Before I move on to more current events I would be remiss if I did not mention my recent theatre excursions. I wont lie, I absolutely love living in London. However, there are things I really miss about living in Seattle. One of things I miss the most is the regularity of my trips to the theatre, along with my theatre going partner, the fabulous Margaret. So when I heard that she was leading a theatre tour in London I literally jumped up and down with excitement!And due to yet another stroke of luck I was able to attach myself to the tour group and see a full schedule of incredible theatre.
During the course of the week we saw an amazing range of plays - from the classical to the contemporary, from the comedic to the dramatic. All of them inspiring and enjoyable in different ways.
We kicked off our theatre tour at Shakespeare's Globe, with an absolutely gorgeous production of The Tempest. Now, although I know the play quite well, I had never seen The Tempest performed live. I would feel confident in saying that this was perhaps a near perfect experience of this play. Not only were we at the Globe, which is a gorgeous space - and really it's hard to find a better venue to see a Shakespeare show, but the productions itself was just lovely. Everything was presented simply, there was no need to update or embellish anything or add ridiculous gimmicks, just a clear and classic beautiful presentation of the show. And there were some really lovely performances. I particularly enjoyed the lovers. And Roger Allam, who played Prospero was just breathtaking. His control over his voice, and the crowd is just stunning to experience. You could hear a pin drop during his final speech. All in all just a wonderful way to start the week.
From Shakespeare we moved along to the Grand Dames of British Theatre. First up was Helen Mirren in The Audience, a play about the weekly audiences the queen holds with her Prime Ministers. The show was really fascinating, but I found myself really wishing I knew more about the history of British politics. I occasionally got a bit lost in trying to figure out where we were in history. Even with this lack of foreknowledge I found the play riveting. Watching Helen Mirren transform herself throughout the evening, playing the queen at many different points in her long rule, was a master class in itself and really incredible to watch. Apparently the script is constantly changing to fit current events. We saw the show quite soon after the death of Margaret Thatcher, and this had already been incorporated into the script in some really interesting ways. I would have been interested to see the play beforehand because I think the new material added some very interesting depth to the second act.
The following night was Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw in Peter and Alice a brand new play about the real life people that the characters of Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland were based on. I think out of all of the theatre we saw that week this was my favorite. It was certainly the play that stuck with me the most, that I found myself thinking about and mulling over in the coming weeks. The play itself had gotten mixed reviews, most said the performances were wonderful but the text was not terribly strong. I am not sure I would agree with that. It might not work as well without the right people in it, but the play itself was incredibly powerful. It ran straight through, without and intermission, and took the audience on a huge roller coaster of emotions during that time. I found it really powerful. And oh my goodness were the two of them amazing!! Just gut wrenchingly wonderful and heartbreaking. I loved it.
A bit later in the week we mixed things up with a production of Pinter's The Hot House. Now, I will fully admit that Pinter is not one of my favorite playwrights, and I think that this is because I haven't seen many good productions of his work. Often they are terribly overwrought and slow, and just kind of painful to sit through. Not so with this production (well ok there were some issues, but I will get to them in a minute). The play itself was fast paced, and incredibly funny as well as being intensely dark and creepy. Simon Russell Beale and John Simm, along with the rest of the cast, were just phenomenal. However my fellow audience members and I found ourselves rather distracted during the first act.
Let me set the scene for you: For this production the theatre had placed about four rows of seating on the stage itself, behind the action. Most of us who were sitting in this extra section had given some thought to the fact that we would become part of the production. We all wore muted colors and arrived prepared to be on our best theatre behavior. Then at the last second we were joined by two others. Now, I am not sure where this couple came from, but they did not seem to be your typical Harold Pinter audience. In fact I am not sure they had ever been to the theatre before in their lives. They behaved more like they were at a football game than anything else. You could smell the booze coming off of them in waves. And not only did they chat with each other throughout the first act they tried to pull the actors and the rest of the audience into their own personal experience of the show. The woman announced loudly just how famous John Simm was every time he came on stage. The two of them made out for a large part of the act, kicking those in the seats around them in the process. And just generally they were the absolute worst theatre patrons I have ever ever experienced. You could see the growing frustration in the actors and the audience members around them. At one point the poor woman sat directly in front of the two of them tried to intercede, reminding them that they were not the only ones trying to enjoy the performance and asking them to lower their voices. She found herself then being shouted at by this woman and eventually had to give up. When the lights came up at intermission I went and spoke with one of the ushers, who knew exactly what had been going on and assured me something was being done. Apparently the director had also been in the audience, and was absolutely livid! So this couple, who bolted to the bar as soon as the lights came up, were asked politely to leave the theatre. The woman immediately began a tirade about how she had two children, and that the theatre staff couldnt treat her that way. It turns out that they could, and did. And really, what does having kids have anything to do with the way you behave at the theatre?? It was an absolutely astonishing display, I have never experienced anything like it. It really is unfortunate that they didnt just kick them out earlier, as I think most of us missed a lot of the first act. However, once they were gone the experience became infinitely more enjoyable. The relief in the room was palpable once the second act got under way.
The rest of our theatre going time was much less dramatic. Margaret and I closed off the week with a new play at the National, called The Table. The production was sleek and lovely with some really lovely performances and great music. The play itself was perhaps not an enduring work - it took quite a long time to tell you just whose story this was, and was a little unfocused. But, you can really tell just how much care and time goes into the productions at the National. It is really nice to see shows, especially new works, that feel that solid and secure - and this was the show put in their temporary space.
The final show of the week was our musical choice - Merrily We Roll Along, and what a great show to end on. A really great production as well. The show itself may have some snags structurally, - as Margaret said, it is rather difficult to recover from having your 11 o'clock number 20 minutes into the show; but it still really an enjoyable ride. And wow that number was a doozy, just fantastic! I do love a Sondheim show.
Since then much has happened and I have lots of stories, which I will get to in good time. Really I think I just need to start saving them all up for my autobiography. For now all I will say is that this summer is certainly going to make an interesting chapter!
