Tag: David E Smith

The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Olivier Theatre, 30 June 1990

I rated this production very good and I remember it surprisingly well.

Howard Davies directed this one and gathered an excellent cast. Tom Wilkinson as John Proctor, Zoe Wanamaker as Elizabeth Proctor, Clare Holman as Abigail, plus a top notch RNT ensemble, as was the way at that time.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Below is Nicholas de Jongh’s review from The Guardian:

de Jongh on The Cruciblede Jongh on The Crucible Sat, Jun 2, 1990 – 21 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

This production must have been very good, because it is quite a long play and I had “done my back” pretty dramatically the week before. Thus started a period when my back would tell me whether or not I was fully engaged in a theatrical production. For this one, I only recall the superb drama; I don’t recall the pain!

The School For Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Olivier Theatre, 19 May 1990

I thought this one was very good and I am pretty sure Bobbie thought so too.

An amazing cast directed by Peter Wood. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry – feast your eyes on that list of names. the big draw names were Jane Asher, John Neville, Prunella Scales and Dennis Quilly, but there is a plethora of fine actors and actresses on that list, several on the up with small parts in this production. Also notable was Richard Bonneville, who played Charles Surface, and is latterly very well known as High Bonneville.

Michael Coveney in The Observer was not so keen on this:

Coveney on ScandalCoveney on Scandal Sun, Apr 29, 1990 – 54 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Guardian seemed to like it a bit better:

de Jongh on Scandalde Jongh on Scandal Thu, Apr 26, 1990 – 24 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Speed-the-Plow by David Mamet, Lyttelton Theatre, 4 March 1989

I liked this play/production a lot. I don’t think I’d seen Alfred Molina before and was very taken with his acting. Colin Stinton was excellent too, as was Rebecca Pidgeon.

It’s a play about the movie business. As is often the case with Mamet plays about the world of work, Mamet captures the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the work place extremely well – an aspect that is often lacking in plays – perhaps because playwrights haven’t spent much of their lives in the actual hard-nosed world of work.

Theatricalia has an entry for this one – click here.

Wikipedia explains the play’s synopsis and it’s run history. Madonna played the female lead in the original Broadway production just a few months before this National production – who knew?

There are some #MeToo elements to this play that, obviously, weren’t perceived as #MeToo at the time because #MeToo hadn’t been invented – although movie business males belittling movie business females had been invented.

Below is Michael Ratcliffe’s Observer review:

Ratcliffe on PlowRatcliffe on Plow Sun, Jan 29, 1989 – 45 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Michael Billington’s Guardian review:

Billington on PlowBillington on Plow Thu, Jan 26, 1989 – 24 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Anyway, point is, this was an excellent Saturday evening of theatre with Bobbie…

…by which I mean Bobbie Scully, not Bobby Gould, the lead character in the play…

…well, actually an excellent Saturday evening with both Bobbies, now I come to think of it.