David Tennant in Look Back In Anger
The cast:
David Tennant - Jimmy
Kelly Reilly - Alison
Steven McNicoll - Cliff
Gareth Thomas - Colonel
Alexandra Moen - Helena
Play by John Osborne
Produced by Royal Lyceum Theatre Company
Director - Richard Baron
The play opens with Jimmy sitting on a bed in a room that serves as bedroom, living room, dining room and kitchen. He wears stripy pyjama bottoms and his hair is quite long. His wife Alison wears the other half of the pyjama set and is busy ironing whilst their friend Cliff sits in an armchair reading the paper.
The whole play unfolds in this shabby room where the roof leaks and newspapers are always in the way, moved constantly emphasising the lack of space.
David is entrancing as Jimmy. He’s adopted a cockney accent, and brings so much energy to the part. On a less intelligent level he also spends large parts of the play shirtless or wearing boxers and a dressing gown….he seems remarkably comfy on stage wearing very little.
Technically it’s an excellent film capture of a live performance. The cameras zoom in at the right moment and there isn’t a lot of background noise. If it weren’t for the woman sitting behind me talking into her mobile I would have been completely lost in the theatre experience.
Jimmy shouts and screams, stands on the furniture and verbally attacks in place of conversation. In short he is not a nice person. He is also in pain and conflict spills out of every pore of Jimmy. David inhabits Jimmy, makes him real. Standing balanced on the back of a chair he literally dominates the room whilst his stage presence and Jimmy’s personality dominate the stage, the rest of the characters, the audience and the auditorium.
I’ve written on V&A facebook page to ask if they have plans for a DVD release but haven’t had a response as yet. This is too good to sit in an archive.
Contemporary reviews are far more eloquent than I am,
http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/6109
http://www.edinburghguide.com/aande/theatre/reviews_05/l/look_back_in_anger_rtl.shtml
More images here http://www.david-tennant.org/album/806dft/