Ophelias Zimmer – Royal Court

What does Ophelia get up to during Hamlet when she’s not on stage?

If you’ve ever wondered about that (and I have to admit I hadn’t) then Ophelias Zimmer is the play with all the answers, or mainly one big answer: Not much.

I’m not going to try and hide the fact that I found Katie Mitchell’s production incredibly boring, but I didn’t dislike it and I suspect that boredom is exactly what she wanted to convey in showing us the young girl’s very dull existence.

 

Ophelias Zimmer, which translates as Ophelia’s Room, is an alternative take on Hamlet, created in association with Berlin’s Schaubühne with text by Alice Birch and essential design by Chloe Lamford. The all-British team brings their German show (in German with English surtitles) to the Royal Court and it’s a very good fit.

Jenny König plays Ophelia, daughter to Polonius, the Lord Chamberlain to the King of Denmark. She is an obedient daughter to her father, and is guided by the memory of her dead mother, whose voice we hear over the speakers, giving her advice on how to protect herself from the influence/violence/treachery of men. A very interesting addition.

She also happens to be the Prince of Denmark’s love interest. Her days revolve around a basic routine: flowers from Hamlet, a morning walk on the Elsinore grounds, a catch up with her dad, a little bit of reading, a letter from the Prince — represented here by cassette tapes of Hamlet’s voice, which vary from overly romantic to slightly obscene and eventually to pure outbursts of rage (a whole cassette of “fick dich”s is really quite hilarious as a come back from a rejected lover!) etcetera. Nothing changes at all, until the day of the royal wedding of Gertrude and Claudius (Hamlet’s widowed mother and his uncle). Ophelia isn’t even invited to the wedding – I’ve never noticed, and I’m sure most productions include her in the wedding reception anyway, but she isn’t amongst the guests in the stage directions, how rude! – but her routine quickly changes after that. Suddenly there are no flowers, no letters, Hamlet is clearly distracted.

If you don’t happen to know Shakespeare’s tragedy inside-out, you will miss out on a lot of references unfortunately. Everything that happens in Ophelia’s room makes sense of something that has happened or is about to happen in Hamlet, and some of the connections are very satisfying. I’ve always been confused by how Ophelia suddenly claims that the Prince’s madness must be connected to his love for her, but here we are shown exactly where she gets that idea from, as a manic Hamlet (the excellent Renato Schuch) visits her room armed with a portable LP player and some very intense dance moves. You can’t blame the girl for running off to her father Polonius after that.

Things quickly turn very dark after Hamlet kills her father, as you’d expect, and Ophelia’s descent into madness is not altogether natural but very much aided by a creepy doctor, which made the whole thing far more believable.

The ending is sad and wonderfully staged, with Lamford’s simple set undergoing an impressive transformation that brings together the romanticised death of Ophelia as Gertrude tells it in Hamlet and the grim reality of a young girl’s desperate taking of her own life.

The tag line for the show is ‘A new work exploring Ophelia, freed from Hamlet’; she may have been freed from Hamlet the play, but she appears more trapped than ever.

Ophelias Zimmer is on at the Royal Court until Saturday 21st May 2016.
TIP: The best value for money tickets at the Royal Court are up in the Balcony. It’s only a small theatre and if you get seats bang in the middle of rows B or C the view is brilliant and they’re always under £20. If you’re lucky enough to be under 26 then you can get cheap tickets all over the theatre.

Sunset Boulevard – London Coliseum

You can say a lot of things about Andrew Lloyd Webber, but the man can definitely write a tune. The moment the ENO Orchestra (fresh from their Oliver Award win for Outstanding achievement in Opera) starts playing the Sunset Boulevard overture I got goose bumps and was transported back to many many years ago when I used to listen to the Original London Cast Recording on repeat.

This 1993 musical, based on Billy Wilder’s classic film (same title), follows writer Joe Gillis’ entanglement with faded movie star Norma Desmond. “The greatest star of them all”, as described by Max, her loyal butler (though we eventually find out he is a little more than that), who used to enchant the whole world with her silent movies, has become irrelevant in Hollywood since the talkies took over.

