Jones’ Paris and Hannah Ellis’ madcap Mercutio show that comedy is a particular strength. Frequent direct appeals to the audience are consistently successful. That the plot remains clear is a huge achievement on everyone’s part.

Some character changes make your head spin and overall the production is too speedy. “Light of foot” is one thing but the pace here left me, if not the cast, breathless. The focus is on action, justifying abbreviations, so there isn’t time for any sense of foreboding to develop. But, while some tension is lost, attention is gripped. I can report that a young audience gradually tore themselves away from their phones. That’s big praise nowadays.

Until 22 April 2017

www.merelytheatre.co.uk

Photo by Jamie Scott-Smith

2017

“Guards At The Taj” at the Bush Theatre

Reopening after a year of refurbishment and looking very smart indeed, artistic director Madani Younis’ reinvigorated west London venue is off to a brilliant new start. An award-winning play from American writer Rajiv Joseph combines with two big UK names: director Jamie Lloyd and designer Soutra Gilmour.

Joseph’s play is a marvel of economy – 80 minutes packed with ideas, emotion, comedy and tragedy. Two guards on the Taj Mahal construction site are forbidden from seeing the mausoleum before its completion, by decree from Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. The tension between despotic whims and these average guys escalates into horrific acts that are the stuff of myths (the play has its share of gore) and raise profound questions about aesthetics and the individual in society. Yet Joseph deals with his themes lightly – no matter how dark and dangerous the drama gets.

Lloyd embraces the play’s contemporary feel, following instruction in the script that dialects are not to be used and highlighting every possible moment of relief in shocking circumstances. The performers – Danny Ashok and Darren Kuppan – both deserve the highest praise. Kuppan makes it impossible not to love his character Babur’s “fancies and prophecies and inventions”. The more pragmatic Humayun more slowly grows on us (through our appreciation of his family life) a feat Ashok manoeuvres to give full force to both men’s tragedy.

Gilmour’s industrial aesthetic, recalling for me the work of Richard Serra or Richard Wilson’s 20:50 installation, looks fantastic. Working alongside lighting designer Richard Howell, this set is a real stunner. And Beauty, with a capital B, is important here. There are moments of wonder at architecture, also nature. And a beautiful friendship: touching scenes between the two men do more than lead to the final trauma. Babur and Hamayan’s dream of a different life produces that ingredient of hope that provides a “wow” to the play as a whole.

Until 20 May 2017

www.bushtheatre.co.uk

Photo by Marc Brenner

2017

“How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” at Wilton’s Music Hall

Frank Loesser’s 1961 hit musical doesn’t get a London airing very often, so this revival, from director Benji Sperring, is an exciting chance to see the show. As you would expect from the creator of Guys and Dolls, Loesser’s smart score has a satisfying complexity, served well by Ben Ferguson’s musical direction and Wilton’s acoustics. The story is a neat idea, too – following the corporate career rise of a former window cleaner, J Pierrepont Finch, aided only by guile and a self-help book. While many of the jokes are laboured, a committed cast gives its very best.

Sperring’s actors adopt an exaggerated style that’s apt, fun, and makes light of the outmoded working environment and sexual politics on offer. The cast gets a lot from camping it up, especially the lead, Marc Pickering – a charismatic comedian with a strong voice. Also benefitting are Matthew Whitby and Daniel Graham as Finch’s dastardly colleagues, accompanied by Richard Emerson, who multi-tasks a shocking number different roles… at least that’s one thing that reflects current workplaces.

The mannered treatment might have been pushed further; not so much with the performances but rather Mike Lees’ set and costume design. Maybe even more drastic measures are needed – especially given the cringing sexism of the piece. Despite valiant efforts from all the actresses, no matter how tongue-in-cheek the delivery, there are too many uncomfortable moments. Hannah Grover sounds sweet as Finch’s love interest, but this character makes Miss Adelaide look like Germaine Greer. Her sidekick is more interesting. Played by Geri Allen with a voice perfect for this music, she almost manages to make you forget that she is singing about marriage being a woman’s ultimate goal.

Of course, Sperring doesn’t take any of the show seriously. His production’s silliness builds pace and humour (despite a lot of moving office furniture) while Lucie Pankhurst’s choreography gets funnier throughout. The actors are unfailing in their efforts but it’s a shame a more ruthless approach wasn’t taken. The germ of how to deal with the piece’s problems is clear to all – but more of an aggressive takeover is needed to make this business succeed.

Until 22 April 2017

www.wiltons.org.uk

Photo by Darren Bell

2017

“The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?” at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

This first London revival of Edward Albee’s 2002 play, with Ian Rickson directing a stellar cast, reveals a piece that is riveting and risqué. A superb companion to Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, playing around the corner, it’s also a marital drama with high stakes. Our hero is having an affair… with a goat.

