The Sex Party, Menier Chocolate Factory

This is a story about a suburban sex party, set in a middle-class house in Islington. The play is set in the kitchen, all the libidinous stuff takes place off stage, in the lounge and we see the cast as they arrive and when they are taking a break from the action (as it were). I probably went with the wrong frame of mind; I was expecting a comedy or a farce. It does have some jokes (not enough) and some of the characters are mildly funny, but it certainly not a comedy.

The first act has a different tone to the second half. The first is lighter and I guess this is to introduce the characters, but just before curtains falls for the interval, a woman arrives and as soon as she heads off to the bathroom, there is hushed discussion as to whether or not she is trans. The second act is about whether she is, and how everyone feels about it.

The mood is darker, the dialogue is deeper, and suddenly we are in more confrontational territory. Now it is not a play about sex, but about gender, identity, misogyny and even racism. The concept is current, it is surely an issue of our time, but I felt the author wasn’t clear enough in his own head where he stood on the matter, to give his characters well-formed opinions. I think the time is right for a play that covers the boundaries between all these subjects, but this play’s characters did not present a broad enough spectrum of views to provide a good balance. I don’t wish to be unfair to the show, it is a good idea and I enjoyed it up to a point, but for my taste, the comedy parts weren’t quite funny enough and the debates were more shouting matches than cohesive arguments.

Having said that, the cast is strong, it is not often that you get an Oscar winner in a fringe play. Timothy Hutton was good, given his underwritten part. Molly Osborne was wry and likeable as Hetty, John Hopkins and Will Barton delivered their funny self-deprecating lines well. All the actors were good, and the set was done with a great deal of attention to detail. I really like the Menier Chocolate Factory as a theatre and it’s good to have it back presenting plays again.

Murder for Two, The Other Palace, London SW1

The Studio at The Other Palace is an intimate theatre with a small stage and seating for about a hundred people. This is the perfect setting for this show, which is an affectionate homage to black and white murder mystery movies and to camp musical theatre. It is written by an American pair, Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair, who clearly have a love for both of the genres that they are sending up.

This is a two handed play, with Ed MacArthur playing the investigating officer and Jeremy Legat playing everybody else, apart from the moment when an audience member is brought onstage to play the death throes of a poisoned murder victim. It takes a few minutes to adjust to the quick changes between all the different characters, but soon with only a single prop and a shift in demeanour, Jeremy Legat has us following his transitions through the roles at breakneck speed.

Murder for Two is a madcap musical. It has eleven songs. Usually one of the pair plays the piano while the other sings and dances but there are duets or songs with multiple parts. The songs that have the officer interviewing three members of a boys choir, and an arguing married couple are particularly inventive. The lyrics in the songs are clever. “A Friend Like You” which opens the second act is particularly good.

The familiar elements of the story arc are magnified and made into a virtue, so that we can derive pleasure from knowing what is about to happen and laugh when it does. There are very funny lines in the dialogue, but the main comedy comes from the character portrayal. The intimacy of the theatre adds to the warmth of the performances, Ed MacArthur and Jeremy Legat have charisma and there was a personal connection with the audience.

Murder For Two is pure light entertainment, every trope from film noir and musical theatre has been thrown in the mix. The only thing that could have made it camper would have been the addition of a butler in a feather boa. It is on at The Studio of The Other Palace until 18 January. It is a witty and likeable presentation, a warm hearted murder mystery musical.

Consensual, Soho Theatre, Dean Street, London W1

 

Consensual is the latest production from the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. Set in an urban modern school, it deals with very current issues. It was first performed three years ago, but following the rise of the #metoo movement in the intervening time, it catches the zeitgeist even more today than it did at the time.

The thrust of the play is about the what exactly constitutes consent and where the abuse of power begins. The play wastes no time getting into the subject matter.  A teacher is discussing the “Healthy Relationships” curriculum in  class, then after school, she is confronted by a relationship that she had with a student seven years earlier when she was a teaching assistant. She believes that the student took advantage of her naïveté at the time. He believes that she groomed him while he was underage.