For this revival at the beautiful London Coliseum, home of the English national Opera, Lloyd Webber has managed to convince his original Broadway Norma (though the role was actually originated by the inimitable Patti LuPone in the West End, her Memoir has A LOT to say about Lloyd Webber and the show, it’s hilarious!), a movie star in her own right: Glenn Close. It always worries me when a screen actor is cast to lead a big musical, but Close effortlessly slips back into the role and I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful her singing voice is.

The first song she sings is a stripped back lullaby (‘Surrender’) to her dead chimpanzee, obvs, closely followed by showstopper ‘With One Look’ which literally stopped the show and is finished off by Norma’s line “Now go!”, which is just perfect, you could leave it there and be totally satisfied, but the rest of the show gets better and better so I suggest you stay to see the rest!

Close’s voice is full of emotion and character and although it’s miles from Patty LuPone’s powerhouse performance in the recording I used to be obsessed with, there is something fragile and moving about the way she flips into her no-frills head voice, and even though her voice cracked a couple of times in the show I saw, this added to the instability of the character. A perfectly polished performance would suggest a Norma who is still in control and who could possibly pull off a come back, but she isn’t, she is meant to be an absolute emotional and physical mess.

Of course the show isn’t all about Norma (J: “They don’t want you in every scene”, N: ”Of course they do, why else would they have come?!”); Michael Xavier‘s Joe barely leaves the stage and he is perfectly cast as the cynical writer turned toy boy (he is looking incredibly hench these days by the way). He holds the story together and we finally get to enjoy his gorgeous vocals in all their glory in the Act II opening number ‘Sunset Boulevard’. He is fantastic.

The whole cast is excellent, especially in the singing department: from Siobhan Dillon’s effortless soprano (shame that her character Betty develops from budding writer to just sweet love interest), to Fred Johanson’s full, solemn baritone. Also a highlight is ‘The Lady’s Paying’ in Act I, another great tune from Lloyd Webber, hilariously led by Fenton Gray as tailor Manfred.

There is a lot to be praised in the design departments too in this semi-staged production: the grandiosity of the Desmond mansion is only alluded to but we do get the sense of scale from James Noone’s set and its Escher-like staircases crossing above the onstage orchestra, and the sense of faded luxury is hinted at by a whimsical concoction of rickety chandeliers descending on the stage. Some excellent work is also done with projections (back and front screen) that no one seems to be credited for, so I’m guessing this is Noone’s work too.

Mark Henderson’s beautiful lighting design gives the orchestra its rightful focus during the overture and other instrumentals, and puts Norma in the spotlight(s) in all the right moments, culminating in ‘As If We Never Said Goodbye’ in Act II which is glorious under all aspects.

The finale is something truly special and I can see how that alone would have earned Glenn Close the Tony Award for the 90s production. If you aren’t able to catch the show in London then at least treat yourselves to a video of that finale from the Broadway production, it’s something else.

Sunset Boulevard is on until Saturday 7^th May 2016 at the London Coliseum, there should still be a few tickets left for the run.
TIP: I got £25 tickets for row E in the middle of the Balcony. Whilst still not cheap, these are good value for money, you’re very high up but with a good central view of the stage and you won’t feel totally ripped off.

 

Lady Rizo: Multiplied – Soho Theatre

If you’re among the confused souls who think Cabaret isn’t for them and that it sounds a bit like Art’s tacky cousin, then it’s about time you changed your mind, and the best way to do it is getting yourselves down to the Soho Theatre where the unstoppable Lady Rizo is doing a three-week residency.

I say unstoppable because she really is. The new show, Multiplied, focuses on motherhood, Lady R having given birth to a baby boy only a few months ago. Amongst many other things, she talks about realising she was pregnant whilst on a show that involved aerialist routines and a series of glamorous antics, not exactly ideal if you’re constantly needing to throw up! But she didn’t stop then and she hasn’t stopped now as a new mum: she is her usual glamorous self (if you haven’t seen her before have a look here, but I warn you, you’ll still be watching in 4 hours), with an incredibly powerful voice that can do anything technically and everything emotionally. The songs she sings include well-known rock/pop/jazz standards (the encore is an absolute treat!), reinvented in new arrangements that show off her pipes, but she is also an excellent song writer, and she has included some beautiful original songs in the show. There is a very special lullaby which is a definite highlight.

Lady Rizo has the incredible ability to move from whimsical to deeply touching via incredibly sexy in the most effortless way; she changes gear so smoothly that, as part of her audience, you barely understand what is happening to you when you start crying or gasping after laughing your head off just seconds before.

