Top Ten Plays - 2010 - Part 2
OK, almost the final stretch. Choices 5 - 2 under the cut and then one final (ridiculously long) entry for my top choice (it's definitely a post that has been building for a while). Anyway the order of these four changed around several times whilst I was thinking about this, so lets just say they were all wonderful.
5) Morte D’Arthur - RSC, Courtyard Theatre
Some of you may not have noticed, but I sort of really love the Royal Shakespeare Company and the ensemble and this play was a huge favourite of mine. I've been fascinated by Arthurian legend for as long as I can remember, but my favourite characters very rarely get much a showing in retellins - but here they were centre stage and marvellous - Lot, Morgause, Gawaine, Gareth, Lamorak! No Tor, but then you don't get everything. Plus this was definitely another one where the focus was on families and how you need them but how they can be your downfall as well. Lots of excellent performances throughout as well and I enjoyed that this was a definite ensemble piece, with everyone getting their moments to shine and no one dominating. Visually I found this beautiful, particularly the use of colour descending into the bleakness of the final act, they really put a lot of focus on developing the journey of the story, using different tones and styles to demonstrate it. Even the fighting had a definite development which gave the fights at the end a lot more weight and resonance than those at the beginning - it felt like the stakes had been raised and it was gripping. And I really loved the way they used effects throughout, a lot of them were very old fashioned and it thrilled me and played wonderfully with me love of storytelling and the different ways people tell stories. There was jousting on stage and people swinging in from the balcony and magic and a knight on stilts and a horse made of fallen soldiers... And though it had flaws, given that it was mostly of the 'I want more variety', I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Anyhow a lot more of my thoughts on the production are here.
4) Design For Living - Old Vic
I am somewhat bemused that I could only find pictures from the final act, why no love for the others? Well, at least it was a very pretty final act, in a very pretty play - I was very fond of the sets in this play and would happily have stolen some of the furniture (not too mention the costumes). It was fascinating how much of a transformation they managed between each location, one I wish An Ideal Husband could have learnt from. Anyway this was one of the funniest things I saw this year, it made me laugh so much I actually cried. It was full of delightful people being frequently awful to each other and everyone around them and had probably the best drunk scene of the year. Me and a friend still start giggling if either of us mention a wimpole. But above all that it features my favourite sort of threesome - the sort where everyone loves each other too deeply to be apart. The sort of relationship that is supposed to be wrong, but is actually perfect. I felt like I could have spent days in the characters company without growing tired of them. In my eyes Lisa Dillon, Andrew Scott and Tom Burke are all divine. Just look at them all. And Angus Wright isn't too bad either (I loved the moment at the end when he couldn't quite bring himself to smash down the tray). And, of course, it was written by Noel Coward with all the wonder that brings - the wit and the cleverness and the silliness - because those things don't have to be exclusive of each other. I loved it.
3) Discover Love - Belarus Free Theatre, Young Vic
This was a play that was almost impossible to get pictures from. The top picture is from the night before but not from the play (they also put on Numbers that night which was excellent in a very different way) and the next two are from the platy but not the performance or actress I saw. There is a good reason for these lack of photos, the Belarus Free Theatre is an underground group protesting against the censorship and dictatorship in Belarus - they and their audiences and their supporters are arrested and beaten and disappear. They perform secretly in peoples houses or in forests and they can't have cast lists or many photos because it's dangerous. There's more information here and here. I highly recommend giving it a read, theres is a fascinating and horrifying story. This play, Discover Love, was also tremendous in it's own right - inventive and moving in all the right ways and eventually crushing (I cried more than a little) and visually stunning. The image of oranges spilling across the stage and people dancing amongst them will stay with me. Plus the physicality of the actors was very impressive. It is a fictionalised account of a true story, a disappearance and a murder but it's told throughout with such joy and sincerity that this ending, once it comes is even more heart breaking. Maryna Yurevich, the blonde actress in the top photo, was incredible, one of the best actresses I have ever seen. She narrated the entire story and for me was what made this so powerful. Even though she didn't perform in English (there were surtitles), her emotions were so transparent and transformative that it barely mattered and whilst I enjoyed seeing Jude Law, Sienna Miller, Samuel West and Adjoa Andoh perform their parts of the play - I was longing for Maryna to return. A truly powerful evening at the theatre.
