Theatre 2016: Review Eight (cinema broadcast)

Hangmen, from the Wyndhams Theatre, National Theatre Live at Cinema City.

This was a play that had been on my radar for a while but one that I wasn't quite interested enough in to scramble for tickets and fight with the trains to see, thus when a live cinema broadcast was announced I was very happy.

I didn't know anything about this play before going in and to be honest the opening scene was a bit of a shock, but really effective.  It set the scene between the darkness of the topic and the way in which it was going to be presented wonderfully and from the outset you weren't sure if it was actually okay to laugh.

Once the action moved to the pub it became even more claustrophobic and the worry as to whether or not you should laugh became even more pronounced. There were definitely comic characters but at the same time putting people to death is not a joke.

The not knowing what to think continued right through the first half, especially once we meet the creepy, sorry menacing, Mooney - even thinking about his actions nearly a week on sends shivers up my spine, that's powerful writing and acting!

I was thoroughly unsettled at the interval and this continued through the second act with the sense of dooming growing with every scene. I'm not going to go further here because I found the end to be very clever but at the same time asked as many questions as it answered.  I might not think of a family box of Weetabix in the same light again and run very fast if anyone asks you to "smell my hair!"

I'm pleased that I had the chance to see this on the screen and hope that more theatres join in the Live Broadcast schedule over time.

Theatre 2015: Review Thirty

War Horse, New London Theatre, London. September 2015.

This trip turned out to be incredibly poignant as while we were ensconced in the auditorium closing notices for the production were posted.

We however found this out afterwards and in the meantime the three of us making this trip were blown away by what we saw on stage.  This was my fourth visit but the first time my companions had seen the play live, although one had seen the NT Live broadcast.

Repeated viewings of this production never disappoint me.  Each time I sit in a different area of the theatre and so see something new. This time we had seats in the 'restricted view' seats to the side of the stalls. I have put the restricted view into inverted commas because I think that we missed nothing on the stage at all, and while sometimes the actors had their backs to us that was the only inconvenience.  The seats were in fact just three rows from the front and so we really could see the whites of the actors eyes.

As ever I was instantly swept up into the story and forgot within seconds that Joey and Topthorn weren't real.  In fact where we were sitting we made so much eye contact with Joey at one point that we were all reaching for apples to share with him! This close range also showed just how good the puppets are in scenes where they are used as riders on the "half-horses."

Every time I watch this play I get a lump in my throat at a different point, after all of the work I have been doing on the Norfolk in WW1 project it was the lines about the war being over by Christmas in act one choked me up but it was the very final scene that had me swallowing hard this time.  I know that I have become more involved in the human story in the past few years and while the treatment of the animals is a way into the horrors of war I have moved on from that in some ways and do get more involved with the human story.  However there were still points I had to shut my eyes for!
As we said afterwards - without showing any blood at all this is one of the most violent and brutal things we've ever seen.

In the second act we are taken away from the bucolic Devon countryside and romantic ideas of how the war will be into the horrors of the trenches - the added realism of a real mouse around my feet was a nice,but unnecessary touch!

On the way home we were discussing what we'd seen when the man sitting behind us joined in - it turns out that he'd been the back-end puppeteer of Joey for a few years and had given Michael Morpurgo a ride on Joey!  He gave some fascinating insights to the role, how the puppets work and how hard it was to make it look so real and so effortless.  I'm just glad we had all liked the performance and were saying nice things, it isn't always the case!

I'm now planning one more trip to see War Horse before it closes, and wondering whether to really splash out for those special seats in the front stalls for the 'wow' moment or to stick with the so-called restricted view and go twice...

Theatre 2014: Review Twenty-Eight (cinema)

Skylight (National Theatre Live, Wyndham's Theatre, London. September 2014.

Thanks to the NT Live programme Mr Norfolkbookworm and I got the chance to see a play that were both interested in but just couldn't fit into our diaries this summer.  Instead on a Sunday when the weather was a bit 'British' we went to our local Odeon cinema and spent almost three happy hours watching a great piece of theatre.

All I really knew about this production was that Carey Mulligan made a spaghetti bolognese on stage during the course of the drama and I do find that it is a real test of if a play works or not as to whether this approach works.

In this case I found that it did, the characters and their motives were written well enough that without too much extraneous explanation you knew who they were, how they related to each other and what drove them.  There was an awful lot of humour in the roles and I found myself laughing with and at the three characters throughout the play. (The plot is well explained on Wikipedia if you are interested, but I'd try and see an Encore if you can.)

