Theatre reviews
Let's see if I can remember how to do this posting thing! This is because I said I'd give my opinion on The Light Princess and it would take numerous tweets so I'm doing this instead. And while I'm at it I thought I'd review the other things I've seen in December.
The Light Princess @ The Lyttleton Theatre
So we decided we wanted to see this, but only to the level of £12 so I queued for day seats yesterday. As is the way with day seats, I had no idea when to get there and so got there far too early, but it was dry and not that cold and I got a lot of reading done so it wasn't too bad. This has had VERY mixed reviews so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really liked it! The songs were good enough in context, but it's not something I'm going to buy the soundtrack to. But the songs weren't the main thing. The set design was so great, and the choreography! All the different ways they keep the light princess off the ground are amazing, there's some wire work, but a lot of the time she's being lifted and held up by black clothed acrobats with amazing moustaches and one woman with thighs and a core I would kill for - she holds up what must be 8 stone of actress on her feet with no outside support for ten or twenty minutes at a time. And it's not just the acrobats, the actress playing the princess really looks like she's floating, her arm and leg movements are perfect. Also there is some amazing puppetry, which always pleases me. I'm sure the main puppeteer, and bird flier, is the guy who did the bird work for Gabriel at the Globe this summer. I should compare cast lists and work it out. The costumes were great too, especially the falconer's jacket (find a picture if you like). There was a little feminist message at the end, and when everyone paired off, they weren't all m/f pairs. A nice touch. I was pleased to see quite a lot of girls aged 10-15 in the audience, it's a good one for them. So overall review: a really fun watch, but it's hardly going to end up a classic.
Other things I have seen in December:
Mojo @ Harold Pinter Theatre
We bought cheap cheap balcony tickets for this, and I was very surprised when we got moved to the dress circle - it stars Merlin and Q and Ron Weasley and Mr Bates! But then I saw the show and was surprised the run's been extended. The actors are all great and I'm not taking anything away from them, Rupert Grint and Daniel Mays made an excellent double act and Ben Whishaw was deliciously, maliciously crazy, and the dialogue was really compelling, but there just seemed to be no plot or narrative arc or whatever. When you weren't being distracted by the speaking or the actors it just became terribly clear that there was nothing behind it all. Liss did some review research and apparently it was supposed to be about puncturing through their masculine bravado and slowly finding out that none of them knew what they were doing, but to me that was blatantly obvious from the very beginning so I suppose without that there was nothing to it. If you like the actors and you can get cheap tickets I wouldn't NOT recommend it, but be aware that it can be boring.
Jumpers for Goalposts @ The Bush Theatre
This is the second time I've been to the Bush now and it's becoming one of my favourites! This play was so good too, the author decided to write it after he was beaten up, and to give a different portrayal of gay people. It's about a team in an LGBT football league in Hull (my old Uni stomping ground, I got all nostalgic for the stupid accent, and the fish tour, and everything) and is set after each of the six matches they play, in the sports centre changing rooms. Viv is the bossy coach, who got kicked off the lesbians' team for being too bossy; Joe is her brother-in-law and the "token straight"; Geoff, or Beardy, is the slutty sponger (who everyone loves) busker with a heart of gold who wears a woolly hat constantly; Danny is sort of the main character (even though there is no main character) who is going to college to be a football coach; and Luke is the ADORABLE baby of the team, who lives with his mum and dad in a village with a crappy bus service and works in a library. He's super shy and gets verbal diarrhea (I will NEVER learn to spell that word) to cover it up. GO AND SEE THIS if you are in London over Christmas or if it comes to your town. It's only 90 minutes long but you get fully involved in their lives and loves and losses. Danny and Luke have an adorable love story with a really serious undertone; Joe and Viv are coming to terms with something that happened in their lives; Beardy spends the play trying to work out what song to audition for Hull Pride with and the closing moments is just him singing the PERFECT song, alone in the dressing room. Several tears were shed around the room. I want to tell you all the plot but I won't. I did buy the playtext though, and I hardly ever do that. A glowing endorsement.
Margaret Thatcher : Queen of Soho @ Theatre 503
I went to this just after Jumpers for Goalposts. It's a drag cabaret of an alternate version of Margaret Thatcher's life. What if she got lost in Soho the night before the section 28 vote? It was hilariously camp and cheesey, and the portrayal of Peter Tatchell was inspired. Tatchell out! It's just Maggie and two other guys who play everyone else, one of whom has truly EXCELLENT thighs, and it's a fun night out for all the family. Well, maybe not that, but a fun night out for us.
