Tag: Duncan Chave

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.

Further Than The Furthest Thing by Zinnie Harris, Cottesloe Theatre, 7 October 2000

Janie and I gave this one a single word review in my log:

Superb.

A very memorable evening in the theatre. Set on and about the people of the remote island of Tristan da Cunha, we were both captivated by this play and production.

The cast: Paola Dionisotti, Gary McInnes, Kevin McMonagle, Darrell D’Silva, Arlene Cockburn and Greg Knowles were all superb, with Paola Dionisotti being the stand out performer. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.

We saw a London preview, although the production was a transfer from Edinburgh.

Nicholas de Jongh was pretty pleased with it, rating it very good:

Further de Jongh Standard Further de Jongh Standard 11 Oct 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The production had played in Edinburgh at the Traverse a couple of months earlier – most of the national papers’ reviews were from Edinburgh.

Here’s Charles Spencer gushing about it:

Further Spencer Telegraph Further Spencer Telegraph 8 Aug 2000 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in the Independent also spoke highly:

Further Taylor Indy Further Taylor Indy 19 Aug 2000 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

A few of the reviews, including this anonymous one from The Guardian, suggest that the play was too long – but clearly Janie and I were sufficiently captivated, as long plays rarely got “superb” ratings form us:

Further Guardian Further Guardian 8 Aug 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Battle Royal by Nick Stafford, Lyttelton Theatre, 11 December 1999

Our verdict on this one:

Had its moments.

That is not a rave review.

This production was awash with star names; Zoe Wanamaker, Simon Russell Beale, Gemma Jones, Suzanne Burden, Brendan Coyle, Matthew Macfadyen…

…directed by Howard Davies.

Here is the Theatricalia link for this play/production.

The production and talent on show was all very high quality – I don’t think the play did it for us.

It didn’t seem to please all the critics either. Nick Curtis in the Standard gave it the dreaded blob:

Battle Curtis StandardBattle Curtis Standard 10 Dec 1999, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor, in the Independent, also panned it.

Battle Taylor IndependentBattle Taylor Independent 10 Dec 1999, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

On the other hand, Charles Spencer in the Telegraph rather liked it:

Battle Spencer TelegraphBattle Spencer Telegraph 10 Dec 1999, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But our charitable friend, Michael Billington, awarded it a rare mediocre two stars:

Battle Billington GuardianBattle Billington Guardian 11 Dec 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Angels in America – Millenium Approaches, Tony Kushner, Cottesloe Theatre, 8 April 1994

Angels In America is a two part play. I can only talk about the first part, Millenium Approaches, which Janie and I both thought was very good indeed.

We were both due to see the second part, Perestroika, the next day, but I got a bout of the raging trots and was confined to my bed instead.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for Angels In America, which covers both parts.

What a cast! Daniel Craig, Susan Engel, Clare Holman, Stephen Dillane, Harry Towd…directed by Declan Donnellan too.

I insisted that Janie go alone to see Perestroika and she told me at the time that it was not as good as Millenium Approaches. But was she saying that just to be kind or was she saying that because she got less enjoyment without me or was she saying that because actually the first part is the better part?

Here is the Wikipedia entry for both.

No on-line reviews from the RNT production back then, sadly. Here is a New York Times transcript from 1993…

…and here is Michael Billington’s review from 1992:

Billington On Angels KushnerBillington On Angels Kushner Sat, Jan 25, 1992 – 21 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com