I challenge anyone to see this beautiful show and not fall in love with this brilliant American artiste and also with the Cabaret genre, which can be so many wonderful things, often at the same time.

Multiplied is on at the Soho Theatre Monday to Saturday at 9.30pm until Saturday 26th March.

TIP: I really recommend heading to the Soho on a school night, you’ll go back to work the next day feeling invigorated and inspired, plus tickets are cheaper Monday to Thursday AND the bar isn’t too manically busy.

Red Velvet – Garrick Theatre

The story of African-American actor Ira Aldridge is an uncomfortable one to tell and it certainly doesn’t show the British theatre industry in a very good light.

Lolita Chakrabarti‘s important play, which originated at the Tricycle Theatre in 2012, shows Aldridge both towards the end of his life, and at the beginning of his European career, when in 1833 he is asked by visionary theatre manager Pierre Laporte (an excellent French-accented Emun Elliott) to replace the most celebrated actor in London, playing the title role in Shakespeare’s Othello.
Adrian Lester gives an incredible performance, changing from the young, passionate and perhaps naïve Aldridge playing the Moor in London, to the celebrated but somewhat defeated old man playing King Lear in Prussia. He is surrounded by an excellent ensemble who, in the London scenes, bring to life a typical 19th century theatre company whose terribly English sensibilities are shaken up by Aldridge’s arrival. The contrast between the stiff acting style of the Londoners and the more naturalistic approach of the American actor make for some hilarious farcical scenes. Charlotte Lucas‘s leading lady Ellen is particularly good at this, and these scenes show off the skill and humour of director Indhu Rubasingham (you can recognise her style from one of my favourite shows of 2015).

While London is rattled by revolts over the abolition of slavery in the British colonies, this very white group of people is being asked to work elbow to elbow with someone who looks like one of their servants. Some of them, like abolitionist Henry (Alexander Cobb, who shines for his comic timing), are intrigued by Ira but still approach him as one would an exotic animal; others are openly opposed to him joining, let alone leading the company, like Charles (played with unbearable entitlement by Mark Edel-Hunt), who walks out on the job, rather than sharing a stage with Mr Aldridge.

With only one afternoon of rehearsals, the company performs that same night to a full and seemingly enthusiastic house; but the morning papers are filled with reviews that can’t see beyond Aldridge’s race and disapprove of the idea of giving him the job rather than using a blacked-up white actor as was the custom. (This, if you can believe it, was still acceptable as late as 1990 when Michael Gambon played the Moor in Scarborough. And, by the way, white singers still use brown face paint when performing in Verdi’s opera version, although the New York’s Metropolitan Opera officially announced last month that they will stop this “charming” tradition).

[As a side note, if after seeing this play you find yourself comforted by the fact that we’ve come a long way from this kind of racist criticism, just think of the surge of disgusting racist comments online when the brilliant Cush Jumbo played Nora in a Manchester Royal Exchange production of A Doll’s House. That was in 2012. This mentality of hatred is far from extinguished unfortunately.]

The total refusal of acceptance that Aldridge is faced with in London has a deep effect on him, and his career is only allowed to flourish away from England and through some tough compromises which are made evident at the very end of the play. The last scene is quite chilling and leaves us with the sense that, in spite of a lot of apparent success, this man’s spirit has in fact been crushed.

Although the play’s focus is of course Aldridge, Chakrabarti manages to sneak in two other stories of oppression and exclusion: first there is Connie, the theatre maid played by a quietly mesmerising Ayesha Antoine. She spends the first half as an almost invisible presence, taking in all that is being said about the riots and the arrival of the new actor, without uttering a word. I watched her throughout, dying for her to speak, and in the second half she finally does. Her conversation with Aldridge was one of my favourite moments in the play. The second side-story is that of Halina (played by a gutsy Caroline Martin), a Polish journalist come to interview the great actor before his Lear performance. She is hoping that a scoop piece on Aldridge will help her advance in a workplace dominated by men where her high competence is bypassed and her visits to the unisex toilet are announced to the whole building. The addition of these two stories next to Aldridge’s is a clever move from the writer to remind us that be it issues of race, class or gender, we are all fighting one and the same fight. Brilliant.

