Tag: Dominic Delargy

Demons & Dybbuks by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Method & Madness At The Young Vic, 18 September 1999

The log reminds me that we ran into Rob Pay, Susan Pay & Jay Jaffe at that show. In those days, Rob & Susan lived very near to my place, but my place was a building site that autumn and I was staying with Janie in Ealing at that time.

As for the play, I recall that Mike Alfred’s Method & Madness project was a bit Complicité-like, without quite the oomph (and certainly not the longevity) of Complicité.

The piece was basically adaptations (by Mike Alfreds) of a few Isaac Basevis Singer short stories.

Nick Curtis in The Standard was not very impressed:

Dybbuks Standard CurtisDybbuks Standard Curtis 02 Sep 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor was more charitable in The Independent:

Dybbuks Independent TaylorDybbuks Independent Taylor 02 Sep 1999, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The diary suggests that it was a long/late-finishing show, so I suspect that we picked up shawarmas after this show on the way home. The diary also tells me that we went to Gary [Davison]’s birthday lunch the next day. The diary is silent on where we went but in those days Gary tended to hold that event at Lemonia in Primrose Hill.

Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Richmond Theatre, 19 June 1999

This production began its life at The Young Vic in the autumn of 1998, wending its way to several regional theatres before returning to London in 1999, when we saw it at The Richmond Theatre.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production.

In 1998, I was busy getting friendly with Nicole Kidman in the Blue Room while Michael Billington was reviewing Our Country’s Good:

Blue Room & Our Country's Good Guardian BillingtonBlue Room & Our Country’s Good Guardian Billington 19 Sep 1998, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But I digress.

Fascinating piece about the production in the Telegraph by Charles Spencer. Joe White assisted Max Stafford-Clark directing this piece after release from Wormwood Scrubbs:

Spencer Our Country's Good Joe White TelegraphSpencer Our Country’s Good Joe White Telegraph 15 Sep 1998, Tue The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Janie might have got more out of this production had she known all that and had she known then what she knows now about rehabilitation of former prisoners…or lack thereof.

Our verdict on this piece/production at the time:

I liked it more than Janie did

Possibly it helped that I know (and like) The Recruiting Officer better than Janie does/did.

The cast no doubt changed over the year or so it toured, but we saw David Fielder, Stuart McQuarrie, David Beames, Fraser James, Ian Redford, Mali Harries, Ashley Miller, Sally Rogers and Michele Austin. Not bad.

I have no doubt that we ate at Don Fernando’s afterwards…and why not? Well, 25 years later, we couldn’t because the place has now closed down.