Month: October 1999

Hyacinth Blue by Kara Miller, Lyric Hammersmith Studio, 16 October 1999

I don’t remember a great deal about this one. I don’t think we were particularly impressed, although we wanted to be, because the idea of former prisoners making drama feels like a wonderful idea to us.

Our friend, Michael Billington, took the trouble to go and review it for The Guardian. We’ll take his word for it.

Hyacinth, Guardian, BillingtonHyacinth, Guardian, Billington 21 Oct 1999, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen, The Questors Theatre, 15 October 1999

A successful night at The Questors with the Duchess (Janie’s mum). I wrote,

very good,

in my log, which will be a comment on the play/production rather than The Duchess’s conduct.

Janie and I subsequently saw a superb production of this play at The Donmar.

I recall having some reservations about seeing an amateur production of this great play, but actually The Questors had actors and creatives of sufficient quality to carry this work well.

Janie’s diary suggests that we went to eat at a place named Rastificia afterwards, on Ealing Broadway, at 10:30. Sounds like Jamaican food from the name.

Just what Janie and I will have needed on a Friday evening after a long week’s work. No doubt the waiters made a fuss of The Duchess and no doubt she wanted to stay for one more cigarette at the end of the meal, so we’ll have got home very late indeed.

Also, no doubt, the deal was that The Duchess did the theatre tickets, Janie did the interval drinks and I did the meal. [Note to historians – The Duchess got several pairs of guest tickets free each year with her membership of The Questors – I’m pretty sure we didn’t go any more often than the using up of the freebies allowed].

“Parsimony is the best policy” – The Duchess of Castlebar

Remember This by Stephen Poliakoff, Lyttelton Theatre, 9 October 1999

My log reads:

I got more out of this one than Janie did. Not SP’s best.

We saw a preview – the press night was about a week later.

Stanley Townsend is always good news and he didn’t disappoint as the charismatic lead. Good support too from Geraldine Somerville and others, directed by Ron Daniels. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

It was the play that lacked coherence. Janie couldn’t see past the fragile conceits of the play.

Our friend, Michael Billington, in The Guardian, seems to have shared our reservations. He says that the plot “has more holes than a second-hand colander”…

…(does a new colander have fewer holes than a second-hand one, Michael?)…

Remember Guardian BillingtonRemember Guardian Billington 18 Oct 1999, Mon The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh seems to have hated it. “Ponderous” is not a desirable adjective if you are Poliakoff:

Remember Standard de JonghRemember Standard de Jongh 18 Oct 1999, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kate Bassett in the Telegraph described it as “chronically dull”:

Remember Telegraph BassettRemember Telegraph Bassett 18 Oct 1999, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

OK, OK, I’ve got the point. A rare dud from Poliakoff, the master.

Master Class by Terrence McNally, Richmond Theatre, 8 October 1999

The conceit of this play is basically a Maria Callas masterclass towards the end of the great diva’s life.

We saw this one on a Friday evening. This was a touring production by Theatre Royal Bath Productions that was starting off at Richmond for just a few days.

My log reads:

Janie got more out of this one than I did.

So there you have it.

I think I found the play not so interesting. The production did a pretty good job with the material, as I saw it. Jane Lapotaire played the lead and she was very watchable.

Here is a clip from the Surrey Herald as the productions et off on its merry way:

Masterclass Surrey HeraldMasterclass Surrey Herald 30 Sep 1999, Thu Surrey Herald (Chertsey, Surrey, England) Newspapers.com

Here’s Andrew Kersey’s review in Cambridge a few weeks after we saw it:

Masterclass Cambridge KerseyMasterclass Cambridge Kersey 02 Nov 1999, Tue Cambridge Evening News (Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England) Newspapers.com

Till Fellner, Wigmore Hall, 2 October 1999

The then young Austrian pianist, Till Fellner, played a mixture of Bach and Beethoven that night:

  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Sonata in A major Op 101
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, BWV 850 to 853
  • Ludwig van Beethoven – Six Bagatelles, Op 126
  • Johann Sebastian Bach – The Well-Tempered Clavier Book 1, BWV 846 to 849

This concert helped to cement Janie’s view that she is more a Bach person than a Beethoven person. I enjoyed all of it.

Here’s a recording of Till Fellner playing book one of The Well-Tempered Clavier with wonderfully light touch:

Here’s Andras Schiff playing and lecturing on the Beethoven A major sonata some 15 years later at The Wig: