Tag: Brian Shelley

Out Of A House Walked A Man by Daniil Kharms, RNT, 3 December 1994

Janie and I both loved Théâtre de Complicité’s work ever since we saw The Street Of Crocodiles on our first proper date.

Janie and I Go On Our First Proper Date, The Street Of Crocodiles, Cottesloe Theatre, 29 August 1992

So, was this one, Out Of A House Walked A Man at the Lyttelton.

Here’s a link to the Theatricalia entry.

The one review I could find on-line can be found here.

Here is the Michael Billington review clipping:

Billington On Out Of A HouseBillington On Out Of A House Sat, Dec 3, 1994 – 30 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Here is the Michael Coveney clipping:

Michael Coveney On Out Of A House & New EnglandMichael Coveney On Out Of A House & New England Sun, Dec 4, 1994 – 77 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

We were ever so keen to see this one. We saw Landscape in the afternoon/early evening and this one at the regular theatre hour – a veritable theatre-fest of stuff we were very keen to see.

As usual a stupendously good cast assembled by Complicite, including Kathryn Hunter, Toby Jones and Marcello Magni. Simon McBurney at the helm but not on the stage for this one.

Again no actual reviews for this one but a wonderful Guardian piece about McBurney survives from a few week’s after we saw this show.

We both thought this production was very good.

We went to see Landscape by Harold Pinter earlier that day…

Landscape by Harold Pinter, Cottesloe Theatre, 3 December 1994

…and hung around for the Complicite. I guess we were a little time poor for theatre and stuff that autumn, as I was busy birthing Z/Yen and stuff that autumn.

Still, we highly rated both shows so that must have been a day to savour.

The Madness of George III by Alan Bennett, Lyttelton Theatre, 30 September 1992

I believe we did a date swap for this one. It is in my diary for Saturday 17 October, but I ended up going to see Death And The Maiden with Janie, John and Mandy that night.

I think Bobbie had a problem with that October weekend and we arranged to swap with a friend of hers to see this production midweek, on 30 September.

My production log says:

Went with Bobbie. Very good.

So what else is there to say? I remember it being a very big, busy play, with an enormous cast of courtiers attending to the protagonists. I remember laughing quite a lot. I suspect I would find it a bit cheesy if I saw it again now.

Nigel Hawthorne was very impressive and I suppose it is “quite a thing” that I saw him perform live.

The Wikipedia entry links to rave reviews on both sides of the channel. The subject matter very naturally had appeal for the USA so it is no surprise that it was also a hit there and also made into a film.

I was probably quite tired that evening, as the diary shows I spent a long day flying up to West Lothian the day before on business – that will have been Sky with Michael – a memorable working day.

I suspect that this was the last time I went to the theatre with Bobbie. We probably had a post theatre meal, perhaps at the RNT itself or perhaps somewhere like RSJs or the Archduke.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Below is Michael Coveney’s review from the Observer:

Madness of George III, Michael CoveneyMadness of George III, Michael Coveney Sun, Nov 24, 1991 – 59 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Michael Billington’s review from The Guardian:

Madness of George III, BillingtonMadness of George III, Billington Sat, Nov 30, 1991 – 25 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com