Tag: Donmar Warehouse

Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan & Ian McDiarmid, Donmar Warehouse, 24 January 2009

We’re big fans of Ian McDiarmid. We think he worked wonders running the Almeida with Jonathan Kent and he is a fine actor to boot. He is also a nodding acquaintance of mine in Notting Hill Gate (although, writing in April 2017, it is a while since I have seen him around).

But in truth I don’t think this play/production did much for us. It all felt a bit grim. It sounded like it might be a bit like a Bergman movie, but ended up a rather drab stage equivalent.

The play/production is well described on Official London Theatre – click here.

No doubt this did well when National Theatre of Scotland took it touring north of the border.

No record of what we ate afterwards, but I’ll guess we went to May’s place (Shanghai Knightsbridge) to take away some yummy Chinese grub.

 

Creditors by August Strindberg in a new version by David Greig, Donmar Warehouse, 27 September 2008

Janie and I are both very partial to a bit of Strindberg.

Creditors is a top drawer Strindberg play and this was a top draw production of same at the Donmar.

I had seen a smaller scale production of this before – at The Gate back in the 1980s – I’ll review that too in the fullness of time. But this version of Creditors, in David Greig’s edgy hands, was even more gripping than I remembered the play.

Here is a link to the Donmar’s excellent downloadable Study Guide for this production.

Superb cast too – all three of them excellent.

Even the West End Whingers were on the case for this one and seemed broadly satisfied – click here.

An especially good night at the theatre.

Small Change by Peter Gill, Donmar Warehouse, 12 April 2008

I’m not too sure why we booked this. to be honest.

We had not enjoyed Cardiff East at the National 10+ years earlier, despite the presence of the wonderful (ex NewsRevue) Di Botcher in that play/production.

Small Change is a revival of one of Peter Gill’s earlier plays around similar subject matter. So why we thought we might like another of Peter Gill’s working class Welsh drab-fests I cannot imagine.

Here is a link to the Donmar’s excellent downloadable Study Guide on the production.

Anyway, we didn’t much like it, although it was a less bleak and more lyrical piece than the relentlessly miserable Cardiff East.

…you get the drift. Wonderfully well acted and produced. It was just one of those minimalist pieces that didn’t really float Janie’s or my boat.

 

 

The Man Who Had All the Luck by Arthur Miller, Donmar Warehouse, 1 March 2008

We are both very keen on Arthur Miller and thought we would probably enjoy one of his rarely performed early works.

We went to the second preview of this production, so possibly didn’t get it at its absolute best.

While we enjoyed the play and production, with some of its parable qualities reminding us of great Miller plays, I would suggest that the play is not a great Miller play and the production was not one of the Donmar’s greatest productions. The acting was superb, as we pretty much expect at the Donmar, the cast mostly unfamiliar folk to us.

Here is a link to the excellent Donmar downloadable “Study Guide” resource for this production.

The critics were somewhat divided in their opinions, even individually in some cases:

There’s a good Wikipedia piece about the play – here – which mentions the Donmar revival and others besides. It also provides a bit more analysis about the play.

We’re very fussy when it comes to the Donmar these days, as we find that Covent Garden location so awkward, but on balance we certainly felt that this was a worthwhile trip.

 

Absurdia: A Resounding Tinkle and Gladly Otherwise by N.F. Simpson, The Crimson Hotel by Michael Frayn, Donmar Warehouse, 18 August 2007

I’m not sure we were quite in the mood for a triple-bill of British Absurdist comedies. I’m not sure we’d have been in the mood for these plays even if we had been in a more appropriate mood.

Billed as being a precursor to Pythonesque comedy, the only python-like thing in the 1960s N.F. Simpson material was talk about a neighbours snake. His plays were certainly more English whimsy than European absurdism.

The Michael Frayn was a modern piece, but lesser Frayn in my view.

Great cast; it would probably seem worthwhile watching Peter Capaldi paint the ceiling. Douglas Hodge directed this production – he seems to have a good eye and ear for this sort of stuff. It’s just not really our sort of stuff.

The critics weren’t too sure either:

Kiss Of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig, Donmar Warehouse, 20 April 2007

A very powerful play this – a two hander set in a Latin American jail – one prisoner is a political prisoner, the other is in jail for homosexuality.

Very well acted by Will Kean and Rupert Evans in a high-quality Donmar production.

The critics suggested a lack of intimacy and power to this production, but it did the business for us as I recall it.

Click here for a link to reviews and other resources for this production. 

