Experience: 7/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Kimberley Sykes
Venue: RST
Date: Thursday 28th February 2019
A good start to the new season. I have been concerned about some of the recent RSC ensembles, but this appears to be a strong group, with the diversity angle not weakening the acting talent at all and adding some interesting aspects to the performance. I’m looking forward to seeing how this ensemble develops over several productions.
Experience: 7/10
By William Wycherley
Directed by Jonathan Munby
Venue: Chichester Festival Theatre
Date: Friday 6th July 2018
As expected, this had improved with time. The cast were smoother in all aspects of the performance, the dialogue was clearer (or seemed so to us second time around) and one or two of the earlier difficulties had been resolved, at least in part. There was no change to the staging as far as I could see, though of course we spotted more details this time, especially sitting left of centre instead of on the right, as last time. It still didn’t sparkle, and we both felt that the design had to take a lot of the blame for that – the dark, black and white colour scheme simply brought the whole play down.
Experience: 7/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Polly Findlay
Venue: RST
Date: Wednesday 27th June 2018
Due to Edward Bennett being unavailable for tonight’s performance, the RSC’s understudies program swung into action at the last minute, providing an able substitute for the part of MacDuff in John Macaulay (usually murderer, chamberlain, member of Scottish forces). Others were bumped up to fill the gaps, and although we were aware he was an understudy, I don’t feel the performance suffered too much from the changeover. Another viewing when Ed has returned would be interesting, but for now we were happy with the cast we saw.
Experience: 7/10
By Edgar Wallace, adapted by Antony Lampard
Directed by Roy Marsden
Company: The Classic Thriller Company
Venue: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Date: Thursday 8th February 2018
Perhaps I’m being a bit kind to this production, but I often find I lower my expectations for these old-fashioned plays: as long as the cast turn in a decent set of performances, the staging is suitably brisk and the set and costumes don’t let the cast down, then I’m prepared to enjoy myself. And that’s how it turned out tonight. The story managed a surprise or two, there were some good laughs, and the cast made the most of their fairly thin characters to provide us with an entertaining evening.
Experience: 7/10
By Conor McPherson
Directed by Adele Thomas
Companies: English Touring Theatre and Mercury Theatre Colchester
Venue: Minerva Theatre
Date: Wednesday 31st January 2018
Irish drama isn’t usually my thing, but I was glad I went to this performance. Steve had seen the play some years ago (the revival at the Donmar) and this was certainly as good as that production, and better in at least one role. It’s not an earth-shaking drama – it doesn’t have to be, of course – but it did create a nice sense of the otherworldly, together with a gentle ambiguity which led to more discussion afterwards than many another more straightforward play.
Experience: 7/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Andrew Hilton
Produced by STF and Tobacco Factory Theatres
Venue: Tobacco Factory
Date: Wednesday 24th February 2016
Interesting to see another production of Hamlet here after Jonathan Miller’s excellent version with Jamie Ballard back in 2008. This didn’t reach the same heights, but as it was an early performance we expect the overall standard to improve. And there was a lot to like here, with a brisk edition of the text and some lively sword-fighting. We hope to see it again once they’ve settled into it more, but in any case this was a good start. [Didn’t manage to make the second viewing.]
Experience: 7/10
By Roger Mortimer and Charlie Mortimer
Directed by Philip Franks
Venue: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Date: Monday 18th May 2015
This was a sweet, humorous and occasionally moving story about the relationship between a real-life father and son. The son, Charles, was so wayward from an early age that his father Roger named him Lupin after the errant son in Diary Of A Nobody, though from this version of events it’s doubtful whether the original Lupin would have been able to keep up with Charles as he drank, smoked and snorted his way through his schooldays and beyond.
Experience: 7/10
Preview
By Jean Anouilh
Translated and directed by Jeremy Sams
Venue: Minerva Theatre
Date: Tuesday 12th May 2015
1983 was the last time we saw this play; naturally our memories had faded almost completely in that time. So we were glad to have this opportunity to see it again, and this production in the Minerva certainly gave us some very strong performances to remember.
Experience: 7/10
By Agatha Christie
Directed by Joe Harmston
Agatha Christie Theatre Company
Venue: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Date: Wednesday 1st April 2015
An excellent day to be seeing this thriller again, given the early suggestion that someone was playing a practical joke on the assembled guests at the isolated island retreat of Mr and Mrs U N Owen (unknown). Despite our familiarity with the plot, we rated this performance higher than the previous time we saw it – don’t know why that was – and with the same set and staging there’s little to comment on in terms of the production, but I will make a few notes just the same.
There was some stormy music playing quietly when we entered the auditorium, accompanied by the sound of waves crashing against rocks. When the curtain rose, a large chandelier was sitting centre stage, covered with a large cloth; the butler’s first task when he came on was to remove the cloth and use a push button on the left side wall to raise the chandelier up. This was the same control panel that the murderer uses at the end to lower the noose.
The ‘guests’ began arriving almost immediately. Marston, the arrogant boy racer, was very affected, whilst Davis, the apparent South African who turned into an English copper, was bluff and hearty. The judge said “when” before the soda siphon had even reached his whisky, which got a laugh, and I noticed this time that nobody could remember Davis’s name. The back of the secretary’s evening dress was very low-cut, and this infuriated Emily Brent, a self-righteous individual who took great delight in the divine punishment of people she didn’t like. The bitchiness between her and Vera Claythorne – the secretary – was very well done, as were the snide remarks by the housekeeper.
Some of the murderer’s actions were less clear this time round, but just as effective in reducing the population of the island, while the soldiers were being removed by whichever member of the cast was in the vicinity. Ben Nealon, a stalwart of this company, was making sure he could be heard in the back row, but as we were sitting right at the front, he was a bit too loud for my liking. I did spot some passing references to Christie’s other work, such as the doctor suggesting that another character may be an impostor, and again I was aware of how well this play has been put together. The auditorium was fairly full, and we gave them a good response at the end of the evening as well as providing lots of gasps and suchlike during the performance.
© 2015 Sheila Evans at ilovetheatre.me
Experience: 7/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Sally Cookson
Venue: Rose Theatre, Kingston
Date: Thursday 19th March 2015
One of the lovely things about the number of Shakespeare productions being put on these days is that we get a chance to compare and contrast performances much more quickly than before. This is a fairly typical case: an early performance of one production followed a few weeks later by a completely different version with a reprise of the first one close on its heels. There were some interesting similarities amongst the many differences, and both had a lot to offer with their individual take on the play.
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