Tag Archives: Michael Gould

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“Kerry Jackson” at the National Theatre

If you are already tired of seasonal fare – there’s a lot of Christmas carolling going on in theatreland at the moment – this clever class comedy is a gift. With no Santa in sight, it’s a smart play from April De Angelis – and briskly directed by Indhu Rubasingham – that’s full of good jokes.

The titular heroine is a new restaurant owner and fine comic creation that makes a cracking part for Fay Ripley. Initially presented as a working-class cliché, Kerry overshares outrageously, and her every view is politically incorrect. And Kerry can be clueless – she’s called the business El Barco and put a mural of a shipwreck on the wall. You almost feel bad for laughing… but laugh you will. How much can we admire determination based on delusions?

The location is gentrified Walthamstow Village – cue class conflict – where local philosophy teacher Stephen and his Gen-Z daughter (skilfully performed by Michael Gould and Kitty Hawthorne) live. De Angelis is just as sharp about these hand-wringing liberals and the result just as funny. Since they are grieving for their wife and mother, there’s more sympathy, cleverly nurtured. But Kerry’s gaffs, delivered brilliantly by Ripley, are just all the more cringeworthy.

A homeless man called Will and Kerry’s talented chef, Athena, bring problems that connect to class and introduce topical ‘issues’ to the play. This is a piece obsessed with privilege… which can prove tiresome. Will’s objectional politics and Athena’s immigration status should give other characters pause for thought. The suggestion is that politics, both left and right, can’t deal with these real-life problems. Credit comes from dealing with the topics in depth, and creating two more great roles that Madeline Appiah and Michael Fox excel in. Yet it seems impossible for playwrights to introduce ‘privilege’ without seeming to lecture. And, in this play, that really stands out.

It’s Kerry who counts and, to De Angelis’ credit, she is an unusual figure to see take centre stage. It’s not as if a lot of sense is talked, and Kerry’s romances are improbable (there’s another love interest for her – an uncomfortable role that Gavin Spokes does well with). Furthermore, Kerry has a very nasty side. It’s a further tribute to Ripley that the character rides through a disappointing tirade. Again, Angelis is even handed – there’s a comeuppance for Stephen and a softer approach to the younger generation that shows a generous spirit. Kerry Jackson does tick boxes but is specific enough to convince (the detail is great). There’s plenty to digest, not least when it comes to Kerry’s tiramisu. And it gets a lot of laughs along the way.

Until 28 January 2022

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

Photos by Marc Brenner

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"Vassa" at the Almeida Theatre

Mike Bartlett’s adaptation of Maxim Gorky’s 1910 play is a suitably irreverent and darkly funny version of a text with revolution at its heart. About capitalism as much as feminism, it provides a magnificent title role for Siobhán Redmond and a range of grotesque characters for a strong supporting cast to have fun with. Both Bartlett and director Tinuke Craig have a keen eye on entertaining their audience and, although the show is uneven, the production has enough humour to make it a success.

Vassa is as much a mogul as a matriarch. As her husband lies dying upstairs, her concern is to secure the family business by fiddling his will. She has to tackle her useless sons and mendacious brother-in-law, who each want their inheritance, along with their various romances, all of which are problematic. Herding these cats is done with a vicious tongue and a ruthlessness that beggars belief. Every acid line and heartless act is delivered to perfection by Redmond, who makes a brilliant villain.

Since it was revived this summer, you might think of Githa Sowerby’s Rutherford and Son as an English equivalent to Vassa: close in date, with another tyrannical capitalist and questioning economics. But Gorky, via Bartlett, has a more satirical edge that shows venality in many forms. Yet there’s a fussy feeling to the direction that detracts from how forceful the adaptation is. It’s interesting to see Craig play with elements of farce – notably with Fly Davis’ set full of doors – but unfortunately the comings and goings in this conspiratorial household aren’t that well-handled. Bouquets of flowers that cover the floor for the finale are another example: the idea might delight a florist but the blooms become bothersome.

It isn’t quite accurate to say Vassa only cares about money – her legacy plays a part, too. Any case for her as an arch pragmatist is weakened by this (for the better) while abuses of power for its own sake bubble underneath the text. The results allow a depth to her character that might surprise and that Redmond excels with. The relationship with her daughter, played exquisitely by Amber James, proves fascinating. Likewise her affection for her daughter-in-law Dunya, played by Daniella Isaacs, is developed well. More unhappily, the fate of her maid Lipa, superbly performed by Alexandra Dowling, brings home how high the stakes are.

It’s the men in the piece that let the production down. This isn’t quite Bartlett’s fault, or the performers’ – Vassa dominates the play so much that, when she’s off stage, interest plummets. As her sons, Arthur Hughes and Danny Kirrane have characters a touch too hysterical to deal with. And as Vassa’s potential nemesis, Michael Gould’s Prokhor just isn’t enough of a threat. Thankfully, with a lot of judiciously placed swearing, the text is fresh as well as funny. And the attention to detail is great. There’s a brilliant line about an off-stage character, described as “so drunk he fell over his own arm”. Touches like that aren’t just funny – they convey Vassa’s world so vividly that visiting it proves engrossing.

Until 23 November 2019

www.almeida.co.uk

Photo by Marc Brenner

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“Hamlet” at the Young Vic

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There have been lots of Hamlets: it seems that the character is infinite in variety as well as faculty, and it’s easy to imagine the pressure to come up with something different. Director Ian Rickson’s angle at the Young Vic Theatre is to stage the play in a lunatic asylum, an insane idea that not only adds nothing to the play, but actually severely detracts from it.

Of all the different productions of Hamlet one can think of, one constant remains intact – the equivocation concerning Hamlet’s sanity that is so central to the text. Not only is this dramatic, it goes to the heart of Shakespeare’s search for Hamlet’s humanity. Rickson simply abandons this question: his Hamlet is an inmate. Clearly schizophrenic (he adopts the persona of his father), he is reduced from an everyman to a madman

Straitjacketing the text into the concept produces inconsistencies too numerous to mention, from the trivial (it’s an odd asylum that lets its inmates play with swords) to the essential – if Hamlet is merely delusional, why is a supernatural presence suggested anyway? If you can remain calm in the face of all this you might enjoy the production’s attempts to get around these problems, albeit problems of its own making. Jeremy Herbert’s design is impressive – it even includes a pre-show ‘tour’ where the audience walks backstage to acquaint itself with the institution. It’s big – but it isn’t clever. Indeed, by the end of the show it is quite literally dumb with Fortinbras reduced to hand signals to reveal Rickson’s final ‘twist’.

Some benefit from all this stupidity: Michael Gould is convincing as a more prominent than usual Polonius, and Vinette Robinson is moving as a Ophelia who seems at home in this madhouse. But the majority of characters suffer: the move from King to councillor is too much of a demotion for the role of Claudius, and James Clyde is wasted in the part, while Gertrude is reduced to a spaced-out victim – it isn’t clear if she is an inmate or not.

The greatest loss though is Michael Sheen in the title role. A talented actor, always magnetic on stage, it is clear from his powerful soliloquies what a great Hamlet he could have been. Trapped inside Ian Rickson’s concept, he is denied the chance. This is the real tragedy of the evening.

Until 21 January 2011

www.youngvic.org

Written 11 November 2011 for The London Magazine