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LONDON THEATER REPORT 2000 Send This Review to a Friend
The Almeida Theatre Company's production of William Shakespeare's RICHARD II in Shoreditch at the historic Gainsborough Studios was a highlight of a recent trip to look in on some of what makes theatergoing in London so enjoyable on every visit. Ralph Fiennes was superb in the title role. As the play was also to be presented by the Brooklyn Academy of Music (starting Sept. 6), it was an opportunity to get an advance look.
Just being in the Gainsborough, where Alfred Hitchcock made such early films as "The Lady Vanishes," was exciting in itself, the opportunity to connect with a part of cinema history. It reminded me of a visit to Germany when I saw Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" screened with an accompanying orchestra playing a reconstituted score on the very sound stage where the film had been shot.
The production of 'Richard II" itself was impressive for its use of the wide stage creatively utilized by Paul Brown's design and Jonathan Kent's direction to create a sprawling outdoor look. Fiennes skillfully explored the various layers of Shakespeare's characterization of Richard and captured the emotional pain as he fought to hold power yet faced the political reality of defeat. Fiennes's performance was underlined by an especially intelligent approach to the character that heightened the emotional aspects while also addressing the sweep of history engulfing him. It was further evidence of what a distinguished actor he has become.
The play would lack power if there were not a worthy Henry Bolingbroke. Fortunately, Linus Roache was effective in the role and he too tapped into the nuances of the part as King Richard's adversary and the future King Henry IV. One of the pleasures of seeing Shakespeare performed in England is that there is more of an across-the-board quality to the acting than the mixed results often encountered in New York efforts.The overall casting was impressive, save for a few weak spots, and Kent's direction captured the excitement and emotions involved in the struggles depicted and kept one conscious of the historical stakes. Occasionally, fortunately not very often, some dialogue grew faint as a result of the stage width, one of the sacrifices to the bold location of the event.
My schedule didn't permit seeing Fiennes do "Coriolanus," the other play presented in Shoreditch as part of the Almeida's notably adventurous programming, and also part of the visit to the Brooklyn Academy of Music ( starting Sept. 8 and alternating with "Richard II").
Thanks too to the Almeida for staging CRESSIDA a play with historical interest of a different sort and one that should be welcome in New York, at least off-Broadway. The drama by Nicholas Wright, which I saw at the Albery Theatre and is set in the period after Shakespeare's death, deals with the recruiting, and sometimes kidnapping, of young boys to play the women's roles in theatrical productions. As struggling entrepreneur John Shank, Michael Gambon gives yet another of his striking, rich performances as he battles to keep operating in the face of debts.
Nicholas Hytner's direction and Bob Crowley's design combine to help create the prevailing atmosphere of the time, and the playwright has provided many exquisite moments that verge on the poetic to mix with the sordid realism of the manipulations and betrayals that were a part of the scene. I also enjoyed other performances by a cast that included Malcolm Sinclair, Lee Ingleby, Matthew Hickey, Charles Kay, Michael Legge, Daniel Brocklebank and Anthony Calf.
It is axiomatic these days that any performance by Michael Gambon is reason enough to go to the theater, as well as to a film. His range is wide, his technique admirable. But "Cressida" has power on its own as a play that takes us into this world of boy actors in the 17th century that many know little about. It also provides a glimpse of the business side of the theater that is absorbing.
Friends returning from London insisted that I catch Alan Bennett's THE LADY IN THE VAN at the Queen's Theatre and they were right. Maggie Smith gives a colorful, funny yet moving portrayal of the real-life homeless lady, Miss Shepherd, who camped out in a van on author Bennett's property for many years. The situation is a bizarre one, and Bennett has made an entertaining and sometimes emotional play from his experience. This is Smith's show, a tour de force that enables her to show why she has been such a successful actress. Smith can be given to excess, but here she uses her acting wiles with excellent results. She applies various characteristics to the lady in question, and knows how to turn the corner from comedy to sympathy.
Interestingly, there are two Alan Bennetts portrayed, one to narrate the story, the other to enact the character, and eventually the text gets confrontational. Nicholas Farrell and Kevin McNally expertly share the chores, and Nicholas Hytner has staged the play creatively, whether concentrating on the scenes between Bennett and Smith or relying on the use of the van in question as an amusing bit of scenery.
Underlying it all is an effort to shine a spotlight on the plight of people who fall through the cracks of society and attempt to survive with dignity despite obstacles and the lack of understanding by social workers who are part of the bureaucracy. This is a play likely to become a Broadway hit if it is imported--with Maggie Smith, of course.
Apart from the bright satirical ideas bubbling in Alan Ayckbourn's play COMIC POTENTIAL, a prime reason for seeing the show, which I caught at the Lyric Theatre, was the extraordinary award-winning performance by Janie Dee. Ms. Dee, you see, plays Jacie Triplethree, a robot who performs in television soap operas. In Ayckbourn's imaginative scheme of things, actors are no longer needed. Robots, programmed with scripted lines, take their place.
This futuristic concept provides ample opportunity for very funny situations. Confronted by moments when it becomes necessary to react to real-life situations, Jacie can only summon lines and action from her scripts. The staging of the episodes is funny, but the play really gets going when a staff member falls in love with her and they run off together to a hotel.
The playwright shows his customary cleverness in thinking up comic situations, tossing in some sex and getting at what seems to be the play's main thesis--that human qualities will surface no matter how society squelches them through mechanization and devices to do the work of people. There are times when the comedy gets a bit thin and the idea is stretched as far as it can go without collapsing, but through it all there is the endearing, funny and marvelously versatile performance by Dee, a show unto herself. There are other good acting jobs by David Soul, Matthew Cottle and others, but if this show ever comes to New York, as it should, it would be a pity if Janie Dee didn't cross the Atlantic to star in it. I'd also like to see her in anything else she does.
It wasn't Kathleen Turner's much-publicized nudity that lured me to the Gielgud Theatre to see THE GRADUATE. The aim was to investigate how the play would compare to the 1967 film that became a classic of the period, as well as to preview what surely will wind up on Broadway with Turner reprising the part of Mrs. Robinson.
There is no way that the special quality of the film could be duplicated. It not only introduced Dustin Hoffman but it was a major contributor to the independent filmmaking style of that era. Nonetheless, viewed as a play on its own terms, especially if one had somehow missed seeing the film, "The Graduate" holds up as a good piece of theater. Matthew Rhys does a creditable job as Benjamin, the young man seduced by Mrs. Robinson, but I found Kelly Reilly too ditsy as Mrs. Robinson's daughter, with whom Benjamin falls in love.
Turner brings a steely quality to Mrs. Robinson in contrast to the teasing playfulness Anne Bancroft supplied in addition to her sexual desires in the screen version. Bancroft telegraphed an element of doing Benjamin a favor. With Turner, it is all sexual demand on her part. That works, too, but sets an entirely different tone. As for her nudity, she strips naked in the shadows. It fits the play nicely and seems natural enough, particularly since Turner has trimmed down as opposed to the way she looked (clothed) in the film "The Virgin Suicides." She is a fine actress, whether on stage or on film, and she should be successful if she does do the play in New York.
Terry Johnson adapted the work, based on both the film and the novel by Charles Webb, and also directed with a sharp eye for its humor inherent in the characterizations and in a situation in which a youth sleeps with the mother and woos the daughter.
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