All entries for March 2008

A break

I'm having a longer-than-usual break from the theatre at the moment, well-earned after the Histories and War and Peace!

I'm still working hard though. My PhD begins in the autumn, working on Shakespeare's Apocrypha leading towards a new edition of the apocryphal plays due out in 2011-ish, so I'm spending a lot of time reading the disputed plays: Sir Thomas More, Edward III, Arden of Faversham, The Yorkshire Tragedy et al. More in particular is one of my favourite "Shakespeare" plays, so looking forward to doing some proper work on it.

As well as reading, I'm also writing, and with a bit of luck and a following wind a couple of my reviews might appear elsewhere this year - I've had some interest from a couple of places, will of course link from here to anything that gets published!

Finally, I might also be playing around a little bit with the look of this blog. Nothing too drastic, but I thought it would be nice to see what's possible with these tools.

Peter Kirwan : 31 Mar 2008 15:14 |  Tags: Thoughts |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

War and Peace Parts 1 and 2 @ Warwick Arts Centre

Like most people my age, I haven’t read Tolstoy’s War and Peace yet. I love reading, but at an intimidating 1000 pages long I know I’m not alone in putting it to the back of the ‘must-read’ pile. So one of the most appealing factors about Shared Experience’s revival of their National Theatre production was of course the opportunity to hear the story for the first time in a far more digestible five and a half hour four-act performance. The other attraction was Shared Experience itself, a company who have been consistently interesting even in their less spectacular moments (witnesses of Nancy Meckler’s fascinating but messy Romeo and Juliet at the RSC will know what I mean). Their track record with novel adaptations such as The Mill on the Floss and Anna Karenina means that there are few companies I would feel so comfortable trusting Tolstoy to.

Meckler’s vision for the play began in a contemporary Russian art gallery with an attendant introducing a young tourist to the pictures of armies and nobles. As the attendant talked about how much the pictures meant to him, the ghostly figures of men and women in period costumes began walking slowly onto the stage, moving about the figures. It made for a somewhat unnecessary framing device, but served to introduce the main visual conceit that used picture frames and museum chairs inventively to create the scenes. The set, two proscenium arches behind each other, combined with the museum furniture gave the impression of this as a heritage piece, playing up the chronicle aspects of the story – this was not just an adaptation of a fiction, but a fiction with bloody historical resonance.

The opening also set up Barnaby Kay’s Pierre as, effectively, the central character of the piece, as the actor was clothed by the rest of the company in an overcoat and glasses before launching into the story proper. Meckler kept Pierre involved in, but slightly outside of, the action throughout, fulfilling a similar kind of function to (of all things) Mark in Rent, the man who watches and records the things he cares about rather than actually interacting. Kay’s performance was excellent, bumbling and socially awkward but basically good-hearted. He gave a voice to the country’s conflicting philosophies as he bounced from revolutionary to noble, mason to philanthropist, cynic to lover, clinging desperately to each new idea as it inspired him but inevitably returning to his deflated, humiliated self as it didn’t work. The venom with which he looked at his adulterous wife Helene was countered by the tenderness with which he treated the young Natasha throughout.

Most strikingly, Pierre held dream-like conversations with Napoleon Bonaparte throughout, first looking up to the emperor as a mentor then turning against him as he witnessed the atrocities of the battlefield. Bonaparte, played with dignity and not a little humour by Richard Attlee, provided Pierre’s inner voice and motivated the character throughout. These were the best of the many dream sequences, whereas others floundered slightly, seeming to only prolong the running time.

The production’s main success was in making clear the complicated story. While I can’t compare it to the novel, this production essentially told the story of two families caught up in the events of the Napoleonic war: on one side the Rostovs, following the fortunes of son Nikolai as he went to the wars and daughter Naatasha as she grew into adulthood and fell in and out of love. On the other side the Bolkonskys, headed by the elderly Prince Bolkonsky and following his son Andrei, an army commander, and daugher Maria, a pious girl stuck at home with her father. The two families and their associates (Pierre being the mutual connection) intersected over a period of several years through births, deaths, battles, scandals, marriages and affairs, effectively giving a cross-section of Russia’s experience of the period.

Excellent performances throughout brought life to the story. Louise Ford was particularly good as Natasha, aging from 13 to 30ish across the play and developing from a bouncy and confident young child to a far mellower young woman. Each negative experience, particularly a scandalous near-elopement with the deliciously slimey Anatole Kuragin (Hywel Morgan) placed its mark upon the bubbly child, and her growth into sober adulthood was one of the most important through lines of the production. The other outstanding performance was by Jeffery Kissoon as Prince Bolkonsky. Part hilarious comedy, part brutal violence, the Prince’s forthright and prejudiced views hearkened back to an earlier age and were always a welcome breath of fresh air, but his scornful and abusive treatment of Maria bordered on horrific. His dying moments, with Maria weeping over him as he finally asked for forgiveness, were among the most moving of the night.

