Absent friends - Harold Pinter Theatre

Date seen: 23/3/12

Venue: Didn't really like it. I had a pillar in my peripheral vision, a rail in front of me that obscured my view & I couldn't see down left of the stage. You travel all around the country to little theatrs and have no problems seeing, you hit the West End and encounter all this for three times the price. Not good enough!!

Set: Exquisite. Beautifully put together and very functional. Couldn't fault it.

Costumes: Not a lot to report. A lot more conservative than many productions of this play that I've seen, but all fine.

Performances: Evelyn (Kara Tointon) - Great. Monosyllabic as the character should be, but very funny.

Diana (Katherine Parkinson) - As flaky as I've ever seen this character played from  the early scenes and it really worked. An enjoyable portrayal.

Marge (Elizabeth Berrington) - Another nice performance. I've seen more made of the telephone calls with Gordon but she proved to be a nice contrast to the other female characters.

Paul (Steffan Rhodri) - As low-key as I've ever seen Paul played. He's usually so brash and belligerent at the beginning of the play. In this production, the character just seemed depressed. An interesing & thought-provoking interpretation.

John (David Armand) - Very nice work. I loved his finger clicking routine during an awkward silence. A very watchable actor.

Colin (Reece Shearsmith) - More geaky that I've often seen this character played. I actually thoroughly enjoyed the performance and the comedy that he drew from the part.

Summary: Long silences in comedy can be so terribly hard to pull off. These silences just kept coming in this production and they were brilliantly held. All very professional and although it's not my favourite of Ayckbourn's plays, I did enjoy the evening. I just wish I could have seen more of it!!! 

Bedroom farce - Compass theatre

Date seen:  15 March 2012

Venue: Compass theatre, Ickenham.  I really liked it. Modern with a bar and coffee area. The box office was well run, the staff were friendly and there was a generally comfortable atmosphere. Lots of well-tiered seating and a large stage.

Costumes: All good. Nothing seemed out of place. I particularly liked Nick's superman T-shirt and the assorted nightwear.

Plot: Delian and Ernest are celebrating an anniversary. Nick stays at home, bemoaning his lot and his bad back, whilst Jan heads off to Malcolm and Kate's housewarming party and Sussanah and Trevor effortlessly sabotage everyone's plans. Four couples, three bedrooms, one eventful night.

Perfromances:

Ernest (David Pearson) - Very nicely judged with terrific comic timing. His chemistry with Delia was a delight.

Delia (Susi Thornton) - What a lovely face! This was an absolutely charming performance full of warmth and humour. All her mannerisms and business with make-up was terrific. Shame she had one scene in act 2 where she lost the lines as it put a slight dampener on an otherwise terrific characterisation.

Nick (Robert Ewen) - I couldn't get over how like Phil Jupitus he looked with his glasses on. I loved the glasses on the teddy bear. Some terrific facial expression used. The fall out of bed scene would have been more effective if we hadn't had to spend two minutes watching him crawl across the stage.

Jan (Hannah Lester) - Quite strong. Very confident and the scene where she was trapped beneath Nick was very funny.

Malcolm (Paul Davis) - Couldn't really make my mind up about him. Some lovely business with coats and the cabinet. I wasn't sure he entirely got the playful nature with Kate at the beginning of the play.

Kate (Angie Sutherland) - Delightful! Always trying to please and be a good hostess. Some nice, gentle comedy.

Trevor (Ben Morris) - At times, spot on and very funny. But I think he tried too hard which made the character less believable. The bit in his opening scene about a pressure weighing down on him was way over the top which meant it ended up not being funny. Comedy/farce has to be played as tragedy and if an actor corpses at a scene, however funny it is, it loses its impact and sadly that's what happened with an otherwise priceless moment with the cabinet.

Sussanah (Clare Wooster) - I really enjoyed this performance. Every so slightly bonkers, this actress had a lovely, strong voice and found some lovely natural positions sitting on various beds. I liked the slight hippiness about her as well.

Summary: At times, the pace slackened off which meant a lot of the comedy was lost. A great set though with some very effective props. Despite the few critiscisms, the audience really enjoyed it and I would love to make a return visit to this delightful little theatre and hard-working company.

Miss Yesterday - York Theatre Royal Studio

Date seen: 10 March 2012

Venue: The inside of the venue is fairly cramped with not a lot of room to wait in comfort. This show was in the studio rather than the main arena. I love intimate theatres like this. Set in the round with only three or four rows of seats on each side.

