Theatre 2015: Review Three

Taken at Midnight. Theatre Royal Haymarket, London. January 2015.

It has been a little while since I saw this, the review is late because I saw a preview of the show and also because I was unwell the week after seeing it.

There is also another reason - the old adage if you can't say something nice,don't say anything at all rings horribly true with my feelings on the play.

We had good seats, the actors spoke well and the scenery and use of stage was good. The original story - that of lawyer Hans Litton -  is incredible.  This is a man who put Hitler on trial before he came to power and was then, inevitably, imprisoned once Hitler was legitimately elected to power.

So what went wrong?  For me there was just too much narration and not enough acting, I think in fact that the cast spent more time carrying props on and off the stage than they did interacting with them, or each other. There were two stand out performances that of John Light as Dr Konrad the SS Officer and Martin Hutson as Hans.  The role of Hans' mother, played by Penelope Wilton, should have been a tour de force but sadly was one note and flat throughout.

In the final two scenes I finally became emotionally involved, and the final scene before the interval was shocking but on the whole this made a great radio play but not very inspiring theatre.

Theatrical Interlude 17

The Tempest, Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London. September 2011

This is the third of four plays that Sir Trevor Nunn is staging at the Haymarket Theatre in 2011 and due to the star one of the hottest ticket around. Thanks to the eagle eyes of a friend we've had seats booked at this for months.

In the end we found it a very mixed performance.

Ralph Fiennes, as Prospero, is amazing. He has such stage presence that even when he is just standing behind a pillar watching the scene unfold I found my eyes drawn to him.

Nicholas Lyndhurst and Clive Wood were also outstanding as Trinculo and Stephano. These are the two comedy roles and they play the roles wonderfully and have a real chemistry together, which continues with the addition of Caliban. It isn't their fault that perhaps Shakespeare wrote one too many slapstick scene.

The other part of the production that really stood out for me was the portrayal of Ariel and the other supernatural creatures. They flew, danced, sand and moved in such a smooth, beautiful way that I really could see them as ethereal creatures rather than actors.

However the rest of the play didn't captivate me in such a way, it felt too episodic. The stories didn't quite make me believe in them and in the final scene where everyone is reunited and wrongs are put right no one on the stage seemed shocked or bothered - there, for me, was no emotion in this bit.

All in all a mixed bag, it certainly wasn't a bad play, I thoroughly enjoyed watching it but I think I prefer my Shakespeare at The Globe where there is more interplay between the stage and the audience (like it would have been when the plays were first performed), and where the actors seem to inhabit the roles rather than declaiming the lines to a dark theatre.

Ariel

Caliban, Trinculo and Stephano.