Experience: 8/10
By Peter Nichols
Directed by David Leveaux
Venue: Duke of York’s Theatre
Date: Saturday 3rd August 2013
Steve saw the original RSC production of this play, and according to our records, we both saw it in the West End in 1984 – I have no recollection of it at all. This performance will undoubtedly stay in my memory far longer, not just because of these notes but because we enjoyed ourselves as well as being moved by the characters’ situations.
Experience: 8/10
Music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Michael Stewart, book by Mark Bramble
With revisions by Cameron Mackintosh and Mark Bramble
Directed by Timothy Sheader
Chichester Festival Theatre in association with Cameron Mackintosh
Venue: Theatre In The Park
Date: Monday 29th July 2013
When we left this performance we were as one with our rating of the experience, but not for the usual reasons. Tonight things had gone wrong, and our enjoyment had been vastly improved as a result. Not the usual effect, but then this is theatre.
To begin with, this was our first visit to the Theatre In The Park, Chichester Festival Theatre’s temporary home while the main building, itself a ‘temporary’ venue, is given a large dose of TLC. The old dear doesn’t look well at the moment with the lettering removed and the boards up, but I’m sure she’ll be back in action next year as promised, and in much better shape.
Experience: 8/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Nancy Meckler
Venue: RST
Date: Tuesday 23rd July 2013
Another impressive preview from the RSC. Directed by Nancy Meckler, this production of All’s Well uses modern settings and costumes to good effect, with performances to match. There’s still some scope for improvement – the opening scenes were a little slow – but like Lafeu, my eyes smelled onions by the end. We had central seats in the stalls so we had a good view of all the action, and apart from one mobile phone going off the audience was pretty well behaved.
Experience: 8/10
Written and directed by David Lewis
Venue: Orange Tree Theatre
Date: Tuesday 4th June 2013
This is a new play, written and directed by David Lewis, and the blend of personal issues, therapy sessions and twitching created a very funny production. The story was told initially through these therapy sessions, with parts of the earlier action acted out in front of us and the relevant therapist. Later, as the relationships became more jumbled, the action flowed from one confrontation to another with frequent changes of location.
Experience: 8/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Michael Fentiman
Venue: Swan Theatre
Date: Thursday 30th May 2013 (eve)
Another viewing of this production, and again the performances have all come on since opening night. The blood worked this time, and while the auditorium wasn’t packed, there were enough of us for a decent atmosphere to develop. Some of the details I noticed were new to me, but I can’t be certain they were changes in the performance, and as we sat in a similar place tonight (beside the right walkway) there was no significant change in perspective.
Experience: 8/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Maria Aberg
Venue: RST
Date: Wednesday 29th May 2013
We were sitting by the left walkway tonight, and although there was a pillar right in front of us, we managed to enjoy the performance as much as before as well as seeing some extra things we’d missed the last time. The performances had all come on, with the first half still being less fun and the second half being really good, and we stayed on for the post-show which added some useful information.
Experience: 8/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Michael Fentiman
Venue: Swan Theatre
Date: Thursday 16th May 2013
Our experience of Titus Andronicus is limited: the Deborah Warner production in 1988 with Brian Cox – excellent – the 2003 RSC production with David Bradley – good but wordy – and the Complete Works Ninagawa production in 2006 – spectacular but not to my taste. Despite this relatively brief acquaintance with the play, we were looking forward to an evening of gore and misery and we weren’t disappointed. Being the first performance there were naturally a few hiccups, but even so the production already feels like a major success, and we can only hope that the faint-ometer doesn’t break through overuse.
Experience: 8/10
By Agatha Christie
Directed by Ian Watt-Smith
Venue: Theatre Royal, Brighton
Date: Thursday 18th April 2013
I very much enjoyed seeing this for the second time. The first was back in 1987, and for a number of reasons it wasn’t a great experience. The play was clinging on by the tips of its fingernails to the West End supported only by its long-running record, the set looked like the original one from the 1950s, and by that time the regular cast changes had brought the performance down to the level of stock characterisations and slightly hammy acting. We spotted some obvious points early on, and if we hadn’t been waiting for more twists to follow we would have nabbed the culprit before the interval.
Experience: 8/10
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Maria Aberg
Venue: RST
Date: Tuesday 16th April 2013
My heart sank as we entered the auditorium and I realised they were playing the low frequency torture sounds again, my least favourite start to a performance. I managed to last out without throwing up. The set was a raised square platform within the main stage, with a few feet left free on three sides. It had a chequerboard pattern on it while the rest of the stage floor was blank. A pillar by the left walkway was echoed by a number of other pillars, all square, all grey, dotted around the rear half of the stage and there were dead leaves everywhere. Orlando and Adam came on before the start to sweep them up, making a tidy pile of half of them near the back right corner which they loaded into a wheelbarrow. Along the back of the stage were more grey wooden panels at different angles. Everything looked dark grey to begin with, including the clothes, but when the lights changed for the start, I could see that the pillars were brown.
Experience: 8/10
By Tanika Gupta
Directed by Emma Rice
Company: RSC
Venue: Swan Theatre
Date: Monday 15th April 2013
Both Steve and I had the sniffles tonight, him because he had a cold and me because the final scenes of this new play were very moving. The play covers a lot of ground, and there will be more to come with this production which at times is a bit jumbled, but the music, singing, dancing and colours plus the splendid performances made for a refreshing take on a neglected aspect of Victorian history. We’ve found Emma Rice’s work with Kneehigh to be variable in the past, but this time she’s produced a real good ‘un.
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