Set: Triangular flats that were rotated to depict a wall, bedroom and living room worked well as did the removable school gate. Other than that, it's just a bare stage with items of furniture brought on from time to time.

Costumes: All modern day. Tammie's T-shirt & hoody were perfect, in fact all the costumes were fine.

Plot: Fifteen year old Tammy and her friend Roz are trying to break into school to see tomorrow’s exam papers. Tammy, for whom failure is the norm, is spotted climbing the gate. Roz flees and Tammy is taken to the police station. Refusing to co-operate, she is taken home to face the wrath of her parents Andrew and Josie. They both despair of Tammy, jump to the wrong conclusions and even suggest she should be taken away for treatment! Sadly, Tammy cannot match her brother Ian’s high standards in the eyes of her parents. Locked in silence with her parents, Tammy eventually tries to explain, except her parents have fallen asleep.Roz comes to see Tammy, although she obviously has a crush on Ian, who shows far more understanding of Tammy’s situation than her parents. Ian offers Tammy some good advice and tells her to be herself. He leaves for a cricket match on his motorcycle. Later, Andrew comes to Tammy and announces Ian has died in a crash.
Alone in a park, Tammy is approached by a stranger who seems to know a lot about Tammy and even appears to read her thoughts. She offers Tammy the opportunity to go back in time 24 hours. Tammy reluctantly agrees and finds herself back at the school-gates.

Performances:

Tammy Laidlaw (Lucy May Orange) - An absolute tour de force. On stage just about every second, this performance was powerful, funny, full of angst, despair, moodiness. This actress has all the skills and talents that you could ever want. A brilliant performance.

Roz Butcher (Terri-Ann Prendergast) - At first I wondered if she was pitching her character as too young. But as we hit act 2, I bought into it and found this performance added a lovely light-heartiness to events. 

Security guard (Lee Starkey) - Very small role but secured a couple of nice laughs.

PC Carol Winterbush (Vivienne Clare) - Okay, but her interrogation scene in act one seriously lacked pace and attack. So many more laughs could have been gained with a different comic timing. The weakest scene in the play.

Andrew Laidlaw (Mike Hickman) - I liked his opening scene where he showed a nice, easy-going personality. I thought the scene where he broke the news of Uan's death to be a bit matter-of -fact.

Josie Laidlaw (Helen Wilson) - Again, I felt this actress missed out on opportunities for comedy. Possibly not her fault, but there were several masking issues. In act one when she was talking across stage to Tammie, I spent two minutes staring at her rear end and seeing nothing else.

Ian Laidlaw (Alan Flower) - Had a great voice and looked absolutely right. A gentle but thought-provoking style. One little point, I wish his hair had somehow been made to look completely different for the very final scene.

The Stranger (Beryl Nairn) - Gorgeous perfromance. An actress with real stage presence. Hasd exactly the right air of confidence and assuredness and again, looked absolutely right.

Summary: For this play to work, you have to cast absolutely the right actress for Tammie. Boy, did we have the right actress. She carried the whole production and her facial expressions and tone of delivery were so spot on. A few clunky scene changes slowed things down a bit, but a pleasant under-score made this bearable. I traveled quite a way to see this, I didn't regret it for one minute. I loved the play which has such a strong, moral message for teenagers who maybe have lost their way. Some people left the theatre in tears as it was so poignant. I now  have hopes and ambitions to stage it myself. 
 

Absent friends - Mercury theatre

Date seen:  1st March 2012

Venue: Mercury theatre, Colchester - Modern looking, spacious theatre. A huge, low stage, mountains of tiered seating, a bar on the 1st floor and a coffee bar on the ground floor. One complaint, I was charged 60p for a two bar kit-kat. To charge that much for a tiny thing like that is not big, is not clever and is daylight robbery. Whoever made the decision should be embarrassed and ashamed.

Set: Majestic. They had the luxury of space. But tremendous, authentic furniture all fitted the time perfectly and the set was dressed so well. I particularly liked the tea with fondant fancies, cherries on cakes and pineapple and cheese sticks. So 1970's.

Costumes: All very good. platform shoes for the ladies and a nice 1970's hairband for Diana. Paul with the open necked white shirt was just missing the medallion.

