Eileen Diss – Ian Louis Harris

Celebration & The Room by Harold Pinter, Almeida Theatre, 22 April 2000

Very good indeed

That was my log note for this memorable evening of theatre.

Celebration was a brand new play. The Room a revival of Pinter’s first. Harold himself directing as well as writing – not always a brilliant idea but Harold could pull that trick off.

What a cast! Keith Allen, Andy de la Tour, Lindsay Duncan, Steven Pacey, Indira Varma, Lia Williams, Danny Dyer, Nina Raine, Henry Woolf, George Harris and others. Theatricalia holds chapter and verse on the cast lists etc.:

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph hated the evening:

24 Mar 2000, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard really liked it:

Celebration de Jongh Standard 23 Mar 2000, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

My friend, Michael Billington, agreed with us, giving it a rave review:

Celebration Billington Guardian 23 Mar 2000, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We didn’t dine out after this one. But we did go to Michael & Elisabeth (& Xenia) for lunch the next day.

The Late Middle Classes by Simon Gray, Richmond Theatre, 22 May 1999

Very good indeed. Thought provoking.

That’s what I wrote in my log at the time.

Janie booked this one, so I can report that we sat in seats D6, D7 & D8…and that she paid £20 a pop for this excellent evening at the theatre. I suppose £20 really was £20 back then. Still sounds like value.

The third ticket was for “The Duchess” (Janie’s mum).

Harold Pinter directed an excellent cast including Nicholas Woodeson, Harriet Walter & Angela Pleasence. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.

Our friend, Michael Billington, liked it in The Guardian:

Late Middle Guardian Billington 27 Mar 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in The Indy also thought highly of this production:

Late Middle Taylor Indy 27 Mar 1999, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We’ll have eaten at Don Fernando’s after theatre, because in those days, if we went to Richmond for theatre, that’s what we did afterwards. {Insert your own joke about “the late-dining middle classes” here].

Equally Divided by Ronald Harwood, Richmond Theatre, 24 October 1998

We were on a Richmond kick that quarter, for some reason, with three visits to The Orange Tree and two visits to the Richmond Theatre. Coincidence really, I should imagine.

Janie liked it more than I did.

That is my log’s pithy conclusion.

Excellent cast, with Stephanie Cole, Stephanie Beacham, Benjamin Whitrow & Gerald Harper. Christopher Morahan directed it. A transfer from Bath, as was often the case at Richmond.

Here is the Theatricalia entry.

Here is Jody Lindbeck’s take on it in the local gazettes:

Equally Gazette 23 Oct 1998, Fri Ealing and Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) Newspapers.com

Reading that review 25 years later, all I can think of is the wonderful Peter Cook quote: “I go to the theatre to be entertained. I don’t want to see plays about rape, sodomy and drug addiction – I can get all that at home.“

Life Support by Simon Gray, Richmond Theatre, 20 June 1997

We went on a Friday evening to see part of a preview run of this play/production, which went on to have a good long stint at the Aldwych and which had previously been tested at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in Guildford (according to my notes) and/ot Theatre Royal Bath according to the Theatricalia entry.

Anyway…

…I have always been partial to a bit of Simon Gray and also partial to a bit of Alan Bates’s acting and Harold Pinter’s directing, so this was a “must see” for me and Janie – hence the Friday evening booking.

Below is a rare review of the actual Richmond performances from the Ealing & Acton Gazette:

Life Support Ealing & Acton Gazette Tim Harrison 20 Jun 1997, Fri Ealing and Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) Newspapers.com

Below is a charming interview piece from the Guardian about the genesis of this play:

Life Support Simon Gray Claire Amitstead Guardian 26 Jul 1997, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard didn’t much like the play when he saw it at The Aldwych:

Life Support de Jongh Standard 06 Aug 1997, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Whereas Suzannah Clapp liked it more in The Observer:

Life Support Clapp Observer 10 Aug 1997, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We voted it “good”, which is not great, but we did rate the piece and the performances highly enough.

Taking Sides by Ronald Harwood, Criterion Theatre, 7 October 1995

This was a West End transfer from the Chichester Festival, which had been so well received that even we set aside our West-End show scepticism to see it in Theatreland.

We weren’t disappointed. This was a very good production of a very good play. It is basically about the denazification investigation of the German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler.