Red Velvet is on until Saturday 27th February as part of the Kenneth Brannagh season of Plays at the Garrick Theatre.

TIP: You can enter a lottery for £15 tickets every day through the Today Tix app. The tickets are on the front row and you will feel completely immersed in the action. Good luck!

Young Chekhov Season – Chichester Festival Theatre

NB: I reviewed these shows when they were at the Chichester Festival Theatre but they are all transferring to the National Theatre’s Olivier from July! If you can handle that much Chekhov I would recommend doing a full immersion and booking for one of the three-play days to see them all in one go!

Although London’s theatre scene has more than enough to offer, theatres further afield often programme something so irresistible that will persuade me to put on my best travelling clothes and venture out of the capital, and the Young Chekhov Season at the Chichester Festival Theatre was one too good to miss. Departing artistic director Jonathan Kent presents us with three of the Russian master’s early works, in a new vibrant versions by David Hare.

I personally really love Chekhov‘s work, as long as his humour isn’t completely disregarded by a heavy-handed director, and luckily Kent’s productions really play on the comical nature of the writing, whilst dealing with the tragic moments in a most truthful and touching way. Sadly I didn’t have a chance to see all three (I missed Ivanov), but I spent the afternoon in the company of The Seagull and the evening watching Platonov, a completely new play for me.

In The Seagull the all-important Chekhov humour is taken great care of by the wondrous Anna Chancellor as Arkadina (the scene where she convinces her lover to not leave her is something to behold!), an attention-seeking, jealous and selfish actress who cannot stand not being the centre of everyone’s universe and is a horrendously unthoughtful mother to Joshua James‘ Konstantin. He dreams of becoming a truthful writer but is consumed by his love for aspiring actress Nina, an excellent Olivia Vinall. Tensions are already high between these three (the dynamics between the green and the seasoned actress reminded me a lot of the 1950 film All About Eve), when Nina meets Arkadina’s current lover, acclaimed writer Trigorin (an incredibly unlikable Sam West). Nina, infatuated with the idea of the famous writer, inevitably falls for the older man and everything that he represents. He in turn falls for her adoration of him, hoping that her youth and beauty will somehow give his own life a renewed energy. Of course it all goes wrong and their relationship destroys the fragile Konstantin and more than anything demolishes Nina’s confidence. In her final scene, we see a fantastic transformation in Vinall: all her vibrancy has been sucked out of her by the selfish Trigorin who wanted to feel young again, and all that she is left with is total self-destruction. Both Vinall and James are incredibly touching in the second half, and as horrible as it is to see the younger generation so altered by the events of the play, it is even more disturbing to see how Arkadina and especially Trigorin are perfectly able to put that particular chapter behind them and carry on with a game of tombola.

After the harrowing ending of The Seagull (and a spot of dinner), Platonov hits us with a whole new playful energy. To begin with at least, this is almost a farce following Platonov, a provincial Don Juan described as “the only interesting man in the region”. James McArdle in the title role is all charm and cheek and you can (to a certain extent) understand how every woman in the vicinity seems to fall at his feet. Every single woman: from brilliant widow Anna Petrovna (an incredibly sensual Nina Sosanya), via his brother-in-law’s sweetheart Maria (a hilarious and adorable Sarah Twomey), and married woman Sofya (a totally different, headstrong performance from Olivia Vinall), not forgetting his rightful wife Sasha (Jade Williams). Each and every one of them seems to think Platonov is the answer to all their prayers, they project onto him all their hopes and dreams and take very little notice of the fact that he is actually quite a pathetic man, too lazy to show any sign of ambition or courage. There is some talk of women’s emancipation in Platonov, and they all have their moments of bravery and/or brilliance at some point, but ultimately this is quite a misogynistic play. Luckily the actresses do their utmost to turn this around and Platonov gets the end he very much deserves after causing havoc around him.

In spite of my issues with the play itself, I did thoroughly enjoy the production and McArdle gives a masterful performance, at its best in his soliloquies, which are performed directly to the audience. He draws us in and manages to charm each and every one of us, just like he does everyone on-stage.

