Tag: David Hare

Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw, Almeida Theatre, 6 September 1997

I’ve never been sure about Shaw, but we thought we’d give this a try because it was The Almeida and because top flight Shaw productions were few and far between at that time.

Great cast and crew – see Theatricalia entry – including Emma Fielding, Richard Griffiths, Patricia Hodge, Penelope Wilton, Malcolm Sinclair and Peter McEnery, with David Hare in the director’s chair.

Despite all those good people, this one added to my/our sense of interminability, which had already been piqued by Suzanna Andler the previous week, which was soon followed by wall-to-wall coverage of Princess Diana’s tragic demise, which took ceaselessness to new levels.

Anyway, my contemporaneous words on Heartbreak House, speaking for both me and Janie:

Seemed interminable in the second half. Had “moments”, but all too few.

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard liked it a lot:

Heartbreak de Jongh StandardHeartbreak de Jongh Standard 04 Sep 1997, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in the Indy also loved it:

Heartbreak Taylor IndyHeartbreak Taylor Indy 05 Sep 1997, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kirsty Milne in The Sunday Telegraph at least nodded to the idea of Shaw being wordy.

Heartbreak Milne TelegraphHeartbreak Milne Telegraph 07 Sep 1997, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Like Milne, Michael Billington did a compare and contrast between Shaw and Wesker:

Heartbreak Billington GuardianHeartbreak Billington Guardian 06 Sep 1997, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

So maybe it was us, not them. Or maybe Shaw is/was simply too wordy for our modern eyes and ears.

Amy’s View by David Hare, Lyttelton Theatre, 23 August 1997

Superb.

That was my one word verdict on my log about this one.

Richard Eyre directing Samantha Bond, Eoin McCarthy, Ronald Pickup, Dame Judi and other excellent members of the cast – here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Our friend Michael Billington didn’t like it much:

Amy's Billington GuardianAmy’s Billington Guardian 23 Jun 1997, Mon The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Whereas Paul Taylor in the Indy quite liked it:

Amy's Taylor IndyAmy’s Taylor Indy 21 Jun 1997, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph found it anti-climactic…

Amy Spencer TelegraphAmy Spencer Telegraph 21 Jun 1997, Sat The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…and Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard found it old-fashioned.

Amy's de Jongh StandardAmy’s de Jongh Standard 23 Jun 1997, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

So, only me and Janie rating it highly when it first came out then – but Amy’s View transferred to the West End and Broadway picking up Tony nominations and a New York Drama Critic’s award.

Skylight by David Hare, Vaudeville Theatre, 19 July 1997

Somehow Janie and I missed this one when it ran at The National a couple of years earlier – I guess we were kinda busy back then. Anyway, we resolved to see the first revival of Skylight at the National, with Bill Nighy and Stella Gonet picking up the leading parts this time around.

We were not disappointed, but I did manage to mislay the programme. Theatricalia is not much help for this revival.

My log suggests that

It was very good indeed. We saw it wherever it transferred after the RNT

Janie’s diary suggests that she (unusually) did all the booking for this one (perhaps she was keener than me) so I can report that she/we paid £25 per ticket to sit in Row D 9 & 10 of the Vaudeville Theatre – this sort of detail would not be found in my diary, which simply says “Skylight 8.00”.

David Benedict in The Indy had this to say about the transfer – broadly positive I think – making it plain that Nighy & Gonet is a very different casting to Michael Gambon & Lia Williams.

Skylight Benedict IndySkylight Benedict Indy 05 Jul 1997, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nick Curtis in The Standard had this positive stuff to say:

Skylight Curtis StandardSkylight Curtis Standard 01 Jul 1997, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph also wrote very highly of it:

Skylight Spencer TelegraphSkylight Spencer Telegraph 02 Jul 1997, Wed The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Designated Mourner, Wallace Shawn, Cottesloe Theatre, 1 June 1996

What an amazing piece of theatre this was.  The late great Mike Nichols, better known as a director of course, acted brilliantly, with Miranda Richardson and David de Keyser, all wonderful.

David Hare, better known as a playwright but also a talented director, did a grand job with the piece.

