Tag Archives: Amit Shah

“Retrograde” at the Apollo Theatre

Even with five-star reviews from its premiere at the Kiln Theatre, a West End transfer for a play about Sidney Poitier was never guaranteed. Considering the ‘action’ is three people in one room talking about two pieces of paper, it could be considered a tough sell. But Ryan Calais Cameron’s new play is wonderfully rich. Looking at “trailblazer, activist, icon” Poitier at the start of his career in such a sophisticated and provocative style would surely have made its subject proud.

On the eve of signing a contract with a TV station, Poitier finds himself caught up in Senator McCarthy’s “red scare”, potentially ending his career before it begins. While the subject feels topical – it’s hard not to draw parallels with current events – Cameron doesn’t sacrifice historical context (younger members of the audience seemed a little puzzled, if enthusiastic). This is a solid period drama that makes its points with a firm understanding of the past while allowing us to think about the present day.

Amit Sharma’s confident direction helps. It’s clear he appreciates the strength of the script and he paces it wonderfully. It’s the characters who are the key, and the cast also rises to this quality material. Ivanno Jeremiah does justice to Poitier with a commanding performance. As his character’s admiration for Paul Robeson indicates, it’s good to have a hero. And, like the best heroes, this one has complexity. The will-he-won’t-he signing of a “loyalty oath” is accompanied by moving, tearful anguish from Jeremiah, and his dialect work, with Poitier’s accent slipping at times of stress, is accomplished.

Retrograde is also strong when it considers the industry it is set in. The issues are bigger than TV and Hollywood but wider implications aren’t overplayed. OK, nods to representation aren’t subtle… but they are convincing enough to answer critics who might regard them as a solely contemporary concern. Cameron doesn’t have to work hard to make us believe in the mendacity of the movie business but still does a grand job. And it’s neat that there’s a great role for a writer, the passionate but ineffectual Bobby, whose project Poitier is connected to. A good man but with flaws, and subject to temptation, the performance from Oliver Johnstone brings his qualities out perfectly. 

Cameron also knows how a play can benefit from a great villain. And it’s here that he has excelled himself in the form of the play’s lawyer. Stanley Townsend’s Mr Parks comes close to stealing the show, which in itself is a brave move. Parks talks some sense but, as Poitier points out, he is greedy and afraid. He’s easy to hate but we’re allowed to admire him too, since he brings out the joys of a script crammed with brilliant insults. Many are uncomfortably racist, sexist and scatological. But even more are very funny. “As stupid as a soup sandwich” is my favourite, but invective of this standard is a treat. Retrograde, like its subject, is a class act, so well-written and performed that the West End is lucky to have it.

Until 14 June 2025

www.apollotheatre.co.uk

Photo by Marc Brenner

“The Comedy of Errors” at the National Theatre

The National Theatre’s winter show is one of those twins-separated-at-birth affairs so adored by Elizabethan audiences. Staged by director Dominic Cooke as a light farce, this is a fast, funny and accessible production of The Comedy of Errors. It is Cooke’s first show at the National, and he may have taken tips from the previous comedy smash One Man, Two Guvnors: his staging is full of invention and wit, and packed with laughs, from the troubadour-style Chorus to Ayckbourn-like entrances and exits.

The big star is Lenny Henry. After his Olivier award-winning Shakespearean debut last year in Othello, this performance has been much anticipated and it’s a pleasure to praise it. Henry has great charm and, even more impressively, a stubborn will not to upstage the rest of the cast. One suspects he might do so easily, but the production benefits from his restraint. His Antipholus of Syracuse, played with an African lilt, has a touch of the naive as he encounters those living in the big city of Ephesus, his superstitions and bewilderment causing ever-increasing amusement.

Henry is joined by some strong comic talent that gets behind Cooke’s sense of fun for the show. The second set of twins, the servants Dromios, are marvellously played by Lucian Msamati and Daniel Poyser in matching Arsenal FC shirts. As well as a fine cameo from Amit Shah, the standout performances come from Claudie Blakely and Michelle Terry as TOWIE-inspired wife and sister, working quite ridiculous shoes, stupidly large hand bags and estuary accents to great effect.

The Comedy of Errors is a modern multi-cultural melange and I suspect we will see more like it throughout 2012. By the end of next year’s World Shakespeare Festival it will probably become rather tiring. But Cooke is way ahead of the game. This show also seems blissfully unaware of any recession, with Bunny Christie’s impressive set surely busting the budget – but isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

Until 1 April 2012

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Photo by Johan Persson

Written 2 December 2011 for The London Magazine