Did the play still have what it takes, nearly 40 years on? Michael Billington certainly thought so. Janie wasn’t so sure – she’s never been convinced by Orton. I thought this one worked better than the revival of What the Butler Saw at the National, which I recall disappointed me, so I didn’t find it dated; but Tom Keatinge did.
But who cares – I’ve seen the play now and mum couldn’t stop me this time.
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:
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.
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:
The diary notes simply tell us that we went to The Ruts for this party.
Photography had only just recently been invented back then, so we didn’t take any pictures. Someone might have taken pictures. Someone might even supply me with one from that event in the fullness of time.
I do have a handful of pictures of a young Caroline (see headline picture) and I have seen photographs of Alan from way back when.
I remember lots of people. I remember terrific grub – much of that was no doubt down to Jackie (Caroline’s mum) – and I remember Janie and I having a good time at that party.
Unusually, this was an afternoon, not an evening concert. It had a very geeky name for a very beautiful concert.
Technically speaking – geeky people took great pains to point out when we all celebrated the new millennium on 31 December 1999 – as there had not been a year zero – the real millennium must be 31 December 2000. The fact that calendars had changed, days added and all sorts was put to one side for those who wanted to celebrate the new millennium on 31 December 2000.
Janie and I just wanted to see this lovely concert and we were not disappointed. We were very keen on Florilegium and Emma Kirkby and the programme was enticing:
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi – Flute Concerto “La Notte” in G minor Op 10 No 2
Johann Sebastian Bach – Susser Trost, mein Jesus kommt from Cantata BWV 151
Arcangelo Corelli – Trio Sonata in D major Op 1 No 12
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi – Salve Regina in C minor
George Frideric Handel – Sweet Bird from L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
Henry Purcell – The Fatal Hour Comes On Apace
Henry Purcell – Music for a While
Henry Purcell – Suite from The Fairy Queen
Here is a nice vid of James Galway with the Ventian Soloisti under Claudio Scimoni playing La Notte:
Here’s Maria Keohane singing Susser Trost – very Christmassy it sounds to me:
Here is the start of the Pergolesi Salve Regina performed by Florilegium, with Robin Blaze, not with Emma Kirkby. I love this album, which I think I bought at that time – possibly that very night.
Here’s Emma Kirkby singing Sweet Bird, with the Academy for Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood – then Music For A While.
Oh boy, can she sing.
I don’t think Florilegium and Emma Kirkby have ever recorded together, so you’ll just need to take our word for it that the combination for the real millennium was the real deal…
…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:
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.
…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.
Not THAT Efes, you twerp. And what on earth were you doing on THAT stage?
Having taken a commercial interest in Milet Publishing that year, it seemed polite and fun to make the Milet team feel at home in a Restaurant named after a nearby Aegean coastal town. Ephesus (or Efes) is about 35 miles north of Miletus.
I had fond memories of that Great Titchfield Street Restaurant from my Newman Harris days, as it was one of the “restaurants of choice” to soak up the beer from an after work drinking session at The Phoenix or The Cock Tavern or both.
Efes was willing and able to supply us with a back room for our Christmas dinner. Not the most salubrious grub we have ever had, but the Turkish food at Efes was consistently good and the atmosphere was great that year.
Back in the year 2000, Michael and I were in especially festive mood, as Tanya Aslan had pulled off a coup with Clean Business Cuisine marketing; landing us a window slot in Waterstones Piccadilly which was deemed at that time to be hitting the book marketing jackpot
Let’s just say, that particular jackpot did not show in the sales figures – just the bragging rights.
Meanwhile Michael also had delusions of adequacy in the matter of seasonal song writing at that time. The year 2000 concluded a hat-trick of his lyrics for the seasonal song, after which Michael rarely, if ever, returned to rune-writing.
Oh Little Court Of St Helen’s
Oh little court of St Helen’s How swish we see thee lie! Beneath thy deep and wealthy sleep Z/Yen’s offices abide And in these dark deep shadows The everlasting blight Consultancy adds to your years When packed as tight as mice
How crowdedl-y, how crowded-ly Z/Yen dishes out advice Beside the frozen servers And other bust device Paper’s overflowing But Linda’s looking nice And if we get our Seventh Heav’n We’ll soon trash Number Five
Michael Mainelli – Poet
The concluding apposite but non-rhyming reference in the song referred to our impending move within 5-7 St Helen’s Place, from a small office in the basement of No 7 to a larger one on the first floor of No 5. As usual with Michael’s lyrics, you had to be there…or at least know which door to go to.
Why a picture of me eating wonton soup? Because our diary notes for Hil & Chris’s weekend visit are light on detail, other than Janie’s “menu”:
Wonton soup;
Shin of veal;
Triffle [sic].
Despite the trifling spelling mistake, I expect the desert was just as enticing as the other courses. The wonton soup will have been my contribution and it will have been excellent.
I have even less intelligence on the first seasonal Ivan Shakespeare Memorial Dinner. It was a Cafe Rogues [spelling mistake intentional] in Maida Vale. But the soon-to-be traditional sounding of the alarms and post mortem e-mails from John Random were not forthcoming back then…
…or if they were forthcoming, they self-destructed in five seconds or something like that.
I don’t think the tradition of quizzing and trophy awarding got started as early as that first Christmas, but I might be wrong.
I’m leaving it to Random to do whatever archaeology he can, be it excavation of ancient scrolls, old computers or his own brain, to see if any further information survives.
No pressure, John, but this one is all down to you.
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…
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:
