Tag Archives: Tom Hollander

“Patriots” at the Noël Coward Theatre

Peter Morgan, of Frost/Nixon and The Crown fame, is an expert at dramatising modern history. This hit transfer from the Almeida Theatre takes the story of Boris Berezovsky, looking at oligarchs and recent transformations in Russia, to make a smart, entertaining show.

The play has ambition and covers a lot of ground. It isn’t just Berezovsky’s life and death but a whole country we are asked to consider. And you might like to think Patriots is about political systems; even why the world is how it is right now.

How successful this balance of big and small is can be debated. You learn a lot about Berezovksy, some about Russia, but not so much about oligarchy and democracy. No matter how deftly produced – and it is well done – Patriots gets sketchy.

Taking the biography first, Morgan rattles through Berezovsky’s life and gives us a portrait of a clever and charismatic man who is hard to like but easy to watch. The lead performance from Tom Hollander is stunning, highlighting the demons that drive the character and making the most of some devilishly good lines.

If Berezovsky seems heroic at times – his talk of patriotism might appeal and grows in conviction – he doesn’t have much competition. Those around him, politicians and business leaders, are, of course, quite the crew. But none is gifted anything like the same level of detail. Vladimir Putin and Boris Yeltsin are victims of too many jokes, fun to be sure, but slim. Alexander Litvinenko is too much the saint. Roman Abramovich becomes an intriguing figure – much better.

Any conflict between having the characters represent ideas and being three dimensional may struggle on the page but not the stage because of the performances. Director Rupert Goold’s work with a crack cast is fantastic. Will Keen’s Putin and Josef Davies’ Litvinenko have some chunky speeches they make trip off the tongue. The much smaller role for Paul Kynman as Yeltsin is also fantastic, while Luke Thallon gives Abromovitch tremendous focus and charisma. Combined with Goold’s fast paced direction – remarkably clear at every moment – you couldn’t possibly be bored.

There’s a lot of conviction in Patriots. The play is at its best with questions about how sincere its characters are. The disconnect between lofty talk and people’s actions might be explored more. For instance, the relation between theory and practice exemplified by Berezovsky’s academic background is poorly used. It’s easy to imagine Morgan rubbing his hands about the idea that Berezovsky undertook mathematical research in decision making, but it isn’t explained enough and leads to some unhappy interactions with an old professor that stand out as poor.

The thrill of bringing versions of the rich and famous to the stage is exploited throughout, alongside Morgan’s witty script, which makes the most of key moments and hindsight. Berezovsky’s sorry end comes quickly. There are more interesting stories to be told around the time of his demise and a strong sense that Morgan knows it. It is Goold who brings the show to a successful conclusion and ensures the pace doesn’t flag.

Until 19 August 2023

www.patriotstheplay.com

Photo by Marc Brenner

“Travesties” at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Wearing his director’s hat, Patrick Marber has excelled with this revival of Tom Stoppard’s 1974 play. A characteristically dense affair, it uses the flawed reminiscences of an English diplomat in Zurich, one Henry Carr, to bring together Lenin, James Joyce and Tristan Tzara, thus covering politics, literature and art. You need to pace yourself to keep up.

Formally inventive, Stoppard uses speeches, verse and songs, while modifying Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest (if you need a reason, Carr performed the play in his youth). The elderly Henry suggests his memoirs could be a collection of sketches, and Marber embraces this to create some vaudeville scenes worthy of Cabaret Voltaire. Carr’s dementia is a wicked parallel to free association, ironically utilised in this satisfyingly controlled puzzle of postmodern plenitude.

Carr observes that as an artist you have to “pick your time and place” and in choosing such a fertile moment in European history, applying his own frame and distorting it, Stoppard has the audience enthralled. OK, it’s difficult to imagine many erudite enough to get their heads around the whole thing (you’d have to be as clever as, well, Tom Stoppard), but it’s great fun trying to keep up. It’s so crammed with humour that getting just half the jokes makes it worth it.

There’s a lot going on in Henry’s head, and Tom Hollander’s finest moments come when memories overwhelm his irascible character. Playing his younger self, he makes the comedy work hard. Stoppard even provides the review for his lead actor: parts don’t come much more demanding than this and Hollander really is superb. This this is a technically brilliant performance, the aged voice truly remarkable.
The rest of the cast seem spurred on by Hollander’s star turn, making each role memorable. Freddie Fox is superbly cast as the decadent Tzara – his switch to Wildean mode is faultless. Peter McDonald and Forbes Masson manage to make, respectively, Joyce and Lenin men you can laugh with as well as at. Clare Foster and Amy Morgan’s witty singing battle as Cecily and Gwendolen is a highlight in a show that has no shortage of brilliant moments. Stoppard and Marber run from any potential the play might have toward pretention. Just don’t forget to take a breath yourself.

Until 19 November 2016

www.menierchocolatefactory.com

Photos by Johan Persson