The Story - Review

National Theatre, London

***

Written by Tracey Scott Wilson

Directed by Clint Dyer

The cast of The Story

A play about the search for truths in a world of blurred and corruptible sources, The Story sets massive issues of press accountability against a backdrop of racially charged American inner-city tension.

When a white liberal teacher is murdered in a deprived black neighbourhood of an unspecified city, the search for his killer throws up some curious revelations. This is set against power dynamics and personal petty squabbles within the newspaper industry - and as the evening unfolds, what could be a powerfully driven narrative on both journalism and deeply personal sacrifice descends increasingly into a melodramatic shouting match. With scenes jumping jarringly and the fourth wall frequently smashed, The Story feels more like an untidy collection of events rather than a coherent drama.

The story’s key protagonists - hardened publisher Pat played by Lorraine Toussaint and rookie journalist Yvonne played by Letitia Wright - are both magnificent. But notwithstanding Anna Fleischle’s impressive stage designs, this play could have been so much more.

Runs until 24th October

Photo credit: Feruza Afewerki

Punch - Review

 Apollo Theatre, London

****

Written by James Graham

Directed by Adam Penford

David Shields

First seen at the Nottingham Playhouse last year and followed by a brief run at the Young Vic, Punch arrives in the West End, examining the story of Jacob Dunne, a man who was to kill James Hodgkinson with one punch in an assault that had no murderous intent. Subsequently convicted and jailed for manslaughter, Jacob was to go on and forge a remarkably compassionate connection with James’s parents Joan and David through the little-used channel of restorative justice. James Graham has taken this real-life episode of some of the highest manifestations of the human condition and woven it into a punchy 2 1/2 hour narrative.

The play’s original cast have been maintained in a superb display of ensemble acting. Leading the show is David Shields as Jacob, onstage almost throughout the play and delivering a towering performance of Jacob’s journey. The five other members of the company assume multiple roles throughout, with standout work coming from Julie Hesmondhalgh and Tony Hirst as Joan and David. Hesmondhalgh in particular offering a masterclass in the controlled rage of grief.

The evening however is an occasion of two halves, with act one a relentlessly staccato burst of expositional scenes describing Jacob, Joan and David’s lives in the build-up to the punch and in the aftermath of the fatal blow. It is not until after the interval that the writing starts to soar in his portrayal of the dynamic between Jacob and Joan & David. In the penultimate scenes the detailed dramatic tension between the three is sensational.

Anna Fleischle's stark brutalist set is immaculately lit by Robbie Butler, contributing to a production of immensely moving theatre.

Runs until 29th November

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Nachtland - Review

Young Vic, London

*****

Written by Marius von Mayenburg

Translated by Maja Zade

Directed by Patrick Marber

Jane Horrocks

Nachtland is an intriguing, brilliantly delivered examination of post-Holocaust German identity. 

Philipp and Nicola (John Heffernan and Dorothea Myer-Bennett) are brother and sister meeting in the house of their recently deceased father to clear his belongings.

Opening with typical sibling squabbles over who had cared the most for their father in his decline, their dynamic soon shifts on the discovery of a framed picture in the attic that on close inspection, is found to be one of Adolf Hitler’s early watercolour paintings. The drama quickly evolves into an exploration of base greed, as the siblings engage Evamaria (Jane Horrocks) to verify the artwork’s provenance with a view to realising its value, contrasted with the emotional agonies of Philippa’s Jewish wife Judith (Jenna Augen), who is appalled at the siblings’ crass materiality in their exploiting an artefact of Hitler. 

Marius von Maayerburg’s genius (expertly translated by Maja Zade) lies in his crafting of brilliantly worded arguments that never once fall into maudling or simplistic explanations, but rather outline the ongoing traumatic legacy of the Holocaust and its impact upon modern Jewish identity - and counterpointing this impact with the blunt disinterested disconnection of Judith’s in-laws.

