The Merchant of Venice 1936 - The Oldest Hatred Is Back

Tracy-Ann Oberman and the cast of The Merchant of Venice 1936

Theatregoers have long been used to bag-checks as they arrive for a show. What they will be less familiar with are uniformed security guards, there to protect the show’s cast, crew and audience and who have now become a routine feature of performances of Tracy-Ann Oberman’s Merchant of Venice 1936.

When the production opened in February this year at Watford’s Palace Theatre there was no overt security presence, with Oberman winning critical plaudits both for her tackling of Shakespeare’s study on antisemitism as well as her re-interpretation and re-gendering of Shylock. Rather than sixteenth century Venice, this take on the play is set in 1930s London against the attempted rise of British fascism and the Battle of Cable Street. Oberman describes The Merchant Of Venice 1936, with its focus on a female Shylock and the East End of London’s response to Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists, as “the project of her life”.

But in the midst of a (long pre-planned) tour, the context of this production was radically shifted. Barely 7 months after the Watford press night, on October 7th, the terrorist organization Hamas launched an attack on Israel that in one day saw 1,200 people murdered, countless others raped and brutalised, and more than 200 hostages taken captive into Gaza. While the victims of that infamous day came from a range of countries, the vast majority of them were Jewish Israeli citizens, with the antisemitism that motivated the attack being the most horrendous assault on Jews since the Nazi Holocaust of the 1930s and 40s.

What gives an even more shocking angle to Oberman’s Merchant of Venice is that within days of the October 7th attack, some of Britain’s streets were filled with supporters of Hamas celebrating the terrorists’ horrific deeds. Those celebrations continue to this day, with London and other cities around the world now seeing weekly marches calling for the destruction of the State of Israel, “from the river to the sea”.

It is this outpouring of vile antisemitic rage that offers such a grotesquely chilling parallel to the London of 1936 as presented in Oberman’s interpretation of the play. And sadly it is the risk presented by those potentially violent antisemites that now demands the presence of uniformed security guards as part of the show’s travelling entourage. 

The play itself has matured on the road. Speaking with Oberman as the London run at Wilton’s Music Hall (a venue poignantly situated just off Cable Street) ended and with the show about to head up to York, she commented on the play’s impact following the Hamas attacks and the ensuing torrent of antisemitic hatred onto the streets:

“I’m overwhelmed by how powerful people are finding this production, particularly with a huge rise of antisemitism in the United Kingdom And globally, I think people are aware that during times of unrest the Jewish community is often the first group to be targeted. As we know what starts with the Jews never ends with the Jews”

Edmund Burke famously said that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. In 1936 as London’s antisemites wearing the red and black armbands of the fascist movement and accompanied by the Metropolitan Police attempted to march through the very heart of London’s Jewish community, it was the actions of thousands of Burke’s “good men”, decent Londoners from all communities who stood side by side with the capital’s Jews in the Battle of Cable Street to defeat the evil. Today, rather than armbands, the antisemites are wearing the green and black headbands of Hamas and as they march down Park Lane and onwards, streaming across the Thames, they are terrifyingly cheered on by thousands.

That Oberman’s Merchant of Venice continues to play to packed houses across the country reminds us of England’s underlying decency. Let us pray that that decency can triumph.

With Tracy-Ann Oberman at Wilton's Music Hall

The Merchant of Venice 1936 is on tour playing in York, Chichester and Manchester. In the new year it returns to the RSC in Stratford on Avon. To book tickets, click here

Ten Plagues

Wilton's Music Hall, London

****

Libretto by Mark Ravenhill

Music by Conor Mitchell

Directed by Hester Chillingworth

Marc Almond’s performance of Ten Plagues is one of the most distinctive pieces of theatre in recent years and at last arrives in London having garnered a Fringe First in Edinburgh in 2011. Written specifically for the singer by Mark Ravenhill, after Almond had shown an interest in the author’s earlier work and with a challenging piano score both written by and performed on the night by Conor Mitchell, it draws its title from the perspective of the biblical Israelites who survived the plagues wrought upon the Egyptians and projects that take on survival forward in time to 1665 when the Black Death (The Great Plague) devastated London.  Almond’s solo performance is of a seventeenth century Londoner living through the plague and surviving it, though Ravenhill then fast forwards our viewpoint through the years again, to draw parallels with the 20th century emergence of AIDS (The Gay “Plague” as it was homophobically labelled in sections of the media) and the impact of living through the onslaught of that modern disease.