And that is, I think, my only entry of the year. Poor neglected LJ.
The Light Princess @ The Lyttleton Theatre
So we decided we wanted to see this, but only to the level of £12 so I queued for day seats yesterday. As is the way with day seats, I had no idea when to get there and so got there far too early, but it was dry and not that cold and I got a lot of reading done so it wasn't too bad. This has had VERY mixed reviews so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I really liked it! The songs were good enough in context, but it's not something I'm going to buy the soundtrack to. But the songs weren't the main thing. The set design was so great, and the choreography! All the different ways they keep the light princess off the ground are amazing, there's some wire work, but a lot of the time she's being lifted and held up by black clothed acrobats with amazing moustaches and one woman with thighs and a core I would kill for - she holds up what must be 8 stone of actress on her feet with no outside support for ten or twenty minutes at a time. And it's not just the acrobats, the actress playing the princess really looks like she's floating, her arm and leg movements are perfect. Also there is some amazing puppetry, which always pleases me. I'm sure the main puppeteer, and bird flier, is the guy who did the bird work for Gabriel at the Globe this summer. I should compare cast lists and work it out. The costumes were great too, especially the falconer's jacket (find a picture if you like). There was a little feminist message at the end, and when everyone paired off, they weren't all m/f pairs. A nice touch. I was pleased to see quite a lot of girls aged 10-15 in the audience, it's a good one for them. So overall review: a really fun watch, but it's hardly going to end up a classic.
Other things I have seen in December:
Mojo @ Harold Pinter Theatre
We bought cheap cheap balcony tickets for this, and I was very surprised when we got moved to the dress circle - it stars Merlin and Q and Ron Weasley and Mr Bates! But then I saw the show and was surprised the run's been extended. The actors are all great and I'm not taking anything away from them, Rupert Grint and Daniel Mays made an excellent double act and Ben Whishaw was deliciously, maliciously crazy, and the dialogue was really compelling, but there just seemed to be no plot or narrative arc or whatever. When you weren't being distracted by the speaking or the actors it just became terribly clear that there was nothing behind it all. Liss did some review research and apparently it was supposed to be about puncturing through their masculine bravado and slowly finding out that none of them knew what they were doing, but to me that was blatantly obvious from the very beginning so I suppose without that there was nothing to it. If you like the actors and you can get cheap tickets I wouldn't NOT recommend it, but be aware that it can be boring.
Jumpers for Goalposts @ The Bush Theatre
This is the second time I've been to the Bush now and it's becoming one of my favourites! This play was so good too, the author decided to write it after he was beaten up, and to give a different portrayal of gay people. It's about a team in an LGBT football league in Hull (my old Uni stomping ground, I got all nostalgic for the stupid accent, and the fish tour, and everything) and is set after each of the six matches they play, in the sports centre changing rooms. Viv is the bossy coach, who got kicked off the lesbians' team for being too bossy; Joe is her brother-in-law and the "token straight"; Geoff, or Beardy, is the slutty sponger (who everyone loves) busker with a heart of gold who wears a woolly hat constantly; Danny is sort of the main character (even though there is no main character) who is going to college to be a football coach; and Luke is the ADORABLE baby of the team, who lives with his mum and dad in a village with a crappy bus service and works in a library. He's super shy and gets verbal diarrhea (I will NEVER learn to spell that word) to cover it up. GO AND SEE THIS if you are in London over Christmas or if it comes to your town. It's only 90 minutes long but you get fully involved in their lives and loves and losses. Danny and Luke have an adorable love story with a really serious undertone; Joe and Viv are coming to terms with something that happened in their lives; Beardy spends the play trying to work out what song to audition for Hull Pride with and the closing moments is just him singing the PERFECT song, alone in the dressing room. Several tears were shed around the room. I want to tell you all the plot but I won't. I did buy the playtext though, and I hardly ever do that. A glowing endorsement.
Margaret Thatcher : Queen of Soho @ Theatre 503
I went to this just after Jumpers for Goalposts. It's a drag cabaret of an alternate version of Margaret Thatcher's life. What if she got lost in Soho the night before the section 28 vote? It was hilariously camp and cheesey, and the portrayal of Peter Tatchell was inspired. Tatchell out! It's just Maggie and two other guys who play everyone else, one of whom has truly EXCELLENT thighs, and it's a fun night out for all the family. Well, maybe not that, but a fun night out for us.
And that is, I think, my only entry of the year. Poor neglected LJ.