LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

May/June 98

My cousin, her husband and I just returned from a wonderful 3 week trip. I manage to get to the UK once or twice a year and this trip was one of the best ever. We rented a cozy 16th century cottage (with 18 cats and 5 dogs!) in Kent for the first week, then went north and stayed in a timber lodge on Rutland Water for the 2nd week. Then we rented a two bedroom flat in Pimlico for the last five days. Most of the first two weeks were devoted to sightseeing and enjoying the countryside. But since this a theatre web page, I’ll skip over the “touristy” details and get right to the business at hand.

My first play was the Stamford Shakespeare Company’s production of As you like it. This company has been doing open air productions for thirty years, the last 22 at the Rutland Open Air Theatre at Tolethorpe Hall. The cast and production crew are all volunteers but the performance values are very high and professionally done. The venue is terrific - the Hall is an old pile with beautiful gardens and picnic areas for pre-show dining. There is also a bar, restaurant and tuck shop. The ampitheatre is very comfortable - the audience is under a soaring fabric roof which is supposedly rain proof but the stage is out in the open. I thought they did as well or better than the productions I’ve seen at Regent’s Park.

The cast was mostly very good - especially Terry Kenny as Orlando and Amanda Plant as Rosalind. Since these are the two most important roles in the play they have to be good or the whole thing would fail. The villainous Duke Frederick was a little over the top and was occasionally difficult to understand. All in all it was an enjoyable evening and I would recommend anyone in the general Cambs, Leics, Lincs area try to see one of their rep productions. For info you can call the Admin office on (01780) 754381.

After Rutland we went up to London for five days. I spent most of the days doing touristy things I’ve missed during my last few trips - tea at the Ritz, Harrods, Fortnum & Mason, Nat’l Gallery, Hyde park/Kens Gardens, etc etc. The one day-time “theatre thing” I managed was a tour of the Globe - had an eccentric lady guide who was terrific. (I’ve decided that when folks flying from the States go through passport control they should sign a paper promising not to ask really dumb questions or talk too loud.) But she handled everyone very well and a few actually learned something.

Now for the London shows: On Friday night I went to Sweet Charity at the Victoria Palace. I thought it was quite good - besides Charity, the chorus makes or breaks this show, and they were very energetic and good dancers. Bonnie Langford was a fine Charity. Basienka Blake almost stole the show a couple of times. I’m sure she will get a leading role sometime soon. I got my ticket at the half price ticket booth - but even so I was shocked to see the house more than half empty on a Friday night. I talked to one of the staff and she said the audiences have been up and down and hopefully will pick up due to some upcoming promotions.

Late Saturday afternoon I was walking through Leicester Square and hadn’t yet dedcided what to see that evening. It was 4:30 and there on the matinee board was ART. I couldn’t believe my luck - but curtain is 5:00 and I hadn’t eaten anything since about 11:00 that morning. So I did what I swear never to do in London - I ate at McDonalds. Fast, Cheap and close to the Wyndham’s. ART was absolutely wonderful. I can’t visualize the earlier casts doing any better. I won’t do a full blown review since there are several on this web page, but if you get a chance - you must see ART! All three actors were terrific, but to me the part of Yvan was a tour de force by Tony Haygarth. That’s not to take anything away from Richard Griffiths or Malcolm Storry. They were wonderful too. What a splendid play!

Now we come to Sunday night - and Hey, Mr Producer. We were going to get tix to the Monday performance but when I rang from California in early April it was clear we could get much better seats for Sunday’s show. So I ordered £60 tickets which were in the center of the front row of the grand tier. As I mentioned on the bulletin board - it was the best £180 we’ve ever spent. There were minor glitches on Sunday which I’m sure were smoothed over by Monday. My cousin and her husband live on a remote ranch in the mountains of northern California. They had heard of most the shows but had never seen any of them - not a lot of culture where the cyotes and mountain lions out number the people. They were absolutely blown away by the show - seeing Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, Jonathan Pryce, Judi Dench, Stephen Sondheim et al was a once in a lifetime event. Late on a Sunday night there are not a lot of taxis to be had around Aldwych so we walked up to the Savoy to get the doorman to hail one for us. As we were waiting there with a few others, up drives Julie Andrews to drop Bernadette Peters off at her hotel. Got Bernadette’s autograph on the program.

Monday Night I went to Things We Do For Love at the Gielgud. As several people have commented - the real star is the set. Jane Asher and Steven Pacey were good - they seemed to start out slow but got rolling as the play developed. Serena Evans as Nikki was a little “too too” during the early scenes. I know that is the character, but there is a fine line between hysterical and going so far that one becomes unintelligible. She sort of performed the whole play at the same level so she couldn’t raise the pitch when things get really crazy in the second act. I did enjoy the play - it is just hard to compete with ART and MacKintosh.

On our last night we skipped theatre and went to the Tower of London for the Ceremony of the Keys. Actually that is pretty high theatre - locked inside the Tower at ten pm watching a 450 year old ceremony is pretty dramatic.

Now I’m back home planning my next trip, probably sometime in the Fall. The joke on everyone at home was that we only had 2+ days of rain during the whole three weeks, while here in sunny California it rained 15 straight days!

Janis Jacox
Email : jjacox@concourse.net