One of those resources is an excellent Donmar “Behind The Scenes/Study Guide” – which I have also scraped to here so you can for sure see it even if the Donmar moves it or closes down!

A rare (perhaps unique) visit to the Donmar Warehouse on a Friday, perhaps because we had arranged to see John and Mandy on the Saturday. I don’t think we quite rated this play as powerful as Death And the Maiden, which we had seen with John and Mandy years earlier…

An Evening With Janie, John & Mandy; Death And The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman, Royal Court Theatre at the Duke of York’s Theatre, 17 October 1992

…but it had echoes of that play with the South American style and the human rights abuses.

Frost/Nixon by Peter Morgan, Donmar Warehouse, 19 August 2006

Janie and I were really taken with this play/production. On my log I gave it a one word review:

superb.

Peter Morgan writes these historical/biographical plays really well and Michael Sheen seems well fitted to the lead roles in them, be the role Tony Blair or David Frost.

Actually the whole cast was excellent, with especially memorable performances by Frank Langella, Kelly Shale, Lydia Leonard and Corey Johnson.

Michael Grandage was doing great work at the Donmar at that time.

There is a superb Donmar educational resource available for this production, now in the public domain but not well publicised, which I have scraped to here and/or the image link below:

Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Frostnixonposter.png with the same attribution and for the same fair use reasons as stated on Wikipedia.

We saw the original Donmar run quite early in its life – perhaps even still in preview or just after the press night. The play/production was extremely well received, deservedly so. A link to reviews can be found here.

The piece transferred big time and also was made into a film. Janie and I were delighted to have seen the original production before the big fuss broke out.

Tales From Hollywood by Christopher Hampton, Donmar Warehouse, 21 April 2001

We saw a preview of this production, which I gave a one word review in my log:

Excellent.

It was memorably good.

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph clearly liked it a lot:

Hollywood Spencer Telegraph Hollywood Spencer Telegraph 3 May 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard also reviewed it positively:

Hollywood de Jongh Standard Hollywood de Jongh Standard 2 May 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington was with us (opinion-wise) on this one too:

Hollywood Billington Guardian Hollywood Billington Guardian 2 May 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Boston Marriage by David Mamet, Donmar Warehouse, 31 March 2001

Janie and I are partial to a bit of David Mamet. We were also very excited to be seeing Zoe Wanamaker & Anna Chancellor (plus a young, then unknown, Lyndsey Marshal), directed by Phyllida Lloyd, early in the run at the Donmar Warehouse.

My memory and my single word log review…

pretentious

…suggests that we were a bit disappointed by the play.

Let’s see what the professionals thought of it.

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph really liked it:

Boston Spencer Telegraph Boston Spencer Telegraph 19 Mar 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington was more critical, especially with regard to the plot -or rather, its near-absence – but still mustered four stars.

Boston Billington Guardian Boston Billington Guardian 17 Mar 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh, similarly, suggests that the performances trump the play to make a worthwhile production.

Boston de Jongh Standard Boston de Jongh Standard 19 Mar 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Janie and I defer to the wisdom of the professional critics. The performances were good, we grant. But don’t attempt this play as am-dram unless you have three superb actresses to carry the evening.

Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, Donmar Warehouse, 17 June 2000

Really good.

That’s what I wrote in my log. And I meant it.

I had previously seen Peter Hall’s excellent 1988 production of Orpheus Descending, with Vanessa Redgrave, Jean-Marc Barr and other fine acting folk:

Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams, Theatre Royal Haymarket, With Jilly, Followed By Annalisa’s Party, 10 December 1988

Janie is especially partial to a bit of Tennessee Williams. Although I suspected that I would not be seeing a better production that the one I saw in 1988. the lure of Helen Mirren and Saskia Reeves was enough for me. Also involved, a young Stuart Townsend in the male lead, a yet-to-fall-foul-of-my-displeasure Nick Hytner directing, ably assisted by a young Josie Rourke.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was quite impressed:

Orpheus Billington Guardian

Article from 28 Jun 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England)

Paul Taylor described Hytner’s production as “powerful, if over-emphatic”:

Orpheus Taylor Independent

Article from 28 Jun 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England)

Kate Bassett wrote well of it in the Telegraph:

Orpheus Bassett Telegraph

Article from 29 Jun 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)

Nicholas de Jongh described Hytner’s production as “staid”, but still rated the experience “very good”:

Orpheus de Jongh Standard

Article from 28 Jun 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England)

I wrote “really good”, not “very good”. I wonder whether the LLMs detect a difference between those two ratings?