The Seagull & Platonov are two very different plays, although themes of money and betrayal appear in both, which made my day go surprisingly fast and it certainly didn’t feel like watching more of the same. On top of the excellent performances from the cast, the shows are aided by some beautiful design: Emma Ryott (costumes), Mark Henderson (lighting) and especially Tom Pye (set) all deserve high praise for transforming the Festival Theatre’s stage into the Russian countryside. Pye manages to create a lake on the stage, which is put to great use (especially by Vinall who spends most of The Seagull in it), and the scene changes into interior settings are particularly clever. It’s a wonderful theatrical experience in its entirety, aided by the beautiful setting of the Festival Theatre (and the friendliness of their staff I must say), and you’ll be surprise how enjoyable Chekhov can be when it’s done right.

The Young Chekhov Season is on until the 14th November at the Chichester Festival Theatre. I would suggest seeing at least two of the three plays to fully enjoy the transformations in the company of actors and to appreciate what an enormous enterprise this is.

TIP: Travel-wise, if you buy your train tickets at least a week in advance and it’ll cost you only £11 each way.
As for theatre tickets, the Festival Theatre does £15 tickets on the side of the stage which are great value for money, I’ve seen a few shows from those now and I’ve never had a problem. And if you’re lucky enough to be under 25 years old, you’ll be able to see these excellent shows for only £8.50!

RoosevElvis – Royal Court

And now for something completely different: American theatre company the TEAM bring their latest show RoosevElvis to the Royal Court, and I have to applaud the theatre for programming such experimental work into their main space. It’s no small risk as it’s likely not going to be to everyone’s taste, but myself and the rest of a largely young audience embraced its bizarre story/structure/style and had a thrilling 95 minutes.

The entire show is performed by just two actresses (a #BechdelTest triumph) and at its centre is the story of Annie (Libby King) a depressed 30-something who works at a meat plant and is starting to feel like life has passed her by. She is gay, but kind of uncomfortable with it, as date Brenda (Kristen Sieh) soon realises, and she dreams of visiting Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis, but has never been on a plane or ventured far out of her own state of South Dakota.

That’s one layer, the real-life one. Then there’s Elvis, who happens to be not just Annie’s hero but also her imaginary confidante, so Libby King doubles as, well, The King, who in turn has his own hero: President Teddy Roosevelt, a wonderfully eccentric Kristen Sieh’s.

Next thing you know, Annie, Elvis and Roosevelt are off on a road trip to Graceland, a sort of pilgrimage for Annie and a journey of self-discovery for the King and the President.

King is very funny in her awkwardness as Annie, but also incredibly moving when we realise just how wasted her life has been. As for her Elvis, it’s far from an impersonation, she simply becomes her own version of him, and it’s a surprisingly natural performance to watch, full of charm and vulnerability. 

Sieh’s interpretation of Roosevelt is anything but naturalistic but rather a virtuosistic tour de force. In a particularly impressive section she will blow you away with a ballet solo that is both ridiculous and beautiful, followed by a dialogue with herself as Teddy speaks to his own hero, Scottish-American naturalist John Muir (switching to a flawless Scottish accent that comes literally out of nowhere!) and another split-personality dialogue where she is man and woman at once. 

Director Rachel Chavkin and designer Nick Vaughan create a wonderful world around these performances with a clever use of set, video and projections (Thelma & Louise is shown and referenced at various points), but you could put this show on in an empty cellar and it would be just as brilliant. RoosevElvis has all the unruliness and indefinability of an Edinburgh Fringe show but with the added benefit of high productions values and the comfort of a real auditorium. Best of both worlds! 

This is experimental theatre at its best, it also touches on social, political and gender issues, and I don’t think you’ll find anything like it around, so I URGE YOU to catch it while it’s in London.

The TEAM’s RoosevElvis is on at the Royal Court until the 14th November.

TIP: All tickets for Monday performances at the Royal Court are only £10, they are released online at 9am but you have to be quick!

Proof – Tabard Theatre

This week I made my first visit to the Tabard Theatre, a fringe venue in Chiswick, West London. With a big external staircase giving access to the auditorium above the pub, I couldn’t help feeling like I was climbing into a tree house, filled with the possibility of incredible stories, and the feeling continued as I stepped into the world of Front Foot Theatre‘s production of Proof. The Tabard’s limited stage space has been cleverly turned into the porch of a Chicago family home by designer Michael Leopold’s beautiful set (Offie nominated), which has a level of detail that’s far beyond what I’ve come to expect from Fringe productions.

