Category: Theatre

Feelgood by Alistair Beaton, Hampstead Theatre, 26 January 2001

We had a very entertaining weekend at the end of January that year, seeing Feelgood on the Friday and then Entertaining Mr Sloane on the Saturday…

Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton, The Arts Theatre, 27 January 2001

…just before heading off for a wonderful holiday in South-East Asia.

Cambodia Laos and Thailand, Placeholder and Links, 4 February to 27 February 2001

On the Friday evening, we saw Feelgood. We would have eaten at Harry Morgans before the show. I remember this play having a superb cast: Jeremy Swift, Henry Goodman, Amita Dhiri, Nigel Planer, Pearce Quigley, Sian Thomas, Nigel Cooke and Jonathan Cullen (according to my log), and being lots of fun. Max Stafford-Clark directed it. It transferred to the Garrick with a slightly different cast – Peter Capaldi taking Jeremy Swift’s place. Here’s the Theatricalia entry for that one.

Nicholas de Jongh really liked it in The Standard, especially heaping praise on Henry Goodman’s performance:

Feelgood, de Jongh Standard Feelgood, de Jongh Standard 1 Feb 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph gave it a short but positive review too:

Feelgood Spencer Telegraph Feelgood Spencer Telegraph 10 Feb 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington covered Feelgood in a general piece about political theatre at the start of 2001:

Feelgood plus, Billington Guardian Feelgood plus, Billington Guardian 17 Feb 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Billington concludes that article with a statement that seems oh so apposite as I write 25 years later:

…theatre is a place of information as well as entertainment and the more it cuts itself off from society – and relies on a mixture of anodyne musicals and Hollywood-star casting, the more it is doomed to glamorous irrelevance.

Spinning Into Butter by Rebecca Gilman, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 13 January 2001

This was a really interesting play and it was an excellent opportunity to reciprocate David & Rachel’s hospitality from a couple of month’s earlier:

Kinky Friedman Live In Brighton With David Seidel & Rachel Barnard, 12 November 2000

Apart from the quintessentially US nature of the production and the left field approach to tackling racism through performance, it’s hard to see much similarity between the evenings.

Rebecca Gilman’s play was memorable through its “warts ‘n’ all” approach to anti-racism and political correctness on campus. Also memorable was a superb performance by Emma Fielding in the lead role. The supporting cast were also “Royal Court good”, as was Dominic Cooke’s directing.

Our friends David and Rachel found it interesting and we had plenty to discuss over grub after the play.

Our other friend, Michael Billington, gave it a very good review in the Guardian:

Spinning Guardian Billington

Article from 11 Jan 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England)

Paul Taylor did not like the play, describing it as self-conrgratulatory white guilt in search of a play:

Spinning Taylor Indy

Article from 10 Jan 2001 The Independent (London, Greater London, England)

Nicholas de Jongh couldn’t put aside his issues with the play, describing it as mediocre and giving it the dreaded Standard blob:

Spinning Standard de Jongh

Article from 10 Jan 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England)

Charles Spencer thought the play flawed yet intriguing and well worth seeing:

Spinning Telegraph Spencer

Article from 11 Jan 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)

Suzannah Clapp gave it a very balanced review in The Observer, concluding that a play that makes you argue is a play worth seeing:

Spinning Observer Clapp

Article from 14 Jan 2001 The Observer (London, Greater London, England)

Ancient Lights by Shelagh Stephenson, Hampstead Theatre, 23 December 2000

Janie and I rated this one:

Very good indeed…

…yet it fails to register in my usual lookup places (Wikipedia, Theatricalia) on lists of Shelagh Stephenson’s work.

It looks as though Janie booked this one almost as an afterthought. Perhaps she thought we’d have no time before the Christmas madness and then felt ready and at a loose end just ahead of the Saturday. She’s written:

A9 & 10, £40.35 Joanna Pearce playing Bea.

Perhaps a client recommended it to her.

Let’s see what the critics said. Our friend, Michael Billington, liked it despite its flaws:

Ancient Billington Guardian Ancient Billington Guardian 7 Dec 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh gave it the dreaded Standard blob as its rating:

Ancient de Jongh Standard Ancient de Jongh Standard 7 Dec 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But then again, Charles Spencer really liked it:

Ancient Spencer Telegraph Ancient Spencer Telegraph 8 Dec 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I must say the scenario looks like the sort of play we would actively avoid now, so my guess is that it is well writ and was very well acted by an excellent cast, not least Dermot Crowley & Joanne Pearce.

