February 1997 – Ian Louis Harris

Cardiff East by Peter Gill, Cottesloe Theatre, 22 February 1997

My log is quite clear about our opinion of this piece:

It was dreadful. We walked out at half time.

But wait – look at the stellar cast. Here’s the Theatricalia entry for it. Kenneth Cranham, Karl Johnson, Elizabeth Estensen, Windsor Davis…

…and Di Botcher. Di Botcher who directed Newsrevue in 1994 and seemed so keen on my stuff. Where’s the mutual support?

Well, in truth I do think that Di Botcher can act. Her role in this miserablist piece, as far as I could tell, was mostly to stand around looking miserable. Di stood around looking miserable with aplomb.

Here’s what our friend Michael Billington had to say…and you know for sure that when he uses the phrases “important” and “not an easy evening” that misery must be part of it:

Billington On Cardiff East Thu, Feb 13, 1997 – 2 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney in the Observer speaks more highly of it…

Michael Coveney on Cardiff East Sun, Feb 16, 1997 – 73 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

…perhaps we should have stuck it out to the second half after all. But we were about to fly off to Lebanon & Syria just over a week later, so time was at a premium…and they really know how to play for sympathy over there.

We didn’t learn our lesson about Peter Gill’s miserablist Welsh plays, because just over 10 years later we went to see a revival of Small Change at the Donmar and got precious little out of that one either:

Small Change by Peter Gill, Donmar Warehouse, 12 April 2008

Some folk never learn, mark you.

Plagiarise, NewsRevue Lyric, 11 February 1997

This one went down pretty well, if I recall correctly, in Mark Brailsford’s spring 1997 run of NewsRevue.

PLAGIARISE
(To the Tune of “Walk On By”)

VERSE 1

If you should be walking down the street,
And you hear a tune you think is neat.
Just
Plagiarise
Plagiarise
Gabby’s eyes,
Are covered, like this song,
No one can see;
What she’s done,
That Dionne,
Had not done,
In 1963;
More easily
(Don’t…….bother)
More soulfully
(Don’t……bother).

VERSE 2

I just hope that I don’t end up sued,
Cos all my hits are deja vu;
Plagiarise,
Plagiarise,
Some eye-tie’s
Just stitched up Michael Jackson copy-wise,
Cos that song,
That he’s done,
Was written,
By some other guys;
Plagiarise,
(Just…….stop)
Plagiarise,
(Just…….stop)

Below is a video with Dionne Warwick singing Walk On By:

https://youtu.be/ijhL9Y7skQs

Click here to read the lyrics of Walk On By.

The Rehearsal by Jean Anouilh, Questors Theatre, 8 February 1997

My log suggests that I lost the programme and therefore all record of this event, but thanks to those wonderful people at The Questors Theatre who seem to archive absolutely everything, I have been able to retrieve the programme and all the details of the cast and creatives – click here for the Questors archive link.

Click here for the Questors programme, just in case it is no longer available through the above link.

I have always had a soft spot for Anouilh, ever since I saw his Antigone at Alleyn’s in my first year of secondary school.

I must admit, though, that lighter, lesser Anouilh has not dated as well as his more serious work. The Rehearsal falls into the “lighter work” category. It seems extraordinary today that this play fell foul of the British theatre censors until the 1960s.

Still, my vague recollection of this production was that it was quite eye-catching and held our attention.

The diary is silent on where we ate afterwards.

The deal with Pauline on Questors nights was that she did the theatre tickets, Janie did the interval drinks and I did the dinners. No sign of me putting a credit card down for a fancy meal that night, so I’m guessing that we had a modest dinner at Wine & Moussaka, which I recall us doing occasionally after the Questors.

The Cripple Of Inishmaan by Martin McDonagh, Cottesloe Theatre, 1 February 1997

We were neither of us too sure about this play/production.

Granted, it was extremely well received. Granted, we recognised Martin McDonagh’s talent and said we’d like to see more of his work, which subsequently we have done.

But this particular play/production felt like a pastiche of a pre war Irish play to us and left us a bit cold.

Here is a link to the production’s Theatricalia entry.

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph shared some of our concerns: