Category: Theatre

Dublin Carol by Conor McPherson, Royal Court Theatre, 10 March 2000

Janie and I had been blown away by The Weir, the previous year…

The Weir by Conor McPherson, Duke of York’s Theatre, 2 January 1999

…and were very keen to see Conor McPherson’s next one.

Further, as members who had been loyal through the years of “exile” while The Royal Court was being redone, we were invited that Friday afternoon to a “guided tour” of the revamped building. Janie and I were both motivated to take a Friday afternoon off work and “go see” before the show.

It was on that tour that Janie and I spotted the little nook seat in a recess of the stairway just before you get to the upstairs bar…latterly the library. We took a shine to that nook and for many years took great pleasure in having a pre-show or interval drink in there.

As for Dublin Carol, we really liked it and it cemented our view that Conor McPherson was a writer to watch. It didn’t quite pack the punch of The Weir, but that play was always going to be a tough act to follow.

Brian Cox played the lead in Dublin Carol, with great charisma. Andrew Scott, & Bronagh Gallagher were also excellent in support. Ian Rickson directed.

I’m not sure what the critics made of it at the time…let’s find out.

I’d forgotten this bit, but because of delays to the finishing of The Royal Court, Dublin Carol previewed at The Old Vic for a while. Susannah Clapp reviewed it, with great enthusiasm, there…

Dublin Carol Clapp ObserverDublin Carol Clapp Observer 23 Jan 2000, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…as did Michael Billington in The Guardian…

Dublin Carol, Billington GuardianDublin Carol, Billington Guardian 22 Jan 2000, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But most of the subsequent reviews seemed to want to talk about the grand opening of the newly refurbished Royal Court than the play/production that graced it, doing McPherson, Cox et. al. no favours. Please note, the grand opening was two or three weeks before the hoi polloi tour that we enjoyed in March.

Royal Court IndependentRoyal Court Independent 18 Feb 2000, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Royal Court StandardRoyal Court Standard 23 Feb 2000, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

At least Charles Spencer had the good grace to laud both the Champagne-swilling opening and the production:

Dublin Carol Spencer TelegraphDublin Carol Spencer Telegraph 24 Feb 2000, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard, Albery Theatre, 26 February 2000

This production was credited as “Donmar Warehouse at the Albery” and everything about it was Donmar Warehouse, but playing away from home. This production had received glowing reviews and awards the year before at the Donmar. We missed out then but were not about to miss out on it now.

Excellent cast, Nigel Lindsay, Sarah Woodward, Stephen Dillane & Jennifer Ehle leading, with David Leveaux directing.

Here is a Theatricalia entry link for this one.

No notes in the log, but I remember it as a very good production and I am pretty sure that Janie warmed to it.

We had seen an amateur production of The Real Thing at The Questors a few year’s earlier, along with The Duchess (Janie’s mum)…

The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard, The Questors Theatre, 3 April 1993

Our “Donmar Warehouse at The Albery” experience was a more relaxing evening and a very fine production. Janie doesn’t really warm to Stoppard, but she did warm to this one.

I won’t overdo the reviews, as they are from the original production 9 months earlier, but here’s just a couple of examples of the raving – the first from our friend Michael Billington in The Guardian…

Real Thing Billington GuardianReal Thing Billington Guardian 03 Jun 1999, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…followed by a fairly rare example of Charles Spencer in the Telegraph lining up with Billington to praise the same production to the rafters:

Real Thing Spencer TelegraphReal Thing Spencer Telegraph 03 Jun 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I think Janie must have sourced these tickets, because her diary notes that we’ll be sitting in the fifth row. Great diary detail, 25 years on, that one.

Logic by Stephanie McKnight, Chelsea Theatre, 12 February 2000

For a brief while, that little theatre in Chelsea, near World’s End, was one of our favourite fringe places. Janie and I rated this piece as:

Very good.

Small scale and domestic – that tiny theatre didn’t lend itself to scale works, this one, like the other plays we saw there during that period, held our attention, entertained us and made us think.