There’s a lot of shock value, cleverly handled. Albee plays with taboos in a fashion that would make younger writers from the ‘In Yer Face’ school proud. The nervous laughter of the audience would be gratifying to him. The language is colourful and its articulate characters – caught in a nightmarish situation – explore all manner of repercussions to the affair.

The cast are superb. Jason Hughes and Archie Madekwe stand as fully formed characters, best friend and son to Martin and Stevie Gray, the couple whose perfect lives didn’t contain a plan about what would happen in the face of zoophilia. It’s a bizarre twist – that’s the point – Albee even describes it as “ludicrous”.

Damian Lewis takes the part of Martin: great as the tortured victim of his obsession and even better when it comes to trying to defend his actions. Sophie Okonedo plays his unfortunate wife, giving a magnetic performance of subtle comic skill. Together they create a believably perfect marriage – think how difficult that is – that roots the show in a painful reality. And the life we see falling apart needs to be convincing: it is important Martin’s obsession is a bolt from the blue.

When the truth is revealed, the objets in the couple’s stylish apartment suffer during an amusingly respectful fighting match (credit to designer Rae Smith here, but also a busy stage management replacing all those broken pots). Martin the “semanticist” tries to pin down what’s going on – to describe facts and feelings. His odd forgetfulness and obsession with grammar are not just for laughs, and Lewis makes them edgy; showing the “pit” of chaos that’s arisen from a chance encounter in a farmyard! With admirable gusto, Rickson orchestrates a swirling mix of trauma, hilarity and shock – making this an awesome experience.

Until 24 June 2017

www.trh.co.uk

Photo by Johan Persson

2017

“This Joint Is Jumpin’” at The Other Palace

This concert show aims to channel the spirit of jazz master Fats Waller with world-class performers honouring a selection of his music in a stylish, contemporary, manner.

The band is The Shakes, five outstanding musicians, and the show is conceived by Michael Mwenso and Michela Marino Lerman. It’s the performances that are the attraction: there’s only the ghost of a story here – snatches of Waller’s life and times read from newspapers, letters and books. To be blunt, the fragments prove a distraction – you learn next to nothing new.

The talent on stage is remarkable, though. Vuyo Sotashe joins Mwenso on vocals, both oozing charisma and cool, making a magnificent duo and blissful sounds. The tap dancing moves by Marino Lerman and Joseph Wiggan set a new benchmark for me, their percussive feet truly integrated into the compositions. On a stage crowded with talent, their personalities shine.

The show has a special treat, too – an appearance from the legendary Lillias White. A Broadway stalwart with awards for roles in Dreamgirls and The Life (both having London revivals right now), White is the real deal. Her numbers – too few of course – are total value, showing a playful flirtatiousness with Squeeze Me and then giving goose bumps with a civil rights number, Black and Blue. It’s an honour to see a performer like White on stage and the chance to do so is not to be missed.

Until 15 April 2017

www.theotherpalace.co.uk

Photo by Darren Bell

2017

“Miss Nightingale” at The Vaults

Previous incarnations of Matthew Bugg’s musical, set in wartime London, have already received acclaim and this hard-working show deserves its extended run in the capital. With a spirit of utility, the tried and tested device of a cabaret interspersed with behind-the-scenes action is employed with good songs and an affecting story.

There’s a slightly confusing mix of musical styles, but Bugg’s compositions are impressive. Pastiche music-hall numbers, catapulting the show’s titular star to fame, have a nice line in naughty. That one of them is called ‘The Sausage Song’ probably reveals enough. Can you have too many soldiers standing to attention jokes? Probably, but I smirked from ear to ear anyway.

The comedy numbers are aided by a sterling performance by the multi-talented Tamar Broadbent. She gets a lot out of the innuendo with some drag king touches thrown in. The role is stock “formidable” Northerner, and yet Broadbent makes this Miss a hit – think Sally Bowles from Sheffield. It’s easily worth sitting through an air raid just to watch her.

Other music is more adventurous, with gambles that don’t always pay off. There’s a “bit of Berlin” from song-writing émigré George and numbers that reflect the drama of his relationship with the impresario promoting Miss Nightingale, Sir Frank Worthington-Blythe. The men’s love story get equal billing with our on-stage star (connections are intimate in several ways) – for Bugg provides plenty of story to accompany the songs.

Nicholas Coutu-Langmead & Conor O'Kane
Nicholas Coutu-Langmead & Conor O’Kane

Emotional impact comes from the romance – a story of gay cruising in the blackout and blackmail threats that are heavy on history. Conor O’Kane has a tough job as George, since the role has hysterical touches and isn’t free of stereotyping. Nicholas Coutu-Langmead is appropriately “dashing” as posh war hero Frank, a much fuller character who struggles with his sexuality (not one but two good numbers here) and is especially impressive when angry. Both men sound good, and a bold duet – ‘Waiting’ – is a third highlight.