A mark of the writing is that my opinions of the characters changed repeatedly throughout the action and although I would put myself on the liberal end of the political and social spectrum I found myself swayed by both Tom and Kyra's speeches and on balance think I had a little more sympathy with the more traditional, conservative part by the end which really surprised me! The 'star' casting was spot on and made use of actors' idiosyncrasies without making about them not the role.

Some reviewers have criticised the role, or the actor, playing Tom's son Edward.  I found him totally believable as a teenager taking a gap year.  He was the right mix of gauche, cocky, over confident and underneath it all bewildered and insecure.  His actions in the last scene are also some of the sweetest I've seen (or read in a novel) for a long time.

As is so often the case I do wish that I had seen this on stage. As I didn't manage that then I wish I'd seen it at my usual NT Live venue - Cinema City - as the screening we were in had very few people in it and really did lose more of the atmosphere than I've ever found at an NT Live screening.  I'm really pleased that another venue was showing Encores as otherwise I'd have missed this one totally but the cavernous, 3/4 empty screen did change the experience.

I've found myself thinking about the play an awful lot, it was first written and staged in 1996 but society has changed so little in that time (or we've come full circle) that it doesn't seem dated. Only the set dressing and props plus the reference to Yellow Pages give it away that this revival wasn't set in 2014. I also want to commend the set, all too often if all reviewer/bloggers can write about is the stage then there were issues with the play but in this case the backdrop was magnificent and really did make me think we were in a rundown, inner city estate.

The good news for those who missed it is there will be another chance to see the play, it will be re staged on Broadway from next April...

Theatre 2014: Review 10

War Horse (National Theatre Live: Cinema City) New London Theatre, March 2014.

Regular readers of the blog will know that this is one of my favourite shows currently running and I was interested to see how such an epic piece of the theatre would come across on the big screen.

I'm pleased to report that for me the broadcast mostly worked, and at times the camera close up actually added to the play rather than distracting me. This was especially true at the times the puppets were being manipulated to appear to be moving in slow motion. However the camera close ups were less successful when the horses were being carried to show jumping and especially when the little French girl is on stage.  Even sitting in the front of the stalls I thought that Emilie was played by a child, however this magic was lost on the screen.

I think that in the screening I saw well over 90% of the audience hadn't seen the play before and in the dramatic parts there were audible gasps from the room - something that I've never noticed in the large theatre building. That people were so swept up on seeing this on a screen is overwhelming proof that the play was suitable to be filmed.

The best thing - hearing so many people in the screen saying how much better the play was than the film from a couple of years ago.  Even the stellar cast/director couldn't make the film better than this play told by puppets.

Theatre 2014: Review Three (cinema)

Coriolanus (National Theatre Live: Cinema City), Donmar Warehouse, London. February 2014.

This has been the hottest ticket in town and as soon as the cast was announced way back last summer Rebecca and I knew we really didn't stand a chance of seeing this live and so we always intended to see it in the cinema.  We've not regretted our decision as tickets have been changing hands for up to £2000 and however much we like the theatre that works out at 50 plus theatre tickets!

I went into the performance quite nervous as I know this is a bloody play but the way Josie Rourke stages it there are actually only 2 gory scenes and as ever they have so much more impact because of the restraint.

This was a modern day production staged in a very small space and while I liked some of the design choices - the wall and keeping all of the actors on stage throughout the first half where the scenes are short and entrances come quickly - I wasn't so sure about the exaggerated choreography and the walking to the edge of the stage and back again unnecessarily.

I'm not sure that I connected with any of the characters, I could see why they behaved as they did but none of them touched me emotionally and the perpetual weeping of Coriolanus' wife drove me mad.

The set design must have meant that all of the seats in the actual theatre missed some of the action and for once I felt that the camera added to the performance, at no point was I trying to look behind it to see what was going on elsewhere. Also even in the small Donmar Warehouse I think that you would have struggled to see the small emotional nuances that were integral to the play.

On the whole I'm pleased I saw this in the comfort of a Norwich cinema rather than having to queue from 4am in the hopes of getting a 'return' and I don't really regret not getting a ticket earlier in the run.

Theatre at the movies (again!)

The Habit of Art, National Theatre Live (Encore), Cinema City, Norwich. November 2013.

After seeing a few plays by Alan Bennett, and always feeling slightly annoyed that the original History Boys passed  me by, I was really pleased when the National Theatre announced that they'd be broadcasting The Habit of Art as part of their 50th birthday celebrations.

Once more I went in without knowing anything about the play but as ever this didn't matter because the story was totally accessible and the plot comprehensible.  I quite like plays within plays and so from the off I was predisposed to like this one I suppose.

