Tag Archives: Emma Corrin

“Orlando” at the Garrick Theatre

The star casting of Emma Corrin should, quite rightly, attract an audience to this new play based on Virginia Woolf’s classic novel. Corrin wears their heart on a variety of gorgeous sleeves while addressing deep questions about the identity of the gender-swapping century-traversing character lightly. “Who am I?” interests as much as torments this iconic figure, and Corrin is as energetic as emotional.

For all Corrin’s achievement, it is playwright Neil Bartlett who impresses me most by producing a piece that gives us Woolf’s work… and so much more. Starting with the Elizabethans, Bartlett brings in Shakespeare (from the sonnets to Hamlet to The Merchant of Venice), Woolf, of course, but also a nod to Chekhov, touches of bawdy and even some Kander and Ebb. It’s all tremendously clever and fun. The script is as witty as it is intelligent, as approachable as it is erudite.

Emma-Corrin-and-Deborah-Findlay-in-Orlando-photo-by-Marc-Brenner
Emma Corrin and Deborah Findlay

The playful and mind-bending in Woolf’s novel is made to fit on stage marvellously. Michael Grandage’s superb direction takes every chance to enforce theatricality and the result is engaging throughout what feels like a very brief 90 minutes. The pace is startling, yet observations on history and prejudice are clear. The action is guided by the brilliant Deborah Findlay, who plays Orlando’s equally long-lived maid and gets some of the best gags. The sparse staging uses Peter McKintosh’s superb costumes to take us through time and show transformations in simple, effective style.

Orlando-company-photo-by-Marc-Brenner

Bartlett’s Orlando is also about Virginia Woolf. The author isn’t just a character – she is a chorus, with nine performers donning comfy cardis and specs. What would be the collective noun for that? Surely not a pack of Woolfs? The show has too much generosity for that…a Bloomsbury of Woolfs? No, a room of Virginias! The group take us through the writing of the novel, remind us of Woolf’s lectures, while Bartlett’s script shows her as an inspiration. How the work affected Woolf’s life, as well as some of her own story, is interwoven in a moving fashion. And the cast takes on a variety of other roles – different ages and genders again – providing moments in the spotlight for Lucy Briers as Elizabeth I and Millicent Wong as an 18th-century sex worker.

Fluidity is all, and Grandage appreciates that theatre can explore this particularly well. And there’s more. Orlando lives for centuries, but the search for love is always relevant. The show isn’t just contemporary in addressing “Ladies and Gentleman and Everyone”. Constraints imposed by others versus definitions claimed by oneself are examined… and exploded. Background plays a part, with a topical concern for ‘authenticity’ that seems appropriate for a piece so big: Corrin is a star very much of the moment and clearly revels in the radical ideas here. Bartlett presents fluidity on the West End stage with an unapologetic touch that is gleeful. The show becomes an optimistic celebration. Like conditions for women, a recurring theme given its due, things are getting better. All that history has a point, it’s leading somewhere. What is Orlando’s favourite time? It’s now!

Until 26 February 2022

www.michaelgrandagecompany.com

Photos by Marc Brenner

“Anna X” at the Harold Pinter Theatre

The third and final instalment in Sonia Friedman’s Re:Emerge season is a smart-looking two-hander written by Joseph Charlton. That the West End still seems a long way off from staging bigger shows again (presumably the producer’s plan) is a disappointment. But while the play has problems, despite director Daniel Raggett’s slick production, this stylish piece is a pleasure to watch.

Achingly topical, Charlton imagines a social media shyster who takes New York and a newly rich app developer called Ariel for a ride. Masquerading as a wealthy Russian, the titular character’s Instagram captivates and cons the city with a vague plan to set up an art foundation. Plenty of observation about life online is combined with a touch of romance.

One of the problems for playwrights tackling the subject of the internet is that fiction cannot be as crazy as real life. The results are painfully predictable: the story ends up slim and silly (unbelievable, even though it is loosely based on real life events). An effort to broaden the play, to consider human nature and discuss art, feels grasped at. The latter isn’t explored enough (poor Damien Hirst seems to have a lot to answer for), while Charlton’s bleak view of people is hampered by easy cynicism.

Charlton works hard to make his characters interesting. There’s an awareness that Anna and Ariel will end up driving the play: an effort aided by strong performances from Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan. These star draws, with awards to their credit and making West End debuts, aren’t quite word perfect. Attempts at taking on secondary characters are hit and miss. But Corrin and Rizwan have a presence that helps with bumpy moments for their roles.

For neither Anna or Ariel are convincing enough. Both arrive at success too easily and, under a veneer of sophistication, are too naive. Any power they hold over people comes close to inexplicable (even Ariel’s talents as a developer seem vague). Charlton’s dialogue is a grating mixture of cliché and jargon – again, it may be accurate, but it ends up dull. And this corporate rubbish is spouted by plenty of other characters who all seem unbelievably stupid.

There is a vague frisson of pleasure at the idea that Anna’s scheme might work – that she can exploit all the “craven” greed we’re told about. But there is too little sympathy or interest for the “lame” (Anna’s description) Ariel – who isn’t a bad guy. Meanwhile, frustration with Anna’s art school profundity and carefully studied eccentricity mounts to make her tiresome, too.

Cleverly taking the play at “warp speed”, Raggett’s direction smooths out many a character flaw and makes a weak plot more exciting to watch than you might expect. The pace of the production adds excitement. The set and video work from Mikaela Liakata and Tal Yarden is excellent: the seamless projections succeed in showing a closed, claustrophobic world of wealth and create a sense of the “playground” Anna works in. It’s a shame that the set, rather than the character, is the star of the show but it at least provides the X factor for this production.

Until 4 August 2021

www.atgtickets.com

Photo by Helen Murray