The production was split into two parts which made no pretence at being separate self-contained plays (despite the Arts Centre’s marketing that either part could be watched independently). It sagged at points, particularly the start of the third quarter which opened with an odd hunting scene and took a long time to get going. Meckler’s inventive physical style kept up the energy though, with some neat set pieces – an opera-box scene using picture frames, a very tense drinking game set on a precipice, using a grand piano as a ledge, and the scenes of rioting in burning Moscow, for which the lights dimmed and people in long coats ran back and forth rescuing boxes. The scenes of preparation for battle were excellently realised, though the battles themselves disappointed- flag waving and synchronised running forward are no substitute for roaring cannons.

Ultimately, the strength and weakness of this production was that it felt like a simplistic romp through a very long novel. As a piece of storytelling it excelled, but I left feeling finally inspired to brave the novel- the political and philosophical themes touched on in the production were interesting, but even five hours of stage time wasn’t enough to really get into them. Gripes aside, though, this was an epic and often mesmerising piece of theatre, with clarity of storytelling and visual inventiveness making a long afternoon fly by.

Peter Kirwan : 17 Mar 2008 16:51 |  Tags: Productions |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

I'll be the Devil @ the Tricycle Theatre

I’m still due to write something less ‘highlighty’ about the Histories, but time has overtaken me. Yesterday, I made my first trip of the new year down to London for I’ll be the Devil, a new RSC commission by Leo Butler. I reviewed the original rehearsed reading of the production back in November 2006, when it was called One of These Days . I said at the time that I was really looking forward to a full staging of the play; unfortunately, the final realisation of the play wasn’t quite as powerful as I’d hoped.

The play hadn’t changed substantially in plot or structure, but the script was much tidier. The links to The Tempest were brought out very clearly by having Dermot practically quote Caliban as he talked of being chained up, of bringing in wood and of the witch his mother. The plot remained relatively straightforward, focussing on the plight of two eighteenth-century lovers: Coyle, an Irish soldier drafted into the invading English army, and Maryanne, his brother’s widow, reduced to poverty and looking after their two children, the mentally-disturbed Dermot and innocent Ellen.

Leo Butler’s main thrust is to demonstrate the horrors visited upon the Irish by their oppressors. Maryanne, played somewhat scarily by Derbhle Crotty, embodied much of this. Resentful of the riches she had lost, she treated Coyle with nothing but contempt for his joining the army, taking pleasure in torturing him with impossible questions and demanding his loyalty to his family (yet not above asking him how his wife was). The two showed contrasting approaches to living under a regime- the more pragmatic Coyle (a good Eoin McCarthy) had sacrificed his ideals and beliefs in order to survive, while the idealistic Maryanne had stuck to her roots and suffered in extreme poverty as a result. Maryanne, filling the Sycorax role, was the catalyst for the play’s horrors, begun before we joined them by her persuading Dermot to kill the local colonel’s livestock, beginning a chain of events that led to the death of both children, Coyle’s disgrace and total loss of everything she had left.

The one-act play built itself round two big scenes. The first, set in a tavern, was an exercise in atrocity as five redcoat soldiers bullied Dermot, who wanted to declare his loyalty to the King. Coyle, entering halfway through, was eventually forced to intervene to save his son’s life, turning the attentions of the soldiers onto him instead. The evils visited upon father and son – being made to drink cups of piss, having a crucifix inserted up the arse, being dangled upside down from an upturned table – were effective in demonstrating the climate of fear and abuse that the native Irish were living in; however, the point wasn’t subtle and the scene dragged on for a long time, starting to feel indulgent. An unusual high point, though, was Dermot’s fight with a legless actor, a visually fascinating scene that was particularly exciting for the way the soldiers immediately started cheering them on as if at a bear-baiting. To them, both the physically- and mentally-disabled were little better than animals.

The better scene came later, and achieved its effect not through brutal violence but through silence and subtleties. After interviewing Coyle about his connection with Dermot and the locals, the play moved to Maryanne’s cabin, where the thunderstorm that had been raging throughout rained down on the roof of branches that extended over the stage. We saw Fleming mostly undressed, with Coyle and another soldier standing to attention in a corner, Coyle still bedraggled from his earlier treatment in the tavern. Maryanne moved about the room, asking if everything had been to Fleming’s satisfaction. So far, so grim. But then, Maryanne apologised for ‘her’ tardiness. She moved to the bed where Fleming had been sitting and called for Ellen, then pulled back the covers to reveal the eight year old lying there, eyes wide open, dead. After a few beats, Maryanne gently re-covered her and started dressing Fleming herself. Meanwhile, the other soldier gave Coyle a shovel, and the crying father started digging a hole in the middle of the hut as Maryanne entertained Fleming. The whole scene, played gently, was heartbreaking, the father digging a grave while the mother looked after their child’s killer, neither able to properly express any emotion while their persecutor was present.

