LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

May 99

SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER
I swore I wasn't going to see a matinee but decided to go ahead.  I'm getting too old to cram shows in on the same day I arrive as I have a hard time staying awake especially after an uncomfortable flight.  Fortunately, the flight was on time so I decided what the hell.  My first choice was to Good at the Donmar Warehouse but they were sold out.  I decided to see this show by Tennessee Williams at the Comedy Theatre.  It was mercifully only 90 minutes.  Suddenly, Last Summer is an interesting story about power and maternal love.  Mrs. Venable played by Sheila Gish has been replaced in her son's life by a new companion, Catharine (Rachel Wiesz who I had previously seen in Design for Living) and Mrs. Venable is determined to wreak violent revenge.  The play is directed by Sean Mathias.  Now TW is not one of my favorite playwrights.  I find most of his work to be on the slow side, something I really don't need when I'm sleepy.  However, Sean draws the viewer in with his steady di! rection and it held my interest.  Sheila Gish and Rachel Wiesz were very good and the set was very interesting.  It consisted of the back porch of a large home and all the flora and fauna were made out of wooden sculptures and carvings which I found to be very inventive. 

COPENHAGEN
Three wonderful performances accompanied the R.N.T.'s production of Michael Frayn's Copenhagen now playing at the Duchess Theatre.  Copenhagen is a fictionalized account of the meetings of two scientists who worked on the inventions surrounding atoms and atom bombs between WWI and/during WWII.  One scientist, a Jew, was from Denmark and the mentor while his student was for Germany.  They worked together before the war and then separated as each had allegiances to different countries.  The first meeting takes place in 1941 in which the student tries to find out if his mentor knows what the Allies nuclear capabilities are.  Later on in 1962, they discuss their motives and why the German's lost the war from the scientific point of view.  The play is very complex and I have to admit that some of the scientific terms went right over head.  However, it was very intriguing as to why the scientist's made many of their decisions and how it affected the war efforts.  Sara Kestelman, Dav! id Burke, and Mathew Marsh were superb.  The set, which amounted to three chairs surrounded by stage seating occupied by the audience allowed the actors to dive into the material with shear abandon.  I would have thought I'd fallen asleep but it was just too interesting to miss anything.  I had to buy the play to read.

OKLAHOMA
It is too bad the American audiences are going to miss this reproduction of Oklahoma at the Lyceum Theatre.  It is fabulous.  It has been completely re-imagined and is expertly directed by Trevor Nunn who does a great job with the mostly British cast.  The only recognizable name in the group is Maureen Lipman who plays Aunt Eller but the whole group rises to the task.  It is funny, engaging and expertly casted and there's all that lovely R&H music.  If there was one thing I had a problem with it was the accents.  Whenever the British do American accents, it always comes off with a southern twang.  Several of the actors used an accent that sounded like a cross between a Texas and Alabama accent.  It just didn't work.  However, it was easily over looked. 

MACBETH
The main reason I wanted to the Queens Theatre to see Macbeth again was to see Rufus Sewell who I've enjoyed in many productions particularly in Arcadia.  He was starring as Macbeth along with Sally Dexter as Lady Macbeth.  While he was good, I found him to be too young for the role and I didn't like Sally at all.  She wasn't menacing or calculating in the least bit.  The production was done on a bare stage with few props.  I don't know, it just didn't work for me, didn't draw me in.  In fact, I really don't have much to say on the show.  I didn't like the production, period.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY
Last year, I saw Pinter's Old Times and found it surreal.  Actually more like slow and boring.  Pinter's The Birthday Party is just as surreal.  However, it is directed much better and given a workable pace so that one has a better idea of what is going on.   The play is set at a seaside B&B run by Meg (played by Prunella Scales of Faulty Tower fame) and Petey.  Her only guest is Stanley, a mean, pushy obnoxious man who acts as if he owns the place.  Petey invites two shady, older gentleman played by Timothy West (Edward VII) and Nigel Terry (Excalibur) to stay.  That night, a Stanley becomes paranoid at his birthday party as he thinks these men have come to get him.  The strange thing about the characters is that there isn't a lot of background information given for any of the characters.  The viewer isn't told why Stanley is there, or why the two men show up or what if anything they might have to do with Stanley.  This allows you to concoct your own scenario with just the fr! amework of the play.  I found myself adding my own assumptions to the characters and determining myself why the characters were doing what they were doing.  I found this play to work better than Old Times but I think that I really have to be in the mood for a show like this.  One really must invest some thought.

