Tag: Greg Gould

Dinner With Friends by Donald Margulies, Hampstead Theatre, 30 June 2001

Just in case a triple bill at The Royal Court Theatre the night before wasn’t enough theatre for us…

Mountain Language & Ashes To Ashes by Harold Pinter, & Alive From Palestine by Al Kasaba Theatre Group, Royal Court Theatre, 29 June 2001

…and just in case having several dinners with friends, including Brendan and Fi the week before wasn’t sufficient…

Several Midweek Evenings Out In Late June 2001

…we ran into Brendan and Fi when we went to see Dinner With Friends at the Hampstead.

This was still the old Portakabin Hampstead Theatre of course and I remember Brendan and Fi being a bit surprised by its shabbyness.

This play was quite amusing, I seem to recall, in a quintessentially Hampstead Theatre, middle-class comedy way.

Patrick Marmion in The Standard gave it a good review:

Dinner Standard Marmion Dinner Standard Marmion 29 Jun 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, was not quite so sure:

Dinner Guardian Billington Dinner Guardian Billington 5 Jul 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Susannah Clapp in the Observer mostly hated it. Oh well.

Dinner Observer Clapp Dinner Observer Clapp 1 Jul 2001 The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Buried Alive by Philip Osment, Hampstead Theatre, 27 April 2001

Janie and I thought this one was:

Good.

A fine cast, including Jane Arnfield, Louise Bush, Paul Higgins, Michelle Joseph, Veronica Roberts, John Ramm, Simon Trinder, Al Nedjari, and Gary Lilburn, directed by Mike Alfreds.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was not so impressed, praising the acting but not the play, awarding a rare, mere, two stars:

Buried Billington Guardian Buried Billington Guardian 23 Apr 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh described it as “disappointing” and awarded a dreaded Standard blob:

Buried de Jongh Standard Buried de Jongh Standard 23 Apr 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Unusually, Janie & I agreed with Charles Spencer more than Billington on this one:

Buried Spencer Telegraph Buried Spencer Telegraph 27 Apr 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I guess we could fall for “the oldest of reactionary canards” occasionally, especially when we went to the theatre after an early Friday evening supper at Harry Morgans.

The following day we went to Kim’s birthday party, which would for sure have lightened our mood after that dark play.

Out In The Open by Jonathan Harvey, Hampstead Theatre, 23 March 2001

I remember this play in particular for its juxtaposition, a week after our visit to Doug and Paul’s house, as a quintessentially gay play.

I remember quite liking the play and being impressed by the cast, while feeling that “we can get all that at home”…or at least, at Doug and Paul’s home.

Excellent cast: Mark Bonner, James McAvoy, Linda Bassett, Sean Gallagher, Michele Austin and Vilma Hollingbery, directed by Kathy Burke.

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph rather liked this one:

Out Spencer Telegraph Out Spencer Telegraph 22 Mar 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh gave it the dreaded Standard blob:

Out de Jongh Standard Out de Jongh Standard 21 Mar 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

While our friend, Michael Billington, hedged and gave it three stars. I think we sort of went with three stars too.

Out Billington Guardian Out Billington Guardian 21 Mar 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Feelgood by Alistair Beaton, Hampstead Theatre, 26 January 2001

We had a very entertaining weekend at the end of January that year, seeing Feelgood on the Friday and then Entertaining Mr Sloane on the Saturday…

Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton, The Arts Theatre, 27 January 2001

…just before heading off for a wonderful holiday in South-East Asia.

Cambodia Laos and Thailand, Placeholder and Links, 4 February to 27 February 2001

On the Friday evening, we saw Feelgood. We would have eaten at Harry Morgans before the show. I remember this play having a superb cast: Jeremy Swift, Henry Goodman, Amita Dhiri, Nigel Planer, Pearce Quigley, Sian Thomas, Nigel Cooke and Jonathan Cullen (according to my log), and being lots of fun. Max Stafford-Clark directed it. It transferred to the Garrick with a slightly different cast – Peter Capaldi taking Jeremy Swift’s place. Here’s the Theatricalia entry for that one.

Nicholas de Jongh really liked it in The Standard, especially heaping praise on Henry Goodman’s performance:

Feelgood, de Jongh Standard Feelgood, de Jongh Standard 1 Feb 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph gave it a short but positive review too:

Feelgood Spencer Telegraph Feelgood Spencer Telegraph 10 Feb 2001 The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington covered Feelgood in a general piece about political theatre at the start of 2001:

Feelgood plus, Billington Guardian Feelgood plus, Billington Guardian 17 Feb 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Billington concludes that article with a statement that seems oh so apposite as I write 25 years later:

…theatre is a place of information as well as entertainment and the more it cuts itself off from society – and relies on a mixture of anodyne musicals and Hollywood-star casting, the more it is doomed to glamorous irrelevance.