LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

Nov 98

We chose November for our trip again because many of the actors we want to see are back from summer holidays and the shortlist artists for the Turner prize are displayed at the Tate Gallery.

We were again reminded why large cities exist.  The best artists in the world can come to one location and work with other top-level artists.  All we have to do is travel to London (or New York) to benefit from the excitement and energy.

This year we went to plays rather than musicals, and we saw seven plays in ten days.  We were not disappointed in any of the productions, but naturally they varied in flavor.

The local habit of not booking ahead for theatre worked very much to our advantage, as we were able to see every play we wanted to by visiting the box offices after we arrived.  We visited four theatres on Sunday, and booked The Old Vic ("Amadeus" with David Suchet) and National Theatre ("Betrayal") on Monday, since the box offices were closed on Sunday.

To our surprise, we were able to get good seats for both the platform with Harold Pinter and Betrayal on Monday for that evening.

Mr. Pinter read from his new book, which is a compilation of his writing from 1948-1998.  At first I was shocked and puzzled by Mr. Pinter's strong attacks on the policies of the United States and the United Kingdom toward Iraq, Israel, and the world in general.  Why talk about politics in a theatre?  Then I remembered that the function and the duty of the Artist is to help the rest of us see our world in new ways.  Mr. Pinter is not a politician, and it is not his job to form foreign policy.  A great danger in the modern world is to let the power of government go unchallenged at the expense of liberty.  We should not be too comfortable in allowing our government to use military force.

"Betrayal" is a play that demands examination and thought.  The story is told backwards in time, so we always know more than the characters.  We study them, and start counting the betrayals, not only between the characters, but also within the characters, as they betray what they believe for the sake of making a living.

As usual with a Royal National Theatre production, the acting, direction, sets, and the production in general were so good one could not imagine the artists making other choices.  The artists and the playwright did not betray the audience.

Phèdre and Britannicus, Almeida Theatre at the Albery Theatre.  Both of these plays by Racine, a 17th century French dramatist, could have been horrible in less capable hands.  We decided to see them because of Dame Diana Rigg, and were pleased with the really good drama.  We were very impressed by the standard of acting and the way all the actors worked within conventions unfamiliar to us and still conveyed the emotions and conflicts clearly.

"Phèdre" is a tragic story of human failings causing suffering for all involved.  Phèdre lusts after her stepson and despises herself for it.  We can not help thinking of other great people destroyed by their urges.

"Britannicus" is the story of Nero.  The play shows the point where Nero the sociopath discards all restraint.  Again we are reminded of the trials great power places on character.

Amadeus at the Old Vic, with David Suchet as Salieri, was a fine evening.  As expected, the whole production was superb.

The play was powerful as a movie, but had much more impact on stage.  The role of the artist is dealt with explicitly.  Most people have no real appreciation of great art.  The artist has an obligation to follow his inspiration, to not betray his art.  The play showed the genius of Mozart through the reactions of Salieri.  The play helped the audience feel the torment of Salieri, and pity him even though he was not a good man.

The Weir at The Duke of York's Theatre was a fine entertainment to contrast with the plays so far.  The characters in the play are not kings or influential artists, but inhabitants of a small country village.  There is less distance (in both time and social station) between the characters and the audience.  This reduction in distance changes the way we think about the lessons of the play.  We do not consider the awesome burdens of power, but of the requirement of forgiveness and support for our fellow human beings in pain.

The play is a recreation of a perfect evening in a local pub where everyone knows and supports and cares for everyone else, in spite of or because of their faults.  I enjoyed eavesdropping on some good pub conversation and gossip.  Sort of like an Irish Cheers. The misfortunes of the characters do not have the wide scope of classical tragedy, where society at large suffers from the actions of individuals.  The misfortunes of the characters affect only themselves and the people they know.

From the brochure, I expected to feel some of the classic horror of the supernatural contained in old ghost stories.  As I understand the old stories, the spirits had power to do real harm to people in this world.  The spirits in this play had only the power to make us think about the world, our reactions to the world, and our need for other people.

An Ideal Husband is, of course, a classic play.  This production made the play emotionally affecting to modern audiences in spite of the clever witticisms.  The warmth and generosity of the play was astonishing.

The Peter Hall Company presented a superb performance.

I recommend the Aubrey Beardsley show at the Victoria and Albert Museum as a companion event.

Filumena is the Italian play that was adapted to the movie "Marriage Italian Style".  Perhaps it is a reflection of the superb professionalism of the Peter Hall Company, but I was surprised that they and Dame Judi Dench were involved in such an easy project.  The play was enjoyable and easily understood, but there did not seem to be any great difficulties to overcome in the presentation.

Again, perhaps my reaction is because a great professional makes his job look easy.

Judi Dench as Filumena was warm and funny and all the other actors performed well.  The pace was well suited to the material and I understood the material.  It just seems to me that a second tier company could have done justice to the play.

In summary, we do not regret seeing any of the plays.  I wonder how theatre fans in London balance going to the theatre with earning a living.  With such a variety of excellent theatre to choose from, small wonder that fans do not have to book far in advance.

Patrick Keating
Email : keatingp@teleport.com