Like everything Alan Bennett writes this was very funny, very rude and very sly - I don't think I've laughed so much in public since I saw Noises Off! There wasn't quite the poignancy in the script as in more recent Bennett works, but that was provided by seeing the late Richard Griffiths on stage.  I do wish that I'd seen him in something live before he died - c'est la vie.

This was a great way to spend a cold, wet winter Monday and I am really pleased how many NTLive performances (as well as those from the RSC and Donmar Warehouse) have already been announced for 2014. Much as I like going to London seeing fabulous things like this in Norwich is a real treat.

Theatre at the Pictures

The Audience, National Theatre Live. Cinema City, Norwich. June 2013

It has been a while since I've seen a live broadcast at the cinema. Several of this season's plays I've seen live and one I just couldn't make it to any of the showings however I knew I had to see this one if at all possible.

I'd really have liked to have seen this one on stage but lack of time and unavailability of tickets when I was free made it impossible, so the next best thing has to be the National Theatre Live.

The play is deceptively simple - once a week, when possible, the Queen meets in private with the Prime Minister. What is discussed in these audiences is not known...

There have been 12 Prime Ministers in the 61 years since HM came to the throne and not all of them get a mention here but those that do are very cleverly portrayed. The 'audiences' depicted are usually from momentous points in the political life of the PM and the interesting view is that the Queen is actually more of a therapist than monarch.  In her constitutional role she can't give opinions or change how parliament is working but through these conversations you see her try to influence outcomes through her guidance, advice and experience.

Through very clever costume and wig changes the play moves backwards and forwards in time  - Major is the first PM that we meet, then back to Churchill then forwards again.  One scene must be re-written weekly, if not daily, as the conversation between HM and Cameron mentioned Prince Philip's current stay in hospital.

The play is genuinely funny, heartwarming and moving - I don't think I've been to a NT Live screening where there was so much laughter.  I was unsure at first about the conversations held between the Queen and her childhood self and while they grew on me and I can see why they were included I did find that they did break the flow a little.

The only thing I really didn't like about the broadcast was the tight focus on characters - this often meant we missed the clever costume changes, and made it hard to suspend belief and see Dame Helen Mirren as a 20 year old.  Seated in the theatre at a distance from the stage this would have been easier to see - although then of course you'd miss the subtle eye rolls and facial ticks that show what HM is thinking during the audiences.

In the interval there was an interview with the play's author and I really liked what he had to say about truth and accuracy.  Obviously no one knows what happens in the audiences but as he said from biographies, memoirs and interviews you can get a feel for how they go - thus these exact words might not have happened but the audience would have gone along those lines.

I laughed lots and I did have a lump in my throat at the end, I wish I'd managed to see the play live on stage but this was a great alternative.  If it is shown as an Encore and you aren't sure if you'd like it I'd say go - it doesn't matter if you are to the left or right politically or a rabid republican it is just a great play!

image taken from the NY Times

The Magistrate, National Theatre Live (Encore), Cinema City, Norwich. January 2013.

Thank heavens for the continuation of the National Theatre Live programme.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to see this at all and so didn't bother getting tickets in London. Then the reviews and the bloggers started talking about it and I was kicking myself.

The actual 'Live' broadcast sold out, and in fact took place on a day when Norwich was blanketed in ice and I'd incapacitated myself by slipping over so I was very lucky that the daytime Encore fell on a day off.

The cinema was packed and thankfully for a comedy the audience was lively and so it was much more like being at the cinema than other broadcasts have been.

The Magistrate is a late Victorian farce. A widow has remarried but lied about her age in a fit of vanity. This has also meant that she has re-aged her son too, everyone thinks he is a forward 14 year old when he is actually 19. The family set up is already funny but when a figure from the past threatens to reveal the deception the comedy really kicks off.

I enjoyed the play, all of the actors were very,very good. They all managed to keep the balance between straight acting and comedy so this felt like a cohesive play rather than a pantomime, but all had excellent timing and the audience couldn't help but laugh along with the characters' predicaments.

Unlike some reviewers I did like the addition of the songs during the (clever) scene changes. For me the costumes, dancing and words made me think of Gilbert and Sullivan and added to the Victorian setting.

However I am still glad that I didn't rush for tickets in London - it was a fun afternoon but nothing that special.

Theatre at the Pictures

Timon of Athens, National Theatre Live, Cinema City, Norwich. November 2012

Thank heavens for whoever had the wonderful idea of broadcasting London productions into cinemas around the country (and indeed around the world).