The play, by American playwright David Auburn, focuses on Catherine on the aftermath of her father’s death; a simple enough premise enriched by the fact that the father, Robert, was a renowned mathematical genius who was also mentally unstable. Having spent the last few years looking after him and his deteriorating “machinery” (his preferred name for the mathematical brain), Catherine now must deal with the funeral, her controlling sister Claire, and the attentions of young mathematician Hal, both towards her and her father’s old notebooks.

At the centre of this production of Proof is the moving and multifaceted performance of Julia Papp as Catherine. The chemistry between her and the other characters is perfect and I suspect it might have something to do with the Meisner technique training present in the actors’ CVs.

The father-daughter relationship is full of heart on both sides and Tim Hardy’s Robert is a wonderful presence on the stage, I kept wanting him to come back! His last scene with Catherine is devastatingly sad and played with real mastery.

We get the sense that this close relationship is miles away from what Robert had with his other daughter, and we get a lot of resentment in Mary-Ann Cafferkey’s Claire. But her excellent performance (another well-deserved Offie nomination) is also full of humour with references to her ‘organic’ New York life with fiancé Mitch, unseen but ever-present in her words, being perfectly unbearable. Cafferkey is deliciously irritating.

The fourth character is Hal, Robert’s ex student who is keen to go through the professor’s papers in the hope of finding traces of his old brilliance and possibly steal a few ideas to give his own career a push. Inevitably, him and Catherine fall for each other, but what starts with some excellent mathematical flirting (yep, that’s a thing) in ActI quickly turns sour in ActII when the discovery of a particular proof [a deductive argument for a mathematical statement – apparently!], soon tests their relationship. Kim Hardy makes for a fantastic woody-allenesque Hal, portraying him as a geeky but charming mathematician coming to terms with the fact that he might never make it into the Mathematics hall of fame after all.

Director Sebastien Blanc does a brilliant job with this strong cast and takes very good care of Auburn’s script without missing a beat.

The only downside would have to be the slightly clunky scene changes, alas that’s the bane of a studio theatre so they might just be unavoidable, but Proof is a great story brought to us by a brilliant cast and an intelligent director. I urge you to go.

Proof is on at the Tabard Theatre until next Saturday 24th October, do not miss it, it’s surprising how engaging a play about maths can be!

TIP: Purely transport-related – note that on the way in to see the show the Piccadilly line does not stop at Turnham Green so make sure you change onto the District Line (towards Richmond or Ealing Broadway) at Earls Court!

Bonus Post: Act I or Act II

Today, rather than writing about a recent theatre trip, it’s all about a heap of my favourite Truffles from the past.

At the invitation of the delightful @ThriftyTheatre I give you my Act I vs Act II list, a challenge for theatre lovers created by @ChowKimWan. The task is simple enough, choose 8 of your favourite musicals of all time and ask yourself which half you prefer and why. Not as easy as it looks to pick favourites..

West Side Story, 1957 (Music: Leonard Bernstein, Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim)
It has to be Act I because ‘Something’s Coming’, ‘America’, ‘Maria’, ‘Tonight’ and even the gorgeous instrumental that is ‘The Dance at the Gym’ are all in the first act so how could it be otherwise?! Hard to let go of the second act opening number though, but I’ll have to sacrifice ‘I Feel Pretty’ for the others…
Verdict: ACT I

Cabaret, 1966 (M: John Kander, L: Fred Ebb)
This one was tough because some of my favourite songs are in the first half (‘Mein Herr’, ‘Money’), however, the story develops in such a chilling way in the second half that I have to pick that over the show tunes. Plus, watching ‘Cabaret’ and the ‘Wilkommen’ reprise knowing everything that’s happened previously on stage makes these brilliant songs even better.
Verdict: ACT II

Evita, 1978 (M: Andrew Lloyd Webber, L: Tim Rice)
I love a sung-through musical and the Lord (Webber, that is) sure knew how to write a good one in the 60s and 70s. Evita has a fantastic heroine at its centre and although I love many of the musical numbers in the first half, I always look forward to seeing Evita once she’s installed in the Casa Rosada and the character arch that takes her from the majestic ‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’, through ‘Rainbow High’ and eventually to the heartbreaking ‘You Must Love Me’ (I know that one was added later but it’s so good). I last saw Madalena Alberto in the role in the West End and her performance of these three numbers was all I wanted and more (saving a production that I otherwise thought was really quite bad!).
Verdict: ACT II