Whilst he may be a wigged and costumed commentator, Almond is no charming, kindly Samuel Pepys. Ravenhill’s staccato language and Mitchell’s cleverly crafted music make for very uneasy listening. Whilst the performance is unquestionably to be admired and respected, it is not an enjoyable night out, nor is it intended to be. Spread across 17 songs, it traces the arc of the Plague’s growth and the emotional horror and fear evoked, both in Londoner’s being shunned by other healthy Britons as well as the suggested visual and visceral image of cartloads of bodies being dumped into the lime pit. Simply staged and costumed, clever video projections suggest a timelessness to the shunning of the infected, whilst the decayed (albeit undergoing a marvellous programme of restoration) Grand Music Hall at Wiltons provides an authentically atmosphere of “quasi-dereliction” that echoes the majestic London coming so close to succumbing completely to the apocalyptic virus.

Almond’s performance is a revelation. Having battled back from a horrific motor cycle accident some nine years ago, he brings to the verse not only that seductively sardonic and provocative lilt that those of us old enough to remember the 80’s know so well, but also the wise and weathered inflection that reflect his 55 years. Fans of the singer will not be disappointed at how he throws himself into the songs, sustaining some notes that seem to go on forever. At the curtain call he was demonstrably exhausted and spent having given of himself completely to his art.

Only lasting an hour, this is a must see if you enjoy the work of either writer or singer, or believe in the philosophy of theatre being a fulcrum of debate and challenge. The house was packed on press night, and the standing ovation that Almond received was proof above all that the adoration and love in which he is held, is far from tainted.

Until 18 May 2013

The Great Gatsby

Wilton's Music Hall , London

****

Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Adapted for the stage and directed by Peter Joucla

Eleanor Howell and Kyle Redmond-Jones

The Great Gatsby returns to Wilton’s Music Hall, marking the hall’s recently completed restoration with a revival of the 2012 production, last staged just before the venue closed for repair. Whilst the  impressive auditorium has been mended and plastered, Wilton's remains a work in progress and this underlying sense of chic dilapidation adds a curious sense of credibility to the decaying world in which F. Scott Fitzgerald set his adulterous tale of repressed love in 1920s  New York state.

The staging is simple but inspired. Minimal use of props and effective lighting denote the locations that shift from Tom and Daisy Buchanan’s mansion, to Gatsby’s palatial home across the bay, to the Wilson’s grubby garage. In an inspired move, the parties at Gatsby’s home, attended in the novel by hoardes of vacuous freeloaders, are represented at Wilton’s by the house lights coming up and the cast walking amongst the rows of seats, suggesting that the audience of several hundred are Gatsby’s nameless guests. Music and vocals, either background or period songs are, with the exception of an occasional harmonica, all un-mic’d a-cappella. The cast are vocally excellent, providing an effective occasional musical backcloth that impressively includes even a snatch of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Lead chaacters drop in and out of the ensemble as needed, donning owl-like black rimmed specs, a neat nod to the novel’s description of oculist Dr Eckleburg’s advertising hoarding spectacles, when assuming singing responsibilitites

The cast are grand throughout. As Gatsby, Kyle Redmond-Jones maintains the affected air of the mysterious millionaire perfectly. Looking like a refined Matt Damon, he surveys the crowds at his parties with appropriate aloofness whilst his “old sport” mannerisms are delivered with such clipped yet gentle precision that it easy to understand how Eleanor Howell’s fragile Daisy could be in love with the enigmatic recluse, especially when he is compared to her boorish philandering husband Tom. Howell portrays Daisy’s misery with profound perception and when she speaks of knowing, even on her wedding day, that her marriage to Tom was a loveless void, the sadness is excruciating. Christopher Brandon plays Tom skilfully, without hamming up the bad-guy role, getting the tone of his character’s contemptible racist hypocrisy, just right.