The performances were generally fine, Derbhle Crotty and Eoin McCarthy being the standouts. John McEnery was also excellent as the old Fleming, ostensibly quite fragile but wielding the power of the British Empire in his thin frame, and thus carrying an air of power and menace with him. I also thought Tom Burke made a decent Dermot, laughing slightly manically when scared and keeping up a great deal of restless energy, particularly in the gruesome moment where he tied himself up in penance and then gouged out his own eyes. Aside from Gerard Murphy’s Browne, the most interesting of the secondary characters was Lt. Ryan, played by Andrew Macklin, whose story arc was underwritten but still effective. Ryan, the son of a rich man, had enlisted in the army at his father’s instigation and was under Coyle’s command, but resented taking orders. After being disciplined by Coyle in front of Maryanne in an early scene, Ryan then betrayed Coyle to the rest of the soldiers in the tavern, causing Coyle’s subsequent torture. Ryan was then promoted over Coyle, and he was the soldier who handed him the shovel after Ellen’s death.

Yet despite much to like, the production still didn’t quite work. There were a few technical blips such as lights dying in the middle of a crucial scene, and several actors (particularly Samantha Young) were very difficult to hear. The Oirish accents often sounded forced, which is interesting as the actors’ names largely looked Irish- were they fake accents being poorly done, or were they just struggling to get their tongues around the text?

My primary problem, though, was that I felt unsure what the play was actually for. The point seemed to be to show the atrocities committed by the English against the Irish, but the story was so specific that it felt too remote to really affect – almost like being asked to take sides in the Cavalier/Roundhead conflict. If there was a contemporary relevance to be drawn then I didn’t get it. In many ways, it felt just too small a story, and that there would have been potential for debates to come out of it that would have said something important about now. However, it seems unnecessary to lament what the play wasn’t. What it was was an interesting, decently-performed story rooted in Irish history with a few fantastic moments, but I don’t think it will live long in the memory.

Peter Kirwan : 09 Mar 2008 23:01 |  Tags: Productions Tempest |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Richard III @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

The big finish! And, if I’m truly honest, it was a slightly disappointing end to the week. Not because of the company, who kept up the energy right to the end, but for two reasons. Firstly, Richard III is a play dominated by one performance. The wonderful thing about the Histories ensemble is that there are so many good performers, and it’s a shame that the last play of the eight is so dominated by the title character, most of the rest of the company only getting a scene or two to shine. The second slight disappointment came from the fact that this production felt so dissociated from the others, in that it translated itself into modern dress. I have nothing against modern dress productions, but when the other seven were all medieval or Elizabethan (with a hint of WWI in Henry V), it felt quite odd that suddenly we were seeing suits and digital cameras on stage, making it feel that little bit separated from the other productions.

BUT, having got the disappointments out of the way, this production was vastly improved on last time, and the company were as good as ever. Highlights as follows:

• Yet again topping the bill, Julius D’Silva was a fascinating Catesby. Suited and bespectacled, calm and threatening, D’Silva reinvented Catesby as part-cleric, part-administrator. He heralded the deaths of Vaughan and Hastings by entering with a smile and a cappucino. This Catesby killed with memos and headlines, the man making Richard’s takover happen behind the scenes. Most hysterically, in the riot staged for the Mayor’s (Kieran Hill) benefit, he donned a headset and littered the stage himself, before barking commands (“Go helicoptors, go explosion”), in effect stage-managing the fake riot, throwing up his arms in triumph as all the cues went off as planned. Loyal to Richard right to the end, he panted in absolute shock at the end of the battle as he looked on his dead leader. It was one of those performances which can make you really see a character for the first time.

• A couple of very nice links came out of seeing the play so close to the Henry VI trilogy. Chris McGill as Grey told Margaret how Northumberland had weeped while she killed York – and of course, it was McGill who had played Northumberland in the previous play, giving a lovely echo to this speech. A line was also added to Stanley’s meeting in the field with Richmond from 1 Henry VI, allowing Keith Bartlett to christen Lex Shrapnel with “Now art thou seal’d the son of chivalry” – having made the same exchange when they played Talbot and John Talbot in the earlier play. Finally, the Young York was seen laying out tiny pebbles in the same pattern that his grandfather had once done when demonstrating to Warwick and Salisbury his claim to the throne, in a very neat touch.

