Tag Archives: James Fortune

“Women Beware Women” at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

Like Thomas Middleton’s Jacobean play itself, this production has its bumpy moments. The exaggerated characters, plot twists and sexual politics all have to be negotiated in any revival. And director Amy Hodge does well, making the play entertaining, fast paced and full of drama.

Hodge focuses on the three female leads and makes the all the talk of honour and virtue convincing – Thalissa Teixeira and Olivia Vinall give captivating performances as two very different young women in love. Meanwhile, Tara Fitzgerald has the great role of arch-villain Livia and deals well with the camper moments of her truly wicked “shop of cunning”.

Women Beware Women at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
Tara Fitzgerald

Make no mistake, a lot of what happens in Women Beware Women is awful. The sexual violence and coercion aren’t shied away from and Teixeira in particular handles this bravely. But the production also deserves praise for connecting this with the sexism that pervades the play, for example, the ‘advice’ about what kind of woman should be wed is delivered as a song (James Fortune’s music for the show is consistently strong). There’s a creeping nausea about the confined lives of all the female characters.

Simon Kunz

Sinister performances from the play’s powerful male characters add to the tension. Simon Kunz makes the most of a relatively small part as the Duke of Florence. Daon Broni is truly creepy as Hippolito, who tricks his niece into an incestuous relationship. Best of all is the mercantile Guardiano, a consistently strong performance by Gloria Onitiri, who brings out scheming, snobbishness and wrath by turns.

Despite all this praise, the production has glitches. Joanna Scotcher’s design is confusing (the aim was the 1980s, but you’d struggle to work that out). Comedy in Women Beware Women is a tricky affair, full stop, and the character of the hapless Ward, played by Helen Cripps, is an unhappy one. And there’s the decision to stage the Masque within the play with tongues in cheek. I happen to disagree and think this scene should escalate the drama, instead of comically diffusing it. But I understand the thinking – the genre is tricky to get your head around – and the decision is well executed, indeed so many bodies on such a small stage is handled superbly. Yet the Masque remains the most obvious moment when Hodge doesn’t smooth over the play’s faults as might be wished. Arguably, it’s not her job to. But the resulting production is a staccato affair that has plenty to praise but also too many stops and starts.

Until 18 April 2020

www.shakespearesglobe.com

Photos by Johan Persson

“Love’s Labour’s Lost” at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

One of the insights provided by the Globe’s indoor venue is the amazing acoustics early audiences could enjoy. You can hear a pin drop here; a treat used to great effect by composers James Fortune and Laura Moody, whose score is this production’s first triumph. Moody, performing her work alongside percussion and harp (Joley Cragg and Louisa Duggan, respectively), adds plenty of fun to Shakespeare’s comedy, but also a sense of experimentation and mystery – appropriate to an often puzzling play. And there’s a melancholy that understands the piece’s poetry. For the finale, a music box with a punched sheet echoes the letters that fill the play’s plot – as the paper floats around Moody’s head the look is magical, the sound haunting. I sincerely hope someone is planning to release a recording.

This cerebral play is not an easy one. Full of the conventions of courtly love, the wordplay is particularly dense. Even when parodying verbosity it is, well, verbose. It’s director Nick Bagnall’s achievement that a text neglected as unplayable feels so at home on a stage. Bagnall creates a sense of playfulness that makes this Love’s Labour’s Lost entertaining and enchanting. Toy soldiers, hobby horses to ride on and a dressing-up box create a storybook feel. The actors’ movements recall charades. It’s sweet but also sad, creating the perfect keys – major and minor – for a play where vows of chastity and love are not just celebrated but questioned, even deflated.

A sense of enjoyment in irreverence and exploration is embodied by the cast. Bagnall edits proceedings down to three couples who fall in love, but whose marriages are postponed, and they are performed with considerable fun but also an injection of cynicism. Leaphia Darko, Jade Williams and Kirsty Woodward all work hard to make a princess and her ladies-in-waiting real women. Although the roles are uneven, they feel like a matched trio. The “young bloods” who vow celibacy only to renounce it moments later are suitably ridiculous. There’s excellent comic work from Dharmesh Patel, Tom Kanji and Paul Stocker. A disguised appearance as a “mess of Russians” combines fantasy and farce beautifully.

Paul Stocker and Jos Vantyler
Paul Stocker and Jos Vantyler

Kanji and Stocker also impress as a vicar and tutor combo who Shakespeare mocks for their pretentions. This is a tough job – a lot of the jokes are arcane – but with just a touch of The Muppets‘ Statler and Waldorf, there are plenty of laughs. Nonetheless, the star turn has to be Jos Vantyler who gives an unforgettable performance as the Spaniard, Don “a mint of phrases” Armado. Vantyler’s comedy accent is superb, and that it isn’t to the detriment of the lines is a huge technical achievement. Accompanied by a page boy that we have to imagine (Vantyler gets his lines, too), he postures like a toreador and uses machismo to tip the performance into drag king territory. This fantastic interpretation is a further high note for this winning show.

Until 15 September 2018

www.shakespearesglobe.com

Photos by Marc Brenner