Theatre – Page 72 – Ian Louis Harris

Playing With Trains by Stephen Poliakoff, The Pit, 11 November 1989

I remember this play, production and indeed the whole evening very well.

I had long been a fan of Poliakoff’s plays when I went to see this one, having read a great many of his plays and seen a few of the filmed versions of his works, but this was I think only the second time I’d got to see one of his plays on the stage.

My log says:

Very good. We sat next to Poliakoff himself and went on to Daniel [Scordel]’s party afterwards.

“We”, in this instance, was me and Annalisa de Mercur. The evening we attended was a preview – I think possibly even the first or one of the first previews.

I recall us getting to The Pit a little late and struggling to see any available pairs of seats once we got in. Annalisa made a bee-line for some empty seats that were clearly marked “reserved” with Stephen Poliakoff himself sitting next to those reservations.

“You can’t sit there”, I said to Annalisa, “they’re reserved”.

“It’s OK, you can sit there”, said Stephen Poliakoff.

“Are you sure it’s OK?” I said to him.

“Yes, they won’t all be needed”, he said.

“Are you something to do with the production?”, asked Annalisa, in the sort of questioning tone that only she might use in such circumstances.

“Stephen’s the playwright”, I said to her, “so I think he knows what he’s talking about”.

“Thank you”, I said to Stephen.

“That’s all right”, said Stephen. Then he said, “I wish they wouldn’t put my picture on the programme. I don’t like being recognised”.

“I’d have recognised you anyway”, I said.

Stephen Poliakoff half-smiled at me.

I really liked this play and the production. It is not Poliakoff’s finest, but it was a very interesting play, covering (as Poliakoff often does) societal issues and family issues in one fell swoop.

Superb cast, including my first live look at several truly excellent stage folk: Michael Pennington, Simon Russell Beale, Lesley Sharpe and Ralph Fiennes to name but four.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Here’s Michael Billington’s Guardian take on it:

Billington on Trains Fri, Dec 1, 1989 – 36 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Kate Kellaway’s take in The Observer:

Kellaway on Trains Sun, Dec 3, 1989 – 43 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Annalisa was not as keen on this piece as I was. To be honest, she wasn’t very interested in theatre, but tended to come along to stuff I’d booked with Bobbie in mind if/when Bobbie wasn’t available.

I think it might have been during the interval of this one, in reference to a family row during the piece, that Annalisa commented, “I don’t much like this sort of drama – I can get all this at home.

It reminded me 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.

Playing With Trains did not have rape, sodomy or drug addiction as far as I recall. I do also remember suggesting that Annalisa keep her opinions to herself until we were clear of The Pit given that it was a preview night and it wasn’t the cast and crew’s fault that I had taken a guest who was not so keen on theatre.

We legged it across town to Daniel Scordel’s pad on Trinity Road, where the party was in full swing once we got there. I think Daniel was going out with Maz (Marianne Tudor Craig) by then, but I think that relationship was still quite new. I don’t remember much about the party other than it being rather a good one.

I do specifically remember Daniel’s kid sister, who was I think 17 or 18 at that time, grooving to a particular dance tune that I liked but did not recognise, so I asked her, after the record finished, what it was.

“You haven’t heard of it?” she said, “but it’s been in the charts for weeks. You’re sad”.

I’m pretty sure it was Ride On Time by Black Box

Like Daniel, I was just 27 at that time. It was the very first time I remember feeling old.

Othello by William Shakespeare, RSC at the Young Vic, 4 November 1989

My log says that this was a transfer from The Other Place in Stratford and that I (possibly we – Bobbie was with me) was/were not 100% sure about it.

What was there not to be sure about? Splendid cast: Willard White as Othello, Ian McKellen as Iago, Imogen Stubbs as Desdemona, Zoe Wannamaker as Emilia…Trevor Nunn directing.

Well, actually, I think I have a bit of a problem with this play. Janie and I saw a National Theatre production about eight years later and I just couldn’t get on with that either.

https://ianlouisharris.com/2022/08/02/othello-by-william-shakespeare-cottesloe-theatre-2-august-1997

I also have a feeling that the 1989 RSC production felt a little over-theatrical to me. There is a certain Trevor Nunn style. Little did I know then that Janie and I would meet Trevor and Imogen – strangely around about the time we saw the 1997 RNT Othello.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this one.

Here are Ian McKellen’s thoughts on the matter.

Bobbie might be full of memories of this one and chime in…let’s see!

Michael Ratcliffe in The Observer wrote this:

Ratcliffe On Othello Sun, Aug 27, 1989 – 36 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Billington in the Guardian wrote this:

Billington on Othello Sat, Aug 26, 1989 – 20 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Man Beast And Virtue by Luigi Pirandello, Cottesloe Theatre, 7 October 1989

My log says “little recollection” for this one, so I guess it didn’t make a big impression. Bobbie was with me.

Pirandello is one of those playwrights whose work I want to like more than actually do like. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say that I tend to enjoy reading his plays, because the ideas are fascinating, but many of them are difficult to produce in an entertaining way – at least to the eyes of the modern audience.

Man, Beast And Virtue is an early Pirandello, written in 1919 (100 years ago as I write in 2019), about two years before his breakthrough play, Six Characters In Search Of An Author.

A relatively straightforward, slightly farcical, love-triangle piece, there is a synopsis of the 1950s film version, in somewhat broken English at the time of writing, on Wikipedia.

Trevor Eve played Paolino, the lover, Terence Rigby played Captain Perella and Marion Bailey (best known for her Mike Leigh connections both professionally and privately) played Mrs Perella. William Gaskill directed. Charles Wood had written a new adaptation of the play fro this production. A fine supporting cast too – here is the Theatricalia entry.

So did all that research just now bring the experience flooding back to me? Ever so slightly yes…but basically no.

Probably not really my type of play. I do recall the setting being very imaginative and a sense that I felt entertained for the evening.

Below is Michael Billington’s Guardian review:

Billington on Man Beast Sat, Sep 9, 1989 – 21 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Ratcliffe in The Observer thought little of it:

Ratcliffe on Man Beast Sun, Sep 10, 1989 – 46 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Perhaps Bobbie remembers something more about it?

The Wonder: A Woman Keeps A Secret, Susanna Centlivre, The Gate, 16 September 1989

I don’t recall much about this one and the diary is a mess for it. I suspect that the mention of Bobbie on the Friday and The Wonder on the Saturday ended up being one and the same evening. So I’m guessing that I saw this production with Bobbie on one of those evenings.

There’s the diary page for that week. If any of my friends can help me to unpick all of that, may I just thank you profoundly in advance.

The Wonder. To the extent that I remember it, I think the production and acting was very good but that we didn’t much like the play.

An interesting but now rarely performed playwright from the late Restoration/early Hanoverian period, I’m not sure that Susanna Centilivre‘s plays have dated well. But that’s not her fault. I don’t suppose she even faintly imagined The Wonder being revived in 1989 when she dedicated it to the new king, George I, in 1714.

The Wonder was a huge hit in its day. Here is a link to an on-line preview of the play book.

The Escapade Theatre Company (confusingly not the company that now bears that name) was a group dedicated to reviving plays written by or mostly about women.

Anna Mazzotti played the female lead role Isabella, with great poise and confidence I recall. I managed to track her down in 2019 as someone who did/does many Italian language programmes for the BBC and theatre in Rome -still listing The Wonder on her theatrical cv. Strangely (as she only lists two), she also lists Dealing With Clair at the Orange Tree, which Janie and I saw when the Orange Tree revived it (recently at the time of writing):

Dealing With Clair by Martin Crimp, Orange Tree Theatre, 24 November 2018

The male lead, Don Felix, was played by a young Christopher Eccleston – possibly only his second professional gig. His cv is no longer talking about this one, but it does still mention, amongst many other things, Dr Who.

Any further intelligence on this one will need to come from others, e.g. Bobbie!…

…or Michael Billington! Good old Billy – he reviewed the production in The Guardian:

Billington on The Wonder Sat, Sep 2, 1989 – 20 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

The Merchant Of Venice by William Shakespeare, Phoenix Theatre, 29 August 1989

I saw this production of The Merchant Of Venice with Bobbie. I don’t think either of us was overly enamoured of it. I registered “quite good” in my log, which is faint praise from me.

There was a lot of hype about this production because Dustin Hoffman was playing Shylock. I recall that Bobbie’s friend May Lamb referred to that actor as “Dustbin Hoffman” – I must admit that I have never been able to process his name the same way since.

There were other good folk in this production; Geraldine James as Portia for a start. Michael Sibbery as Gratiano, Ian Lavender as Solanio, Leigh Lawson as Antonio, Peter-Hugo Daly as Launcelot Gobbo and many other good names. Peter Hall directed it.

Here is its Theatricalia entry.

Sometimes a collection of big names is not, in itself, enough.

Also, I have a feeling that this is not really a great play; that’s my opinion anyway. Technically it is a comedy in the Shakespeare canon, but well short of laughs for the modern audience, even by Shakespeare comedy standards.

This review piece from the New York Times archive suggests that the critics weren’t overly impressed with this production either.

Below is Michael Billington’s Guardian review:

Billington on Merchant Fri, Jun 2, 1989 – 27 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Michael Ratcliffe’s Observer review:

Ratcliffe on Merchant Sun, Jun 4, 1989 – 44 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Here is a little YouTube clip of Dustbin…

…I mean Dustin Hoffman rehearsing with Peter Hall:

Huis Clos by Jean-Paul Sartre, Lyric Studio, 5 August 1989

John White loves a bit of existential angst, so what could be a better choice for a Saturday night out than Huis Clos? Mandy was up for it. Annalisa was up for it. Off we went to the Lyric Hammersmith – the small Studio theatre there.

The play is set in hell, which is said to be a hot place.

It really was o-t ‘ot that evening. Clammy August and naturally the air conditioning system in the Studio wasn’t working.

Here’s my database/diary note for this evening:

The air conditioning had broken down on one of the hottest days of the year. The Lyric gave us all free squash in the interval because it was so bad. It did make the play about hell truly multi-sensory. The line “it’s so hot in here” had the whole audience in stitches.

You don’t need to take my word for this. Here’s a link to a review from “The Stage”. As Maureen Paton puts it in that review:

…the oven-temperature heat in the Studio does the rest. Hell is too many other people in the audience on a hot night.

Still, we had a good evening as far as I can recall and all four of us dined out on that story for some time. Indeed John still seems to be talking about it as I write in October 2016, as John’s comment on my piece about I, Daniel Blake – click here – confirms.

The rest of the programme follows – heck it was quite a job this evening to dig it out, so I thought I might as well scan the lot while I was at it.

Listings Huis Clos Fri, Aug 4, 1989 – 30 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Huis Clos Listing Mon, Aug 7, 1989 – 35 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Andorra by Max Frisch, Rose Bruford at The Half Moon Theatre, 25 July 1989

I went to this show with Alison Benjamin. My log reads:

Alison was going out with one of the Rose Bruford mob – Simon McLinden I think.

That explains why she went to a Rose Bruford production. I went because I was invited and because it was Andorra, a play in which I had appeared at school more than 11 years earlier:

Andorra, 23, 24 & 25 February 1978

I seem to remember the Rose Bruford mob doing a decent job of Andorra although in truth I remember little about this production.

I’m sure I secretly felt that my school production was just as good if not better but would have been far too polite to say so…

…actually that’s nonsense. I probably secretly realised that our school production was properly “kids amateur” whereas the Rose Bruford production would have been close to professional quality.

The diary is silent about what we did afterwards – I suspect that some eating and drinking was involved, quite possibly with some of the cast.

The Long Way Round by Peter Handke, Cottesloe Theatre, 8 July 1989

Whether or not I went the long way round from Oxford to London that morning is lost in the mists of time and probably the fog of a hangover…

Music At Oxford At The Sheldonian Theatre & Bodleian Library, 7 July 1989

…but for sure I got back to London in time to see this preview at the Cottesloe.

Bobbie might say, “more’s the pity”, as my log notes that Bobbie absolutely hated it. I merely found it long and hard to follow. That’s how I remember it and that is exactly what I wrote in my log.

Super cast – Tilda Swinton is always very watchable but does often do weird stuff. Also Aidan Gillen, latterly very well known indeed. David Bamber was in it too – thirty years on I tend to watch his son, Ethan, bowling for Middlesex instead.

The play is described as a dramatic poem in the English language text and/but it was basically a family drama.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Anyway, it wasn’t for us.

Postscript One -A Coincidence That Very Evening

I wrote the above piece on 14 February 2019, basically because it had been on my mind after writing up Music At Oxford a few days earlier. By strange coincidence, Bobbie Scully turned up at the Gresham Society Dinner that evening, as Iain Sutherland’s guest.

I mentioned the coincidence. Bobbie started to quiver with indignation:

I’d forgotten the name of that darned thing, but it was surely the very worst thing I have ever seen at the theatre…I think we walked out at half time…

…she said. Actually I don’t think we did walk out at half time. I’m sure I would have recorded that fact in my log whereas instead I recorded that the play was long and impenetrable.