2) Tribes - Royal Court
I went to see this solely on the basis that Nina Raine had translated The Drunks (play of my heart) and I'm so glad I did. If Tiger Country in a couple of weeks is even half as good, then she's well on her way to being one of my favourite writers of the moment. She has a certain rhythm to her writing and the words she chooses that fills my heart with joy and seeing this has given me a real appreciation of how much of the flavour of The Drunks truly belonged to her. On top of the way she uses language, this player connected with so many things that I care about and are important to me. It looks at the way we use language or fail to and the way families work and it plays into one of my deepest fears. Since I was born I've been deaf in one ear (let us not talk of Glee's deaf-in-one-ear-fail) and for almost as long I've been scared that I would lose the hearing in my other ear. Watching Sylvia (an excellent Michelle Terry) experiencing that loss was slightly aching but it also had that reassuring surge of familiarity that I think a lot of humans need. And it wasn't the only time I felt that during the show. As much familiarity I felt for Sylvia, it was Daniel who really owned my heart in this production. I thought Harry Treadaway did a truly incredible job of portraying his descent, the slow surrender to the voices in his head and he broke my heart in several places - especially when he was telling Billy important things that he could not hear (the bottom picture) and at the end once his stutter had returned. It also gave me what I think of as a History Boys moment, a moment when you find something you thought particular to you set down by someone else. And the following lines reflected something ingrained deep in me from my depression:
"You know when people say 'I love you for yourself'?... There's no such thing. Because you are how talented you are, how quick you are, how clever you are. And then that changes. Sometime's you're stupid."
Though there were lots of other moments of Daniel's that resonated for me, that one hit close to the bone. Which makes me sound like such a pessimist and makes the play sound very serious. Neither of which is entirely true. The play was actually very funny, had me laughing out loud frequently and made me think. I'm not sure I can ask much more from the theatre. I loved the simplicity of the set and the effectiveness of the projections and the surtitles and the way they used sound throughout. And I left the theatre feeling joyful and hopeful and completely loving the characters - especially Daniel, Sylvia and Billy - and there almost certainly would have been a Yuletide request if it had been nominated. There was one moment when Daniel and Sylvia were spinning around and I had a sudden urge for them to kiss and they did and it was every bit as complicated as I'd wanted it to be and I felt like the play was being written just for me. I can't say how well this handles all the issues, particularly the deaf ones - but it worked for me on every level I could have wanted.
AND NUMBER ONE IS...
This entry was originally posted at http://lorannah.dreamwidth.org/6560.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
5) Morte D’Arthur - RSC, Courtyard Theatre
Some of you may not have noticed, but I sort of really love the Royal Shakespeare Company and the ensemble and this play was a huge favourite of mine. I've been fascinated by Arthurian legend for as long as I can remember, but my favourite characters very rarely get much a showing in retellins - but here they were centre stage and marvellous - Lot, Morgause, Gawaine, Gareth, Lamorak! No Tor, but then you don't get everything. Plus this was definitely another one where the focus was on families and how you need them but how they can be your downfall as well. Lots of excellent performances throughout as well and I enjoyed that this was a definite ensemble piece, with everyone getting their moments to shine and no one dominating. Visually I found this beautiful, particularly the use of colour descending into the bleakness of the final act, they really put a lot of focus on developing the journey of the story, using different tones and styles to demonstrate it. Even the fighting had a definite development which gave the fights at the end a lot more weight and resonance than those at the beginning - it felt like the stakes had been raised and it was gripping. And I really loved the way they used effects throughout, a lot of them were very old fashioned and it thrilled me and played wonderfully with me love of storytelling and the different ways people tell stories. There was jousting on stage and people swinging in from the balcony and magic and a knight on stilts and a horse made of fallen soldiers... And though it had flaws, given that it was mostly of the 'I want more variety', I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Anyhow a lot more of my thoughts on the production are here.
4) Design For Living - Old Vic
I am somewhat bemused that I could only find pictures from the final act, why no love for the others? Well, at least it was a very pretty final act, in a very pretty play - I was very fond of the sets in this play and would happily have stolen some of the furniture (not too mention the costumes). It was fascinating how much of a transformation they managed between each location, one I wish An Ideal Husband could have learnt from. Anyway this was one of the funniest things I saw this year, it made me laugh so much I actually cried. It was full of delightful people being frequently awful to each other and everyone around them and had probably the best drunk scene of the year. Me and a friend still start giggling if either of us mention a wimpole. But above all that it features my favourite sort of threesome - the sort where everyone loves each other too deeply to be apart. The sort of relationship that is supposed to be wrong, but is actually perfect. I felt like I could have spent days in the characters company without growing tired of them. In my eyes Lisa Dillon, Andrew Scott and Tom Burke are all divine. Just look at them all. And Angus Wright isn't too bad either (I loved the moment at the end when he couldn't quite bring himself to smash down the tray). And, of course, it was written by Noel Coward with all the wonder that brings - the wit and the cleverness and the silliness - because those things don't have to be exclusive of each other. I loved it.
