Tag Archives: Tom Burke

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“The Seagull” at the Barbican Theatre

In their new adaptation, Thomas Ostermeier and Duncan Macmillan revel in the metatheatrical potential of Chekhov’s masterpiece. It isn’t hard to see the opportunities in a play with so many actors and so much talk about writing. But the fun had here makes the night entertaining and brings out its humour in a fresh and exciting, way.

The updated touches in the script feel light under Ostermeier’s direction. You might expect vaping and VR headsets to appear, but credit where it’s due – Billy Brag songs and bingo weren’t on my card, and a Bella Freud-inspired T-shirt is an excellent touch (Marg Horwell’s costumes are terrific).

The stand-up microphones on stage throughout, used by characters to address the audience and emphasise lines, might be used too much. But the idea is effective. It’s clear everyone is ‘performing’ their roles and there’s a brilliant moment when amplification is removed. Combined with a thrust added to the Barbican’s stage we see a lot of action in The Seagull as contrived – which is often funny and also moving.

If this were all, I’d be happy. The Seagull is a legendary text and to have left a mark on it is an achievement. But it gets better, as some of the most memorable characters in theatre are brought to life with a stellar cast of players who do each role proud. 

Megastar Cate Blanchett does not disappoint as the famous actress Irina Arkádina, matching Ostermeier in balancing the comic and tragic. All eyes are on her, of course, which is appropriate for the role, and that’s a fact Blanchett uses intelligently. Irina’s counterpoint is the writer, her lover, Trigorin. The reserved performance from Tom Burke is in danger of fading into the background, but this is deliberate, and Burke uses great skill to prevent it happening. A more sympathetic and tormented figure than you might expect, his watching – which sets him at a remove – is worth watching. 

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Tom Burke and Emma Corrin

The whole cast is superb, and the stories of frustrated lives and loves are evenly handled. Jason Watkins is a particularly touching Peter, the retired civil servant who fears he will die before he has lived, while Paul Bazely, Priyanga Burford and Paul Higgins are strong enough to make you reconsider the middle-aged love triangle with Doctor Dorn and the Shamrayevs. Which is all part of the production being especially strong when highlighting the generational divides in the play. This is a credit to all, of course, but the younger characters truly shine. 

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Zachary Hart and Tanya Reynolds

There are raw performances from Tanya Reynolds and Zackary Hart as Masha and Medvedenko (now a factory worker rather than a teacher) making the theme of unrequited love heartbreaking. Emma Corrin’s Nina is distressingly vulnerable, an admirable departure for the actor. And it is a thrill seeing Kodi Smit-McPhee as Konstantin. Like his fellow author, there is a deal of restraint here that is impressive and allows us to wonder about Irina’s cruel observations on Konstantin’s immature works, his “immersive Cirque du Soleil”. It’s the first time I’ve considered that maybe Konstantin’s art isn’t very good.

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Jason Watkins and Kodi Smit-McPhee

It’s not just their clothes (praise again for Horwell) or nods to nepo-babies that make these Gen Z figures topical – there’s also a sense of impending doom that fits Chekhov well. The frustration is more urgent than the original (current affairs get a mention), which might remind audience members of Ostermeier’s politically engaged An Enemy of the People early last year. Such forced contemporaneity can be a turnoff. But together with the strong comedy and careful attention to all characters, even purists should be pleased with this tremendous show.

Until 5 April 2024

www.barbican.org.uk

 Photos by Marc Brenner

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"The Deep Blue Sea" from NTLive

This week the National Theatre’s fund-raising offering is sheer class. Carrie Cracknell’s 2016 production of Terence Rattigan’s play is a traditional affair that oozes quality, with a solid script, stunning set and stellar performances.

The Deep Blue Sea is far from easy sailing. It starts with its heroine, Hester, having just attempted suicide, as the affair that broke her marriage is coming to an end. Concern over mental health has progressed since Rattigan was writing in 1952 but the playwright’s insight into depression offers much to learn from.

Rattigan’s preoccupation, however, is Hester’s passion. Her love for her husband, eclipsed by that for RAF pilot Freddie Paige, is fascinating. The romance is dangerous – this sea is stormy. Hester sees no chance of escaping a love that will not work: she and Freddie are “death to each other”. The production’s first triumph is to make sure Rattigan’s piece doesn’t descend into melodrama.

Tom Burke in The Deep Blue Sea. Image by Richard Hubert Smith
Tom Burke

The love triangle provides strong roles for Peter Sullivan and Tom Burke, who are excellent. Their chemistry with their leading lady is astonishing. Burke is especially strong in making the occasionally odious Freddie convincingly alluring as an “homme fatale”. But the show belongs to Helen McCrory whose performance as Hester is flawless. Sharp and wry, the mix of “anger, hatred, shame” is conveyed in every move.

There’s a sense of British reserve behind all the action, darkly adding to the potency, but McCrory and Cracknell keep this as under control as Hester’s emotions. Moments when Hester is alone and can let go – holding her face to the light or crawling on the floor in desperation – are awe-inspiring in their emotional power.

The Deep Blue Sea image by Richard Hubert Smith
Tom Schutt’s impressive set

Focusing on a sense of community within the boarding house setting, aided by Tom Schutt’s impressive set full of solicitous neighbours, means Cracknell adds to the play. A brilliant scene where Hester is joined by the women in the piece (played by Marion Bailey and Yolanda Kettle) alters our focus. It’s a move all the more remarkable given that the play, through Rattigan’s biography, is often discussed for its gay subtext.

