Tag: Duncan Bell

Remembrance Of Things Past by Marcel Proust, adapted by Harold Pinter & Di Trevis, Cottesloe Theatre, 17 November 2000

We were such groupies in those days – we leapt in early and went to see the opening night (i.e. the first preview) of this one, on a Friday.

So keen were we to make sure that we were psychologically and spiritually ready for the experience, we both took that Friday off work. OK, maybe we had some other things to do that day, such as try to jostle Gavin along into finishing the long overdue work in Clanricarde Gardens.

Anyway, this piece is about Proust’s Remembrance, not my rambling memories. The conceit of this production was a film script that Harold Pinter had written in the 1970s, adapting Proust’s epic into screenplay. That movie had never been made. Di Trevis liked the screenplay and helped further adapt it into a three-hour play, which she then directed.

Fabulous cast – including Duncan Bell, Sebastian Harcombe, Julie Legrand, Diana Hardcastle, David Rintoul and a young Indira Varma.

There was a buzz in the theatre world about this one ahead of time and I think it buzzed on for some time. It certainly transferred to the Olivier, but I think that had always been planned in to the deal.

We loved the Cottesloe (now Dorfman) and were very keen to see this one early.

I remember being very impressed by it. Janie thought it a bit long…

…try reading Proust, love…

…and/but I suspect that our preview ran longer than the scheduled three hours as some material was probably cut between previews and press night.

Some of the press gushed. Here’s Nicholas de Jongh:

Remembrance de Jongh Standard Remembrance de Jongh Standard 24 Nov 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor was not so sure – liking much but disliking the freeze frames:

Remembrance Taylor Indy Remembrance Taylor Indy 24 Nov 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Dominic Cavendish positively found the whole thing mediocre – which is faint praise indeed:

Remembrance Cavendish Telegraph Remembrance Cavendish Telegraph 27 Nov 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington was balanced, mostly positive about it.

Remembrance Billington Guardian Remembrance Billington Guardian 25 Nov 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I must admit, I’ve made do with having seen this production and reading some passages in translation. The full one-and-a-quarter-million pages of the novel will have to wait – almost certainly for another life.

Thanks Harold, thanks Di.

All My Sons by Arthur Miller, Cottesloe Theatre, 5 August 2000

I gave this production a one word review in my log:

Marvellous.

I remember that Janie and I had awaited this one eagerly. I remember that Ben Daniels was especially good in it, as were James Hazeldine, Paul Ritter, Julie Walters and Catherine McCormack. Howard Davies directing – and indeed the Cottesloe, now Dorfman as a location – were consistently good back then.

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph had to set aside his antipathy towards Arthur Miller because he thought this production so good:

Sons Spencer Telegraph

Article from 10 Jul 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)

Susannah Clapp loved the play and the production:

Sons Clapp Observer

Article from 9 Jul 2000 The Observer (London, Greater London, England)

Patrick Marmion in The Standard issued a rare “outstanding” mark:

Sons Marmion Standard

Article from 7 Jul 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England)

John Gross, like his mate Charles Spencer, liked the production more than the play:

Sons & Samaritan Gross Sunday Telegraph

Article from 16 Jul 2000 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England)

A rare and unexpected downbeat note comes from our friend, Michael Billington, who didn’t like the choice of play, nor did he like the production.

Sons Billington Guardian

Article from 8 Jul 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England)

I guess you cannot please all of the people all of the time.

A Weekend During Which Janie & I Did More Than Plenty, including…Plenty by David Hare, Albery Theatre, 17 April 1999

Richard Croft / The George Hotel Wikimedia Commons

Elvis Has Entered The Building

The highlight of this weekend – or at least the most memorable event – was me being recognised by Elvis Costello when he and his misses were heading for their seats just behind us at the Albery.

I have written that up in my piece about the play/production:

Plenty by David Hare, Albery Theatre, 17 April 1999

Prior To the West End, A Jaunt To Lincolnshire & Nottingham

Our diaries indicate a flurry of activity on the Friday and the Saturday, which I only vaguely remember. Janie had a podiatry course at Nottingham University on the Saturday morning and we had chosen to take the Friday off to make that a more palatable affair, not least because Janie didn’t fancy the crack of dawn start to go to Nottingham and back in a day.

We lunched at The George At Stamford, in Lincolnshire, a place I knew and linked from “back in the day” when business took me up that way. Janie checked us in to The Village Hotel and Leisure Club in Nottingham, which enabled me to enjoy facilities while she was on her training course. Janie’s diary reminds me that she arranged for both of us to have massages there on the Friday evening when we arrived, which we both deemed to be a very ordinary “pitty-pat” experience, unlike our regular arrangements in London.

After Janie’s course we legged it back down to London and then on to The Albery. It all reads very hectic in the diaries – we’d for sure avoid such a crush 25 years later, as I write.

And The Next Day…

We went to the Barbican Hall for a concert, which I have written up here, with yet more celebrity name-dropping potential for me and Janie:

Janie, Me & MTT At The Barbican, 18 April 1999

Plenty by David Hare, Albery Theatre, 17 April 1999

A star-studded audience our night: me, Janie, Elvis Costello…

…we didn’t/don’t normally go to celebrity gala preview evenings for productions. Indeed, I think we ended up at this one by accident.

If I remember correctly, Janie booked this one on an early priority booking as she was a member of the Almeida Theatre, which was responsible for (or at least heavily involved with) this production. We tend to like and book previews, because they are usually low key and precede the hullabaloo of press nights and the like. For some reason this one seemed to be different.

