WALKING IN A WEST END WONDERLAND - PART 6

WALKING IN A WEST END WONDERLAND

PART 6

Bob and I took a quick trip to London late last month.  Spring is a lovely time to visit London: the weather is usually agreeable, the summer crowds have yet to come, and great theatre is on display. Here are five shows from earlier trips to this fabulous city.

Let's have a cuppa and begin.

VIRGINIA – Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London

The actual program was inserted in this folder-like cover. Quite classy.

February, 1981.  The origins of the Theatre Royal, Haymarket date back to 1720, making it the third oldest London playhouse still in operation. It's been at its current location since 1821, which by any standards makes it an old theatre. And sitting in the very high and very steep Gallery, one almost felt as though one were back in 1821. If memory serves, the seating up in the cheap seats (a mere two pounds!) was of the bench variety, hard and pretty uncomfortable. But, one willingly sacrifices comfort in order to witness the legend known as Maggie Smith, now Dame Maggie Smith. And so it was with Virginia, Edna O'Brien's play about Virginia and, to a small degree, Leonard Woolf, and Virginia's lover, poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West. Virginia Woolf was a complicated woman, and for me, came most vividly alive in her diaries. Maggie Smith was interesting as Virginia Woolf, but there was more than a whiff of academia and research about the whole thing. I remember the play being very talky, a bit pedantic, and, yes, I'll say it, a bit dull. The three actors onstage weren't dull, but I didn't get a sense of who they were. It was as though Ms. O'Brien was afraid to make her characters human, with the human foibles that make them interesting. I wasn't bored, though. It just wasn't as good as I had hoped. – at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, London

EPITAPH FOR GEORGE DILLON – Comedy Theatre, London

Mr. Fiennes looks especially hot here.

October, 2005.  There are three things you should know about Joseph Fiennes: 1) He's tall. Not extraordinarily tall, but tall enough to tower over the rest of his cast. 2) He's very handsome. As in very. 3) He's one talented dude. The last two are important because Mr. Osborne's and Mr. Creighton's play sometimes didn't seem to go anywhere and Mr. Fiennes' grand good looks and his abundance of talent kept one from getting restless. This was written before Look Back in Anger, but was produced a year after Anger. It's a 50s British kitchen-sink drama, sometimes compelling, sometimes not and with an undercurrent of sleazy opportunism and fluid morals. Tidily directed and designed, it featured solid, competent British ensemble acting, with standout performances by Anne Reid (Last Tango in Halifax), Geoffrey Hutchings and Francesca Annis.  But it was Joseph Fiennes the audience came to see and he did not disappoint. Charming, charismatic and amoral, he made for a compelling anti-hero. – at the Comedy Theatre, London

Six Degrees of Separation Moment: In May, 2015, we saw our friend, Rob, in the world premiere of a new play called As Good a Time As Any, at a small theatre in Notting Hill. Prior to the performance we had lunch at a terrific Italian place a few steps from the theatre. We were the only patrons there except for an elderly man who also was enjoying his lunch. After the play, we saw the same elderly man in the lobby and Rob introduced him to us. He smiled and said, "Oh, yes, I remember you both. You were at the restaurant earlier." He was the play's author, Peter Gill, a well-known playwright and director, who was, and here's the six degrees moment, the director for George Dillon. Cue "Small World" underscoring.

JOURNEY'S END – New Ambassadors Theatre, London

October, 2005.  Haunting. Devastating. The horrors and anguish of war were brought vividly to life in this stunning return engagement of a hugely successful revival of R.C. Sherriff's 1928 anti-war drama. Taking place over four days in March, 1918, during the First World War, the action of the piece takes place in a dreary, yet, strangely, somewhat homey British bunker in the trenches in NE France. Staging-wise, it wasn't flashy, but director David Grindley, recreated for this cast by Tim Roseman, gave the production an immediacy that put the audience side-by-side with the soldiers in the bunker. The New Ambassadors (it has since reverted back to its original name, the Ambassadors Theatre) is a very intimate theatre, even by London standards. This gave the superbly-designed and lit production a claustrophobic feel, similar to what, I'm sure. soldiers in the actual trenches felt. The interplay between the soldiers and officers, the distinction and behavior of different social classes, even in war, the stiff-upper-lippedness of many of the men were poignant as the men tried to carry on as best they could. Even in war, tea will be served. We in the audience got to know these very human characters and we grew to care about them, so when the final mortar hit the bunker and the cacophony of shelling continued after the final blackout, we, as a whole, were rattled and unsettled. And then the lights came dimly up and our cast stood in a line. Complete silence. And then the men took off their helmets, indicating to us it was safe to applaud. And applaud we did! I still get chills thinking about this play.  – at the New Ambassadors Theatre, London

GUYS AND DOLLS – Piccadilly Theatre, London

October, 2005. We stood on the cancellation line for this and were rewarded with terrific seats in the Stalls. Well, look at those four above-the-title actors. You'd stand on line, too! Jane Krakowski, while very funny, was, strangely, not as good an Adelaide as I had hoped. It wasn't bad performance by any means, but it lacked…something.  Ewan McGregor was not only stunningly handsome in person, but also sang well, oozed charm and gave a solid performance. Jenna Russell was a treat for the ears and a sassy Sarah Brown, which I liked…a lot. Gave a blast of life into a part that can be a bit drab. Douglas Hodge was a quietly scene-stealing Nathan. West End veteran Martyn Ellis as Nicely Nicely Johnson gave a standout rendition of "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat," and marked the first time I actually liked  the song. (I know I am in the minority, but that song has always annoyed me for some reason.) A transfer from the acclaimed Donmar Warehouse, this was nicely designed, with solid direction by Michael Grandage and crisp choreography by Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford. I know it’s a classic and all, but Guys and Dolls has never been a favorite. It still isn't, but this was delightful and fun. Very glad we saw it. – at the Piccadilly Theatre, London.

ABSOLUTE HELL – Lyttelton Theatre, London

August, 1995. Picture The Hot L Baltimore  with British accents and in a seedy, run-down pub instead of a seedy, run-down hotel lobby and you have the basic thrust of Absolute Hell, only more interesting than The Hot L Baltimore, which I find deadly dull, because, well, pretty much anything is more interesting with a British accent. Set right after the end of World War II in a disreputable West End club called La Vie en Rose (Piaf would probably have approved!), nothing much happens during the three-hour play. Oh, people talk…and talk and talk…and old grievances are aired, sexual liaisons, both hetero and homosexual, are arranged, and much alcohol is consumed, but it's more slice-of-life than anything else. I found it interesting at times, dull at others, and I found my attention wandering occasionally throughout the evening. The large cast was competent and did their jobs, but even star Judi Dench couldn't quite hold it together. But, like I indicated with Maggie Smith, one simply does not forgo an opportunity to see a living legend at work. And Dame Judi definitely qualifies as one. She commanded the stage and made a memorable character as the proprietress of the club, but the unevenness of the script couldn't be overcome. I went with friends, both established London actors, and they admired the play more than they liked it. I think that's an accurate appraisal of it. – at the Lyttelton Theatre, London.

Sidebar: Although quite prolific, playwright and screenwriter Rodney Ackland, despite the success of Absolute Hell, remains little more than a footnote in the annuls of British drama. Never a critics' darling, his work was criticized for being too realistic, and when the original version of Absolute Hell, entitled, rather cheekily,The Pink Room, opened in 1952, it was critically panned. Reviewers  found him "vile and witless," with the play populated with so-called degenerates, as defined by 1950s mores. Critic Rhonda Koenig, in her review of Absolute Hell in London's The Independent, suggests that Ackland's work was rejected because people found his realism unpalatable in the naïve and hypocritical 50s. Ironic considering John Osborne would burst onto the scene in 1956 and herald in kitchen-sink realism in the theatre and be praised for it. While homosexuality was vaguely portrayed in the 1952 original, with the abolition of censorship, Ackland revisited his script and made the homosexuality more explicit. A 1991 BBC version of the play, also starring Judi Dench, can be viewed on YouTube.

That wraps things up for today. More later.

© 2016 Jeffrey Geddes