Plot: Diana has organised a tea party for Colin, an old friend of her husband Paul. Colin’s fiancé has recently drowned and the aim is to cheer him up with a gathering of old friends Paul, John and Gordon.
Gordon is, typically, ill and his wife Marge turns up instead, while Paul and John are less than enthusiastic about the party.
All this hides deep problems: Paul has had a brief affair with John’s wife Evelyn – who has brought her baby to the party and is dismissive of Paul’s love-making; Marge is desperate for a child of her own and has transferred her maternal instincts on to an increasingly dependent and accident-prone Gordon; Diana is desperately unhappy, misses her children who are at boarding school and is bullied by Paul – who she suspects of having a major affair with Evelyn; John is aware of Evelyn’s affair, but is dependent on Paul for employment. Both John and Paul are so uncomfortable with the idea of meeting Colin that they play down their friendship to the point of almost non-existence.

Performances:

Paul (Ignatius Anthony) - Complete with 1970's porno moustache, this was a very well attacked role, particularly in act one. Paul almost drifts away from the action as act two progresses, but this character was suitably annoying.

Diana (Smsndda Haberland) - A lovely performance, A real driving force at the start of the play. Her work 'off the ball' with her facial expressions and sly glances were a hoot. Her breakdown was superbly done and she was a delight.

Evelyn (Clare Humphrey) - Nicely played monosyllabic slut. She really didn't fit in with any of the characters around her, but this actress extracted all the humour with this little gem of a part.

Marge (Gina Isaac) - Described by the men as a stick insect. You could see the anguish and constant conflict going through her. Tried to be upbeat and cheerful and kept putting her foot in it. Very funny performance.

Colin (Ben Livingstone) - Perfectly pitched from the minute he burst on stage. Let all the chaos ride over him and gave an enthusiastc, upbeat performance that hit exactly the right note.

John (David Tarkenter) - Probably the hardest part to play. He got some good laughs and again, facially did some great work. I wondered if he could have been more fidgety and more under Paul's spell?

Summery: - A painful play to watch at times. this was a terrific production with a glorious set and strong acting throughout. 

Haunting Julia - Pomegranate theatre

Date seen:  25/2/12

Venue: Traditional style theatre with a nice bar area and plenty of leg room. The stage is quite high meaning you have to look up a bit.

Set: Reasonably good although it was all so far upstage. Bringing it down stage could have engaged the audience even more and enveloped them into the tense chillness of the story.

Costumes: Standard jacket and ties for all three characters. I feel that Ken should be dressed in a slightly less conventional manner. This attire just made him seem a bit ordinary.

Plot: Julia Lukin was a musical prodigy who committed suicide 12 years earlier. Her father Joe has never come to terms with her death and in the Julia Larkin Centre For Performing Studies, he hopes to discover what happened by meeting with a psychic, Ken, and Julia’s boyfriend, Andy, who was the last person to see her alive.

Performances:

Joe (John Hester) - Had the perfect look and voice and was strong to begin with. I felt his character faded somewhat and I would have liked to have seen some more of his overbearing nature explored.

Andy (Chris Sheridan) - Terrific. You really sa a change in the character as the situation tormented him more and more. His long speeches were brilliantly delivered. A thoroughly enjoyable perfomance.

Ken (John Goodrum) - Didn't do it for me at all. He seemed way too normal, where as I think you should be slightly uneasy watching and listening to him. I feel this is a really complex character and yet it was played in such a one dimensional way.

Summary: An enjoyable show although I've seen it done better. The teddy on th bed moment was a huge disappointment - It ought to make the audience jump out of their skin! The effects at the end were okay but there could hve been so much more with collapsing bookcases etc. The bed sheet was very nicely done though. I love the character of Ken that Ayckbourn has created and I was deeply disappointed with his portrayal. Always an interesting show to go and watch though.

Bedroom Farce - Crescent theatre

Date seen: 28/01/12

Venue: Crescent theatre - Birmingham.  A traditional style theatre in the city centre. A nice, slightly curved stage and plenty of seats. A well run coffee bar/bar with plenty of room to relax before the show.

Set: Three bedrooms and nicely spaced apart. At three slightly different levels, it was quite effective and the wallpaper decoration was superb. All three rooms were functional and well dressed.

Costumes: All very 1970's. Wide collared shirts and kipper ties. Dresses that I thought were quite horrible until I remembered tat they were the height of fashion for the time.

Plot: Bedroom Farce is a play that contains a melee of events touched with certain philandering characters, all occurring within similar moments of one another. Alan Ayckbourn’s clever uses of time and space makes this a very intricate and sophisticated comedy while also portraying the deteriorating and rebuilding of relationships among young couples. This play explores the differences in relationships between the younger and older generations while capitalizing on certain unlikely issues that may strain the relationships even further. 