Not much in the way of formal reviews to be found, but here goes. Rachel Halliburton in the Independent was sufficiently convinced to write it up briefly:

Logic Halliburton IndependentLogic Halliburton Independent 26 Feb 2000, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Lyn Gardner in The Guardian also gave it the short but sweet review treatment:

Logic Gardner GuardianLogic Gardner Guardian 17 Feb 2000, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

My Best Friend by Tamsin Oglesby, Hampstead Theatre, 11 February 2000

In truth we don’t remember much about this one. I made no notes in my log about it. I think we quite liked it, but it felt like fairly standard Hampstead Theatre fare.

The Hampstead was still in the portacabins back then, so small, chamber-style work was all the place comfortably could do. Still, we liked the place and went occasionally.

Paul Taylor in the Indy liked it:

Best Friend Taylor IndyBest Friend Taylor Indy 05 Feb 2000, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph also liked it quite a bit:

Best Friend Spencer TelegraphBest Friend Spencer Telegraph 27 Jan 2000, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

On the other hand, Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard described it as bland:

Best Friend de Jongh StandardBest Friend de Jongh Standard 25 Jan 2000, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We saw it on a Friday evening, so no doubt, in those days, we went to Harry Morgans in St John’s Wood for some crazy=cracing-J-food on the way to the theatre.

The Island by Athol Fugard, John Kani & Winston Ntshona, Lyttelton Theatre, 5 February 2000

Janie and I rated this one very highly…

Really good

…says my log.

I had been a fan of Athol Fugard for many years by then and was very keen to see his long-time associates, John Kani & Winston Ntshona, perform. A set up that can lead to disappointment, but in this instance my enthusiasm was fully justified.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph loved it:

Island Spencer TelegraphIsland Spencer Telegraph 28 Jan 2000, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard also rated it very highly:

Island de Jongh StandardIsland de Jongh Standard 27 Jan 2000, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington gave it a rare full five stars, so he must have really loved it:

Island Billington GuardianIsland Billington Guardian 27 Jan 2000, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

One of those special nights at the theatre, for us, this was.

The Lady In The Van by Alan Bennett, Queen’s Theatre, 4 February 2000

This play/production was hugely hyped and got rave reviews when it opened a few week’s before we attended. I think we applied for our tickets before the show opened, opting to wait until good seats were available. Even then, we needed to opt for a Friday rather than a Saturday to get what we wanted. Such was the pull of the West End, not least Maggie Smith…or rather “Dame Maggie”…in those days.

Here’s a link to the Theatricalia entry for this one.

Here’s a gushing preview from The Telegraph, by way of example:

Dame Maggie Telegraph PreviewDame Maggie Telegraph Preview 03 Dec 1999, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Despite Janie’s reservations about Dame Maggie, we were drawn in and actually rather enjoyed this production. The play is a little contrived and mawkish, but the performances, especially Dame Maggie’s, were excellent, as was the intriguing van-themed set.

Van Butler IndependentVan Butler Independent 12 Dec 1999, Sun The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer also loved it:

Van Spencer TelegraphVan Spencer Telegraph 09 Dec 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Some equivocation in Nicholas de Jongh’s Standard review, that reflects my thoughts on the play/production more than the utter gush reviews:

Van de Jongh Standard

Praise with some equivocation also from our friend Michael Billington in the Guardian:

Van Billington GuardianVan Billington Guardian 08 Dec 1999, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Looking back 25 years Janie and I are both glad we saw this one.

Bash by Neil LaBute, Almeida Theatre, 29 January 2000

This production blew us away. It was shocking and also intensely gripping drama.

We trusted the Almeida in those days, so we booked a preview of this one, “on spec”, although we were unfamiliar with Neil LaBute’s work and also unfamiliar with the imported cast and director.

We were right to trust!

Bash is a collection of short plays, rather than “a play”. All were excellent in our view. The last one was the most shocking, but all were shocking in their own way. Brilliantly well acted by Mary McCormack, Zeljko Ivanek & Matthew Lillard. Joe Mantello directed. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

I’m pretty sure the critics tended to be with us in admiring this one. Let’s see.

