Richard II - Review

Bridge Theatre, London

*****

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Jonathan Bailey

There is brilliance at the Bridge with Nicholas Hytner’s modern-day staging of Richard II, in an interpretation that sees the politics of the play resonate strongly with England in 2025. The corrupt ineptitude of Richard’s government echoes the bumblings of Keir Starmer and his cabinet, and when the Bishop of Carlisle prophesies domestic strife and discord across the land she could well have been speaking of this sceptre’d isle today.

Jonathan Bailey is Richard in a masterful interpretation of the flawed monarch. His cocaine-powered court may only enhance the failings of his reign, but in both his rage and his sensitivities Bailey’s interpretation of the verse is exquisite. 

Hytner has cast his production well. Notable amongst a virtually flawless company is Royce Pierreson’s Henry Bullingbrook, a classy portrayal of ruthless cunning and political steel. Similarly, and following his outstanding turn in the recent Guys and Dolls, Michael Simkins again brings magnificence to the venue with his Duke of York, fusing avuncular wisdom with an unswerving loyalty to Crown and country. The ‘domestic’ between the Duke and his Duchess (Amanda Root) over the alleged treachery of their son Amerle is a scene that could have been lifted straight out of Albert Square such is the pair's dramatic excellence. Martin Carroll stepped up on press night to deliver a perfect cover of John of Gaunt, while Olivia Popica is a treat in her take on Queen Isabel’s emotional complexities. 

Amanda Root and Michael Simkins

The show’s production values are stunning. Bob Crowley’s stylish modern day scenery silently rises and falls from the Bridge’s bowels, while Bruno Poet’s interrogative lighting designs emphasise the story’s brutality. Grant Olding’s music adds a cinematic dimension to the evening that feels entirely appropriate.

This is a stunning play that cements the Bridge’s reputation as possibly the finest Shakespearean stage on London’s South Bank. Coming out of Richard II and seeing the Tower of London just across the river only adds to the theatre's magic.

Runs until 10th May

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Guys & Dolls - Review

Bridge Theatre, London

*****

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Directed by Nicholas Hytner

Gina Beck and Michael Simkins

There can come a time in a show’s evolution when the chemistry of its casting leads to theatrical magic.

Chemistry? Yea, chemistry….

So it is with Nicholas Hytner’s Guys & Dolls that has been playing at the Bridge Theatre for the last 18 months but which now, with the latest luxurious additions to its company, sees this beautifully written show reach new heights of musical comedy alongside touchingly poignant humanity.

Playing Sarah Brown, Gina Beck is one of the new signings and she is simply sensational. Beck first displays her vocal magnificence in I’ll Know, a gorgeously crafted duet sung alongside George Ioannides’ Sky Masterson and a number that is rarely performed quite so powerfully. Beck goes on to hold that standard throughout the evening - even revealing a profound depth of tenderness in her connection with Arvide Abernathy (yet another recent star addition to the cast in the form of the always brilliant Michael Simkins) as he sings his worldly wisdom to her with More I Cannot Wish You. Ioannides is a masterful Masterson. Cooler than a Cuban Dulche De Leche it is clear to see why Sarah Brown falls for his charm – and his voice is a treat too. 

The show’s other two leads are Owain Arthur as Nathan Detroit, the hapless promoter of New York’s floating crap game and Timmika Ramsay as Miss Adelaide, his long-suffering fiancée. Arthur does a fine job, capturing Detroit’s wry and self-deprecating humour. Ramsay, with more mink than a mink and a bold, brazen, buxom sexuality to her performance is just terrific. Vocally outstanding, with a fine understanding of the frustrated complexities that make up her character, she’s a treat to watch – and in her duet with Sarah, Marry The Man Today, the essence of this show’s celebration of the frailties of the human character is delivered faultlessly by both women.

In short, this current iteration of the show’s four key roles, all replacements from the cast of 18 months ago, is quite possibly the best to have been performed in the UK this century.

Elsewhere Cameron Johnson has grown (if that was even possible) into the story’s lovable rogue Big Jule and if Jonathan Andrew Hume’s multiple encores for his Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat may seem just a tad contrived, the infectious delight that Hume brings to the song is worth every repeated chorus.

Staged immersively, with platforms that rise and fall amidst the promenading audience, Bunny Christie’s design remains a sumptuous take on the Big Apple – while perched aloft, Tom Brady’s band is equally outstanding.

With the Bridge having announced that the show will close in early 2025, it is unlikely that a production of Guys & Dolls of this imaginative genius will grace a UK stage for some time. Until then, do not wait, until then, get along… 

If you’ve never seen the show before then Hytner’s production, graced by Arlene Phillips’ choreography is a must-see – and if you’ve already seen this South Bank spectacular, go again! 

Runs until 4th January 2025

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

The Unfriend - Review

Minerva Theatre, Chichester

***

Written by Steven Moffat

Directed by Mark Gatiss

Frances Barber

The Unfriend takes a zany idea that’s been based upon a germ of lived experience and blows it up into a two-hour farce. Along the way there is some outstanding performance work, but the story fails to engage.

