The House of Mirrors and Hearts - Review

Arcola Theatre, London


***


By Eamonn O'Dwyer and Robert Gilbert
Directed by Ryan McBryde

Gillian Kirkpatrick

'Pain can blind us, twist us, change us – sometimes for better, sometimes for worse'; writes Eamonn O'Dwyer in the programme notes of his new musical playing at the Arcola Theatre. House of Mirrors and Hearts is an ambitious piece, looking to investigate the oppressive nature of grief associated with loss and its destructive impact on a family unit. It is a chamber musical of intense intimacy, but often shuts the audience out more than it draws us in. It's a shame, as the space feels perfect for the subject matter and yet it is somewhat undermined by some unsympathetic characters and predictable narrative clichés.

House of Mirrors and Hearts tells the story of a fractured household. Anna and her two daughters, Laura and Lily, are left reeling after a tragedy throws their previously blissful life into turmoil. For seven years they desperately try to cling to normality, with a veritable powder keg of secrets lying beneath a fragile surface. The uneasy tension of the house is threatened by the entrance of a young intellectual lodger in the form of Nathan and the inevitability of confrontation becomes apparent as the delicate existence of the family becomes increasingly unbearable. The narrative is jagged and harsh, full of fiercely barbed exchanges and frustrated menace.

With the exception of a curious finale in which unexplained mysticism and telegraphed 'twists' rear their rather unwelcome heads, the second act picks up immensely. Director Ryan McBryde is given license to let the piece breathe, as the heavy oppression of grief is counter balanced with the discovery of love. This blossoming romance allows Grace Rowe's Laura to explore a more mature sense of identity and Jamie Muscato's Nathan to act as more than a plot device, designed to grease the wheels of the family's existential meltdown. Their cathartic bottle smashing scene is beautifully played and resoundingly resonant.

Muscato's performance throughout is impressively nuanced. His ascent to the poetic headiness of first love is utterly believable and he ensures every second of his stage time is detailed and truthful. Molly McGuire is also a highlight as the attention-seeking Lily, providing a pulsating sound with her rich voice and showing a comforting command of the stage. Her number 'Look At Me' is both unsettling and exciting, as she prowls around the stage with equal parts power and vulnerability. Gillian Kirkpatrick, as the alcoholic family matriarch, sings effortlessly and willingly provides some of the more vocally acrobatic elements of the score. Whilst I enjoyed her embittered take on the self destructive Anna, I felt it was a little too unfocused to be as effective as it could be. Her wild, gesticulative wine-sloshing was often more distracting than it was engaging.

Eamonn O'Dwyer's score has both a contemporary flair and a more traditional haunting edge, effectively blending the horror of the past with the hope for a more positive tomorrow. The songs, whilst not always tuneful, succeed in their own way; most notably during the occasions where Nathan and Laura bond through musical recitations of Alexander Thornton Grays' verse. There are some playfullly original lyrics dotted throughout the score as well, particularly in Anne's witty ode to the bottle, Something For the Pain.

After a slow first half and a group of characters that seem difficult to warm to, House of Mirrors and Hearts discovers its voice in an enjoyable second act. Relationships are allowed to develop and its message of healing through confrontation becomes apparent. It can be a challenging watch at times and with subject matter exploring the depths of human dysfunction following tragedy, this is hardly surprising. However, with some choice performances, an impressive modern score and a chance to celebrate new British writing, House of Mirrors and Hearts is worth your time. 

Runs until 1st August 2015

Guest reviewer: Will Clarkson

It's a Wonderful Life - A Radio Play - Review

Bridge House Theatre, London

*****

Written by Tony Palermo

Directed by Guy Retallack

The company of It's a Wonderful Life - A Radio Play

‘Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings’…

To take a much loved iconic movie and condense the magic of its story onto the immediate intimacy of the stage is one of the hardest dramatic challenges. Yet with the Bridge House Theatre's It's A Wonderful Life, writer Tony Palermo under Guy Retallack's assured direction achieves just that.

A latter day fable from the '40s, Palermo reduces the classic yarn to a radio play with a company of just six playing all the roles. In the small town of Bedford Falls, George Bailey is despairing of his life and about to end it all. Meanwhile in heaven angel Clarence, who has still not earned his celestial wings after 200 years of trying, is despatched to Earth on a mission to rescue George from his despondency. An emotional roller-coaster with both cast-members and audience in tears at times, without spoiling too much it's safe to say that there is an uplifting climax of redemption and the happiest of endings.

Opening the show Daniel Hill chats with the audience as himself and radio host as we wait for Radio IBC to go live ‘On Air’, before transforming into the story’s bad guy Mr Potter. Gerard McCarthy makes for a stupendous George, lifted convincingly from the depths of despair, whilst alongside him, Kenneth Jay's Clarence captures an almost cherubic desparation as he strives to make his mission a success. Sophie Scott is charming and commanding as George's wife Mary, whilst the wonderful and ever-versatile Gillian Kirkpatrick resplendent in red, is resourceful and imposing in a range of roles and accents. This is truly a special piece of theatre with Retallack lavishing an attention to detail, from sound effects and lighting to accents, props and musical underscore, all delivered by a company at the top of their game.

It is impossible not to be moved by this modern morality tale of decency triumphing over nastiness and the show's powerful message of how we all affects other people’s lives in ways we will never be aware of and cannot imagine. George Bailey represents everyman and woman and he touches us all for the better. It’s A Wonderful Life truly puts everyone young and old, in the Christmas spirit.

Runs until 4th January 2015

Guest reviewer Catherine Francoise

American Psycho

Almeida Theatre, London

*****

Book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa

Music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik

Based on the novel by Brett Easton Ellis

Directed by Rupert Goold

Matt Smith

Trading sonic screwdriver for shotgun, Matt Smith sheds his Dr Who persona to emerge as Patrick Bateman the damaged anti-hero of American Psycho. A bestselling and sometimes darkly comic comment upon the vacuity of the 1980's, Brett Easton Ellis’ novel was famously realised as a 2000 movie starring Christian Bale. Since then a musical version has been talked of, but it has taken until now for Rupert Goold to helm the first ever translation of an Ellis novel from page to stage.

A young and talented investment banker, Bateman is devoted to style and success, finding failure nauseating. His psyche however is complex and being surrounded by chatteringly beautiful Vogue-devoted peers, (the women in particular have a clever early ensemble number You Are What You Wear) whose pursuit of fashion or the next major deal leaves him cold, only deepens his frustrations as his actions become increasingly barbaric.

Smith represents perhaps the most inspired casting of recent years. Where the eponymous Doctor is at best semi-detached from society, Bateman’s mind is truly a world apart from his surroundings and when it comes to detachment, nobody does it better than Smith. His antic disposition early on sets him apart from his banker buddies and as his reason ebbs away, Smith perfectly captures Bateman's mental decline, never once losing focus nor resorting to cliche. His signature number Clean is a clinically chilling performance from an actor not usually associated with melody.

The company work is classy and consistent. Susannah Fielding is Evelyn, Bateman's fiancée, more focused on the carat count of her engagement ring than the slowly crumbling cognisance of her betrothed. Goold has given her a persona more often associated with a Roy Lichtenstein pop art painting. Fielding's characterisation is one of the most fleshed out depictions of a shallow two dimensional woman to be found. Cassandra Compton’s Jean, whose love for Bateman touches the very heart of the beast, has us fearing for her safety whilst gasping at her performance as during her assured solo of A Girl Before, Bateman seductively undresses her, all the time his nail gun close at hand. Amongst the men Hugh Skinner’s closeted gay Luis who mistakes a murderous grip from the homophobic Bateman as a sign of affection, delivers a recurring vulnerability that is never offered cheaply. Seasoned trouper Gillian Kirkpatrick, playing Bateman’s mother, suggests just a whiff of Hitchcock’s Mrs Bates as we seek to comprehend the complex motivation of her son.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa’s book takes a scalpel to Ellis' original, fashioning a carefully crafted arc that is original yet also true to source. Aguirre-Sacasa's background is in comic book creativity (his is the Vegas-bound Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark) and his eye for the graphic makes for a seamless interpretation. With music and lyrics by Spring Awakening's Duncan Sheik, the 1980’s pedigree of the show is assured. Sheik's songs are consistently concise and on point. No trite lyrics here, Bateman himself would be proud.

Es Devlin uses the compact Almeida space effectively, enhancing the minimalist set with two inspired revolves on stage left and right that stylishly shift the action from Manhattan’s high society to a Hamptons beachfront with Finn Ross’ video projections completing the illusions. The story’s violence, mostly suggested and only once depicted with extreme gore, is tastefully portrayed with Lynne Page’s choreography brilliantly depicting the (blood-free) shotgun blastings of a deranged nightclub massacre.

Whilst the story may not be timeless, some thirty years on and amidst London’s multi-million pound properties, chic eateries and an ever widening gulf between rich and poor, much of the ethos that Ellis despised lives on today. But much as Bateman takes an axe to his victims, so too will this show split critics and opinions. Not for children, nor the easily offended, American Psycho is shocking and uncomfortable theatre. Brutally inspired, brilliantly realised and stunningly performed.

Ticket details:

In one of those episodes of life imitating art, with the run already sold out and until this show transfers to the West End (which it surely must), you are more likely to score a table at New York’s fictional Dorsia restaurant than at the Almeida.

Day tickets are available until the show closes February 1, details below. Queue early and wrap up warm.

http://www.almeida.co.uk/your-visit/booking-information/american-psycho-tickets/

Chess - Review

Union Theatre, London

***

Music by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Co directed by Christopher Howell and Steven Harris

Sarah Galbraith

The Union Theatre production of  Chess marks a welcome return to London for this 1980s hallmarked show,  dreamed up and written by Tim Rice (who endorses this revival) with musical life breathed into it by the ABBA men, Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus.  Set against a frosty Cold War backdrop, the politics of the piece now seem as dated as the 1956 Hungarian collapse was to the show's creators, yet as well as proving to be a complicated history lesson with a plot line that holds more twists than a Le Carre novel, Chess was always an exciting piece of theatre with some hauntingly passionate melodies.

 

If all had gone to plan for this show  it would be garnering five stars, simply because when it's good, it's bloody brilliant. The ensemble voice work in particular is inspiring and beautifully co-ordinated. When the evening is not at its five star best though, it smacks of mediocrity. Craig Rhys Barlow's Arbiter could act but barely sustain a note, whilst Nadim Naaman as the Soviet champion Anatoly Sergievsky, disappointed too. Granted, his is a tough role to play requiring a combination of majestic presence and cold Russian inscrutability, but Naaman fails to get the mix right. Anthem, arguably one of the best act one closers ever, should leave one rushing for the bar desperate for a drink to calm the nerves that ought to have been reduced to quivers of emotion. Not so in this version, but with a month or so left on the run it should still be possible for the actor to step up through the gears in this song, as its a number that demands to be one of the musical’s high spots.  As the American player Frederick Trumper, Tim Oxbrow also has a torrid first half. Notwithstanding his electric acting, his voice initially just doesn’t match the role. To Oxbrow’s credit he redeems himself after the break, warming up with a fun One Night In Bangkok and giving a truly blistering rendition of Pity The Child.

So, what was outstanding about this show? Two words - Sarah Galbraith. This talented Jersey Girl has settled in London and our gain is the Garden State's loss. As Florence Vassy, a Hungarian child émigré from 1956, her character is complex and through the course of the show she is destined to love both of the opposing chess masters. Galbraith never falters, going on to perfectly capture the emotional fragility of her character’s torment in the final act at the uncertainty that surrounds the fate of her father. The actress' poise is perfect and her voice has the most measured yet proportionate strength to be found off West End. The cast are not mic’d for this show, yet Galbraith’s power combined with her impeccable diction (is she really an American?) seemed to have an amplification of her own.  Her Heaven Help My Heart was magnificent whilst her Nobody’s Side bore an exquisite delicacy. Natasha J Barnes who plays Svetlana Sergievskaya, Anatoly’s betrayed wife, is also blessed with a wonderful tone, most notable in Someone Else’s Story, but in what was actually a beautifully sung duet with Galbraith, the signature melody I Know Him So Well, the American actress’ vocal perfection and power proved almost unfair competition for the Briton and it is Galbraith’s reclamation of Anthem at the show’s conclusion that restores that number’s power and ensures one leaves the theatre with spine still re-assuringly tingling.

Gillian Kirkpatrick is Alexandra Molokova, a nasty KGB stooge that interestingly is usually a man's role. Kirkpatrick’s performance was a masterclass in playing a key supporting character that draws from her recent terrific Beggarwoman in the Chichester Festival Sweeney Todd. Her manipulative malevolence never falters throughout, rising superbly to have the audience in the palm of her hand for her big number, The Soviet Machine. Also consistently excellent is Natalie McQueen’s preening US TV presenter Angela St Angelo, with accent, poise and gleaming teeth perfectly honed for the part. Neil Stewart’s Walter de Courcey, Molokova’s opposite number from the USA is another fine example of a supporting role wonderfully delivered, whilst the brief tap dancing comic interlude of Wayne Rogers and Katie Bradley provides a witty take on the stereotyped British civil servant.

Ben Roger’s lighting, notwithstanding its clever ( if rather noisy) technology could have been better plotted. During act one’s Merano, Natalie McQueen is given to singing some solo lines, centre stage, in virtual darkness and this requires urgent attention.  Sioned Jones does some sterling work with the company’s accents and Simon Lambert directs his 8 piece band with panache, effectively bringing out the richness of the music from a score that was written for a much larger orchestra. Some of the melodies, in particular Chess Game #1, have an ethereal quality that Lambert cleverly extracts from the Swedes’ compositions.

Sasha Regan has produced an entertaining and at times thrilling night out. Whilst any show can be no more than the sum of its components, this production’s strengths dazzle and do outweigh its flaws. See it, to understand the flavour of an era past and the excellence of some wonderful performances and some fabulous tunes.

Runs to March 16th