A Little Night Music, 1973 (M&L: Stephen Sondheim)
This show is all great but I’m going to choose Act II without a shadow of a doubt simply because of one song: ‘The Miller’s Son’. Petra, the maid, whom you barely notice in the first half, is given this fantastic showstopper which I think is one of THE best songs ever written.
Verdict: ACT II

Merrily We Roll Along, 1981 (M&L: Stephen Sondheim)
The clever thing about this musical is that we see all the events developing backwards, so we start at the end of the friendship between Frank, Charley and Mary and we work back to the day they met. Similarly to Cabaret, I’ll have to choose the second act of this one because when you see the beginning of their friendship at the end of the show, knowing what it’s going to turn into, it really breaks your heart. Plus ‘Opening Doors’ is such fun!
I saw the last London revival in the West End in 2013 three times and I ended up in a mess of tears each time, and that has a lot to do with the early moments of the story being placed at the very end of the show. Genius.
Verdict: ACT II

Into The Woods, 1986 (M&L: Stephen Sondheim)
Yup, more Sondheim, the man just knows how to write the best stuff, what can I say?!
Once again, this musical is very clever with its second half where all the fairy tales that ended up happily in the first half are turned on their head. The two Princes’ reprise of ‘Agony’ is in this half which always makes me giggle, the Baker’s Wife sings ‘Moments in the Woods’ (listen from 2:10) which is one of the most interesting songs for a female character in any musical. The show concludes with a series of great songs, including ‘Last Midnight’ and ‘No one Is Alone’, so there’s no doubt it’s Act II for this fairy tale reality check.
Verdict: ACT II

Rent, 1996 (M&L: Jonathan Larson)
This show is far from perfect but I will forever love it because when I first listened to the album it was like no other show I’d ever heard before. Plus it’s inspired by the opera La Bohème, which I’ve known and loved since I was 6 believe it or not!
I’ll go with the first act because of ‘Light My Candle’, ‘Tango Maureen’, ‘Out Tonight’, ‘Over the Moon’ & the brilliant ‘La Vie Bohème’ which still encapsulates the spirit of the opera if not the music!
Verdict: ACT I

Wicked, 2003 (M&L: Stephen Schwartz)
I recently wrote a post on this show so I won’t bore you again with why I think it’s great. I have to choose the second half because the story gets really, really good and because the my favourite ‘No Good Deed’ and the moving ‘For Good’ are both in this half and I think they’re both stunning songs.
Verdict: ACT II

People, Places and Things – National Theatre (Dorfman)

⭐️2016 winner of 2 Olivier Awards:
Sound Design (T.Gibbons) & Best Actress (D.Gough) ⭐️

NB: I reviewed this show when it was at the National Theatre in 2015 but People Places and Things is transferring to the West End from the 15th March 2016. There are some affordable tickets for the onstage seating which is always an experience! book here!

I have been following the work of Headlong Theatre Company for 8 years now and I find I am never disappointed after one of their shows. In fact, I count some of them amongst my favourite theatre experiences ever (The Effect, also at the National, will stay with me forever, I am sure of that), and even when they haven’t completely won me over, they have always managed to interest me and often surprise me.

So expectations were high as I walked into the National’s Dorfman Theatre for Duncan Macmillan‘s new play People, Places and Things, which follows actress Emma as she voluntarily commits herself into a rehab centre to tackle her substance abuse problem.

Under the clever and always ingenious direction of Jeremy Herrin, Denise Gough as Emma gives one of the most affecting performances I have seen all year. Her portrayal of addiction is masterful and, although the character is hardly likeable, we do feel deeply for her. It’s especially heartbreaking for both her and us to realise, just as she starts to get better, that the damage she has caused around her simply cannot be repaired.

A strong ensemble creates the population of the rehab centre, with the excellent Barbara Marten multi-rolling her way from a no-bullshit doctor, to a birkenstock-wearing, irritatingly calm therapist and finishing off with a pretty brutal (though not unjustified) mother who gives Emma a potentially fatal dose of tough love.