These two, Diane and Freddie, nicely played by Marilyn Nnadebe and Fred Hughes-Stanton, are the main protagonists of the story. The are supported by a cast of pupils, teachers and family who highlight the blurring of the lines, between their opposing points of view. There is a host of great cameo performances among them, the play is sharply observed and cleverly written, so there are some nice characters and some excellent lines to be delivered. I particularly like Alice Vilanculo as Georgia, who manages to convey a begging for help by resolutely deny that she needs it. Jay Mailer is also outstanding in his one scene as Jake, Freddie’s brother, his exasperation giving way to  grudging support in the end.

The direction is clever, the dark subject matter and deep conversation is interspersed with musical breaks and funny moments.  The song where the school boys deliver a song in the manner of the Pussycat Dolls or Destiny’s Child is a highlight.  There are some very witty exchanges between classmates and these lines are delivered fast and the scenes are short. Jamie Ankrah, Muhammad Abubakar Khan, Olivia Dowd and Simran Hunjun deliver nice brashness and impudence, they keep the mood upbeat and the pace brisk.

The set is sparse and inventive, allowing the direction and writing to shine. I did love the way the cast quickly make a car from school benches. Consensual is a thought provoking show, it tackles a difficult subject in an entertaining way. It could not be more topical.  It has some great acting, keep your eyes on the cast list – I’m sure we will be seeing more of these actors in the future!

 

 

Pity at the Royal Court Theatre, July and August

https://checkout.timeout.com/london/pity-at-royal-court-theatre-56938?cid=~affiliate~tastemaker~Nick

Time Out offered me this special deal on tickets to see Pity at the Royal Court. They asked me to share the deal on my blog, as an experiment to see whether anyone clicked on the deal or if anyone takes up the offer.

The play looks quite interesting and the offer seems good, so I have agreed to do it as a one off experiment. I am away on holiday in July, so I’m going close to the end of the run in August. I bought the £12 tickets because the Royal Court is small and the view is good from every seat.

I hope you don’t mind this different type of post and I promise that this is a single time only, I am not suddenly going to be a site that bombards you with deals and special offers.

Sea Wall, Old Vic, London, SE1

Sea Wall was written by Simon Stephens specifically for Andrew Scott. He first performed it ten years ago at the Bush theatre in Hammersmith. Since that time, both of them have become regarded as leaders in their sphere. Simon Stephens was already very well regarded, being involved with young writers at The Royal Court, but his hugely successful adaptation of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” has taken his career to a new level. Andrew Scott has been involved in the big hit TV series, Sherlock, where he plays Moriarty, and his stage performance of Hamlet was one of last years stand out performances. https://reviewdonkey.wordpress.com/?s=hamlet

This particular play has developed something of a cult following, it has been performed in the UK and Ireland and there is filmed version of it available online. I have to say that it is a truly remarkable piece, beautifully written. It plays to all of Andrew Scott’s  considerable strengths. He interacts directly with the audience, his naturalistic style of acting fits perfectly with the writing and one cannot help but be moved by his telling of the story. It was surely imagined for performance in a much smaller space than the Old Vic but Andrew Scott has even this larger audience in the palm of his hand.

The piece is short, only half an hour long, and the tightwad in me, initially felt a little short changed that The Old Vic is charging pretty nearly full price for a thirty minute one man show with no set. However, with perspective, Sea Wall is a very high quality, dense piece and I’m not sure that Andrew Scott, or the audience for that matter, could have kept up that level of intensity for any longer.

This show really enhances the reputations of both the actor and the writer. From Andrew Scott we really do get a masterclass in captivating an audience. He managed to make a thousand seat auditorium feel like a private conversation. I think that after he has finished the run here, there is life in the show yet and, I suspect that it is likely to be performed at other venues in the future. If not, I believe that you can watch the show on film at  http://www.seawallandrewscott.com/ I haven’t watched it yet, but if it is half as good as it is live then you are in for a treat!

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Donmar Warehouse, London WC2

This is a new adaptation of Muriel Spark’s novel. David Harrower has changed the telling of the story, in some ways it is closer to the book than any of the previous adaptations have been. It is told in flashback rather than the flashforward of the book, but the main roles from the book are all here and their character foibles are more to the fore than in the 1969 film starring Maggie Smith.