The second half of this ninety minute one-act work introduces Angus Wright as Kahl, a would-be purchaser of the painting and Nazi sympathiser, who is found to be a vile misogynist. Throw in a small turn from Gunnar Cauthery as Nicola’s husband Fabian who contracts tetanus in picking out nails from the picture’s antique frame and the evening’s sextet is complete.

The writing is brilliant, the cast is flawless and as the evening evolves, occasional pockets of humour lead to a final act that is both harrowing and shocking. Anna Fleischle’s deceptively mind-bending set is the perfect complement to Patrick Marber’s assured and deft direction.

With occasional musical interludes ranging from Bowie to Beethoven and Mahler, Nachtland is outstanding theatre.

Runs until 20th April

Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz

The Pillowman - Review

Duke of York's Theatre, London

****

Written by Martin McDonagh

Directed by Matthew Dunster

Lily Allen and Steve Pemberton

Martin McDonagh’s absurdist play is an exploration of the freedom of speech and the suppression of dissent. 

In a dystopian world where the writer Katurian (played by Lily Allen) and her brother Michal (Matthew Tennyson) have grown up in an abusive family and where Tupolski (Steve Pemberton) and Ariel (Paul Kaye), the two cops investigating a series of murders that appear to have been committed by the siblings are themselves damaged individuals, little is what it seems.

McDonagh messes with our minds as Katurian’s short stories blur in and out of reality, with much of the play’s narrative, both spoken and occasionally physically performed, proving horrifically graphic. 

Technically, the production’s staging is breathtaking. Allen is responsible for delivering a raft of mind-boggling monologues, proving magnificent in the role. Equally Pemberton, and Kaye in particular, are compelling policemen. Anna Fleischle’s designs hitched to Neil Austin’s lighting work and Dick Straker’s videos ingeniously blur our perceptions, contributing to the evening’s sense of profound disquiet and even moments of awkward humour.

McDonagh’s argument ultimately suggests that it is the authoritarian state that stifles ideas. While there is of course some credence to this, it is also important to note that in 2023 books are being burned and voices are being silenced, not by the authorities, but by the pile-on mobs of social media and self-appointed cultural apparatchiks who are determining what ideas are and are not, acceptable. Thus the question has to be posed: Is The Pillowman, a play first performed some twenty years ago, an already out of date cliché?

Not an easy night out by any means - but a striking and memorable piece of theatre.

Runs until 2nd September

Photo credit Johan Persson

Death Of A Salesman - Review

Piccadilly Theatre, London


****


Written by Arthur Miller
Directed by Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell

Wendell Pierce and Sharon D. Clarke

Death Of A Salesman is Arthur Miller’s post-war homily to the bleak brutality of the American Dream. A timeless tragedy of the dashed hopes and aspirations of husbands and wives, parents and children, all ground out through the crushingly recognisable reality of salesman Willy Loman, his wife Linda and their two adult sons Happy and Biff.

Marianne Elliott and Miranda Cromwell have framed their production that has transferred across the river from the Young Vic, within a distinctly racial context. Their Lomans are African Americans, subject to injustices from both their employers and their would-be employers, who here are all white. In this production's world, both power and employability (and, to be fair, the saintly kindness of neighbour Charlie) are with the white folk - while it is the blacks whose dreams are shattered. While this may be a noble conceit in its artistic intention, Miller’s text does not yield unquestioningly to such interpretation. Willy’s older brother Ben - whose spirit appears throughout the play- ventured into Alaska and Africa to make his fortune. But would a colonial exploiter of Africa’s diamonds really have been black? And would Miller's humble waiter Stanley really be a white man in such a world? The directors’ cultural misappropriation undermines Miller’s opus for in truth, Willy Loman is everyman.

Flown in from the USA, Wendell Pierce plays the eponymous salesman. While there is unquestionable power and consummate energy in Pierce’s Willy, his is not a tour-de-force. Miller writes that Loman is tired but for much of his time on stage Pierce’s delivery is frenetic. We know that Willy is manically depressed, but rather than allow Miller’s beautiful prose to portray his terminal decline, Pierce mangles manic with maniac, all too often garbling his words when a slower pace would inexorably bring the audience with him. Pierce’s work sits in sharp contrast with, by way of example, Sope Dirisu’s immaculately nuanced Biff, never finer than in the second act’s hotel room scene when he discovers his father’s devastating secret.

It is in Linda Loman, played here by Sharon D. Clarke, that we discover the production’s greatest strength. Clarke’s is perhaps the finest interpretation of this complex role, for decades, displaying a fierce protective love for Willy, while convincing us of her wise and weathered life. Magnificent in her matriarchy, Clarke’s Linda is desperate to be the glue within her family with a devotion to her husband that is as heartbreakingly supportive as it is deeply recognisable. Buy a ticket for this show if for no other reason than Clarke - hers is quite possibly a once in a generation turn.

Drama moves with the times and perhaps audiences have dumbed down or perhaps, more likely, Elliott and Cromwell know what pleases the modern-day crowd. But the strength of Miller’s tragedy has always lain in the razor sharp brilliance of his words. There is no need to reduce his work to a play with songs, no matter how relevant either the spiritual or american songbook numbers may appear. Equally, there are moments when Aideen Malone's staccato lighting bursts suggest a production that's more akin to The Curious Incident Of The Car Crash In The Nighttime. Credit though to Anna Fleischle’s set, an ingenious reflection of the timebends of Willy’s fractured mind.

Kenneth Tynan famously described Death Of A Salesman as “the greatest American play”. Elliott and Cromwell deliver an interpretation that demands to be seen.

Runs until 4th January 2020

Photo credit: Brinkhoff/Mogenburg

A Very Very Very Dark Matter - Review

Bridge Theatre, London


****


Written by Martin McDonagh
Directed by Matthew Dunster

Phil Daniels and Jim Broadbent

With a running time of just 90 minutes and Tom Waits as The Narrator, what’s not to like about A Very Very Very Dark Matter, the first seasonal show to be offered at London’s newest venue, the Bridge? In an alternative take on the typically seasonal, richly fruited and Victoriana-laced Christmas fairy tales, Martin McDonagh’s new play is set in Copenhagen and London, gorging itself on gothic grand-guignol and arguing a fantastic premise that both Denmark’s Hans Christian Andersen and Charles Dickens enjoyed a morbid fascination with African pygmy women.

McDonagh never misses an opportunity to let his politics get in the way of what might otherwise be a good story and so it is here, his narrative heavily laced with furrowed brow punditry upon the Congo’s complexities and exploitation. But don’t see this slightly troubled drama for its hobbled historical spiel on geo-politics. See it rather for McDonagh’s most fertile, febrile of imaginations putting on a theatrical treat that is played out by a magnificent cast.

Jim Broadbent is Andersen who, aside from a minor wig malfunction, puts in an assured turn portraying the weaver of legendary fairy tales as a racist, doddery misogynist who, in an intriguing conceit, was barely literate and whose stories were actually penned by Marjory, an African pygmy who he kept confined in a wooden box.  Broadbent’s timing and delivery is unsurpassed, but when he’s placed into a dining-table exchange with Phil Daniels’ exasperated Dickens - who has had to endure the unwelcome Dane as a house guest for five weeks - the exchanges are eye-wateringly brilliant. McDonagh captures the essence of The Two Ronnies, crossed with Derek and Clive - and in the hands of these two immaculate actors, there’s no finer double act in town.

The writer and his director Matthew Dunster offer up a sprinkling of nods towards Tarantino’s more wittier moments too, while alongside Broadbent and Daniels who both play scumbags of the highest order, there is standout work from Johnetta Eula'Mae Ackles as Marjory and a cleverly comic cameo from Elizabeth Berrington as Dickens’ much put upon wife Catherine. Anna Fleischle’s designs are as lavish as they are creepy, and for those who like their horror served bloody, the play does not disappoint.

Make no mistake, the evening’s imagery and language are the foulest, and whilst there may be a handful of talented kids in the cast, this is far from festive family fayre.

Worth catching though - much of this new writing is stunning.