If interested, try to track down a copy of Mike Poulton’s play Kenny Morgan, about the suicide of Rattigan’s lover (and a fascinating work in its own right). There is a danger that The Deep Blue Sea can be overpowered by this biographical note. But Cracknell has provided a space for the play to exist independently; an achievement for any revival that makes Rattigan’s script and his legacy stronger.

Until 16 July 2020

To support, visit nationaltheatre.org.uk

Photos by Richard Hubert Smith

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“Rosmersholm” at the Duke of York Theatre

Theatre folk love to make revivals of plays relevant to current times. Now and then, the connections made seem forced, but this new adaptation by Duncan Macmillan of Ibsen’s play from 1886 resonates with the present in a way that frequently astounds. Set around an election, with a country polarised and inequality increasing, nationalism and fake news are everywhere. Meanwhile, the play’s central figure of Rosmer recognises that his privilege comes with a “moral debt” – as they say on Twitter, he is ‘woke’. A conscience examined in the finest detail and a brilliant performance by Tom Burke contribute to a superb production that fizzes with topicality.

Rosmersholm is no dry political disquisition. Giles Terera’s stage presence – as the establishment figure of Andreas Kroll – makes sure that the debate is entertaining. Rosmer’s brother-in-law and old friend, Kroll views radicalism as a threat to not just the country but the soul. And there’s more – ghosts for a start – which director Ian Rickson allows to be symbolic as well as pretty creepy. The characters and the damaged house of Rosmer, with its gorgeous set from Rae Smith, are haunted in many ways, with gradual revelations about the family’s history that make this quite the thriller. It’s all balanced expertly by Rickson and, if the evening is overpowering at times, it’s always exciting.

Tom Burke and Giles Terera

Above all, Rosmersholm is a romance – a particularly intense and tragic one. Marking out Rosmer as a “fallen man” involved with an “independent woman” could remind us too forcefully that this is a period piece. But not a jot. While Burke brings out the complexities of his role as a former pastor who has lost his faith and whose family name becomes a political football, his love interest, Rebecca West, is made the star of the show. This is a tremendous vehicle for Hayley Atwell, who gives a performance full of fantastic detail. West even seems as if she might provide a happy ending. You don’t need to have seen too much Ibsen to be suspicious of that, but Atwell and Rickson make subsequent revelations edge-of-the-seat stuff.

This is a relationship based on talking politics (that’s how our couple fell in love). The chemistry is fantastic, but the ideals discussed are also exciting and challenging. West proves an extreme figure who allows no compromise and there’s an immaturity in both her and Rosmer – take your pick blaming stunted upbringings or a narrow society – that leads to catastrophe. Rosmersholm becomes a frightening place – the talk is of sickness and sacrifice, death or change. No middle ground is allowed. It’s surely just the position, with all its dangers, that we face right now.

Until 20 July 2019

www.rosmersholmplay.com

Photos by Johan Persson

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“Don Carlos” at the Rose Theatre Kingston

Friedrich Schiller’s late-18th-century work is a play that has it all, with tons of plot – intrigue at the court of Philip II of Spain (so great for history buffs) – and a romance, too. The Infante Carlos’s love for his former fiancée, now step-mother, leads to scenes with papa Phil that would delight any Freudian. Big politics and Greek-style family drama… it really is two for the price of one.

Samuel Valentine takes the title role, cutting a dashing figure, but also showing the pressurised heir as increasingly fragile. The reigning monarch Darrell D’Silva has a great time striding the edges of a moral and political “abyss”. He does ham it up, but he plays the most powerful man in the world at that time and, if you have a claxon to summon people, it must be hard not to use it. Sympathy for a tyrant isn’t easy, but D’Silva has the skill to make us consider Philip’s deep loneliness. Completing the love triangle is Kelly Gough as Elizabeth of Valois. A figure of “angelic condescension” but also an ambition-fuelled queen, Gough plays with both extremes expertly.

Kelly Gough

On top of roles a good deal wordier than usually encountered, the performers aren’t aided by Gadi Roll’s strict direction. Reflecting the formality of the Spanish court by so often restricting movement is an intelligent instruction that makes you admire the actors even more. Added to that, the speed of delivery here is astonishing, with never a tongue tied. It makes you breathless to hear this play. The impression left at the interval is of clarity but sterility, a dynamic that comes close to totally flipping soon afterwards. The staging is stark, with Rosanna Vize’s design all about Jonathan Samuels’ lighting. Props are minimal and lights moved around – ironically the play is often too atmospherically dark. But Roll ensures this is a gripping story. And there’s still more – this is a play of ideas: leadership, freedom and friendship, all with a Romantic air. 

Embodying many abstract concepts is Tom Burke as the Marquis of Posa, a role that makes the play really special. A plotter in it for the long run, Posa describes himself as “a citizen of times to come”. The role at once parades Schiller’s hindsight and futureproofs the play. Weighty themes of revolution are made urgent and philosophical. The ideas are fascinating, the character too – with a mix of unbelievable devotion and prescience that Burke manages to make credible and human. He also sounds, well, fantastic.

Blood and thoughts are “wild” in Don Carlos– streaming from a conflict with duty and from a time when youth and ideas are about to change the world. The production might struggle with the passion, too tamed at times and then unleashed too quickly, but the complexity of both the drama and the argument are given their due.

Until 17 November 2018

www.rosetheatrekingston.org

Photos by The Other Richard