The Jean Brodie of this play is more obviously manipulative, but still charismatic. She is a talented teacher, hugely influential, on the children she teaches. However, with great power comes great responsibility and the story is really about whether her personality allows her to use her talent to its best effect. There is no doubt that Jean Brodie is a fantastic role, although Maggie Smith – with her best actress Oscar for the part, makes it a brave soul who would be prepared to take it on. Lia Williams is amazing in the role, she really makes it her own. She shows us why the girls are so in her thrall, and she gives us an insight into why this is not necessarily always in their best interests.

The cast is small and all are good. Angus Wright is excellent, as usual, as Gordon Lowther, the music teacher whose love for Jean Brodie is not returned. His part, in particular, is more compassionately written here than in other versions, this works well as a contrast to the more dissolute role of Teddy Lloyd.   I really enjoyed seeing the role of Joyce Emily brought forward in this adaptation. Nicola Coughlan is really good in the part, I think we will be hearing that name much more in the future.

The set is simple with clean lines and cool colours, reminiscent of Rennie Mackintosh. There is also a kind of Japanese Shinto influence with different bells arranged around the set, ringing intermittently before the start and during the interval, ensuring that we are all in a state of relaxation before the action begins.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a great book and this is a lovely new adaptation of it. The dialogue is crisp and clear, the characters are sympathetically written, and the acting is top class. It is playing until the end of July, I know the Donmar has a tendency to sell out very quickly, but if you can get your hands on a ticket, then I would recommend that you do.

Nightfall, Bridge Theatre, London SE1

Nightfall is a play by Barney Norris, who has already written many plays and books, winning the Critic’s Circle Award for most promising playwright along the way. From this production, you can see that he has a talent for writing dialogue. It has a realistic feel and there are some lovely moments of insight. However, this is a four hander and all of the characters don’t feel fully developed. The two women in particular are caricatures who, despite the difficulties they battle through, one does not feel much empathy for. The storyline has many twists, some very dramatic, but I felt that we were told about them, then they were forgotten about and had little effect on the characters’ actions.

Having said that, there are positives, the set is amazing and uses the modern stage to its best effect. The Bridge Theatre is a new theatre, less than a year old, and it is beautiful. Bigger than I expected, although it holds almost 1000 people, the design is such that I cannot imaging that there is single restricted view seat in the whole auditorium. The stage area itself is very versatile, it would not have been possible to have a set of this design in a more traditional theatre. I loved the lighting too, it is set outdoors and sunsets and sunrises are done beautifully. Cars arriving and leaving at night were also lit very cleverly.

Ukweli Roach puts in a great performance as Pete. Sion Daniel Young is also good as Ryan and there was an undercurrent of chemistry between the two characters that felt undeveloped. It is interesting to see that one of Barney Norris’ non fiction books is about the theatre of Peter Gill, because there were times when I was reminded of The York Realist.

Overall, although I enjoyed listening to them talk for the two hours, I did not feel that there was any narrative arc or that any of the characters had moved on over the course of the play. Perhaps  the type of nostalgia he was trying to evoke would have been easier to attain if it had not been set in the present, or perhaps it is one of those plays whose real depth will not be apparent until some years after writing.

The Fall, National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, Southwark Playhouse, London

I really look forward to seeing what the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain bring out each year. It is always interesting and thought provoking. They rarely disappoint and this show is no exception. This is a triptych of plays with a common theme, aging and how we treat the aged. All three are written by James Fritz, they have funny and intelligent dialogue. Directed by Matt Harrison, the bed in the centre of the stage is the single focal point, it cleverly has different implications in each scene.

The first is the most conforming of the three, the story of a couple of horny teenagers who use an old man’s flat to have sex while he is away.  Jesse Bateson and Niyi Akin are both excellent, showing off teenage attitudes to old age, with humour and occasional compassion.