Runs until 6th January 2019

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Rent - Review

St James Theatre, London


*****

Music, lyrics and book by Jonathan Larson
Directed by Bruce Guthrie

The cast of Rent

This 20th anniversary production of Rent is a heart wrenching piece of theatre that beautifully touches on the key themes of love, loss, addiction and the fear of living as HIV positive. It is engaging, touching and thought provoking.

Performed countless times across the globe, Rent can often descend into a self-indulgent performers’ showcase. Bruce Guthrie's take on the show however is heavy on integrity, with the director exploring the psyche of each character, making the performances both believable and relatable. Alongside, Lee Proud's mesmerizing choreography fits perfectly with both style and era.

Amidst a stark and rough scaffolding-based set and with the full orchestra on display, Anna Fleischle's designs create an edgy feel that is aesthetically challenging, leaving one to focus on the drama.

Mark Cohen as played by Billy Cullen is beautifully watchable, embodying his character's drive to succeed in his work but also constantly sending out the signals of his desperate need to be accepted by his friends. Ross Hunter's silky, effortless vocals as Rodger Davies are a joy. His performance engages throughout, convincing in the chemistry that sparkles between him and Philippa Stefani's Mimi. Stefani may have just transferred over from In the Heights but here she's a completely different woman, displaying a stunning depth and emotional range. Her unravelling on stage is almost elegant, depicting her character's agonising flaws as she struggles with her addiction and its dangers.

Lucie Jones' Maureen is an unconventional gem. Her cooky, charismatic and confident charm is so suited to the character that she doesn't struggle once to deliver on Maureen's obvious sexuality and allure. As always, Take Me Or Leave Me brings the house down with stunning vocals from both Jones and Shanay Holmes as Joanne. Their delivery is entirely narrative driven rather than just being the shouting match that the number can so often suggest, as they make the song an intimate and passionate breakdown of a relationship between two fiery women.

Now virtually sold out in London, the production is soon to tour and for both Rent-heads and newbies it's a treat. The entire company are outstanding - vocally, choreographically and emotionally.

Reviewed by Charlotte Darcy

Runs until 28th January 2017 - Then on tour. Tour details here

Photo credit: Johan Persson

The Exorcist - Review

Birmingham Rep


****


Written by John Pielmeier
Based on the novel by William Peter Blatty
Directed by Sean Mathias

Adam Garcia, Clare Louise Connolly and Peter Bowles

Unquestionably for over 18s and with John Pielmeier's adaptation retaining both the physical and verbal profanity of Blatty's shocking novel, the tale of 10 year-old Regan’s possession by the devil condenses well into Sean Mathias’ neatly staged two hour yarn. With Hollywood forever having been about make believe and impossible illusions - now more than ever in the age of motion captured CGI – it was always going to be a tall order translating classic horror from screen to stage. So there’s a well-earned hurrah (or should that be scream?) for this evening of hokum that's currently playing in Birmingham over the Halloween fortnight. As the audience take their seats the house lights are gradually built up to a full on brightness before plunging the auditorium into a shriek-filled darkness and we’re off.

If you know the story then it’s all familiar territory. If you don’t, there’ll be no spoilers here. Kicking off with a brief glimpse of Father Merron, the excavating exorcist, digging up a decidedly dodgy amulet somewhere in the Middle East (think Indiana Jones crossed with Lawrence of Arabia) the action shifts to a house in Washington DC’s Georgetown where our pre-teen protagonist has been discovering the delights of the Ouija Board and her apparently imaginary friend, Captain Howdy. It’s hellishly downhill from thereon.

The production could arguably have been called The Possessed, rather than The Exorcist. It's not until the second act that the titular Peter Bowles really starts earning his wage, cassock donned and holy water spurting. Prior to then the story is all about the poor possessed Clare Louise Connolly's Regan becoming increasingly demonized.

Make no mistake - Bowles gives Merron a worthy gravitas. Not easy, given that his character on stage is reduced to a little more than a paper thin caricature with acute angina. Likewise his earnest sidekick Father Karras (fine work from Adam Garcia) eases the narrative along commandingly, whilst Jenny Seagrove's Chris, Regan's despairing film-star mother does a fine job, steering her character just safe of melodrama. Nods too, for Tristram Wymark's head-turning performance as Burke, the drink-soaked film directing family friend and also for Mitch Mullen who's as dependable as ever in the modest role of Dr. Klein.