• Nick Asbury and Keith Dunphy excelled as Vaughan and Lovell, the two murderers of Clarence. Dunphy brought all the menace he had displayed as Young Clifford to the role, while Asbury blustered. The two made an excellent comic pair, particularly as they revealed enormous machetes from inside their tailored suits. The continuation of their story was interesting, as first Catesby and Ratcliffe arrested Vaughan as he tried to flee the country, then had him executed at Lovell’s hand along with Rivers and Grey.

• Jonathan Slinger gave another impressive performance as Richard, particularly dwelling on the character’s sexual obsessions, including kissing Lady Grey passionately when passing on a kiss for her daughter, leering at women in the front row and spitting defiance as he talked of his misshapen body. In contrast, his skipping delight in the dream sequence where he awoke to find himself healed was moving in its childlike joy, and after the dream his moment of soul-searching finally showed the pain of the character, as he cried out “Am I a villain?”

• Richard Cordery was a very good Buckingham, and provided the best laugh of the performance with his withering comments on the Young York’s wit. “So cunning and so young”, then a long pause, a look up into the galleries with his eyes rolling and: “Wonderful”.

• Family became very important in the play’s closing moments. As Richard screamed for a horse, his father (Clive Wood) appeared silently on the balcony, and Richard scrambled towards him. As he pleaded with his dead father, the ghosts of his dead mother and nephews appeared with him. Later, at the climax of the play, the dead appeared all around the balconies watching over Richmond’s ascension, and all were grouped in their family groups: Warwick and Anne; Clarence and his children; Hastings and Shore; Edward and his Queen etc. Richard’s isolation was part of his downfall.

• The dream sequence, where a newly-healed Richard had his disabilities revisited upon him by those he had murdered, was a brilliant concept, linked in to the ways in which the ghosts had been murdered. Where Hastings (an excellent Tom Hodgkins) had had strawberries smeared across his head by Richard, he smeared Richard’s huge birthmark onto his shaved head. Clarence, felled by a sword swipe across his guts, sliced Richard across the same, causing his hunched posture. Rivers, shot in the leg before his execution, shot Richard in the same place, causing his limp. It was a brilliant move that made physical the curses of the ghosts.

• James Tucker, as Clarence, really impressed in his description of the dream, underscored by the always-effective music. Curled up in bed, he spoke his long speech beautifully, evoking the character’s fear to chilling effect.

• Katy Stephens was also chilling as Margaret, evoking both her younger self and her previous role as Joan. The lifesize bones of her son that she laid out echoed Joan’s conjuring bones, and in talking to the young Marquis of Dorset, played by Wela Frasier, she saw the ghost of her boy, coming close to Dorset and almost embracing him. Her cursing was powerful, and in her brief scenes she once again dominated the stage.

• Ann Ogbomo was a highlight as Queen Elizabeth, handling her long rhetorical scenes well and visibly becoming more crushed as her family was taken from her one by one. Her cries were heartbreaking.

• Mistress Shore (Alexia Healy) was brought on for additional scenes, appearing in an early street scene as well as dressed in just an oversized shirt with Hastings. Most effectively, Richard brought her on in the council scene when condemning her, putting Hastings in the awful position of having to distance himself while looking on her bloodied body. Tom Hodgkins was excellent here, showing the panic of the character, and their reunion in death felt like a sort of happy ending.

• I don’t know what their names were, but the four child actors were very good, particularly the ones playing the young Edward and York, holding their own very well among the adults.

There were lots of other excellent moments: Geoffrey Streatfeild as a blindfolded Rivers fumbling in the dark only to find his dead brother; Hannah Barrie’s poisoned Anne starting to look faint during the slow-motion party scene; Chuk Iwuji prostrating himself before Richard as the dead Henry VI before somersaulting to his feet and Lex Shrapnel on top form as the conquering Richmond, spinning the massive staircase holding Richard around and pushing it hard into a wall. It was dominated by Slinger’s performance, but the fantastic concepts and solid performances in the other roles kept the long play moving quickly. Another standing ovation, in recognition of the whole week as much as this performance, was a fitting end to a fantastic few days.

Peter Kirwan : 04 Mar 2008 16:50 |  Tags: Productions Richard3 |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Henry VI Part III @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

Still full of adrenaline from the ending of the previous part (God only knows how the actors were getting through the day!), I approached Part III with admittedly very high expectations. Happily, they were all met in a fantastic climax to the day.

• One of my main highlights of this production was Keith Dunphy as Young Clifford. One of the main voices of violence throughout, he was an almost evil presence standing behind King Henry. The calm way with which he folded his coat and hung it over a ladder before brutally stabbing the young Rutland (Alexia Healy’s piercing screams were chilling) was one of the most horrific moments of a bloody proudction. His end, hanging from a rope while the sons of York cut out his eye and tongue, was fitting, and Dunphy’s voice throughout was cold and hard.

