LONDON TRIP REVIEWS

June 97

A colleague and I conducted a trip to London this June for 22 Oberlin College (Ohio, USA) alumni. We saw 14 plays in just over two weeks, so clearly this was a tour for serious theater-goers. A number of the productions we saw have now closed, but I'll include them for archival purposes; I'll also rate each production up to 5 *s. In roughly descending order of quality, we saw:

KING LEAR (Cottesloe/National): A wonderfully rich, complex, nuanced production, very simply designed, and staged with the utmost clarity. Ian Holm is heartbreaking in the lead, but so is the rest of the cast. Sold out for the rest of its run, but it's well worth queueing for returns. *****

THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE (Olivier/National): A co-production with Theatre de Complicite (one of the most inventive fringe companies), brilliantly staged by Simon McBurney, who also gave a wonderful performance as Azdak. Juliet Stevenson was terrific--as fans of her work would would expect--as Brecht's heroine Grusha. *****

ART (Wyndham's): This new play by Yazmina Reza really is as good as everyone says: cracklingly intelligent, hilarious, gradually deepening as an exploration of contemporary friendship until it becomes richly satisfying and compelling. We saw the second cast, who have now been replaced by the third--but there was no sign that Matthew Warchus's wonderful production was getting the least bit tired. Coming to New York next spring. *****

THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN (Olivier/Lyttelton): A new Irish play by Martin McDonagh, hilarious and painful by turns, that takes characters familiar from Irish classics (a la Synge) and puts all sorts of surprising twists on them. A wonderful company, expertly directed by Nicholas Hytner. Note: three other plays by McDonagh are being produced by the Royal Court in the West End. ****

CYMBELINE (Stratford): A very good production of this difficult late Shakespearean romance, soldily directed by Adrian Noble and beautifully designed by Anthony Ward. Joanne Pearce is not an ideal Imogen, but she manages to make it work, and while some of the supporting cast is weaker than they should be (Guy Henry's Cloten is a major exception--he's great), the play as a whole comes through strongly. ****

THE SEAGULL (Old Vic): A nicely detailed production of the Chekhov classic, directed by Peter Hall--much more persuasively than some of the turkeys he's done in the West End in the last few years (e.g., An Ideal Husband). Strong cast led by Michael Pennington and Felicity Kendal. ****

THE HERBAL BED (Duchess): A West End transfer of an RSC production of a play by Peter Whelan about Shakespeare's daughter Susanna. Strong, interesting work, performed with style and energy. ****

DONA ROSITA THE SPINSTER (Almeida): A rarity by Garcia Lorca, inventively directed by Phyllida Lloyd. A real jumble of a play--a domestic tragedy interrupted by comic bits and wacky musical numbers. It didn't all make sense, but it was staged with such style and with such a strong cast that it was great fun to see. ***

HENRY V and THE WINTER'S TALE (Globe): I list these together because most of the experience has to do with where they're staged: no serious theatergoer will want to miss seeing at least one play in the new Globe reconstruction. It's a thrilling experience to be there and to observe the way the space works to set up a dynamic between actors and audience. It's still very much a work in progress: actors, designers, and directors are still exploring what works in the space (and a lot doesn't). And in fact neither of these would be thought a good production in other circumstances (a lot of the acting is sub-par, and even Mark Rylance's Henry seemed curiously underpowered). But we enjoyed the experience, and I look forward to seeing what happens in subsequent seasons. ***

PRAYERS OF SHERKIN (Old Vic): The London premiere of a 1990 play by Sebastian Barry, author of The Steward of Christendom (a huge hit in London and New York). PRAYERS isn't the masterpiece that Steward is--it's a much quieter, less focused piece--but this lyrical exploration of a tiny Irish community had a genuine charm and considerable integrity. ***

THE CREATION (Stratford): We had high hopes for this staging of medieval mystery plays by the RSC, largely because of director Katie Mitchell's reputation as brilliant and innovative. This production disappointed somewhat: it's full of integrity and has some terrific moments, but doesn't capitalize on all its opportunities, and in places was even a trifle dull. Good, but not great. **

MARAT/SADE (Olivier/National): I'm not really persuaded this Peter Weiss play from the '60s really needed reviving--it's hard to imagine how it could have the impact now that it did then. But this production was considerably more interesting than the reviews would suggest: its huge cast had buckets of energy and commitment, and Anastasia Hille was a real standout as Charlotte Corday. Jeremy Sams' direction seemed perfunctory, though, and the musical numbers too reminiscent of Les Mis to work in this context. **

AMY'S VIEW (Lyttelton/National): The new play by David Hare was the biggest disappointment of the trip: it's quite a bad play. Judi Dench gives a great performance in the lead; the problem is that she's surrounded by two-dimensional characters who mouth completely idiotic sentiments so that she can triumph over them. Hare has tried to write a play of ideas, but the play is so muddled in its thinking and unfocused in its structure that it's deeply unpersuasive. The critics seem to like this play, but--to a person--we all hated it. No stars.

All in all, a satisfying and stimulating trip. We plan to do it again in 1999, so if any Oberlinians are reading this, mark your calendars!

David Walker
Email : David_Walker@qmgate.cc.oberlin.edu