Performances: Ernest (John Whittell) - A performance that grew on me tremendously. A shaky couple of lines at the start of each act, he then moved on to give a beautifully judged, gentle perforance with a magnificent display of comic timing. In hindsight, the performance I enjoyed the most.

Delia (Pauline O'Connor) - A perfect foil to Ernest. This couples gentle delivery was perfect for the older characters that they were playing. Delia's line about sleeping on a herring trawler had me giggling all the way home.

Jan (Susan Keats) - The one performance that didn't really do it for me. She was bang on cue with ll her lines, but this is a complex character and I never felt that this was fully explored. The actress seemed slightly uncomfortable throughout the play and her passionate kiss with Trevor seemed to come from nowhere and didn't really ring true.

Nick (Jeremy Wyatt) - 90% of the time, this character was lying in bed. He made up for this with tremendous expression and very good projection and comedy. The scene where he fell out of bed & tried to get back in were a joy.

Kate (Jen Meeghan) - Another delightful performance. She saw the best in everybody and also showed great comic timing. An absolute delight.

Malcolm (Paul Brotherton) - A face and voice made for comedy! This actor brought a tremendous energy to all his scenes and really helped bring the show to life in the early stages.

Trevor (James David Knapp) - The centerpiece really and another well judged performance. I couldn't help thinking how similar he is to Martin Freeman in size, look and delivery. Loved his 1970's facial sideburns.

Sussanah (Paula Wall) - Another very strong comic performance. This is a slightly screwed up character and I think I might have asked for her to be played as slightly more manic, but I thoroughly enjoyed her performance.

Summary: Very well produced & directed and clearly a huge amount of work had gone into rehearsals. It skipped along at a helthy pace and was very well acted with a great looking, functional set and props that were all spot on. I went home with a smile on my face, dreaming of pilchards on toast. 

Joking apart - Union theatre

Date seen:  Friday January 13th

Venue Union Theatre, London - Extraordinary little venue set under a railway arch. A small cafe is set in front of the dooe which sits a handful of people but sells coffee at a more than reasonable price. A small bar is just inside the entrance. The theatre seemed to sit about 50 people and it was sold out with folk awaiting returns. The set is right in front of you, a feature that I love! The thunder of trains can often be heard but this just added to the character.

Set: Excellent, considering the lack of space. The tennis court was well depicted and the garden was functional without being spectacular.

Costumes: Very good. The tennis shorts were almost embarrassingly short put perfect for the period. Sven & Olive's Christmas jumpers were the pick of the bunch.

Plot: The play takes place over a 12-year period in the back garden of near-perfect couple Richard and Anthea, whose circle of friends includes a smug Scandinavian couple, a crisis-stricken Vicar and his neurotic wife, a neglected girlfriend and an aging lothario.

Performances:  

Richard (Jamie Kenna) Nicely judged performance. Solid, consistently cheerful and yet obviously in control of everything around him.

Anthea (Claire Marlowe) Sparky, funny, very pretty. This was a hugely watchable performance. She had a habit of flicking up the back of her left ankle that was positively endearing.

Sven (Andrew Obeney) A performance that grew on me. He played a Scandanavian. His accent seemed to have a touch of an Al Pacino gangster to it. But he played the later scenes superbly and his long speech at Debbie's birthday party was priceless.

Olive (Charlotte Moore) A character that never seemed to develop. The actress was solid enough, but the character never really grew on me.

Hugh (Jamie Richards)  Stole every scene that he was in. It was like watching Hugh Grant with his mannerisms and delivery. Very, very funny.

Louise (Monica Bertei) Played a mousy, vicar's wife early on who clearly didn't want to mix with the neighbours and her insecurity was nicely portrayed. Her scene 4 performance when under medication that wasn't quite right was marvelous and extremely funny showing this actresses's obvious range.

Brian (Paul Anthoney) Okay, but at his best in the opening scene. Debbie suggests that there's something leery about him, but I never really got that and because of this, the final line of the play fell rather flat.

Mo/Mandy/Melody/Debbie (Antonia Reid)  So much more could have been made of this part. I never bought the brash Canadian, she fell in and out of drunkenness in that scene despite a few nice moments, the silent artist was nicely done however. In my opinion, she was miscast as there's no way that she would pass for playing an 18 year old. Sorry!

Summery: The first time I'd seen this play. Typical Ayckbourn, so I left happy. A very enjoyable evening at a unique venue that I very much hope to return to. I can't wait to see this play again to see how different groups interpret it.