The second is also a two hander.  A couple age from teenage to late middle age in the course of twenty minutes, as they cope with looking after their son and an aging parent. Sophie Couch is really good, we are unsure of her actions without ever being unsure of her motives. Troy Richards as her partner does a great job of keeping us guessing as to whether he believes her because he trusts her or because he just chooses to without any real justification.

The third is set in an old peoples’ home, in a future where virtual assistant apps control the looking after and their only company is each other. The only outside human interaction appears to be a liaison officer, played with cool dispassion by Lucy Havard, offering voluntary euthanasia. Jamie Ankrah does a good job of playing the archetypal “Grumpy Old Man”.  Jamie Foulkes evokes compassion for his decision and Madeline Charlemagne is great as an octogenarian with a sense of fun. Josie Charles is fantastic as the last old person left, measuring out her days by turning on her room lights. Joshua Williams is excellent as the Nurse, one of the few people in the cast who gets to play his own age, whose job now is doling out death, but at least trying to do it with compassion.

Every year the NYT of GB do a season of shows in both off West End and West End theatres. This is the first time that they have been at the Southwark Playhouse, it is a venue that will work well for them, in that it is both intimate and adaptable. The plays put on by the National Youth Theatre are always innovative, interesting and entertaining and they are very competitively priced.  The production values are great and you are sure to see some stars of the future, either in acting, direction or choreography.

The Prudes, Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, Royal Court, Sloane Square, London SW1

The Jerwood Theatre Upstairs holds less than 100 people and every seat has a good view of the stage. It is a small intimate theatre, although perhaps not intimate enough for the act that Jimmy and Jess assure us that they intend to carry out on stage during the play this evening. The set is pink, soft and fluffy, apart from the “Blind Date” style tall stools. Indeed, if Channel 5 were planning to have a competitive sex therapy show, they could come here for ideas.

The Prudes is a two hander about, Jess and Jimmy, a couple who have been together for nearly 10 years but who have not had sex for over a year. They are worried about the effect that this is having on their relationship and have come to the decision that they only thing they can do prevent their breakup is to have sex in front of us on stage tonight. We are not told how come they have reached this conclusion, but we are here now, let’s run with it.

What follows is a discussion about sexual politics, and how the #metoo movement has changed how we look at sex and power in sex. Jonjo O’Neill and Sophie Russell are excellent as Jimmy and Jess, they interact with the audience, they ask for affirmation of their most embarrassing confessions, they are funny and likeable and we can feel their warmth for each other through their difficulties.

The play is witty, it certainly captures the zeitgeist and it poses many questions that are brought to mind by the sexual harassment cases that have been in the news over the past months. I think we are still too close to the events to have a good perspective on how they will change our attitudes, and writer Anthony Neilson doesn’t even attempt to look for answers. This leads to a play that is enjoyable to watch but lacks a little punch in the consummation.

 

Antigone, Greenwich Theatre, London

The Actors of Dionysus are touring the UK at the moment with this, a sci-fi tinged modern adaptation of Sophocles’ two and a half thousand year old play. Antigone, a Greek tragedy, has never really been an easy watch, but this adaptation has definitely made it more accessible.

Christopher Adams has written, a well thought out, updating of the play. I enjoyed the conceit of making the chorus of the original into the hive mind of linked computers. I thought the idea of making the soul into a chip that needed to be removed and uploaded worked well and gave us a good insight into Antigone’s motivation and into Creon’s harshness at refusing to allow it.

The stage setting is interesting, I guess touring made the set need to be as simple as it was, and I liked the current touches, the surveillance drones are particularly clever and fitted very well with the story and setting. The simplicity of the set did emphasise the universal themes of the play.

I found the acting good and I enjoyed the way each character pushed their agenda. I particularly liked the change in Creon from harsh dictator to broken soul. The well intentioned but misguided leader delivering tough love for the good of the populace can be a hard sell at times, but he brought it off well.

It is a Greek tragedy, so we cannot expect a happy or wholesome outcome, however it is a tribute to Antigone’s universal themes that it is still being performed over two millennia after it was written and this is as enjoyable and accessible a production as you are likely to see anywhere.  Thoroughly recommended.the