Nick Chambers and Vicki Campbell are respectively Nick, the novel’s narrator and Jordan, Daisy’s long time friend. The role of Nick is particularly challenging, effectively being the lens through which these unhappy vignettes are played out. Chambers though does a good job, adding just enough colour to the part to earn his character some modest sympathy. Campbell is a talented actress who fleshes out her supporting role with a harsh perspective on reality.

The use of the auditorium is clever with action spilling into both gallery and stalls, although a pivotal moment of the storyline, in which an imprisoned Myrtle Wilson spies Tom driving Gatsby's car, is blurred over in the dramatic action of this piece. As is often the case with seeing The Great Gatsby on stage, a familiarity with the story whilst not essential, is encouraged.

Peter Joucla’s direction impresses and the Charleston era is reinforced by Zahra Mansouri’s intelligent costume design that elegantly depict flappers and mobsters whilst avoiding overstatement. This site-specific production is well crafted with a pre-show that kicks off an hour before curtain up in Wilton’s speakeasy bar skilfully setting both time and mood. With period dress encouraged to be worn by the audience, an early arrival is recommended for a show that is yet another example of London’s off-West End excellence.


Runs to 23 March 2013

The Horror! The Horror! - Review

Wilton's Music Hall, London

****

Book by Stewart Pringle & Tom Richards
Music & lyrics by Jeffery Mayhew
Directed by Tom Richards 




Tom Richards throttles Alicia Bennett in The Horror! The Horror!

The Horror! The Horror! is a delightful, Victorian styled Grand Guignol piece from Theatre of the Damned. A site specific work that commences with a pre-show in the Wilton's bar reminiscent of Oom-Pah-Pah from Lionel Bart’s Oliver, before leading the audience off to explore the more obscure parts of this wonderful old building whilst the main hall undergoes renovation.

Tom Richards, who also directs, is the gloriously whiskered (shameless link to my Movember fundraising page) Alfred Brownlow, the Chairman of the evening, who complete with gavel, announces each vignette with Music Hall showmanship. Over the course of the evening, the audience are escorted by established dwarf actor Ben Goffe, whose miniscule stature and comic delivery lends lends a freakish chill to proceedings, through Wilton’s crumbling corridors to four sometimes saucy but never smutty presentations that each has a grisly end, the details of which will not be spoiled here.

The acting of each playlet is typically excellent. The evening commences with Alicia Bennett and Kate Quinn singing a charming ditty about the preservation of a young lady’s honour, quickly followed by some clever puppetry. Both women are a delight to watch and listen to, their beautifully rehearsed performances evidence of the high production values that Theatre of the Damned strive for.

The second piece concerns an escapologist and his two young assistants who plan to elope, abandoning the old magician. Tim Barton as the ageing illusionist needs to be a tad sharper with his lines – even a minor stumble in a piece such as this can pierce the suspension of disbelief that the company are trying to elicit from the audience.

The penultimate presentation features Jonathan Kemp as a comic, face caked in white, evoking both John Osborne’s Archie Rice and Trevor Griffiths’ Gethin Pryce as at manic speed his patter lurches from mother-in-law gags to murderous confessions. His soliloquies are breathtaking and his performance stunning, intensified by the claustrophobic cell-like room in which he is encountered.

Kate Quinn, Ben Goffe and Alicia Bennett

It would not be fair to comment on the gory, shocking final scene, other than to say that it includes the entire cast rounding the evening off with a witty farewell song.

Together with Stewart Pringle, Richards has made for a fun night of imaginative theatre. The performances are generally outstanding and the imagination and magic that has gone into some of the effects is very entertaining. Some of the show's horror can be a little average with prosthetic face masks echoing kids' “trick or treat” capers rather than professional actors. Similarly some of the stories go on a touch too long and some of the sightlines in the rooms can be obstructed by tall audience members. But those criticisms should be set in the context of an imaginative company presenting cleverly crafted traditional theatre for a modern audience. If there are “date” movies, then this is “date" theatre. Take your girlfriend or your boyfriend – there will be enough shocks to make them cuddle up very close to you as these gruesome tales unwind.

Runs to November 7