Late September we have:
Oh the Humanity at the Soho Theatre: a wonderful cocktail of short plays brought to life expertly by some truly exceptional performances.
Rachel Sermanni at Bush Hall: she was so good I bought her album (which continues to delight) and I got the added bonus of discovering a fabulous new (to me) venue
In October the theatre train kept rolling:
A double bill of Ding Dong the Wicked and Love & Information at the Royal Court, both by Caryl Churchill who is a playwright I hugely admire. Lots of short pieces, some funny, some shocking, some sad but all reflecting the lives we (the broad mass of humanity) are living today.
Chavs at the Lyric Hammersmith - the theme of short plays continues here. Fabulous collection of short works inspired by "Chavs, the Demonization of the Working Class" by Owen Jones. Loved them, really true to the spirit of their source of inspiration, resulting in powerful and enjoyable political theatre.
Josephine Hart poetry week at the Arts Theatre - I sadly couldn't do every night but I did make it along for the Philip Larkin evening. I remembered loving his work back in my school days and hearing them read by such a talented group of actors was uplifting. Hopefully next year I can further expand my repertoire.
Timon of Athens at the National Theatre - what a great production! By the interval I was questioning why this is such a rarely performed piece by Shakespeare. The answer was clear by the end, as the play does lose its power in the 2nd half. Saying that, this is more to do with faults with the source work and not in the production or performances, which were of an exceptional standard throughout.
Hello November, I'm almost up to date
The Divine Comedy at the Royal Festival Hall. It was Neil Hannon's 42nd birthday and a great time was had by all. The evening included party hats, party blowers (oh the noise), a cake, a giant no 42, lots of big present shaped boxes, a hidden string quartet, the whole of Promenade from start to finish and guest appearances by the fabulous Tom Chaplin and Alison Moyet. As per usual Mr Hannon completely over delivered and I left the event feeling exhilarated. Bloody awesome.
A double bill of Chewing Gum Dreams and Chapel Street at the Bush Theatre as part of RADAR 2012, their new writers festival. Both were strong pieces. The stand out for me was Chewing Gum Dreams, a solo performance that really got under my skin. A very truthful and affecting work of theatre. Chapel Street was definitely an interesting piece, some really clever ideas in there but there was something a little distracting about it, which stopped it being as powerful a piece as it could have been.
The Magistrate at the Olivier (National Theatre). Both the set and costume designers deserve accolades for their work on the Magistrate, as from the first you are struck by the visual impact of the production. In terms of the overall piece I understand that the critics haven't been overly rapturous about it, which I don't believe is fair. It is a really strong production of very lighthearted and frivolous farce. I'd give this a firm 3.5/5 stars if I was into that sort of thing. A fun, enjoyable and visually stunning confection. Plus it has the added benefit of still being on (ok so I'm rubbish at timely reviewing)
The Story Book Project 4 at Theatre 503. Collection of 10 short 10 minute plays by up & coming playwrights. The quality of the collection was exceptional (to quote my mum). Both the writing and acting talent on display makes me excited about the future of theatre (now if only our government could get with the program and stop cutting funding to the Arts, I could get really excited)
Berenice at the Donmar Warehouse. Anne Marie Duff is a consistently wonderful actress and as Berenice she was magnificent. For Racine, this was a virtually perky story (SPOILER ALERT: no-one dies! But they do all agree to live in the misery & loneliness of lost love). Overall a strong production but I did feel that both Titus and Antiochus could have had more emotional clout, in places it felt like the actors were tripping over the language. Racine can be a tad unwieldy.
Well that brings us almost up to date but the final review will wait until tomorrow. This is because I promised my friend Mark I would write it and if I don't do it justice I'll never hear the end of it (Mark you know it's true). So tomorrow evening you can look forward to my review of Cabaret. This is not for the current West End production featuring the ever gracious Will Young but the City of London school production. An ambitious piece to pick for a school play but, not to give too much away, they rose to the challenge.
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