We got to the Albery and our seats in good time. Then someone in the row behind me taped my shoulder and said “hello” as he was going past towards his seat. It was Elvis Costello, whom I had got to know reasonably well in the 1990s at Lambton Place Health Club (now BodyWorksWest).

In fact, for several years at Lambton Place, I was aware of this friendly fellow who was obviously in the music business, as indeed were many members at Lambton’s. I had not recognised him as Elvis Costello, despite my having several of his albums and having seen him live several times in the 1980s. On one occasion, a few years before The Albery, he and I were chatting in the steam room and I asked him what he did. He said that he used to be in a band called Elvis Costello and the Attractions. “Oh yes”, I said “I have several of your albums and saw the band live more than once. Do you mind telling me your name?” He told me, and clearly found my embarrassment at my gaff funny.

I even reviewed one of Elvis Costello’s gigs for Concourse, our student newspaper, in 1983. That was only seven or eight years before I first met him.

Anyway, roll the clock to April 1999 again. We were still on “chat quite regularly at the health club” terms, hence Elvis Costello tapping me on the shoulder, saying hello and stopping for a brief chat as he was going through to his seat.

“Who was that?” asked Janie after he and his Mrs had moved on. “Elvis Costello”, I said, quietly and matter-of-factly I thought, but my words caused a flurry among a group of celebrity-spotters in the row in front of us, who proceeded to keep turning around at regular intervals, looking at Elvis Costello and quizzically looking at me and Janie whom, I suppose, they now suspected of being celebrities worth spotting in our own right. I found this more amusing than Janie did.

Unfortunately, the pre-show hullabaloo was probably the most entertaining aspect of the evening from my point of view. I didn’t much like the play and found Cate Blanchett’s character Susan incredibly irritating.

Not as good as we had hoped it would be

…was my log comment, so I am pretty sure Janie felt the same way.

It was all very well produced and had a tip-top cast under Jonathan Kent, but that couldn’t rescue the evening for us. Here’s a link to the Theatricalia entry.

Paul Taylor in The Independent shared our doubts about this play/production, although saying that he would sooner spend three weeks stuck in a lift with Hedda Gabler than have a drink with Blanchett’s character Susan is harsher than I could have been:

Taylor Independent PlentyTaylor Independent Plenty 28 Apr 1999, Wed The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph hated the play but fell in love with Cate Blanchett

Spencer Telegraph PlentySpencer Telegraph Plenty 29 Apr 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We had posh nosh at The Beaumont afterwards. I think it had recently had a makeover at that time – it will have had a makeover or two since (he says, writing 25 years after the event).

The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neill, Almeida Theatre, 18 April 1998

It had to be good for Janie to stay awake for best part of 4 hours

Thus spake my log.

It was very good. Kevin Spacey in the lead role. Excellent supporting cast, including Tim Pigott-Smith and Rupert Graves. Howard Davies directing.

Here’s a link to the Theatricalia entry.

Nicholas de Jongh liked it a lot in The Standard:

Iceman Standard de JonghIceman Standard de Jongh 15 Apr 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in The Independent, though positive, was less sure:

Iceman Independent TaylorIceman Independent Taylor 16 Apr 1998, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, in The Guardian, was very keen on it:

Iceman Guardian BillingtonIceman Guardian Billington 16 Apr 1998, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Blinded By The Sun by Stephen Poliakoff, Cottesloe Theatre, 31 August 1996

I wrote in my log:

Yes, we saw it before it opened. Yes, it was very good.

Press night was early the following week.

I was always partial to a bit of Poliakoff, so this will have felt like a bit of a birthday treat, opening at that time of year.

In fact, we had been due to go to the Proms on my actual birthday that year, but “Proms 7:30” is scribbled out in my diary for the preceding Wednesday. Not sure what went wrong there – probably we simply failed to get tickets (Claudio Abbado & The Berlin Phil doing Brahms – very popular).

But I digress.

Stellar cast for this one – as was the way back then with Poliakoff at the National or the RSC: Douglas Hodge and Frances de la Tour the biggest names; Graham Crowden & Hermione Norris also standout performers. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

This is Lyn Gardner’s review from The Guardian:

Blinded Lyn Gardner GuardianBlinded Lyn Gardner Guardian 04 Sep 1996, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Here is Michael Coveney’s Observer review:

Blinded Coveney ObserverBlinded Coveney Observer 08 Sep 1996, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in the Independent also liked it a lot:

Blinded Paul Taylor IndyBlinded Paul Taylor Indy 05 Sep 1996, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

New England by Richard Nelson, The Pit, 11 March 1995

We were spending a fair bit of time at The Pit in those days – our previous visit to the theatre was also to The Pit:

Easter by August Strindberg, The Pit, 25 February 1995

Haven’t been there for years – the RSC does so little modern stuff these days.

But back then they were packing The Pit with top notch names to act and direct, quite often in modern dramas.

New England was “superb” according to my log. Peter Gill directed it. Several really good names in it; David Burke, Angela Thorne, Mick Ford, Selina Cadell, Duncan Bell, Diana Hardcastle and Annie Corbier to be precise.

I also noted that:

Richard Nelson was in the audience that night for some reason, as it was well into the run.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.

It transferred to New York later in 1995 with a different cast, getting this NYT notice. But I can’t find an on-line review for the version we saw.

It was superb – believe us…

…or believe this Michael Billington clipping:

Billington On New EnglandBillington On New England Thu, Dec 1, 1994 – 35 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

…or this Michael Coveney clipping:

Michael Coveney On Out Of A House & New EnglandMichael Coveney On Out Of A House & New England Sun, Dec 4, 1994 – 77 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com