3) Discover Love - Belarus Free Theatre, Young Vic
This was a play that was almost impossible to get pictures from. The top picture is from the night before but not from the play (they also put on Numbers that night which was excellent in a very different way) and the next two are from the platy but not the performance or actress I saw. There is a good reason for these lack of photos, the Belarus Free Theatre is an underground group protesting against the censorship and dictatorship in Belarus - they and their audiences and their supporters are arrested and beaten and disappear. They perform secretly in peoples houses or in forests and they can't have cast lists or many photos because it's dangerous. There's more information here and here. I highly recommend giving it a read, theres is a fascinating and horrifying story. This play, Discover Love, was also tremendous in it's own right - inventive and moving in all the right ways and eventually crushing (I cried more than a little) and visually stunning. The image of oranges spilling across the stage and people dancing amongst them will stay with me. Plus the physicality of the actors was very impressive. It is a fictionalised account of a true story, a disappearance and a murder but it's told throughout with such joy and sincerity that this ending, once it comes is even more heart breaking. Maryna Yurevich, the blonde actress in the top photo, was incredible, one of the best actresses I have ever seen. She narrated the entire story and for me was what made this so powerful. Even though she didn't perform in English (there were surtitles), her emotions were so transparent and transformative that it barely mattered and whilst I enjoyed seeing Jude Law, Sienna Miller, Samuel West and Adjoa Andoh perform their parts of the play - I was longing for Maryna to return. A truly powerful evening at the theatre.
2) Tribes - Royal Court
I went to see this solely on the basis that Nina Raine had translated The Drunks (play of my heart) and I'm so glad I did. If Tiger Country in a couple of weeks is even half as good, then she's well on her way to being one of my favourite writers of the moment. She has a certain rhythm to her writing and the words she chooses that fills my heart with joy and seeing this has given me a real appreciation of how much of the flavour of The Drunks truly belonged to her. On top of the way she uses language, this player connected with so many things that I care about and are important to me. It looks at the way we use language or fail to and the way families work and it plays into one of my deepest fears. Since I was born I've been deaf in one ear (let us not talk of Glee's deaf-in-one-ear-fail) and for almost as long I've been scared that I would lose the hearing in my other ear. Watching Sylvia (an excellent Michelle Terry) experiencing that loss was slightly aching but it also had that reassuring surge of familiarity that I think a lot of humans need. And it wasn't the only time I felt that during the show. As much familiarity I felt for Sylvia, it was Daniel who really owned my heart in this production. I thought Harry Treadaway did a truly incredible job of portraying his descent, the slow surrender to the voices in his head and he broke my heart in several places - especially when he was telling Billy important things that he could not hear (the bottom picture) and at the end once his stutter had returned. It also gave me what I think of as a History Boys moment, a moment when you find something you thought particular to you set down by someone else. And the following lines reflected something ingrained deep in me from my depression:
"You know when people say 'I love you for yourself'?... There's no such thing. Because you are how talented you are, how quick you are, how clever you are. And then that changes. Sometime's you're stupid."
Though there were lots of other moments of Daniel's that resonated for me, that one hit close to the bone. Which makes me sound like such a pessimist and makes the play sound very serious. Neither of which is entirely true. The play was actually very funny, had me laughing out loud frequently and made me think. I'm not sure I can ask much more from the theatre. I loved the simplicity of the set and the effectiveness of the projections and the surtitles and the way they used sound throughout. And I left the theatre feeling joyful and hopeful and completely loving the characters - especially Daniel, Sylvia and Billy - and there almost certainly would have been a Yuletide request if it had been nominated. There was one moment when Daniel and Sylvia were spinning around and I had a sudden urge for them to kiss and they did and it was every bit as complicated as I'd wanted it to be and I felt like the play was being written just for me. I can't say how well this handles all the issues, particularly the deaf ones - but it worked for me on every level I could have wanted.
AND NUMBER ONE IS...
This entry was originally posted at http://lorannah.dreamwidth.org/6560.html. Please comment there using OpenID.