Michael Pennington & Daniel Massey played the lead roles, investigating officer major Arnold & Furtwängler respectively. Harold Pinter added yet more gravitas by directing it.

The Theatricalia entry for the play/production can be found here.

Michael Billlington really liked it when he saw it in Chichester that spring:

Billington taking Sides Tue, May 23, 1995 – 2 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney also liked it while comparing it with Absolute Hell:

Coveney on Taking Sides Sun, May 28, 1995 – 75 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Landscape by Harold Pinter, Cottesloe Theatre, 3 December 1994

Janie and I were very keen on Pinter and also very keen on Complicite, so we took the opportunity to see both on one Saturday during that crazy autumn during which Z/Yen was born.

According to my contemporary log:

Landscape is a short play, seen late afternoon/early evening before seeing “Out of a House Walked a Man”. Very good.

Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton. Top notch performers both,with great Pinter pedigrees too.

Here is the Theatricalia link on this production.

Wikipedia describes this short play thus.

Michael Coveney reviewed this production:

Coveney On Landscape Sun, Nov 27, 1994 – 84 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Here’s Michael Billington’s review:

Billington On Landscape Sat, Nov 26, 1994 – 30 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

A TV version of this production was broadcast on the BBC in 1995. Someone has upped it to YouTube here:

We were very taken with this piece.

Then on to see the Complicite piece:

Out Of A House Walked A Man by Daniil Kharms, RNT, 3 December 1994

Oleanna by David Mamet, Royal Court Theatre, 24 July 1993

These days (he says, writing more than 25 years later), I do most of the running with regard to booking theatre. But back then, Janie was more proactive.

There are notes in her diary from weeks before, working out when this was going to open and when we might be available. Then, for the day itself (as one might now find in my diary) notes on exactly which seats she’d booked (Row J) and how long the play might be (8:00 to 10:10).

For sure I would have been a willing participant in seeing the latest Mamet – I had been a bit of a Mamet fan for years by 1993. David Suchet and Lia Williams? yes please. Harold Pinter directing? just tell me where I need to go and when. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.

I remember it being a very good production of an extremely powerful play. Here is a link to the Wikipedia entry on the play.

It was in fact a very controversial play and Mamet had written more than one ending for it. There was much debate in the press.

Below is Michael Billington’s review:

Billington’s Review Of Oleanna Fri, Jul 2, 1993 – 37 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Here are links to The Guardian with some fascinating opinions published the following week:

Oleanna Opinions Wed, Jul 7, 1993 – 20 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

<ore Oleanna Opinions Wed, Jul 7, 1993 – 21 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Finally, here is Michael Coveney’s review.

Michael Coveney On Oleanna Sun, Jul 4, 1993 – 56 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

This was a stunning, unforgettable night at the theatre; Janie and I are privileged to have seen this production.

Sweet Bird of Youth by Tennessee Williams, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2 November 1985

Image from e-bay, click here, where this programme can be bought

This theatre visit predates my relentless keeping of programmes and logs. Aspects of it are well-logged in my memory – the fact that Lauren Bacall played The Princess Kosmonopolis and the fact that the production was at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, for example.

It had slipped my memory, however, that Harold Pinter, one of my heroes, was the director. I was probably seduced by that fact, combined with a chance [did you see what I did there?] to see Lauren Bacall in a play that I had studied with dry-mouthed admiration at school; it indeed had been this play that turned me on to Tennessee Williams.

West End ticket prices for hot shows, even in those days, were a stretch for an apprentice professional lad just down from University and would also have been a stretch for Bobbie – just embarking on her second year of pupillage. But stretch we did, and, with hindsight, delighted that we stretched am I.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production. This tells me that the production had been doing the rounds of theatres royal and palace-like, prior to autumn at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Full formal reviews will take some digging, but Harold himself got there before me with a super one-pager summarising the best of the notices – click here to link to that page. In the unlikely event that misfortune befalls haroldpinter.org, click here for a scrape of that page.

I have rummaged for some interesting newspaper stuff on this production as well as reviews. Here’s a reflective piece by Roy Hattersley, of all people, suggesting that this play/production is not for young folk. Try telling that to 23-year-old me and 22 year-old Bobbie: