Tag Archives: Theatre Royal Bath

2013

“The American Plan” at the St James Theatre

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Arriving from the Ustinov Studio (Theatre Royal Bath), having already received a big thumbs-up from the critics, The American Plan opened in London last night at the St. James Theatre. Full of laughs and bittersweet wisdom, this exquisitely written play from 1990 by Richard Greenberg deals with not one but several love stories.

Here we have a fascinating trio of women. Eva and her “difficult” daughter Lili, wealthy refugees from the Nazis, are on vacation with their maid Olivia in the Catskill Mountains across a lake from other Jewish families who flock to the area. The women are isolated by an amusing, imported snobbery. Until a young man arrives.

Nick is a “blue chip stock” kind of guy, but true romance isn’t the story here. All these Americans, émigrés old and new, are full of plans and a warped determination to bring them to fruition. Plots might be a more accurate description if there wasn’t so much sincerity behind their motivation. The lies they tell are often deliciously funny but there’s real heart here, too.

Entangled with a family, not eccentric but “giddy around the circumference”, where the daughter is the wrong side of neurotic and the matriarch lives up to every stereotype of Jewish motherhood, you never much rate Nick’s chances. But he has secrets and pain of his own and watching them revealed is great theatre.

And the lies don’t stop with the introduction of the final character, Gil. In the part, Mark Edel-Hunt more than makes up for his later arrival with a great plot twist that, since I liked the play so much, I really don’t want to spoil.

Diana Quick is scene stealing as Eva (her accent alone fascinates), putting the metal in mittel European, and Dona Croll makes a marvellous foil for her as the “enduring” Olivia whose inscrutable privacy hints at yet more tales. Emily Taaffe fully embodies the “mercurial” Lili, delighting with her wit then shocking with a traumatic intensity. And effectively subduing his character’s hidden depths until just the right moment, Luke Allen-Gale is tremendous as Nick.

This production does true justice to a fine play and it’s clear those responsible have a thorough understanding of the text. More than his intelligent exploration of “intricately unhappy” lives, Greenberg brings a Jamesian flavour and intelligent humour to his examination of our deepest self-fashioning. The result is a play that resonates with depth.

Until 10 August 2013

www.stjamestheatre.co.uk

Photo by Jane Hobson

Written 9 July 2013 for The London Magazine

2013

“4000 Miles” at The Print Room

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Notting Hill’s Print Room has secured another theatrical coup, working with the Ustinov Studio at the Theatre Royal Bath to bring the UK premiere of 4000 Miles to London. Winner of multiple awards in the US, Amy Herzog’s play involves the relationship between elderly Vera and her grandson Leo, who unexpectedly pitches up at Vera’s New York apartment having completed a cross-country bike ride marred by tragedy.

Nurtured by his grandmother’s presence, the young man’s emotional journey is just beginning. It’s a modest premise, perhaps, but, with superb performances from Daniel Boyd and Sara Kestelman, love, life and death are observed with such a realistic eye that the play is fascinating.

The simple story is elevated to extraordinary theatre by Herzog’s characterisation and James Dacre’s precise direction. Each scene, though dealing with the mundane is never ordinary, as the subtle, detailed observations build. The cast rises to the writing with Boyd and Kestelman joined by Leo’s love interests, both wonderfully drawn and performed by Jenny Hulse and Jing Lusi, although it has to be admitted that the latter steals the show for comedy value.

Herzog never stereotypes her characters – an especially impressive feat considering the politics in the play. Vera is an old Communist, Leo a new age hippy, and fun is poked at both. But Herzog is less concerned with single-issue politics than with the nature of our responsibilities to one another. Recognising the difficulties of both old age and youth, with plenty of wry comment to entertain, 4000 Miles shows different generations finding common ground in an original and moving manner. A remarkable achievement.

Until 1 June 2013

www.the-print-room.org

Photo by Jane Hobson

Written 17 May 2013 for The London Magazine

2012

“The Madness of George III” at the Apollo Theatre

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It seems we love the Royals right now. What with last year’s wedding and the forthcoming jubilee, there’s a feelgood factor about pageantry that our first family is riding high on. It’s well known that the Windors aren’t big theatregoers, which is a shame since they will probably miss this new production of The Madness of George III.

Alan Bennett’s 1991 textbook play, dealing with one of George III’s periods of mental breakdown (probably from the hereditary condition of porphyria), has aged superbly. Progressing from the Theatre Royal Bath, this production is highly polished. Against the backdrop of Janet Bird’s intelligent design, Christopher Luscombe’s direction is clear and pacey. While lacking satirical bite, the politics of the period are presented well, with fine performances from Nicholas Rowe and Gary Oliver as Parliamentary rivals William Pitt and Charles James Fox using the Royal family as pawns to gain power.

And Bennett’s gags about the parlous state of 18th-century medicine still shine. Peter Pacey plays the King’s first doctor with suitable sycophancy. Clive Francis is commendable as the radical physician Dr Willis whose techniques reveal the ridiculous dangers of court protocol (such as not being allowed to question the King directly) and who gets the play’s best line: “the state of monarchy and the state of lunacy share a frontier.”

The role of George III is a dream for any leading man. David Haig lustily rises to the challenge of bettering Nigel Hawthorne’s much loved representation in the 1994 film. Haig is best at showing us the King as a likeable character: the benevolent ‘farmer’ George whose “indirect and infinite curiosity” annoys his equerries but charms the audience.

Often, if you are rich, you aren’t mad – just eccentric. So Haig works hard to convince us that George losing his mind isn’t just quaint but something painful. His performance forces this point home. We can smile when the King says he would rather go to Japan than Kew, but portraying George as an intelligent man, aware of his own tragedy is Haig’s main achievement, making this a more moving evening than you might expect.

Until 31 March 2012

www.nimaxtheatres.com

Photo by Robert Day

Written 24 January 2012 for The London Magazine