Eye Contact by Neil Monaghan, Riverside Studio 3, Then On To Thai Bistro, With Kim & Micky, 16 December 2000

This was probably Kim and Micky’s idea…

…informed by the fact that Janie and I were constantly unavailable on Saturdays because we were going to the theatre.

Why don’t we all go and see…

…I can almost hear Kim suggesting to Janie.

Why not? I can imagine all of us agreeing to this with ease. This production soon became one of the hottest tickets in town, not least because model and celebrity Kelly Brook was playing the role of a pole/table dancer. Janie sorted out the tickets – presumably ahead of the reviews and brouhaha, £16.50 x 4 according to her diary…

…plus some very specific timings to get all of us from The Riverside to the Thai Bistro for supper after the show…

…as if we would need the heat of Tom Yum after the hot totty on show at The Riverside.

But who would have possibly imagined, at that time, that Janie would, a mere 17 years later, decide to give pole dancing a go herself, with considerable (albeit, mercifully, private) success.

Images from late 2017, written up here.

Dominic Cavendish seems to have hated it…the Eye Contact play, I mean, not Janie’s pole dancing:

Eye Cavendish Telegraph Eye Cavendish Telegraph 12 Dec 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Rachel Halliburton similarly, was disparaging:

Eye Halliburton Standard Eye Halliburton Standard 7 Dec 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Irving Wardle was a bit kinder, right at the end of this three review piece:

Far Away Wardle Sunday Telegraph Far Away Wardle Sunday Telegraph 3 Dec 2000 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But did we have a good evening? Of course we did. We saw a show and had dinner with Kim and Micky. Simples.

Life x 3 by Yasmina Reza, Lyttelton Theatre, 2 December 2000

Janie and I rated this one in my log:

very good.

We also both remeber it quite well, 25 years later. That might have a fair bit to do with the superb cast: Mark Rylance, Harriet Walter, Imelda Staunton and Oliver Cotton. The production was directed by Matthew Warchus. We didn’t recogognise his name then but we certainly do now. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this one.

Yasmina Reza (as translated by Christopher Hampton) was all the rage in the English speaking world back then. This was our fourth go at one of hers – Art having been the piece that kicked off the Reza fashion…

Art by Yasmina Reza, Wyndham’s Theatre, 11 January 1997

…we’d even seen one of hers at The Almeida just 10 weeks earlier:

Conversations After A Burial by Yasmina Reza, Almeida Theatre, 16 September 2000

Anyway, apart from Art, with thought Life x 3 to be the most interesting and memorable of Reza’s works.

Again we went to a preview, so we were ahead of the critics. What did they think? Here’s Charles Spencer who seemed pretty impressed with it, at least as entertainment if not as profound drama:

Life Spencer Telegraph Life Spencer Telegraph 11 Dec 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kate Bassett wrote an interesting profile-cum-review with some equivocation about this piece and Reza-ism generally:

Life Bassett Indy Life Bassett Indy 10 Dec 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, was not at all sure about this piece:

Life Billington Guardian Life Billington Guardian 8 Dec 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh was impressed, while spotting something a bit Ayckbournish about the piece, which I remember thinking/saying myself at the time:

Life de Jongh Standard Life de Jongh Standard 8 Dec 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Far Away by Caryl Churchill, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 25 November 2000

In my log, we rated this one:

excellent.

Janie’s diary reminds me that we had dinner the night before with Jamil and Suad Amyuni at Home House, which was also a very memorable evening in its own way.

Janie’s diary also notes, beside Far Away

1/2 hour.

It was short, but not quite that short. I know we saw a preview, but I trust my memory and the reviews that, even the preview, ran to more than 45 minutes, but probably less than an hour.

I had first seen Linda Bassett in A Place With the Pigs:

A Place With The Pigs by Athol Fugard, Cottesloe Theatre, 20 February 1988

There is a lovely interview piece with Linda Bassett about this production, which I found whilst rummaging for reviews:

Bassett Feature Standard Bassett Feature Standard 4 Dec 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Fabulous cast – not only Linda Bassett but also Kevin McKidd and Katherine Tozer, directed by Stephen Daldry. I only realise now what a hot ticket this must have been and how privileged we are/were, as Royal Court members, to grab hot tickets like this before they all got grabbed.

