Oh by gosh we enjoyed this one. I wrote in my log:
Great fun. Subsequently, the cast changed every five minutes, but we saw the “original” UK cast.
And what a cast that was: Albert Finney, Tom Courtenay and Ken Stott.
Unusually, it was Janie who booked this one. How do i know – because the details are all over her diary, not mine…and boy did Janie write down details. So I can report that the play was 1 hour 40 minutes without an interval and that we sat in K22 & K23.
While the play/production was a huge hit and ran for yonks, it was not universally praised by the critics.
Fewer than 24 hours after my hive-ridden return from the frozen north of England, Janie and I went to see this Robert Lepage/Ex Machina production from The Great White North (Canada).
In truth I remember little about it. I think I was squirming in my seat only in part because of the hives.
At the time, this sort of multimedia theatrical experience was novel, but it did seem, to us, that the technological wonder of it was rather superseding the drama and/or tension that we normally experience at the theatre.
This was my first visit to The Actor’s Workshop in Halifax.
It was an unusual start to the new year, that year, in several ways. Janie’s and my diaries both suggest that we had planned to attend a party at Anthea’s for New Year’s Eve, but we are pretty sure that party didn’t happen in the end.
After new year’s day, Janie had a diary full of work for the rest of the week, while I got in the motor to do a round trip taking in Halifax for the New Year revels show and then, the next day, a visit to a soft drinks factory in Nelson, Lancashire, across the Pennines.
Naturally I chose a freezing cold, snow and ice early January for that trip.
The journey to Halifax I recall being problem free (motorway more or less all the way) and of course I received warm hospitality from Mike and Lottie Ward when I got there.
I had met Mike in London two or three years earlier and had submitted material to the New Year Revels show for a couple of previous years, but this was my first (of several) visits to The Actor’s Workshop.
I was clearly impressed by the show. My log reads:
Much better than I expected. Did justice to most material and more than did justice to mine.
There were lots of in-jokes in the show and programme about The Ridings School, Halifax, which, in 1996, had:
…received nationwide attention when staff said 60 of its pupils were “unteachable” and school operations were temporarily suspended while the headmaster and other leading staff were replaced.
I don’t think the entire cast and crew were really alums of The Ridings School…but perhaps they were.
I stayed at The Imperial Crown Hotel in Halifax on that occasion. I think we ate a fine meal pre show at the Ward’s House. That must have been the first occasion I met Lottie and I have a funny feeling that Adam (whom I met at NewsRevue and through whom I had met Mike) was there on that occasion – perhaps also Olivia.
Janie (who was not with me, remember) wrote more details and contact numbers into her diary for that trip than I did into mine – including the local Halifax police and the AA – I suspect she scribbled down the latter two after seeing the weather forecast!
The drive across the Pennines from Halifax to Nelson early the next morning (3rd January) was truly nerve-wracking but I got there and did whatever I had scheduled to do at that factory for most of the day before setting off in the still treacherous driving conditions back to London.
In those days I was still driving “Red Noddy” the Honda Civic, which, although air conditioned, was still a late 1980s vehicle not ideally suited to freezing conditions. I struggled to stay warm throughout the journey and started to itch terribly before arriving at Janie’s place…
…covered in Hives.
I itched through Robert Lepage’s Elsinore the next (Saturday) evening, but that, as we say, is another story.
We don’t often go to the theatre “at Twixtmas”, not least because you don’t get a lot of serious drama over that period. But in 1996 someone decided to transfer this superb Theatre Royal Bath production to London over the festive season.
I’m pretty sure it was on this occasion that Janie and I ran into Jacqui Somerville, who was in the audience but I think connected with someone or something to do with the production.
In my log, Janie and I declared this event to be an
…excellent production…
I do remember this production well and especially fondly. Anthony Page directed, Janet McTeer (who won multiple awards for this performance), Owen Teale and John Carlisle were in it. There is a Theatricalia entry for it.
Postscript
Jacqui Somerville was indeed there that evening – she reports and reminds me:
…a light blew that evening above the stage and Janet McTeer was a consummate professional. Giggled for ages then clicked back into character.
It was a superb production. I think I blagged the last seat in the house!
Nicholas de Jongh rated this production/London transfer very good and wrote highly of it:
Janie and I rated this “very good” according to my log. We are both partial to a bit of Strindberg, even when he is in magical, fantastical mood.
In any case, The Gate had a great tradition back then of doing justice to Scandinavian theatre, not least Strindberg. This was not the first nor the last time I came out of The Gate thrilled by my little local’s handling of the mad master’s work.
Lynn Gardner in the Guardian liked the idea of the play and the setting, but was not so keen on the dramatic production:
But all is not lost – it turns out that The Questors Theatre has one of the best theatrical archives of their own productions on the planet (who knew?), so everything you ever wanted to know about this production (or indeed any Questors production) and more besides, is preserved. Click here for The Journalists.
Ink was not cluttered, although I did get spluttered…
…but that’s another story.
We no doubt took Pauline on to Noughts & Crosses, or possibly Lisa’s, or possibly Wine & Moussaka afterwards.
Pauline will have done the Questors tickets, which was very generous of her (she didn’t have to pay anything for two guest tickets), Janie will have done the interval drinks and I will have sported the dinner. Fair dinkum.
Blooming heck – Janie and I took Pauline with us on this occasion, to see an Ayckbourn play about a family with three daughters…
…and yet our logged verdict on the event was:
Very good.
It must REALLY have been very good.
The play was subtitled “The Story So Far aka Me Times Me Times Me” and is one of those lesser-known Ayckbourn plays. Possibly it is lesser-known precisely because it is less predictable, glib, farce-oriented comedy than many of his works.
My friend, Michael Billington, clearly liked the play and this production:
After reading that Billington review, I am for some reason (“Dance Of Death played for laughs”, perhaps, or “three sisters in comparison with whom Lear’s daughters look like balanced and beneficent progeny” reminded of one of my favourite Peter Cook quotes:
I go to the theatre to be entertained. I don’t want to see plays about rape, sodomy and drug addiction – I can get all that at home.
Nick Curtis in the evening Standard was less sure about the piece:
…we went to see this Richard Nelson play the next day. We liked this less, although we had enjoyed Richard Nelson’s plays before.
Good – but not quite to our taste
…was my log verdict.
Stellar cast – including several of the fine actors we had seen the day before, plus James Laurenson, Adam Godley, Corin Redgrave & John Woodvine. Howard Davies directed this one. Here is the Theatricalia entry.
My friend, Michael Billington, was not so sure about this one either:
Art Nicholas de Jongh Standard 16 Oct 1996, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Art Billington Guardian 16 Oct 1996, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Art David benedict independent 26 Oct 1996, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