• Jonathan Slinger, in his best performance of the entire trilogy. Richard came into his own in this part, becoming more prominent throughout. Many scene changes were defined by him running to chase ghosts of his father or of Henry that vanished behind closing doors. His entrance wearing Somerset’s face over his own was sickening, his asides throughout chilling, his “I can smile” soliloquy a scary end to the first half. The defining moment of the play came in his final speech to the audience, screaming with hell-defying passion “I AM MYSELF ALONE!” Compelling at all times, he quite literally stole the show with a performance in turns comic and terrifying, a real tour de force. As he jiggled Edward’s child at the end of the play and whispered “Now”, the audience practically rose as one.

• In the other corner, Chuk Iwuji finished his performance as Henry VI with style. His panicked face as the two sides faced each other, his grief as the Father and Son rolled over each other, mourning, his calm prophecy in the face of his killer all combined to give a picture of a King knowing he is in his final days, dissociated from everything around him but still unable to stop caring. His sadness as his son (played with a youthful dignity by Wela Frasier) talked down to him was transparent, and it was this grief that upset him more than anything else in the tower.

• Clive Wood as York gave a superb performance in his death scene, weeping over Rutland’s death and utterly broken. As Clifford and Margaret circled him it was impossible not to feel for him, despite everything that had come before. His domestic scene with his four sons was also interesting, showing him in a calmer light than we had previously seen, and Wood did well in portraying a more sympathetic image of the character in his final moments. He then haunted the play- his head atop York city was well done (the actor kneeling behind a ledge and simply tilting it to the side), and his presence was crucial in Clarence turning back to his brothers.

• A very nice moment after Prince Edward killed recognised the actor’s previous role as the Keeper’s Assistant, as the Keeper (an always effective Antony Bunsee) gave him a bucket of sand with which to cover up the blood he had carelessly spilled over the stage when he died.

• Julius D’Silva brought his magic to the role of Rutland’s tutor. In a very short amount of stage time, he spoke his passionate defence well and turned to alcohol shortly after, turning up swaying at Edward’s tent in the middle of the night.

• Margaret (Katy Stephens) was yet again amazing, commanding the stage and becoming the most important military force. Yet Stephens also brought out the strong maternal part of the character, keeping the Prince close at all times and screaming as he was murdered. She bordered on evil at times, particularly in her taunting of York (there was a definite echo of revenge from York’s taunting of her previous incarnation, Joan), but never became a caricature- at heart, she was simply a Queen defending her family.

• Forbes Masson and James Tucker were both very good as Edward and Clarence. Masson in particular shone when attempting to woo Ann Ogbomo’s Lady Gray, fumbling and eventually resorting to threats in order to get his way.

• The fighting was visually stunning, as usual, with slow motion battle sequences and ropes falling from the ceiling. Patrice Naiambana’s Warwick shone in these, and his final squealing death marked the end of the real fighting. Naiambana was simply cool, swinging his two swords and tackling several enemies simultaneously. His pathetic end, voice rising to a squeak, was an ignominious end to a character who ultimately never committed to a cause.

• The final scene, with Edward and Anne trailing their robes through the mess of blood and sand left by Henry’s corpse, was a fantastic image, the new court built on the bloody remains of the old. At the other end, the opening scene, a sudden and loud banging on the doors followed by the bursting onto the stage of the entire Yorkist army, got the blood pounding straight away.

• Finally, the music was wonderful throughout. Led by Kieran Hill, the Latin chanting was deeply effective, the chimes of death menacing, the loud hollow notes that underscored the battle scenes unsettling and the soft notes that heralded Lex Shrapnel’s Richmond simply beautiful.

It was no surprise that the audience gave the play a standing ovation, as much for the whole day as for the final part. The actors gave astonishing performances all round, all the more impressive for coming near the end of a long week, and the trilogy was epic, moving, beautiful and never dull. Even with Richard III still to come, this was the climax of the whole week.

Peter Kirwan : 03 Mar 2008 17:57 |  Tags: 3Henry6 Productions |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Henry VI Part II @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

With a quick note that the excitement really started as soon as I sat down and remembered that this was my absolute favourite part of the Histories Cycle, I’ll leap straight into my highlights:

• The entire sequence from the death of Geoffrey Freshwater’s Winchester to that of Geoffrey Streatfeild’s Suffolk was a theatrical coup. In vengeance, Richard Cordery as the ghost of Gloucester descended the stairs to Winchester’s deathbed, and held down his arms as Henry VI pleaded with the man to raise his arms in forgiveness. Left dead and alone, Gloucester then attached Winchester’s body to a hook and winched him up into the ceiling, the corpse waking up and screaming chillingly as he went. Then, coming up through a trapdoor in the bed, the Keeper and his Assistant emerged along with the ghosts of Talbot, John Talbot, Gloucester and Winchester, with the captured Suffolk in tow. Michael Boyd’s audacious rewrite of this scene, to have the dead Talbots capturing prisoners in revenge for their own slaughter, became intensely affecting, Lex Shrapnel shining as he demanded of his father why they couldn’t just kill their prisoners. Suffolk’s face as he took off his blindfold, saw his persecutors and realised he was already halfway to hell, was shocked and yet oddly welcoming, and the ‘boat’ that the bed had become sailed off into the mouth of hell as if Charon himself were steering it.