This is the only play from season of National Theatre Live that I've seen at the cinema - one play I'd seen at the National and the other I missed due to having the lurgy.  I'm glad that I went out on a cold, wet Thursday night for this production, which was in fact was the very last performance of the play's run.

I've established over the last year that I prefer my Shakespeare performed as at the Globe so I was a little concerned about this version as it was totally up-to-date and had a definite setting of 2011/2012, however the draw for me was Simon Russell Beale. Everything I've seen him in has been great!

The play is all about money and how fickle people are - when Timon appears rich and lavishes gifts on his friends and entertains extravagantly everyone loves him, as soon as they realise he is bankrupt they all desert him.  The second half is all about Timon's life as a destitute person, and what I saw as his descent into controlled madness.

This is very much a play of two halves, and I preferred the first, but the acting was incredible and all credit to the National Theatre and the actors for making me see that Shakespeare can work in an updated form in a traditional theatre.

This is one of the plays that Shakespeare wrote with another author and Nicholas Hytner, the director, did say in the interval film that they had to alter/add to some scenes just t make the play make sense. Not having read the original I think that they did a good job, from start to finish I could follow the story and no lines stood out as being 'modern' despite the updating. Several people in the audience were unsure of making some roles female (the steward for example) but for me that was the only way that the play could have stayed realistic with the modern setting. 

Seeing this at the cinema was ideal, the expense of a trip to London for this would have been okay but the convenience of trying something I was unsure of close to home was just right.

Theatrical Interlude 15

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, The Cottesloe Theatre at the National Theatre, August 2012

I've managed to get a little behind on reviewing after another busy fortnight, I 'owe' two theatre reviews, at least two book reviews and my thoughts on the Paralympics. In addition to this I am also trying to get my head around a new piece of technology that isn't intuitive when it comes to Blogging software. Bear with me and any dodgy formatting for a while please!

My crazy theatre going August continued with a trip to see the adaptation of Mark Haddon's novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. This is a book I've read more than once and one that I read during my 2011 World Book Night Challenge  with that review in mind I am surprised I was so keen to see this play.

The play may just have dispelled all of my misgivings about the book, the staging and acting made it live in a way that the words on the page just hadn't for me.  The Cottesloe Theatre is a small theatre with seating in the round, and our seats were looking down on the stage. As the play started the theatre went totally dark, and with all black seating and walls I mean totally dark, then as the lights came up in the middle of the stage was a dead dog.

The play continued in such an innovative way all the way through with lots of moving of props by the actors - who were almost always on stage, just seated around the edge - to create new scenarios. Some of the scenes were created in almost a modern dance format as Christopher was bodily moved around the stage by the others to simulate, for instance, his wish to be an astronaut. The stage itself was a giant light board that at one point transformed into a realistic Underground platform, just stunning.

I am totally in awe of Luke Treadaway who portrays Christopher. This is almost a one man show and he carries it wonderfully, showing the wonderful mix of intelligence but also lack of understanding that is Christopher.  Paul Ritter, who plays the father, also deserves every accolade as he manages to create a very real dad, someone who cares deeply for his disabled child but also someone who is human and who snaps and can't cope at times.

I don't think I can find a thing wrong with this play, other reviews have said it was over long but that isn't something I found at all. It was possibly the most intense piece of theatre I have seen and as it is sold out at The National do try to catch it at one of the National Theatre Live events.

Theatrical Interlude 3 (2012)

She Stoops to Conquer, National Theatre Live (encore), Cinema City Norwich. April 2012

Having never seen any theatre from the 1700s by a strange quirk of timing I've ended up seeing two in three days thanks to the delights of the National Theatre Live programme.

Sadly this experience wasn't quite the joy that I found the Recruiting Officer to be, however similar the themes in both plays.

I'm not sure if She Stoops didn't quite hit the spot because it was at the cinema and thus I had to watch what the camera showed me or if it was because I found the size of the Olivier Stage created a barrier between the actors and the audience. In the intimate Donmar the knowing winks, nods and asides felt like they could have been aimed at me but knowing just how big the Olivier Theatre at the National is I never felt as much a part of the play as I was supposed to.

The acting in the play was very good, again not a dud amongst the main players and even though the play is well over 200 years old it did feel very accessible and funny. The elements of farce were well handled and just on the right side of cringe worthy. I did think at a few points that the male leads were channeling Black Adder the Third but it (just) worked wonderfully.

I do wonder if I'd seen this play first and The Recruiting Officer at the cinema I'd feel the same but I love the opportunity that National Theatre Live gives me to see more London plays and this was a very nice way to spend a Monday afternoon.