LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

16th to 25th Mar 2001

On my first trip to England since 1998 I intended to see as much theatre as I could. I was accompanied by my wife, my 11 year old son and my older brother, who was on his first trip to England. We arrived in London on 16 March and left my son with my brother as my wife and I took a train to Newcastle to see the RSC production of John Barton’s TANTALUS. This had premiered in Denver last fall and was touring England before coming to London in May.

TANTALUS is a mammoth production, beginning at 10 AM and running until 10:30 PM with lunch and dinner breaks (as well as shorter intermissions). It is a series of nine plays concerning the causes of the Trojan War, its conclusion, and the aftereffects. Let me state at the outset that it was one of the most powerful theatrical productions I have ever seen. Although there are only eight principal players they played all the roles along with a chorus of nine women and extras. Barton had spent over a dozen years working on this play, and the printed version was even longer than produced version. The written version has one more play and has a separate prologue and epilogue, whereas the production has just nine plays (running about an hour each). Barton has thoroughly studied the mythology and knew all the variations of all the myths. I teach a course in mythology myself and was able to follow the ins and outs of the action, but my wife had no trouble understanding what was going on—even though she asked me during intermissions what was going to happen to some of the characters.

The play begins on a beach in the present where nine beautiful women in bathing suits are sunning themselves when a peddler comes along with statues of the Greek gods. He becomes the story teller and tells especially the bits between the better known myths. He becomes Peleus and Tyndareus (husbands of Thetis and Leda respectively) as well as many other characters in the course of the drama. The first trio of plays cover the events that lead up to the war, including the sacrifice of Iphigenia. The second set deal with the very end of the War with the story of the Trojan Horse. Neoptolomus (also known as Pyrrhus) is persuaded to pretend to be a girl, Pyrrha, in order to deceive the Trojans. In the next play he/she succeeds in persuading Priam (who is higher than the other characters because he is on stilts) to take in the horse, and in the third he is the agent of the destruction of Troy (something Odesseus and Agamemnon promised would not happen) appearing in the armor of Achilles covered, literally, with blood. The final three plays cover the returns and the tragic endings of the characters. Hecuba becomes a fiend, Neoptolomus meets his destiny, and Helen is put on trial.

Many of the Greek plays are echoed in the action, especially Euripides IPHIGENIA IN AULUS, THE TROJAN WOMEN, HECUBA, ANDROMACHE, and HELEN, but s knowledge of the originals is not necessary for an appreciation of this play.

TANTALUS can be seen in separate parts or as a marathon day as we saw it. The latter is good—but I do recommend a good night’s sleep beforehand. We returned to London on Sunday 18 March and that evening the four of us went to see Shakespeare’s TWELFTH NIGHT at the Pentameters theatre in Hampstead. This was my brother’s first experience with English Theatre and particularly with Fringe theatre London style. He was amazed with the quality of the production; he had not imagined such a first rate performance could be done above a pub. It was indeed a very well done piece and had excellent performances.

Monday we went to the National Theatre in hopes of getting day tickets for MY FAIR LADY, my son’s favorite musical. However, not only were all the day seats gone by the time we made it to the box office, but there were no tickets available for any future performances. We did get day seats for that evening’s performance of THE CHERRY ORCHARD in the Olivier. This production had originally been staged at the Cottesloe, but the transfer to the large stage was quite successful. Since I had not seen the Cottlesloe version I cannot make comparisons, however our seats were in the front row so that gave us a sense of presence. Vanessa Redgrave was a perfect Lyubov. She had the various dimensions of this character completely under control. Corin Redgrave, who had been replaced as Gaev in previous weeks because of health problems, returned for this week and did very well with the not quite as complex character of the brother. It was worth the price of admission just to see brother and sister playing Chekhov’s brother and sister. There was not a weak link in the production.