• Antony Shuster, who wasn’t in the original Henry VI trilogy, made a couple of cameo appearances. Most hysterically, he donned the costume he wore as Shadow in 2 Henry IV and appeared as one of the revellers in the Simpcox scene, a very funny moment for those of us who recognised him.

• Another actor who got his moment in this play was Paul Hamilton. Usually a soldier of some description (though he stood out as Douglas in 1 Henry IV), Hamilton’s characters were usually loyal soldiers and models of chivalric decency. This came to the fore in his pastoral Alexander Eden, provoked to killing by Jack Cade’s violent presence in his garden. Hamilton’s performance was memorable for its calmness, an uncomplicated good man in troubled times.

• Chuk Iwuji went from strength to strength as Henry VI, really showing the character’s growth in his emotional moments. Key among these were his pain at relieving Gloucester of his office, his body shaking as he gave the command, and his fantastic anger at Suffolk, banishing the man mercilessly and screaming at Margaret when she tried to argue. His cry of “It is irrevocable” was one of the few moments when he really appeared a King. Another solid moment came as he moved among the scheming nobles as they stood still, making his points about human mercy to a group who clearly had no interest in listening.

• The rebellion of John Mackay’s Jack Cade was as funny as ever, with Cade leaping and twirling about the stage. The particular highlight, though, was Forbes Masson and Jonathan Slinger in their comic double-act, bringing an audience member up on stage, threatening to execute him and emptying out his bag. The best moment was when Slinger picked up a copy of a book that had fallen from the bag. “What’s that?” asked Masson. “Richard Three” replied Slinger, to hysterical response from the audience. Masson’s reply? “I’ve seen it. It’s shit!”. Beautiful. I also got knighted by Keith Bartlett’s Ghost of Talbot for a second time!

• Clive Wood’s York started coming into his own, particularly in his pre-interval soliloquy where he clutched at his head, almost mad in his ambition for the crown. Wood’s presence was strong throughout, and much was made of moments between scenes where he and Henry crossed paths. He also had a nice comic touch, particularly when making a throwaway mention of the House of Windsor when staking his claim to the crown.

• The fighting power of Patrice Naiambana’s Warwick started to be realised in this part. He grew throughout: slightly comic as a politician (the awful “Maine” joke and the more funny “What plain proceeding is this?” after York’s complex explanation of his family tree), as soon as the double swords came out he became a centrepiece, fighting off the rest of the cast at once and then screaming for Clifford as he stalked the battlefield.

• Richard. The appearance of Jonathan Slinger as the young Richard moved the excitement up a whole gear, he rocking back and forth with a cackle as he got ready for battle. As soon as he appeared, the end of the cycle seemed in sight, and his performance across this and the next two plays was a real highlight. The first appearance also culminated in the awesome stand off between York and Lancaster that acted as prelude to everything to come, the two sides lining up against each other.

• Gloucester and his wife (Maureen Beattie) gave a very nice intimate home scene that stood out amidst the rest of the action. Beattie’s performance was good, especially excelling when dressed in sackcloth and shivering on the streets with bloodied feet. Richard Cordery’s Gloucester was excellent throughout, confused and frustrated by his gradual loss of power and touching in the loss of his wife.

• The commons in the first act were interesting in different ways. Matt Costain and Alexia Healy were funny as Simpcox and his wife, adopting Geordie accents and providing a nice comic touch (and Suffolk’s attempt at the accent in mockery was also very funny). Julius D’Silva and Kieran Hill as Peter and Horner, meanwhile, was an early indication of brutality. Their fight, with tin shields and clubs, was incredibly brutal and barbaric, the two thumping away at each other and Peter eventually killing his master by slamming down the shield into his throat to a mass wince from the audience.

• Roger Watkins brought a great deal to the small part of Lord Say, creating a nervous nod for the character which made him instantly recognisable, and also allowed for the cruel taunting of Cade’s mob who surrounding him nodding, only to change to a shake when he asked for his life.