PLENTY
David Hare is a very prolific writer having had four plays on Broadway in the last 12 months.  However in London instead of a new play, this season is seeing the first revival of Plenty now at the Albery Theatre.  One could describe the play as being about a woman whose mental illness unfortunately contributes to her husband's eventual downfall as a diplomat.  However, the play is much more.  During the war, the woman played by Cate Blanchett worked in France as a special envoy in the Resistance.  The exhilaration and danger of her wartime experiences make the adjustment to the more mundane business of day to day living very difficult to the extent that it affects her relationship with her husband, a career diplomat.  The play, spread out over 20 years, examines this relationship at various places in their lives.  Cate is extraordinary as Susan.  The strong supporting cast includes Jeremy Child and Julian Wadham and is superbly directed by Jonathan Kent.  It is definitely a mu! st see and unfortunately ends in July.

JULIUS CAESAR
I'm trying to see those plays of Shakespeare's which I haven't yet seen performed.  Fortunately, the Globe's summer season started this weekend and I was able to catch Julius Caesar.  Being in the Globe is like being in a sacred place to me.  To see Shakespeare performed in the way it was originally done is really awesome to me.  Seeing the actors walk through the audience during audience scenes works so well.  It also answered a question for me, which has often puzzled me. Many of the plays are in four and five acts though performed with only one interval.  Now I know why there were so many acts.  It was done to give the standees that are standing in front of the stage, time to move around, use the toilet, or get something to warm them up.  Most of the acts run 25-40 minutes long with a brief five-minute interval.  The 3 hours flew by.  Oh the play, well, it tells the story of Julius Caesar from the time is offered the crown to his assassination and finally to the war that fo! llowed with Mark Anthony and Augustus defeating Brutus and Cassius.  It was an all-male production with many of the cast members playing several roles including the female roles.  None of the actors are well known outside of London but the cast was very good and kept what could have been a boring production quite entertaining.  Even Shakespeare's tragedies can be quite funny when properly done. 

PRIVATE LIVES
This fast paced show was really fun having previously been done many times before including Maggie Smith and Robert Stephans, Joan Collins and Simon Jones as well as Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence.  Having seen Private Lives now playing at the R.N.T.'s Lyttelton Theatre a couple of times, the only thing that would draw me to see it again is a star performer.  Juliet Stevenson is definitely that star.  You might remember her from Truly, Madly, Deeply or Emma or on TV in the Politician's Wife.  I was very fortuate to see her in Death and the Maiden for which she won an Olivier.  She is great as Amanda who meets up with her ex-husband Elyot on her honeymoon with Victor and ends up leaving Victor for Elyot who is on his honeymoon with Sybil.  The play continues as they examine their previous marriage and ends up with them fighting with their current spouses. Juliet was as fabulous as she always is.  There isn't much she can't do.  The other actors were fine too though I had never heard of them.  The set was especially interesting in the 2nd and 3rd acts.  Amanda's Paris apartment was more vertical taking up only the middle section of the stage.  It was done up in a modern sty! le with a loft up above.  The loft appeared to be a bathroom but was not used at all.  It got a huge hand at the opening of the second act.  As I said, it is fast paced and lots of fun.

So that was my theatre this trip.  I did do a big walk through Hampstead and Golder's Green, visited the New British Library, had a big lunch with a colleague and walked through St. James and Regent Parks.  I'd love to go back in the fall when there will be a big Beckett festival at the Barbican.

So now I rest for a few days and then fly down to LA on Saturday to see four shows.  Then I'm home 5 days before flying back to NYC to see 14 shows and attend the Tonys.  I'll be exhausted later. 

(May 1999 / Rodney_R_Anderson / rodneyra@worldnet.att.net )