Yup, Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard waxed lyrical:

Bash deJongh StandardBash deJongh Standard 03 Feb 2000, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph admired the writing and performances but hated the plays:

Bash Spencer TelegraphBash Spencer Telegraph 04 Feb 2000, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our fried, Michael Billington, in the Guardian absolutely got it:

Bash Billington GuardianBash Billington Guardian 03 Feb 2000, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

One of those utterly unforgettable nights at the theatre that makes us want to go back for more!

The Balcony by Jean Genet, Questors Theatre, Followed By Dinner At Gascons Ealing, 28 January 2000

Possibly the least said about this one the better. Naturally Janie and I would have been with the Duchess. Naturally she will have treated us to her theatre tickets (comps), while Janie and I will have done the interval drinks and dinner.

My log reads:

tame – we left at half time.

This will have been a collective and unanimous decision. It was quite a long play – Janie had booked Gascons for 10:30 – possibly with a bit of persuasion for the late booking. In any case, we were probably all ready for our din-dins after 90 minutes or so of Genet.

The Questors, being the Questors, has all the details, including a downloadable scan of the programme, available for all to see – click here.

I don’t think the meal afterwards was redemptive of the evening. Neither Janie nor I can remember much about Gascons in Ealing. The Duchess was probably in a foul mood because she hadn’t had value for (lack of) money out of those three Questors comps.

“Waste not, want not…”

Spoonface Steinberg by Lee Hall, New Ambassadors Theatre, 22 January 2000

I didn’t make any notes in my log about this one. I don’t think we were overly impressed with it, but neither did we think it quite as awful as some of the critics. Still, I’d better let the critics do the job for me with this one, given that i wrote nothing.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this one. Kathryn Hunter was the big name for this one person show.

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph absolutely hated it:

Spoonface Spencer TelegraphSpoonface Spencer Telegraph 07 Jan 2000, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

On the other hand, Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard spoke mostly very highly of it:

Spoonface de Jongh StandardSpoonface de Jongh Standard 12 Jan 2000, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Susannah Clapp in The Observer didn’t like it much:

Spoonface Clapp ObserverSpoonface Clapp Observer 09 Jan 2000, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Septimus Gussett This Is Your Life by Magnolia Thunderpussy (aka Mike Ward), Actor’s Workshop Halifax, 7 January 2000

This “opus” was not Mike Ward’s finest hour as a comedy impresario.

For several years prior to this one…and indeed for many years after…the Actor’s Workshop would traditionally stage “New Year Revels”. Indeed, I met Mike early to mid 1990s, when his son, Adam, briefly wrote for NewsRevue and twigged that his dad’s annual show might benefit from material produced by NewsRevue writers. I contributed to the show for several years and visited it for the first time in 1997:

New Year Revels 1997, Actor’s Workshop, Halifax, 2 January 1997

I have no idea why Mike decided to try something different in 2000. Perhaps it was because several of the NewsRevue “class of ’92” had all-but stopped writing sketches and songs by 1999. Possibly it was Mike’s irritation that so many of the sketches and songs that were written by young Actor’s Workshop folk for him to perform mocked his rhotacism. Septimus Gusset was, if I recall correctly, one of Mike’s “answers to that”. (Performing On The Waterfront some years later was another, no doubt, whereas Mike’s wonderful Casablanca The Musical, which literally brought the house down the following year, embraced that rhotacism).

Casablanca The Musical by Magnolia Thunderpussy (aka Mike Ward), Actor’s Workshop, 18 September 2001

In truth, Janie and I were not wild about the Septimus Gussett show and I don’t think it did anything like as well as “New Year Revels” in the matter of bringing the Actor’s Workshop community together for a celebratory show.

Still, Janie and I had a most enjoyable short trip up to Halifax. We stayed at the Crown, again and I am pretty sure that Lottie Ward treated us to one of her magnificent beef fillet feasts at Mike & Lottie’s place after the show.