• Katy Stephens and Geoffrey Streatfeild were again dominant throughout the first half, Margaret revelling in court life and getting her way with a variety of winning smiles (in Henry’s presence) and powerful shouted commands (when near the commons). Never a shallow villain, though, Stephens gave a layered and complex performance that demonstrated Margaret’s cleverness in bending the situation to her own ends. Suffolk, meanwhile, swaggered through his scenes confidently and with a matter-of-fact style of speaking that marked his arrogance but also made him oddly likeable. The moment of Margaret holding his decapitated singing head in the doorway of the hellmouth was not only a visually neat trick but also moving, she affirming her loyalty to Henry while still cradling her lover’s head.

I could go on about this production. The sorcery scene, the details of Winchester and Gloucester’s feud, York’s stone-laying scene, the screaming of the commons as they threw stones onto the stage, the blood spilled on the battlefield as Somerset spat in Richard’s face….. just wonderful. The cliffhanger ending, too, left us desperate to bridge the 75 minute gap until Part III.

Peter Kirwan : 03 Mar 2008 15:35 |  Tags: 2Henry6 Productions |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Henry VI Part 1 @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

Arrived back in Leamington Spa at 12.30am after Henry V, stayed at a friend’s house (got a few hours sleep) before running for the 9am train to get back to the Courtyard for 10.30am. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I wasn’t feeling my freshest. I mention this because the Henry VI trilogy are so amazing that they jerked me completely awake and kept me enthralled all day. I’ve seen Part 1 three times before, this being the fourth, and yet I still saw new things all day. Here’s the highlights:

• Julius D’Silva as Lucy was wonderful. His mannered rhetoric was spoken in a voice that expertly handled the verse and brought out the character’s frustration at the arguing peers. D’Silva is quite possibly my favourite actor of the whole ensemble, bringing something unique even to his most minor parts, and he shone throughout.

• From this play onwards, the significance of stones was more apparent, with Roger Watkins’ Mortimer giving York (Clive Wood) one in token of his claim to the throne. This stone would reappear in a bag with many others in Part II, as York made his pitch to Warwick and Salisbury.

• After some minor parts in the previous four plays, Katy Stephens reclaimed the stage. Her performance as Joan was brilliant; whether flicking blood at the English from Bedford’s severed arm, smiling seductively at the French lords or screaming defiance at York as she descended into a fiery pit. Her performance was commanding – she owned the stage whenever she was on it, standing centrally as men fell over themselves before her.

• The Dauphin (John Mackay) was a camp highlight again, flouncing about the stage. The point about his and Joan’s nighttime antics was reinforced this time when both appeared in the dark barely dressed, with Mackay’s cheeks exposed to good (if gratuitous!) comic effect.

• Lex Shrapnel and Keith Bartlett impressed with their handling of the very artificial dialogue between Talbot and his son. The rhyming lines sound awkward to modern ears, very formulaic, but the two actors met this head on, constructing out of them a deeply-felt argument. Bartlett’s scream of “Your mother”, as he described the impact of bad news on his wife, was a wrenching moment, not a little reminiscent of his excellent turn as Northumberland in 2 Henry IV.

• Henry VI is a very difficult part to play, but Chuk Iwuji made a beautiful job of the young king, hugging Gloucester (Richard Cordery) around the waist and running to greet the heroic Talbot who he had heard so much about. The childlike innocence with which Iwuji invested the character had a real impact after his more eerie and adult appearances in Richard II and Henry V, showing the actor’s skill.

• One of the stalwarts of the whole cycle was Tom Hodgkins. While never taking one of the truly lead parts, Hodgkins was regularly cast as powerful soldiers, second-in-commands or princes, and I was really conscious over the five days of the excellent work he was doing, creating a strong military presence personified in one man that almost always indicated the winning side. His turn as Bedford in this production was one of the highlights though, screaming in pain as he threw open the grave of Henry V to invoke his spirit against the French before his dignified death.

• Miles Richardson, another of the strong ensemble players, similarly had his moment here as Exeter. His warning soliloquies had a choric function, but Richardson brought a sense of loyal care to the part, a voice of conscience on the country’s behalf that put things into perspective. He also had one of the most effective speaking voices, a deep and clear voice that gave his character an unequalled dignity.

• The three demons (Ann Ogbomo, Alexia Healy and Hannah Barrie) were a nice presence throughout, but the really chilling aspect of them was their humming, a three tone note that underscored Joan’s conjuring.

• I’ll save more detailed discussion until the next part, but Geoffrey Streatfeild’s plain-speaking and smooth Suffolk, Richard Cordery’s upright and uptight Gloucester and Geoffrey Freshwater as a sneering and sarcastic Winchester all did sterling work leading up to their bigger roles in Part II.

• A few other nice touches included: Chris McGill as a panicking soldier comforted by Talbot; Antony Bunsee’s stirring defiance of Talbot’s troops as he told them of the approaching French, his voice rising to a spinechilling crescendo; and the earthy Warwick (Patrice Naiambana) kicking away Joan’s charms after her failed conjuration, a nice touch showing Warwick’s no-nonsense approach. A special mention, to, to the second half entrance of the French, particularly James Tucker commando-rolling onto the stage with dagger between his teeth!

Part I is the part of the trilogy that works best on its own, having in Joan and Talbot a very nice through line that completes itself. As the start of a long day, though, this production also left me hanging on for more, particularly in knowing that the character arcs started here would culminate dramatically before the end of the day. By itself, though, a fabulous and richly detailed production.

Peter Kirwan : 03 Mar 2008 14:38 |  Tags: 1Henry6 Productions |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Henry V @ The Courtyard Theatre: Highlights

It’s now Monday morning and I’ve seen all eight. I’m knackered, but happy- it’s been a very good week! So now catching up on some blogging…..

Henry V is an excellent centrepiece when seeing the productions in chronological order. It’s an enormous production that embraces the epic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Here are my highlights:

• Geoffrey Streatfeild took a well-deserved solo bow after an excellent performance. He’s really grown on me as an actor over the last two years, and his Henry was striking. Key moments included his listing of the terrors that he would visit on the French, with his own face falling in horror at the words coming out of his mouth. His angry sobbing as he cradled Wela Frasier’s dead Boy was moving, and his anger when confronting the conspirators was tinged with sadness at their betrayal. Yet his manicness in the more upbeat scenes, particularly running around the stage almost madly in the wooing, contrasted nicely.

• Lots of improvements from the first time round. The cage that once descended in the opening scene had been cut, and the bringing on of coffins at the end of Act 4 was now done by the French, dragging on their bodies while the English sang a hymn. It made sense and meant the scene change was far less clumsy.

• Alexia Healy brought an element of sexual awareness to Katherine, mischievously almost asking how to say ‘breasts’ in English when being tutored, and the wooing scene with Henry was very sexy. The interplay between Kate and Alice (Hannah Barrie) was also funny, Kate barking at Alice’s constant corrections and Alice glancing over Henry’s shoulder as he wooed her mistress.

• Keith Talbot, despite this being his play off, cameoed as Talbot during the Agincourt scene. Presumably he had little better to do, but it was a very nice link to 1 Henry VI. Henry does mention Talbot in his speeches, and to see him in the war gave some background to the stories of his heroics in the next play. It also made Bartlett the only actor to appear in all eight plays – congratulations!

• Fluellen, played with Jonathan Slinger’s usual gusto, had a particularly interesting function. The devastation after the murder of the boys was palpable, the nobles lying around the stage in various forms of grief, and victory seemed hollow. It was here that Fluellen began his nationalistic comment on the Welsh, a rude note in the middle of such solemnity, but his infectious rambling caused the bloodstained nobles to finally laugh. Fluellen provided relief not only for the audience but for the English army, providing a way for the production to move from the pathos of Henry cradling the Boy to the acceptance of victory without belittling either. Henry’s own jokes had a similar effect, particularly in keeping his brothers (Chris McGill and Luke Neal) in good spirits.

• Geoffrey Freshwater gave a very impressive speech as the Archbishop, reeling off name after name, event after event. Last time he made a massive fluff of the lines; this time, it became awe-inspiring and very funny. He received an impromptu round of applause once he finished!

• I was also struck by Nick Asbury as Pistol in this performance, who swaggered with his usual panache but also brought a more moving quality to the role, a glimpse into the man behind the mannerisms. Trying to persuade Fluellen to intervene on Bardolph’s behalf, he was devastated at the lack of support, and there were tears in his eyes after the funny but violent leek-eating scene as he quietly told us of Mistress Quickly’s death.

• The French were all good. Chuk Iwuji made a great impact as Montjoy, Antony Bunsee (now back on his trapeze: when I last saw the production, he was always ground-based) brought a gravitas to the French airiness (particularly funny as he involuntarily joined in the horse jokes and groaned “Oh God”) and John Mackay’s Dauphin was a delight, stamping petulantly as he was kept back from the front line.

• Plenty of other good performances too. Rob Carroll as MacMorris, Keith Dunphy as Nym, Sandy Neilson as the King of France and Forbes Masson as an excellent Chorus all stood out in a production that really showed off the ensemble’s strengths.

The aesthetic of this central production was rivetting, particularly in Boyd’s concept of the French hanging from the rafters while the English dug pits, and the fight scene beginning with the English emerging upwards towards the French spun the whole theatre on its head. What was last year a good production has really become great.

Peter Kirwan : 03 Mar 2008 11:36 |  Tags: Henry5 Productions |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem