(no subject)
I've had a lovely weekend (... I might have started writing this post on Monday *coughs*) which is lucky considering on Saturday I made a classic error- not checking the tickets... I was meant to be seeing The Malcontent at the SWP on Saturday evening, or rather I thought I was seeing it on Saturday evening but when I grabbed the ticket on my way out (at 5pm) and looked at it I discovered it was a matinee /o\
Luckily for me the show runs for another week so I'm going NEXT Saturday and this time I know it's for a matinee. Stupidity tax paid but I got doubl-y lucky because not being at the theatre meant I could attend dozydormouse's birthday meal & drinks which was very lovely (MUST remember to go to the Swan bar more often given I get a discount there even if I'm not entirely clear on how much that discount is).
Anyway my Saturday theatre-going might not have gone quite to plan but on Friday seiyaharris and I went to see Another Country and that plan worked beautifully because we paid for the cheap seats in the back row and got moved forwards to row G \o/
Another Country @ Trafalgar Studios (Studio 1)
I've never actually watched the film of Another Country (although it's very much on my list) and so I didn't entirely know what was coming in this play although given it was written in the aftermath of the Cambridge and one of the characters is called "Guy Bennett" it's not entirely impossible to guess at least part of the ending.
I absolutely loved watching how it all fell out though and how various characters reacted to the situation they were in and the system they were operating within. Julian Mitchell did a great job in showing a real range of reactions to the rigid system and structure of life in a public school from those on the absolute outside (Marxist!Judd) to those who want to stick rigidly to the rules at every moment (Fowler who is both comic and terrifying) and then every position in between including Bennett who pushes the system to its limits but wants to stay within it until he realises he's never going to be allowed to reach the top or Devenish who wants so much to belong and who loves the ssytem even though, for much of the play, he isn't at all sure he'll be able tor each the top table. Or Menzies who seems friendly until push comes to shove.
I loved the dynamics of the group and the friendships that weren't really friendships and I did find the play heartbreaking precisely because that's kind of what it does to Bennett- or at least shatters all of his illusions and whilst I have no idea what the motivation of the real Cambridge Spies was his story is an entirely plausible explanation.
And Rob Callender was entrancing as Bennett. In some ways he (possibly strangely) made me think of Kurt Hummel in Glee I think because of the fierce desire not to lose who he is in the face of the system whilst simultaneously being happy to operate within its rules until it becomes obvious that the system doesn't want him. And then you realise just how good and vicious he might be in opposition. I also loved the way his face lit up when he talked about the boy he was in love with and I loved even more the quiet scenes with him and Will Attenborough's Judd because it was then that you saw their actual friendship, despite differences and naive assumptions, and it threw into relief the other relationships in the play.
We sort of went to see the play partly for Bill Milner who plays a junior who you can see growing up into Devenish perhaps but who is homesick and terrified and you realise that the problem with Judd is whilst he may be right that the system is corrupt that isn't actually the right way to comfort a terrified child so when he actually does get it right and tucks Wharton into bed it's a lovely human moment.
I also very much liked Mark Quartley as the Head of House because you could see how thoroughly the death before the start of the play has destroyed him even though he was clearly someone who thought the system could be made to work- I suppose he was the liberal to Wharton's conservative?
I also loved the simplicity of the set and the use of I Vow To Thee My Country (which weirdly, having not heard in years, I sang at a memorial service only a couple of weeks ago).
I probably need to go and watch the film now.
Let's sneak another (old) review in here whilst I'm bored out of my brain.
Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense @ Duke of Yorks
I'm actually seeing this again with Mark Heap and Robert Webb because of Mark Heap is on stage I HAVE to be there and I went in knowing I'd be seeing it again so really hoping, more than expecting, it would be good.
And it was hilarious and stupid and there's a bunch of slapstick and quick changes and I just loved it. I mean there's no more plot than there ever really is in a Jeeves & Wooster (a cow creamer everyone wants and engagements to be made and broken) but mostly there's Jeeves & Wooster between them- with the help of Seppings slowly inching his way across the stage- putting on a play so Wooster is distractable whilst Jeeves provides set, props, costumes and some wonderful moments when more characters are needed on stage than there are actors.
I basically love things with smaller than needed casts or things which draw attention to the fact that they are plays so I was kind of in seventh heaven and Stephen Mangan makes a brilliant Wooster. I was a little uncertain about Matthew Macfayden because he's always so stiff but of course so is Jeeves and so it actually really worked (and he managed at least one... well half quick change that I've been trying to work out exactly how they did it ever since- and one re-entrance that made everyone gasp and laugh even though I saw it coming). Mark Hadfield is brilliant as Seppings but then he always is <3
It's a lot of fun as a show and I can't wait to see how the new cast change it :D
Luckily for me the show runs for another week so I'm going NEXT Saturday and this time I know it's for a matinee. Stupidity tax paid but I got doubl-y lucky because not being at the theatre meant I could attend dozydormouse's birthday meal & drinks which was very lovely (MUST remember to go to the Swan bar more often given I get a discount there even if I'm not entirely clear on how much that discount is).
Anyway my Saturday theatre-going might not have gone quite to plan but on Friday seiyaharris and I went to see Another Country and that plan worked beautifully because we paid for the cheap seats in the back row and got moved forwards to row G \o/
Another Country @ Trafalgar Studios (Studio 1)
I've never actually watched the film of Another Country (although it's very much on my list) and so I didn't entirely know what was coming in this play although given it was written in the aftermath of the Cambridge and one of the characters is called "Guy Bennett" it's not entirely impossible to guess at least part of the ending.
I absolutely loved watching how it all fell out though and how various characters reacted to the situation they were in and the system they were operating within. Julian Mitchell did a great job in showing a real range of reactions to the rigid system and structure of life in a public school from those on the absolute outside (Marxist!Judd) to those who want to stick rigidly to the rules at every moment (Fowler who is both comic and terrifying) and then every position in between including Bennett who pushes the system to its limits but wants to stay within it until he realises he's never going to be allowed to reach the top or Devenish who wants so much to belong and who loves the ssytem even though, for much of the play, he isn't at all sure he'll be able tor each the top table. Or Menzies who seems friendly until push comes to shove.
I loved the dynamics of the group and the friendships that weren't really friendships and I did find the play heartbreaking precisely because that's kind of what it does to Bennett- or at least shatters all of his illusions and whilst I have no idea what the motivation of the real Cambridge Spies was his story is an entirely plausible explanation.
And Rob Callender was entrancing as Bennett. In some ways he (possibly strangely) made me think of Kurt Hummel in Glee I think because of the fierce desire not to lose who he is in the face of the system whilst simultaneously being happy to operate within its rules until it becomes obvious that the system doesn't want him. And then you realise just how good and vicious he might be in opposition. I also loved the way his face lit up when he talked about the boy he was in love with and I loved even more the quiet scenes with him and Will Attenborough's Judd because it was then that you saw their actual friendship, despite differences and naive assumptions, and it threw into relief the other relationships in the play.
We sort of went to see the play partly for Bill Milner who plays a junior who you can see growing up into Devenish perhaps but who is homesick and terrified and you realise that the problem with Judd is whilst he may be right that the system is corrupt that isn't actually the right way to comfort a terrified child so when he actually does get it right and tucks Wharton into bed it's a lovely human moment.
I also very much liked Mark Quartley as the Head of House because you could see how thoroughly the death before the start of the play has destroyed him even though he was clearly someone who thought the system could be made to work- I suppose he was the liberal to Wharton's conservative?
I also loved the simplicity of the set and the use of I Vow To Thee My Country (which weirdly, having not heard in years, I sang at a memorial service only a couple of weeks ago).
I probably need to go and watch the film now.
Let's sneak another (old) review in here whilst I'm bored out of my brain.
Jeeves & Wooster in Perfect Nonsense @ Duke of Yorks
I'm actually seeing this again with Mark Heap and Robert Webb because of Mark Heap is on stage I HAVE to be there and I went in knowing I'd be seeing it again so really hoping, more than expecting, it would be good.
And it was hilarious and stupid and there's a bunch of slapstick and quick changes and I just loved it. I mean there's no more plot than there ever really is in a Jeeves & Wooster (a cow creamer everyone wants and engagements to be made and broken) but mostly there's Jeeves & Wooster between them- with the help of Seppings slowly inching his way across the stage- putting on a play so Wooster is distractable whilst Jeeves provides set, props, costumes and some wonderful moments when more characters are needed on stage than there are actors.
I basically love things with smaller than needed casts or things which draw attention to the fact that they are plays so I was kind of in seventh heaven and Stephen Mangan makes a brilliant Wooster. I was a little uncertain about Matthew Macfayden because he's always so stiff but of course so is Jeeves and so it actually really worked (and he managed at least one... well half quick change that I've been trying to work out exactly how they did it ever since- and one re-entrance that made everyone gasp and laugh even though I saw it coming). Mark Hadfield is brilliant as Seppings but then he always is <3
It's a lot of fun as a show and I can't wait to see how the new cast change it :D