Peter and Debbie meet Elsa on a cruise. They are a typically mild-mannered English suburban couple, she is a larger than life American widow from Denver with a monstrous past. In a programme note Steven Moffat describes the tale that he has penned as “comedy gold”. Well maybe there are some nuggets lurking in the text, but there is a fair amount of tedium to endure too.

Reece Shearsmith and Amanda Abbington play the hapless Brits, the straight guys around whom the comedy happens. But there is a skill in creating understated English characters who work well in comedy, that Moffat doesn’t possess. Peter and Debbie are no Ben and Ria from Carla Lane’s 1970s TV series Butterflies and given that Moffat is currently a prolific UK TV screenwriter, the narrative he has created here is an example of quite how far the standards of British comedy writing have fallen. Some of the toilet gags in the second half are just downright puerile.

What is magnificent about this play however is Frances Barber’s Elsa. Her character is a female version of Zero Mostel’s Max Bialystock fused with Jack Nicholson’s Daryl Van Horne. Barber bestrides her scenes like a Colossus, devious, larger than life and irresistibly evil. Alongside Barber, Michael Simkins in the most modest of cameos is another perfectly crafted comic creation, years of experience manifest in his perfectly timed delivery.

Mark Gatiss helms the piece. Directing farce is the toughest of gigs and is clearly a craft that (the otherwise highly accomplished) Gatiss has yet to master. Robert Jones and Mark Henderson, Chichester’s current wonder duo of design and lighting, make the Minerva’s presentation of this drama look stunning. 

And as for Frances Barber's performance, kill to get a ticket!

Runs until 9th July

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Oh What A Lovely War

Theatre Royal Stratford East, London

****

Joan Littlewood's Musical Entertainment by Theatre Workshop, Charles Chilton,
Gerry Raffles and Members of the Original Cast

Directed by Terry Johnson

Ian Bartholomew

Fifty years after the outbreak of the First World War Joan Littlewood’s Theatre Workshop commemorated the conflict with Oh What A Lovely War at London’s Theatre Royal Stratford East. Today, in the War’s centenary year, the same theatre re-stages the show. 

The musical opens frivolously, as an end of the pier Vaudeville extravaganza, with carnival lights, fancy drapes and a company of pierrots inviting the audience to join them in war games that condense the four year war into one evening. But by the interval the injuries and carnage are mounting and as the curtain rises on act two, the glamorous red drape that previously adorned the centre stage-back is now collapsed and crumpled, suggesting at turns the mud of the trenches or the blood of the fallen.

What makes Littlewood’s work all the more inspiring is that the musical numbers are all songs of the period, often composed with gallows wit by troops in the trenches. From the filthy irreverence of Christmas Day In The Cookhouse, through to the noble, heart-breaking dignity of And When They Ask Us, the poignancy of the songs lands like a whizz-bang. Hearing them a hundred years on, we know that they were once sung by men whose destiny was quite likely to be killed in battle. 

Terry Johnson’s visions are as beautiful as they are haunting. Trenches, ballrooms and Speakers’ Corner are all staged via simple scenery and classy acting. No stage-blood in this show, rather the horrifying mimes of bullets hitting men and gas being inhaled, as an electronic screen updates us with specific details of horrific casualty numbers. A cast of twelve play the many roles, with veterans Caroline Quentin, Shaun Prendergast, Ian Bartholomew and Michael Simkins sharing the most prominent characters. Quentin’s bosomy recruiting-showgirl turn, I’ll Make A Man Of You is a treat worthy of archiving, whilst the men’s interchangeability from pierrot, to soldier, to officer is seamless. Bartholomew’s General Haig is a clever caricature that avoids cliché.

There is something aesthetically pleasing about a show that honours the bravery of the humble foot soldier returning to its origins in E15 and to a theatre so rooted in London’s East End, the traditional heartland of the capital’s working man. That authenticity extends into the orchestra pit where Mike Dixon’s five piece band reject all digital instruments in pursuit of an entirely acoustic sound. Dixon plays a real piano rather than the eponymous keyboards, whilst Graham Justin’s brass playing sets a perfect tone.

In a moment of life imitating art, shortly before the show’s opening, Education Secretary Michael Gove slated it (together with the BBC comedy Blackadder's episodes set in WW1) for mocking history. As many of the First World War’s generals were buffoons, so too is Gove. The Great War with its two most notable technological advancements of the machine gun and poison gas gave rise to slaughter on an apocalyptic level. Most famously at the Somme and Ypres, Haig despatched nigh-on millions of British troops to certain death for what was to prove negligible strategic gain. Oh What A Lovely War does not mock war, far from it. Nations and armies deserve strong intelligent leadership, that for too much of the First World War, was lacking. Gove’s recent pronouncements only show his failure to have appreciated the show's message and remind us how easily history can repeat itself.

Alongside Picasso’s La Guernica and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Oh What A Lovely War is a work of art that brings the horrors of war into our collective conscience. Johnson and his company have honoured both The Glorious Dead and the vision of Joan Littlewood. Their show is moving, compelling and the finest history lesson in town.

Runs until 15th March 2014