Wallace Shawn, perhaps better known as an actor than as a playwright, although also a very talented playwright, wrote it.  Not his best known; indeed possibly not his best piece, but, an excellent play.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Despite all that role rotation, it came off superbly well for us.

Janie and I recognised the unmistakable back of Wallace Shawn’s head just in front of us that night.  A few years later, we chatted with Wallace Shawn at the Almeida when he turned up to see Miranda Richardson in Aunt Dan and Lemon; he waxed lyrical about how wonderful he thinks she is, seemed genuinely self-effacing about his writing and genuinely delighted that we had been inspired to seek out his plays by seeing this piece and of course My Dinner With Andre, one of my favourite films ever.

Wikipedia explains the plot – click here.

Bit early in the life of the web for on-line reviews, but I found this rather informative thing – click here.

Michael Billington was very taken with the play and production in the Guardian:

Billington on MournerBillington on Mourner Thu, Apr 25, 1996 – 2 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney seemed less sure but still speaks well of it:

Coveney on MournerCoveney on Mourner Sun, Apr 28, 1996 – 65 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

We were really taken with it; discussing the issues for the rest of the weekend and beyond.

The Life Of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, Adapted by David Hare, Almeida Theatre, 12 March 1994

Janie and I see a lot of theatre and on the whole go to see productions that we find good or very good. But just occasionally we see something that is a cut above and is truly memorable as one of the best productions we have ever seen.

That is how my memory (25 years later) recalls this adaptation/production of The Life Of Galileo and my log from the time registers the simple phrase, “excellent production”.

Here is the Theatricalia record for this production.

Contemporaneous reviews only through the following clippings of Michael Billington’s review:

Billington On GalileoBillington On Galileo Fri, Feb 18, 1994 – 34 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com Billington On Galileo Part TwoBillington On Galileo Part Two Fri, Feb 18, 1994 – 35 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

My take is that Richard Griffiths was superb as Galileo, ably supported by a top notch cast dirtected by Jonanathan Kent.

This a David Hare adaptation was revived at The National some 12 years later; there are on-line reviews of that production – e.g. this one, which mentions the 1994 production.

The Wikipedia entry for the play provides a good synopsis.

An exceptionally good night at the theatre, I remember it well.

Murmuring Judges by David Hare, Olivier Theatre, 20 January 1992

Two visits to the Olivier Theatre with Bobbie in 48 hours. Just fancy. Must have been an availability thing and both of us wanting to see both plays.

In my log I wrote,

Good, but not as good as I had hoped it would be.

I seem to recall finding the play a bit wordy, a bit worthy and also some of the legal aspects a little unconvincing. I think the feedback from Bobbie’s legal entourage was similar on that last point when we ended up comparing notes.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry for this play.

Below is Michael Billington’s Guardian review:

Billington Judges JudgesBillington Judges Judges Sat, Oct 12, 1991 – 21 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Michael Coveney’s Observer review:

Coveney Judges JudgesCoveney Judges Judges Sun, Oct 13, 1991 – 56 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

The Secret Rapture by David Hare, Lyttelton Theatre, 11 February 1989

Superb cast and crew, as listed on Theatricalia – click here.

No on-line reviews of the late 1980’s production we saw, of course, but here is a Michael Billington job on a revival some 15 years later.

Below is a clipping of Michael Billington’s review of the original production we saw:

Billington on Secret RaptureBillington on Secret Rapture Thu, Oct 6, 1988 – 25 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Michael Ratcliffe’s Observer review:

Ratcliffe on RaptureRatcliffe on Rapture Sun, Oct 9, 1988 – 43 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

David Hare plays have a tendency to irritate me, especially those plays that seem to come at moral and/or political issues with some preachy certainty – even if I agree with Hare’s position, which often I do.

I recall The Secret Rapture having enough moral dilemma and ambiguity about Thatcherism to keep the thought and concentration going throughout the play and for some time afterwards too.

A synopsis can be found by clicking here.

They made a movie of this play a few years later…mostly different cast…

…I don’t really recognise the play I saw from this trailer at all:

In short, I remember thinking the play/production that we saw was very good. I went with Bobbie.

I’m not sure what we did afterwards; perhaps we ate out or perhaps I prepared some food for afterwards, as I was in the mode to do that in those early days at Clanricarde Gardens.