I think we stuck it out tho the bitter end…

…I said. I also volunteered to dig deeper into the programme to see if there were in fact two halves.

Yes, there were two halves and they added up to a whopping three hours of hurt for Bobbie.

I’m not sure why we did stick it out. Perhaps I was still wet enough behind the ears to imagine t hat such a piece might yield in the second half all the answers it withheld in the first. I know not to do that now. Perhaps I was so tired and hungover from the joys of Oxford the night before I was reluctant to move on yet.

More likely, we had booked a late night eatery and jointly thought we might as well see the thing through rather than kick our heels somewhere.

Anyway, the whole experience clearly had a profound effect on Bobbie who was shaking with the trauma of recalling that evening and remembered it so well she even said…

…I seem to recall it was only on for a short run…

…which indeed it was.

Nearly 30 years on, Bobbie might wish to read the short essay from the programme too. The least I can do, upload the material, after all I put poor Bobbie through with regard to this play/production.

Postscript Two: Bobbie Chimes In With A Recovered Memory

An e-mail from Bobbie 24 hours after our encounter at the Gresham Society:

I was casting my mind back to that dreadful so-called play (it wasn’t, it was a string of tedious monologues) and had a recollection of being there after the interval in a (suddenly) half empty theatre. So I reckon that, although we did not leave at half time, about half the audience did.

And, indeed, I think that is why we stayed. We came out at the interval, intending to leave, but had pre-booked interval drinks to consume. As we did so, we watched more than half the audience exit the building. I think we went back out of sympathy/solidarity/courtesy towards the cast.

Does this ring any bells with you? Did we really watch the second half because we felt sorry for the actors? Personally, I can think of no other reason …

My response to Bobbie’s considered recollection was as follows:

Yes, we were young and foolish back then. We might well have stayed on for compassionate reasons. There’d be no such snowflake nonsense from this quarter these days. I do recall the second half seeming to drag to an even greater extent than the first half. I also remember an incredible sense of relief when the ordeal ended.

Postscript Three: Here’s a professional view…I don’t think Nicholas de Jongh in the Guardian exactly liked it either:

de Jongh on The Long Way Round Tue, Jul 11, 1989 – 38 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

The Voysey Inheritance by Harley Granville-Barker, Cottesloe Theatre, 1 July 1989

I noted that this was a very good production and I’m sure that was true. Richard Eyre in charge of an infeasibly good cast in that intimate little Cottesloe Theatre.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for the production with so many top notch theatrical names on the list…

…David Burke, Michael Bryant, Jeremy Northam, Graham Crowden, Sarah Winman, Stella Gonet, Selina Cadell, Suzanne Burden, Wendy Nottingham… it was difficult to work out which names from the cast list to leave out from this highlights version of the list.

In truth I don’t think Granville-Barker is really for me. I find his plays stylised and very Edwardian – which is, after all, what they are.

This one is at least replete with interesting moral dilemmas but in truth it’s not Ibsen.

But I do recall really enjoying this particular evening in the theatre and I suspect that this is the best Granville-Barker experience I have ever had and ever will.

Below is Michael Billington’s Guardian review:

Billington on Voysey Thu, Jun 29, 1989 – 24 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Kate Kellaway’s Observer review:

Kellaway on Voysey Sun, Jul 2, 1989 – 41 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

I don’t recall exactly what Bobbie thought of it but I think she, like me, was much taken with the production. I also don’t recall what we did (i.e. where we ate) afterwards. Bobbie might just remember.

Icecream by Caryl Churchill, Royal Court Theatre, 13 May 1989

I don’t remember all that much about this one, which probably means that I found it somewhat impenetrable, as is sometimes the case with Caryl Churchill plays.

The Royal Court has a tiny stub on-line for this production.

Super cast with Saskia Reeves and David Thewlis. Max Stafford-Clark directed it.

Here is the Theatricalia entry.

Below is Michael Ratcliffe’s Observer review:

Ratcliffe on Icecream Sun, Apr 16, 1989 – 43 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Michael Billington’s Guardian review:

Billington on Icecream Wed, Apr 12, 1989 – 45 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

I have the play text, so perhaps I should have a read to refresh my memory about this play/production. Or perhaps Bobbie can help.

Postscript

I have now reverted to the text and it sort-of comes back to me. The diary also tells me that we sat in seats D9 & D10 and that they were £10 tickets that Saturday. Good value, I suppose.

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