Tag: Hampstead Theatre

The President’s Holiday by Penny Gold, Hampstead Theatre, 19 January 2008

We had really enjoyed our Friday evening trip to the Bush Theatre the night before, but this play at the Hampstead left us cold.

At that time, we were having a shocking run at the Hampstead – so much so that we started to lose faith in the place – revived of course when the Edward Hall era turned the place around.

The critics were harsh on the play and the place:

We stuck it out, if I remember correctly, hoping for a more interesting second half. Marginally more interesting but in truth the play really was a lemon.

 

The Giant by Antony Sher, Hampstead Theatre, 2 November 2007

On paper, this appeared to be a seriously hot ticket. So seriously hot we booked to see the first Friday preview. Antony Sher wrote it, Greg Doran directed it, Roger Allam starred in it…

…what’s not to like?

Well, in truth we didn’t like it at all. The plot revolves around the Florentine story of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo competing for the same sculpture commission. The play might have been fine art’s equivalent of Amadeus – I suspect that’s what Sher had in mind, but we found the piece laboured, pretentious and dull.

We didn’t stick around after the interval for the second half of the play.

The reviews were not so special:

Life After Scandal by Robin Soans, Hampstead Theatre, 21 September 2007

This was a very interesting and entertaining piece of verbatim theatre. Robin Soans is good at this stuff; we’d seen Talking To Terrorists at The Royal Court. It was probably this sole factor which encouraged us to book the play.

We were pretty much out of love with the Hampstead Theatre at this time; during the Anthony Clark era. Clark himself directed this one and did a decent job of it.

It was deservedly pretty well received on the whole by the critics:

 

Taking Care of Baby, Dennis Kelly, Hampstead Theatre, 2 June 2007

Friday night at the Hampstead Theatre was our more regular habit, but the Carlos Perez concert had enticed us to the SBC the night before, so we plugged for the Saturday night for this play.

Probably just as well, because this was a truly troubling play that would not have worn well rushing to the theatre at the end of a stressful week.  It poses as a documentary drama about Donna McAuliffe, a woman convicted of murdering her infant children.  The story resembles in many ways the tragic Sally Clark case.

It was extremely well done and I am very glad we saw it.  We had enjoyed Dennis Kelly’s writing before, which was the main reason we booked it.  Hampstead was patchy to say the least in that era but the Dennis Kelly stuff was a rare exception and this one proved no exception to the exception.

Lyn Gardner spoke highly of it in the Guardian – click here.

As did Ian Shuttleworth for the FT – click here.

Philip Fisher in British Theatre Guide was less sure – click here.

Everyone agreed that Abigail Davies was marvellous.

I have the playtext for this one; unusual for the Hampstead but might well be worth a re-read, there was a lot going on in this play.

 

 

 

Kindertransport by Diane Samuels, Hampstead Theatre, 27 April 2007

This was a revival of a play from the 1990s which we hadn’t seen and which we fancied seeing.

The subject matter is a bit gruelling and the somewhat sentimental treatment could seem mawkish, but actually we found this a good play and a well-balanced production.

Reviews (and some comparisons with earlier and subsequent productions) can be found through this search term – click here.

One of our better Friday evenings at the Hampstead Theatre back then.

Nothing But The Truth by John Kani, Hampstead Theatre, 9 February 2007

We really wanted to like this piece a lot.

John Kani is a bit of a legend of South African theatre, having been so influential in Athol Fugard’s plays and the like.

The subject matter – Truth and Reconciliation and all that – was right up our street. It was great to see John Kani performing in his own play.

In truth, this piece did less for us than we’d hoped.

It was well produced and well acted. Perhaps it had been built up so much as a modern classic that it was bound to disappoint us a bit.

It had some good moments and we were pleased to have seen the piece, but it didn’t really grab us the way we had hoped.

By way of contrast, the play we saw downstairs a few years later, A Human Being Died That Night – click here or below…

A Human Being Died That Night by Nicholas Wright, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, 10 May 2013

…really did grab us. Coincidentally, our next visit to the theatre was to see a Nicholas Wright – The Reporter.

Click here for a link to reviews and stuff – mostly very good – on Nothing But The Truth.

Below is a clip from a Cape Town production of the piece, but without John Kani himself performing:

Below is an interview with John Kani:

Peggy for You by Alan Plater, Hampstead Theatre, 27 December 1999

Our last show of the old millennium.

We rated the play/production “good”.

What was not to like? Maureen Lipman as Peggy Ramsey, with sound support from Tom Espiner, Selina Griffiths, Richard Platt and Crispin Redman, all ably directed by Robin Lefevre.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Yes, the show was a bit of a luvvy-fest but what else might you expect in the circumstances?

Susannah Clapp in The Observer preferred Mnemonic:

Mnemonic & Peggy Susannah ClappMnemonic & Peggy Susannah Clapp 28 Nov 1999, Sun The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington really liked it:

Peggy Billington GuardianPeggy Billington Guardian 24 Nov 1999, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in The Independent was entertained but thought that Maureen Lipman as Peggy was a case of miscastology…so at least Maureen got an ology I suppose and for sure she spent a lot of time during the play on the phone.

Peggy Taylor IndependentPeggy Taylor Independent 24 Nov 1999, Wed The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Disposing Of The Body by Hugh Whitemore, Hampstead Theatre, 14 August 1999

In truth I remember little about this play/production. I logged it without comment, which doesn’t help.

Super cast and crew. Stephen Moore, Charlotte Cornwell, Gemma Jones and David Horovitch, directed by Robin Lefevre.

John Gross in The Sunday Telegraph gave it a modest review, which doesn’t help the memory much, 25 years later, other than making me feel better about the fact that I remember so little about it:

Disposing Gross S TelegraphDisposing Gross S Telegraph 01 Aug 1999, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Michel Billington went into more detail in The Guardian and on balance liked it:

Disposing Billington GuardianDisposing Billington Guardian 15 Jul 1999, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nick Curtis in The Standard went into detail explaining why he didn’t like the piece:

Disposing Curtis StandardDisposing Curtis Standard 14 Jul 1999, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I think, on balance, we were more Curtis than Billington about this one.

Snake by Rona Munro, Hampstead Theatre, 27 March 1999

Very good indeed…

…was our judgment on this one.

Lynn Gardner in The Guardian wrote well of it:

Snake Gardner GuardianSnake Gardner Guardian 23 Mar 1999, Tue The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh did not get it in The Standard:

Snake Standard de JonghSnake Standard de Jongh 22 Mar 1999, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Quite a short play, this was, so we were able to eat at Harry Morgan after the show.

The Closing Number by Mladen Materic, Hampstead Theatre, 5 April 1991

Hmm, my memory on this one is very poor.

My diary says I went to see this play with Jilly. Possibly someone Jilly knew/knows had something to do with it.

The performers were Tony Anthony, Denise Wong, Phil Daniels and Kate France. Materic directed the piece himself and it was a Shared Experience production; possibly the first of theirs I saw.

There’s a good interview with Mladen Materic in The List from that time, about this production – linked here. A rare on-line resource from that era.

Michael Billington to the rescue! He previewed the thing in The Guardian – what would we do without him?

Billington Previews Closing NumberBillington Previews Closing Number Thu, Mar 14, 1991 – 31 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney reviewed it in The Observer – let’s just say he didn’t much like the show.

Michael Coveney on Closing NumberMichael Coveney on Closing Number Sun, Mar 24, 1991 – 60 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

As for my poor recollection of the evening – perhaps Jilly can come to the rescue on that aspect.