Predictably, Charles Spencer didn’t think much of it – he didn’t tend to get Caryl Churchill:

Far Away Spencer Telegraph Far Away Spencer Telegraph 5 Dec 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Whereas Irving Wardle in the Sunday telegraph wrote highly of it:

Far Away Wardle Sunday Telegraph Far Away Wardle Sunday Telegraph 3 Dec 2000 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard got it:

Far Away de Jongh Standard Far Away de Jongh Standard 1 Dec 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Rhoda Koenig was not so sure:

Far Away Koenig Indy Far Away Koenig Indy 1 Dec 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Even giving the casting vote to our friend Michael Billington doesn’t really help, as Billy-o gives the production four stars but his review is somewhat equivocal.

Far Away Billington Guardian Far Away Billington Guardian 1 Dec 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Strangely, the productions that tend to float our boats the most tend to split the reviewer jury. I guess Janie and I like controversial stuff. And as the now late (25 years on) Jamil Amyuni once famously put it in a different context:

why the bloody hell shouldn’t we?

Remembrance Of Things Past by Marcel Proust, adapted by Harold Pinter & Di Trevis, Cottesloe Theatre, 17 November 2000

We were such groupies in those days – we leapt in early and went to see the opening night (i.e. the first preview) of this one, on a Friday.

So keen were we to make sure that we were psychologically and spiritually ready for the experience, we both took that Friday off work. OK, maybe we had some other things to do that day, such as try to jostle Gavin along into finishing the long overdue work in Clanricarde Gardens.

Anyway, this piece is about Proust’s Remembrance, not my rambling memories. The conceit of this production was a film script that Harold Pinter had written in the 1970s, adapting Proust’s epic into screenplay. That movie had never been made. Di Trevis liked the screenplay and helped further adapt it into a three-hour play, which she then directed.

Fabulous cast – including Duncan Bell, Sebastian Harcombe, Julie Legrand, Diana Hardcastle, David Rintoul and a young Indira Varma.

There was a buzz in the theatre world about this one ahead of time and I think it buzzed on for some time. It certainly transferred to the Olivier, but I think that had always been planned in to the deal.

We loved the Cottesloe (now Dorfman) and were very keen to see this one early.

I remember being very impressed by it. Janie thought it a bit long…

…try reading Proust, love…

…and/but I suspect that our preview ran longer than the scheduled three hours as some material was probably cut between previews and press night.

Some of the press gushed. Here’s Nicholas de Jongh:

Remembrance de Jongh Standard Remembrance de Jongh Standard 24 Nov 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor was not so sure – liking much but disliking the freeze frames:

Remembrance Taylor Indy Remembrance Taylor Indy 24 Nov 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Dominic Cavendish positively found the whole thing mediocre – which is faint praise indeed:

Remembrance Cavendish Telegraph Remembrance Cavendish Telegraph 27 Nov 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington was balanced, mostly positive about it.

Remembrance Billington Guardian Remembrance Billington Guardian 25 Nov 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I must admit, I’ve made do with having seen this production and reading some passages in translation. The full one-and-a-quarter-million pages of the novel will have to wait – almost certainly for another life.

Thanks Harold, thanks Di.

Drag-On by Emmanuel De Nasciemento & Local by Arzhang Pezhman, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 11 November 2000

This evening in the theatre was part of that year’s Royal Court “Exposure Young Writers 2000” programme. Janie and I were especially impressed by the second play we saw.

Dominic Cavendish agreed with our assessment, while being pretty impressed with all of it, including the pairing of plays we didn’t see.

Exposure Cavendish Telegraph Exposure Cavendish Telegraph 25 Oct 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Rachel Thackray in The Guardian was less sure about all of it:

Exposure Thackray Guardian Exposure Thackray Guardian 21 Oct 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Rachel Halliburton in the Standard pretty much agreed with us, liking both but especially liking Local.

Exposure Halliburton Standard Exposure Halliburton Standard 20 Oct 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We have subsequently seen a lot of plays on these subjects, but at that time the subject matter and style seemed, to us, very fresh and encouraging for British theatre.