The plot has holes, several around the villain of the piece, ably performed by Niall Kerrigan who needs a solo number added ( and, given Buggs’ talents I’d guess one exists and has been cut). Another issue is that while the songs are great the score doesn’t coalesce into something bigger. The tension between its central character and gay love story isn’t squared satisfactorily. But that’s also the charm of the piece – the messy ménage-a-trois here is satisfyingly complex and shouts its modern sensibility proudly.

Until 20 May 2017

www.missnightingale.co.uk

Photos by Robert Workman

2017

“Incident at Vichy” at the Finborough Theatre

There is a dichotomy within Arthur Miller’s 1964 play, in which we meet ten men captured for questioning by German forces in Occupied France. A cool examination of evil combines with the emotional impact of events. Allying both aspects shows director Phil Willmott’s experience and skill.

Miller observed Nazi war crimes as a journalist and, like Hannah Arendt, adopted an intellectual rigour to understand the complexity of events. The text overflows with ideas, to its detriment – issues of class, race and alterity arrive too thick and too fast. Designer Georgia de Grey’s cold white box of a set makes the perfect environment for this clinical questioning. Two members of the strong cast convey the arguments, which lie heavily on the page, superbly: Brendan O’Rourke as a politicised working man and Gethin Alderman as a psychiatrist hailing from Vienna. Bright lights are appropriate for such an interrogation but also show the growing tension as stories are revealed and beads of sweat on foreheads start to show.

Gethin Alderman
Gethin Alderman

Miller presents his characters as “symbols”, several don’t have names and one, the “Old Jew”, doesn’t speak – great credit to Jeremy Gagan for making this role so effective. Rebuking the Nazi idea that there are “no individuals”, the men’s stories suffuse the work. There’s sterling acting here, including PK Taylor’s hip flask swigging thespian – a deluded pragmatist who dismisses theories and fears. And a collection of impressive breakdowns as the waiting continues. Both Lawrence Boothman and Michael Skellern, as an artist and a waiter, build their performances well. Edward Killingback, as a Vienese nobleman, comes into his own under Alderman’s scrutiny and Henry Wyrley-Birch makes a great contribution as a somewhat token “decent” German.

It’s these glimpses of lives, most about to end, that highlight Willmott and his casts’ talents. A collection of strong performances, finely controlled, that preserve the life and death tension in a piece that occasionally sounds like a textbook, making it work as drama.

Until 22 April 2017

www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Photos by Scott Rylander

2017

“An American In Paris” at the Dominion Theatre

Like a recent almost-best-film-Oscar-winner, this adaptation of the 1951 MGM classic movie musical gains a lot of momentum from nostalgia. It’s a trip to Ooh-La-La Land – a struggling post-war France full of artists and amour. With a classic score and gorgeous dancing, aided by updated touches from Craig Lucas, the yearning for style and sincerity so often connected with the past is delivered to perfection.

The romance here has plenty of swoon, but is satisfyingly grown up – with three men falling for one girl, they can’t all get her. Set in the “ashes of war”, conflict hangs over the show. It’s Christopher Wheeldon’s achievement as director to combine this trauma with the theme of celebration: optimism is the role of the Arts post-war. This is arguable, of course, but it makes this show joyous.

Since the music and lyrics are by George and Ira Gershwin it’s a given that the tunes are sublime, but the orchestration from Rob Fisher is particularly sensitive and the voices well suited. David Seadon-Young plays talented young composer Adam, working with wannabe cabaret performer Henri (Haydn Oakley); both sound great and act well. With the same qualifications, Zoë Rainey plays Milo Davenport, the American patron of the ballet that forms the show’s divine finale. Described as a “pistol” of a woman, Rainey hits the bulls-eye with her performance.

From left, Robert Fairchild, David Seadon-Young and Haydn Oakley
From left, Robert Fairchild, David Seadon-Young and Haydn Oakley

Ballet star Robert Fairchild originated the role of Jerry on stage. An aspiring demobbed artist, Fairchild has a gracefulness that most could only dream of. Everyman’s muse Lise is played by Leanne Cope, whose gorgeous gamine looks make this perfect casting. Both dancers, who travelled with the show from Broadway, can sing well and their chemistry is breathtaking. Their romance isn’t a matter of youthful optimism on Jerry’s part, but rather the drive to make the most of the rest of his life, while Lise’s desire to live with “no history, no past” shows there is plenty she needs to escape. It makes the stakes high and their dancing together truly ecstatic.

It’s the footwork that is the star of the show. Wheeldon has played to his strengths as a choreographer by emphasising the dance, and it is among the best you could see. Even moving the scenery around is done stylishly, with everyone dressed in costumes by Bob Crowley that are good enough make you sigh. There’s a sense you wouldn’t want to work for those in charge here – the rigour on display is so daunting – but watching the result is amazing. It’s an ensemble of impeccable talent working flat out for an audience’s entertainment and achieving tens across the board.

Until 28 April 2018

www.anamericaninparisthemusical.co.uk

Photos by Johan Persson