On Tuesday we made are one excursion into the “West End” to see Michael Frayn’s COPENHAGEN at the Duchess. This was a very interesting three character play with the characters being Niels Bohr, his wife Margrethe and Werner Heisenberg. The period of the play keeps shifting from the present (when all the characters are dead) to 1941, to 1947, to the 1920’s. It concerns itself with private conversations between the Danish Bohr and the German Heisenberg. It is never completely clear what was said and what were the characters’ motivations—but this is completely appropriate, because the most important contribution of Heisenberg to atomic theory is the uncertainty principle, and this can be seen as a metaphor for the whole play. One matter that was not as clear as it might have been concerns the drowning of the Bohrs’ son. It might be noted that my 11 year old son enjoyed the play, although it was not his favorite.

We did not take him to the play we saw on Wednesday, Wedekind’s LULU at the Alemeida theatre at Kings Cross. We left him with my brother. Wedekind’s two part play has been the subject of silent film (PANDORA’S BOX with Louise Brooks) and Opera (Berg’s unfinished LULU), but this is the first time I have seen it as a play. Anna Friel played the part fairly well, the first act (based on Wedekind’s EARTH SPIRIT) was quite erotic. The second act, set in Paris and London, seemed longer. While Lulu was in control in the first part, she becomes more the victim as the play goes on. In Paris she finds herself being blackmailed and in London she is living in squalor. The “earth spirit” is reduced to unsuccessful prostitution, finally picking up her own destruction. To me the final scene seemed interminable, but my wife did not feel that way.

Thursday took us once again to Shakespeare in the fringe, this time to a production of MEASURE FOR MEASURE at the Baron’s Court. The sides of this tiny theatre under a pub were decorated with slick ads for women offering various services. Our son tried to find a seat where he did not have to look at them. He was unsure whether they were genuine or part of d?cor of the production (a little bit of both I dare say). The production was well done, although not as fine as the TWELFTH NIGHT we had seen on Sunday. It was done in modern dress and Pompey indeed carried some of the ads that decorated the stage. When the Duke pretended to be a Friar for some reason he wore dark glasses and carried a cane like a blind man. The ending of the play was very strange and gratuitous, after insisting that Lucio marry the punk he had fathered a child on and remitting his other punishments, the Duke drew a knife and stabbed him to death. His proposal to Isabella and their exit together took place over Lucio’s corpse. Why? It seems to serve no good purpose except to give the audience something to talk about on their trip home.

I first visited the Players Theatre in 1969, on my first trip to London when the only plays available in London on Sunday were theatre clubs which were for members only—but for which one could get a short term membership. Now, 32 years later, I went again to this very enjoyable venue—although it had moved twice since 1969. This was the first visit however for my son and my brother, and they both enjoyed it greatly. For those who have never visited this theatre literally under Charing Cross Station, I should state that it is a Victorian music hall and that a large part of the audience consists of members who know by heart large segments of the Chairman’s spiel. In this way (but probably no other) it resembled a performance of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. The Chairman Dominic Le Foe not only introduces each act but at the beginning of the second half (there are three halves) talks with the audience. As we were foreigners from the USA we entered into conversation with him to mutual delight (?). As this was the week after Saint Patrick’s Day most of the music was Irish, and before the show we had the chance to buy song sheets so as to sing along with the principals—in the second chorus. If you have not been Under the Arches I recommend you go. If I lived in London I would certainly be a member.

Saturday was our last full day in London and the Royal Shakespeare Company was doing HENRY IV PARTS I and II at the Barbican. Unfortunately no seats were available for PART II in the evening so we contented ourselves with PART I as a matinee. This production used minimal sets and props, most of the effects were done by lighting. As was to be expected, all the roles were very well played. Desmond Barrit was perhaps the best Falstaff I have ever seen. I greatly regret that I could not see him with Pistol and Justice Shallow. But we should always should have something to look forward to.

Sunday 25 March was our day to return home, but with a full complement of theatrical experiences. The next time we come (maybe in 2003) we will come at a time when we can see a performance at the New Globe!

(March 2001 / Stephen J. Teller / steller@pittstate.edu)