The acting honours however are all Connolly’s in a performance that is quite simply a tour-de-force. Yes - there are some clever special effects and ingenious projections (which could to be honest be a little tighter, especially that rather clunky projectile vomiting gizmo) with Anna Fleischle's design work and Ben Hart's illusions creating the story's disconcertingly hellish domestic setting. But it is the diminutive Connolly who makes the show. Whether she's either speaking or lip-syncing to Ian McKellen's vocalizing her inner demon, Connolly’s performance suspends disbelief and from a terrifying precipice at that, utterly convincing that she is a girl possessed. 

Forty years ago on screen, director William Friedkin had Linda Blair’s Regan do all sorts of cleverly horrific tricks, assisted by an FX army and days of post-production. Live on stage however it’s all about the acting and Connolly simply becomes a blond haired fiend before our very eyes. One can only hope that the UK Theatre Awards judging team have her performance in their sights. 

Neither for the squeamish nor the pretentiously highbrow, The Exorcist represents Bill Kenwright at his very best, staging wonderfully entertaining theatre. And Clare Louise Connolly's Regan is unmissable!

Runs until 5th November

Photo credit: Robert Day

Around The World In 80 Days - Review

St James Theatre, London


****

Written by Laura Eason
Based on the novel by Jules Verne
Directed by Lucy Bailey

Simon Gregor and Robert Portal

The family friendly festive fayre at the St James this season is a delightfully performed take on Jules Verne's classic novel. The stagecraft is ingenious as Verne's visionary novel is condensed over two hours and acts into a 19th century global panorama.

Virtually top-hatted throughout, Robert Portal is every inch the English gentleman, Phileas Fogg. Impeccable in both manner and manners, Portal captures everything that David Niven created on screen in the role, yet subtly updates and improves upon it for today's audience. Alongside Fogg is of course his trusted French valet Passepartout and in another of this show's inspired performances, Simon Gregor offers a masterclass in physical theatre. Gregor channels Andrew Sachs' Manuel and Burt Kwouk's Kato into his manservant, delivering a turn that is as thoughtful as it is occasionally slapstick. The kids will guffaw at his display of perfectly timed cocktail of idiocy, loyalty and occasional profundity, whilst adults will appreciate the genius of Gregor's neatly nuanced genius.

Lucy Bailey's work is always fun to watch. Her Titus Andronicus for the Globe (recently reprised after 8 years away and don’t be surprised if it's back again) was a tragi-comic treat of the most gruesome proportions, defining Bailey's knack for giving the audience what they want. Here and assisted by Anna Fleischle's ingenious designs, this clever director does it again. Amidst a carefully crafted Heath Robinson-esque set, Bailey's economically created trompes l’oeils are a delight. Carefully choreographed actors convinces us of swaying decks on steamers, whilst a funeral pyre, full size elephant and snow blown sled ride across frozen prairies are just some of the inter-continental delights she conjures up on the St James’ compact stage.

Elsewhere in the cast, Tony Gardner's Inspector Fix is everything a Victorian copper should be, whilst amongst an ensemble that assumes a multitude of roles, Tim Steed's Colonel Proctor is eminently believable.

A disappointing corner that has been cut by the producers is the use of pre-recorded music. The show carries an intelligent score, nicely global in its themes and quite piano-focused too. A live band (albeit costly) would only have enhanced the experience.

Whilst the show's magic is good fun and the fight direction is fabulous too (credit to Darren Lang, Rachel Bown-Williams and Ruth Cooper-Brown) Around The World In 80 Days is a world away from pantomime. The level of educated imagination that it (rather wholesomely) demands, suggests an audience probably best suited from Year 7 and up. 

Above all, this is good, quality theatre - cleverly conceived and wonderfully performed. Go see it.

Runs until 17th January 2016