Theatre 2017: Review Fifteen - Love in Idleness

Love in Idleness, Menier Chocolate Theatre, London. April 2017.

Due to a variety of events I am later reviewing this than normal and it has been nearly two weeks since I saw this, but it doesn't seem to matter too much for as soon as I think of this I smile.

Rattigan's plays have that effect on me it would seem. At first thought they seem light and fluffy but then the depth and emotion grows on you and this play was no exception and I was so involved with this one that I went from crying with laughter to crying with sadness in one breath.

The play itself is a hybrid - Rattigan wrote the serious  Less than Kind  first but this was not produced and with input/help from the original lead actors is became the comedy Love in Idleness. For this production elements from both plays have been taken so that the comedy has more bite, emotion and politics but is also still incredibly funny. It remains very much a play of its original time however.

I do think that it is the cast that really makes this sing - the timing is impeccable and I utterly believed in the main trio's relationship. They felt like a dysfunctional family unit and the wonderful ending came together brilliantly from this build up.

I've now read both versions of the play and I feel that the hybrid that has been created does appeal to me more than either of the originals - this was feel good theatre and I loved every moment of it, so much so that I am tempted to try and see it again when it transfers to the West End.

Theatre 2015: Review Four

Assassins. The Chocolate Menier Theatre, London. January 2015.

After the previous uninspiring theatre trip and a week spent nursing an ear infection I can't say I was particularly looking forward to the trip to London for this.  Coupled with the fact that my last two plays directed by Jamie Lloyd (Richard III and Macbeth) have been among my worst experiences at the theatre it really wouldn't have taken much to see me call this visit off.

However the lure of the venue and the cast saw me negotiating the complicated rail timetables and heading to the theatre.  I am so pleased I did.

Apart from being about the people who have killed (or tried to kill) the Presidents of the United States I knew nothing about this show at all and got quite a shock as we entered the auditorium through a creepy, run down clown's mouth past a dodgem car into a really grungy old travelling funfair come circus set.

The musical was as creepy as the staging, and I mean that in the best way, I was on edge the whole time and totally unsure as to what was going to happen or how.  The assassins brandished guns with abandon and as the venue is so small to be looking down the barrel of a gun at that close distance coupled with the manic grin of a mad assassin meant that the hairs on the back of my neck didn't lay down for the whole 75 minutes of the show.

I hadn't read reviews or the programme so the small casting twist took me totally by surprise and worked wonderfully.  I didn't come out humming the songs but I know that it will take a long time to let the images of the show calm down in my mind.

Another (sell out) hit from the Menier - now let me go and look at their schedule for the rest of the year...