The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, Comedy Theatre, 10 November 2000

We booked this preview, leaping in ahead of the reviews, for a Friday evening, at the start of a big weekend of “show-going” for us. We were all booked up for Saturdays and I would have been very keen indeed to see this.

Rupert Graves as Mick, Douglas Hodge as Aston, Michael Gambon as Davies, directed by Patrick Marber, in a 40th anniversary production. Wow. Here’s the Theatricalia entry for this production.

I had seen the play before – on a school trip in 1977 at The Greenwich Theatre, with Max Wall playing Davies, Anthony Higgins playing Mick and Peter Guinness as Aston. I’ll write that up in the fulness of time. Meanwhile, here’s the Theatricalia entry for that production.

Undocumented (although it will be Ogblogged at some point) is my own performance as Aston for AO-level drama at School in 1979.

But returning to 2000, let’s have a look at how Janie and I got on at The Comedy Theatre – now renamed the Pinter Theatre, as it happens.

Nicholas de Jongh wrote very highly of it, wondering only about Gambon not quite ringing true:

Caretaker de Jongh Standard Caretaker de Jongh Standard 16 Nov 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Dominic Cavendish also seems to have cognitive dissonance in the matter of the Gambon performance:

Caretaker Cavendish Telegraph Caretaker Cavendish Telegraph 17 Nov 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington gave this one a rare five stars. Say no more:

Caretaker Billington Guardian Caretaker Billington Guardian 16 Nov 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Susannah Clapp also gushed…

Caretaker Clapp Observer Caretaker Clapp Observer 19 Nov 2000 The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor agreed.

Caretaker Taylor Indy Caretaker Taylor Indy 16 Nov 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

You get the idea. I did the right thing booking a preview on a Friday. You wouldn’t have been able to get a ticket for love nor money once the reviews came out.

Janie’s diary tells me that we were in Row C. Mine tells me that I parted company with £60, which I suppose was sort-of real money back then.

Oh, but worth it. I will return to the topic of Gambon’s drifty accents when i write up my own Pinter acting experience from 1979. Watch that space.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Lyttelton Theatre, 4 November 2000

It was a bit of a Shakespeare week for us, that week. From Ivan Shakespeare at the Canal Cafe on the Sunday…

A Night For Ivan, (A Random Act Of Kindness & Tribute To The Works Of Ivan Shakespeare), Canal Café Theatre, 29 October 2000

…to one of the Bard’s most famous plays at The National on the Saturday.

Janie isn’t naturally drawn to Shakespeare, but she had never seen Hamlet before and Simon Russell Beale in the eponymous role was a big draw.

I had seen Hamlet before…and at the National before. I had a rare sighting of Daniel Day Lewis in the role before he famously withdrew early in the run to be replaced by Ian Charleson.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Olivier Theatre, 18 March 1989

Anyway, The National obviously felt the urge to have another go at Hamlet less than 12 years later, with Simon Russell Beale, Peter McEnery, Sara Kestleman and Denis Quilley to name but a few.

Janie remembers being impressed by the acting, but still not really relating to or engaging with Shakespeare. I remember feeling that I had probably previously seen the best production of Hamlet I was ever going to see, despite thinking that this was pretty darned good; especially Simon Russell Beale’s performance.

Very good indeed.

That’s what I wrote in my log.

But you don’t want to listen to us. Here are some reviews. First up – Nicholas de Jongh, who also liked Simon Russell Beale more than he liked the production

Hamlet de Jongh Standard Hamlet de Jongh Standard 6 Sept 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Similarly, our friend Michael Billington applauds SRB’s performance and John Caird’s directing of it, but feels that the production strips out the big picture political aspects of the play:

Hamlet Billington Guardian Hamlet Billington Guardian 6 Sept 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer, similarly, applauds the performances but finds the production too stripped back for his taste:

Hamlet Spencer Telegraph Hamlet Spencer Telegraph 7 Sept 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Janie noted in her diary that the play ran for 3 hours and fifteen minutes, so I’ll guess that she was grateful for John Caird’s cuts of the political elements – goodness knows how long the play would have taken in John Caird’s hands if we’d also had the Fortinbras sub-plot to deal with.

Still, to summarise the critics – they warmed to the production almost exclusively because of Simon Russell Beale’s quality. I’m surprised that no-one gave their review the headline, “Saved By the Beale”. They missed a trick there.