Just like in the American The Motherfucker with the Hat, another play about addiction seen at the National earlier this year, the protagonist’s road to recovery follows the twelve-step program, a set of principles that form the basis of the Alcoholic Anonymous organisation, with a religious influence and the heavy undertones of a creed rather than a treatment. The cynical Emma is as skeptical as I am about it to begin with, and it takes her a couple of goes to fully buy into “the program”. She eventually seems to embrace it as her only option to avoid complete self-destruction.

As gloomy as the subject is, Macmillan’s script is full of humour, with a couple of moments involving falafel and the purpose of saying Amen (You have to say Amen. – Why? – It’s like pressing Send on an email) getting full-blown laughs from us. But the play doesn’t shy away from the darkness of addiction, and Herrin’s production is at its most powerful when portraying what’s happening in Emma’s head: through impressive projections by Andrzej Goulding (on a slick and multi-functional box of a set by Bunny Christie), we see her surroundings crumble, and the clever employment of 6 Emma duplicates gives us the full sense of her out-of-body experience preceding her frequent black-outs.

What the play’s title refers to is the idea that as long as addicts can avoid the people, the places and the things that trigger their substance abuse, then they will be able to make a full recovery. This, as Emma soon realises, is almost impossible to achieve outside the walls of the rehab centre, and seems to incarnate the frustrating impracticalities of “the program”.

People, Places and Things is at the National Theatre’s Dorfman Theatre until the 4th November.

Tip: I saw the show from one of the £15 restricted view seats in the circle, which wasn’t too bad (just avoid the high seats, you really don’t get a great view from those), but as the run is mostly sold out, the best way to get good seats at an affordable price is through the National Theatre’s Friday Rush: every Friday at 1pm they release a certain number of £20 tickets online for the following week’s performances, so get on it if you don’t want to miss the chance to see this beautifully striking play.

Wicked – Apollo Victoria Theatre

Since coming back from this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, where I saw some truly inspiring performances, I’ve been struggling with London theatre. It’s all been pretty beige in comparison, slick but empty, hence the silence on this blog. I’ve struggled to find Truffles worth writing about.

The antidote to all this beige-ness came in a bright shade of green this week, with a trip to the glorious spectacle that is Wicked in the West End. I have seen the show before of course but not for a while and it instantly made me snap out of my state of theatre discontent.

For those who have not yet had a chance to see it, Wicked is an ingenious prequel to The Wizard of Oz, based on the American novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. The story follows the green-skinned outsider Elphaba and the blonde, popular Galinda as they turn into Oz’s the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good respectively. It’s a very different perspective on The Wizard‘s story, tackling the themes of good and evil and how things aren’t always that black and white (or green and white if you will..).

The music, written by Stephen Schwartz in the early 2000s, has stood the test of time and is as impressive and moving as ever (I’m not ashamed to admit that ‘For Good’ will always, without fail, make me cry), and the current cast does it justice. Emma Hatton not only has a fantastic voice to effortlessly sing Elphaba’s mommoth songs, but she is also very funny as the young student and fierce as the grown-up witch; this shines through especially in ‘No Good Deed’ where she suddenly looks 6 foot tall and looks like she could turn you into dust before you can say wicked!

Savannah Stevenson, as Elphaba’s nemesis-turned-best-friend has nailed her comic timing and is by far the most hilarious Glinda I’ve ever seen. The ever-popular ‘Popular’ number is a definite highlight of the night. Her comedic talents, combined with a stunning soprano voice make her truly irresistible.

So much of this show is about the relationship between the two girls and Hatton and Stevenson are a joy to watch together, they have the perfect chemistry and ultimately, beyond the amazing music and impressive staging, that is what stays with me every time.

We are so thirsty for good, meaty female roles on our stages, but Wicked has been ahead of the game for over a decade, providing us with two multi-fasceted and complicated characters, each strong and courageous in their own way. These women take the world into their own hands to pursue what they believe to be right, and yes they are both in love with Fiyero, but it really isn’t about the guy here.

Now add to that some amazing tunes, quirky choreography and special effects and it really doesn’t get much better than that. This is the West End at its best.

Wicked is at the Apollo Victoria Theatre for the forseeable future.

TIP: Watch The Wizard of Oz film again before you go or refresh your memory by reading a synopsis, you’ll enjoy Wicked even more when you realise how they’ve made everythign fit so well with the Wizard story!