Tag: Ivan Kyncl

Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw, Almeida Theatre, 6 September 1997

I’ve never been sure about Shaw, but we thought we’d give this a try because it was The Almeida and because top flight Shaw productions were few and far between at that time.

Great cast and crew – see Theatricalia entry – including Emma Fielding, Richard Griffiths, Patricia Hodge, Penelope Wilton, Malcolm Sinclair and Peter McEnery, with David Hare in the director’s chair.

Despite all those good people, this one added to my/our sense of interminability, which had already been piqued by Suzanna Andler the previous week, which was soon followed by wall-to-wall coverage of Princess Diana’s tragic demise, which took ceaselessness to new levels.

Anyway, my contemporaneous words on Heartbreak House, speaking for both me and Janie:

Seemed interminable in the second half. Had “moments”, but all too few.

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard liked it a lot:

Heartbreak de Jongh StandardHeartbreak de Jongh Standard 04 Sep 1997, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in the Indy also loved it:

Heartbreak Taylor IndyHeartbreak Taylor Indy 05 Sep 1997, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kirsty Milne in The Sunday Telegraph at least nodded to the idea of Shaw being wordy.

Heartbreak Milne TelegraphHeartbreak Milne Telegraph 07 Sep 1997, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Like Milne, Michael Billington did a compare and contrast between Shaw and Wesker:

Heartbreak Billington GuardianHeartbreak Billington Guardian 06 Sep 1997, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

So maybe it was us, not them. Or maybe Shaw is/was simply too wordy for our modern eyes and ears.

Dona Rosita The Spinster by Federico García Lorca, Almeida Theatre, 10 May 1997

We were on quite a roll with our theatre going that spring. We thought this one was very good, as indeed we had consistently said for some time – certainly everything we had seen since our return from the Middle East.

We are both partial to a bit of Lorca, but Dona Rosita is considered to be a difficult Lorca play. This production did the piece proud.

A superb cast for this one, including Celia Imrie, Eleanor Bron, Phoebe Nicholls, Justin Salinger, Amanda Drew, Kerry Shale, Kathryn Hunter (she seemed to be everywhere at that time) with Phyllida Lloyd directing. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this one.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was suitably impressed with it.

Billington Guardian Dona RositaBillington Guardian Dona Rosita 30 Apr 1997, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul taylor in the Indy, similarly lauding it and comparing the piece with high-class Chekhov:

Paul Taylor Indy Dona RositaPaul Taylor Indy Dona Rosita 01 May 1997, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kate Basset in the Telegraph was less keen:

Kate Bassett Telegraph Dona RoistaKate Bassett Telegraph Dona Roista 07 May 1997, Wed The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Not for absolutely everyone, then, but certainly good enough for us!

Ivanov by Anton Chekhov, Almeida Theatre, 1 March 1997

We loved this play and production.

In those days, Ralph Fiennes was one of my buddies as Lambton Place…

…OK, what I really mean is that I’d quite often see him there and we were nodding acquaintances.

Anyway, Fiennes was doing great theatre work in those days, not least at the Almeida, which was having a heyday under the joint leadership of Iain McDiarmid (also one of my nodding acquaintances in the Notting Hill neighbourhood back then, as it happens) and Jonathan Kent.

I wrote in my log:

Very good production. Ian McDiarmid near stole the show the night we went understudying as Kosykh.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry, which informs us that John cater was supposed to play Kosykh.

Anyway…

Charles Spencer loved it in The Telegraph:

Ivanov Spencer TelegraphIvanov Spencer Telegraph 20 Feb 1997, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh was less sure in The Standard:

Ivanov, de Jongh, StandardIvanov, de Jongh, Standard 20 Feb 1997, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul taylor spoke highly of it in The Independent:

Ivanov, Taylor, IndependentIvanov, Taylor, Independent 21 Feb 1997, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

While my friend, Michael Billington, loved it:

Ivanov, Billington, GuardianIvanov, Billington, Guardian 20 Feb 1997, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…as did we (have I mentioned that yet?) – then we left the country for a few weeks.

The Dance Of Death by August Strindberg, Almeida Theatre, 11 February 1995

We went on a bit of a Strindberg fest that February – this the first of two Strinds in one month. the second was Easter at The Pit:

Easter by August Strindberg, The Pit, 25 February 1995

My log says that we thought The Dance Of Death “superb” and why not? John Neville, Gemma Jones, Cheryl Fergison and Anthony O’Donnell makes for a seriosuly good cast.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

A contemporaneous review or two:

…and some clippings. First up: Michael Billington:

Billington On dance Of DeathBillington On dance Of Death Thu, Jan 19, 1995 – 31 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Next up – Kate Kellaway:

Kate Kellaway On Dance Of DeathKate Kellaway On Dance Of Death Sun, Jan 22, 1995 – 146 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

The Life Of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht, Adapted by David Hare, Almeida Theatre, 12 March 1994

Janie and I see a lot of theatre and on the whole go to see productions that we find good or very good. But just occasionally we see something that is a cut above and is truly memorable as one of the best productions we have ever seen.

That is how my memory (25 years later) recalls this adaptation/production of The Life Of Galileo and my log from the time registers the simple phrase, “excellent production”.

Here is the Theatricalia record for this production.

Contemporaneous reviews only through the following clippings of Michael Billington’s review:

Billington On GalileoBillington On Galileo Fri, Feb 18, 1994 – 34 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com Billington On Galileo Part TwoBillington On Galileo Part Two Fri, Feb 18, 1994 – 35 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

My take is that Richard Griffiths was superb as Galileo, ably supported by a top notch cast dirtected by Jonanathan Kent.

This a David Hare adaptation was revived at The National some 12 years later; there are on-line reviews of that production – e.g. this one, which mentions the 1994 production.

The Wikipedia entry for the play provides a good synopsis.

An exceptionally good night at the theatre, I remember it well.

Moonlight by Harold Pinter, Almeida Theatre, 23 October 1993

Yes, yes, yes! We thought this was a really, really good night at the theatre.

I’d long been a Pinter fan. Janie wasn’t really familiar with his work, but Janie made the running for this night at the Almeida, booking us the front row seats we craved for that place (still do) and jotting down all the details. 90 minutes without an interval. Seats A7 & A8.

This play/production was our first sighting of Pinter together.

I think we ran into Ivan Shakespeare again that night; volunteering for the Almeida selling programmes.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Here is the Wikipedia entry, which shows who did what etc. What a cast it was too. Claire Skinner, Ian Holm, Anna Massey, Michael Sheen, Douglas Hodge, Jill Johnson and Edward de Souza – directed by David Leveaux.

Below is Michael Coveney’s review:

Michael Coveney MoonlightMichael Coveney Moonlight Sun, Sep 12, 1993 – 49 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Billington’s review was on the front page of the Guradian – how often does that happen? Along with a luvvie-fest piece (I’m glad we weren’t there that night and a continuation on Page 18.

Billington MoonlightBillington Moonlight Wed, Sep 8, 1993 – 1 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Billington continued on Page 18:

Billington Moonlight ContinuedBillington Moonlight Continued Wed, Sep 8, 1993 – 18 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Also in the Guardian, an Anna Massey interview about Moonlight. Anna Massey went on to become one of Janie’s regular clients, but Janie didn’t yet know her when we saw Moonlight.

Anna Massey MoonlightAnna Massey Moonlight Thu, Sep 9, 1993 – 35 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

We stayed at mine by the looks of it. I think I probably cooked, given the short play and my having been in the West End on the Friday.

Anyway, it was a fabulous, memorable night at the theatre.

The Showman by Thomas Bernhard, Almeida Theatre, 12 June 1993

Janie and I both thought this play/production was very good.

Alan Bates was a superb actor and was espececially suited to this role. The supporting cast were excellent under Jonathan Kent’s expert direction.

Below is Michael Billington’s judgment on the piece:

Billington On the ShowmanBillington On the Showman Wed, May 19, 1993 – 26 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney was also very keen on this play/production:

Michael Coveney On The ShowmanMichael Coveney On The Showman Sun, May 23, 1993 – 64 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Janie and I still say “my dear child” in the gnarley style that Alan Bates delivered that phrase in this production.

This was our first visit to the Almeida together and I have a feeling we ran into my NewsRevue friend Ivan Shakespeare on this occasion and indeed on more than one of our first few occasions at the Almeida. Ivan was a volunteer there and I think he did Saturday evenings whenever he could.

The White Devil by John Webster, Olivier Theatre, 6 July 1991

My log from the time simply says:

Josette Simon was indisposed the night we went, which was a real shame.

I can now exclusively reveal that the understudy we saw instead was Souad Faress. I subsequently did get to see Josette Simon; in The Maids, a few years later. Bobbie might not have been so lucky.

I’m not sure I was wild about the play either. Jacobean tragedies don’t always float my boat and I have a feeling that I sensed that this one wasn’t entirely my cup of tea. The White Devil is heavy on courtly intrigue and light on laughs.

Fine cast as always with a National production, with Eleanor Bron and Denis Quilley as the big draw names along with Josette Simon. Philip Prowse directed. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Michael Billington was not so keen on this one, claiming that it wasted the actors:

Billington on White DevilBillington on White Devil Thu, Jun 20, 1991 – 23 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Whereas Michael Coveney loved the production:

Coveney on White DevilCoveney on White Devil Sun, Jun 23, 1991 – 61 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Mountain Language by Harold Pinter, Lyttelton Theatre, 25 October 1988

Wow – this was a real experience in the theatre. Only a short piece – not even half an hour long – Bobbie and I will have both traipsed to the National after work, spending far more time traipsing than watching. But the memory of this piece lingers long in the memory.

Here is the Wikipedia entry about the play.

What a cast – see this Theatricalia entry for details. Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson, Tony Haygarth, Eileen Atkins…

…Pinter himself directing…

…Julian Wadham was also in it – I seem to recall that Bobbie was working with his sister at that time.

I rated it very good indeed in my log and I remember talking and thinking about the piece long after the curtain call.

Below is Michael Billington’s Guardian review:

Billington on Mountain LanguageBillington on Mountain Language Sat, Oct 22, 1988 – 17 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below is Michael Ratcliffe’s Observer review:

Ratcliffe on Mountain LanguageRatcliffe on Mountain Language Sun, Oct 23, 1988 – 40 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

I subsequently saw the piece again, in a double bill with Ashes To Ashes at the Royal Court, with Janie second time around. It is a very strong piece and no doubt can still shock and make the audience realise how bad regimes exert their power in part through the suppression and abuse of language.

What an honour to have seen the first production of this important, though short, piece of drama.

Hello And Goodbye by Athol Fugard, Almeida Theatre, 6 September 1988

My log says that this play/production was superb and I certainly remember it as so.

The play is one of Fugard’s earliest – a two-hander about a brother and sister in the Eastern Cape; somewhat down-at-heel Afrikaners. Here is a link to a Jhu article about this lesser-known Fugard play.

This might have been my first sight of Tony Sher performing live and it was, I think, my first ever visit to the Almeida Theatre. Those things were oft-repeated after this night.

I don’t think I have ever seen Estelle Kohler perform since, but I recall thinking that her performance, as well as Tony Sher’s, was acting from the very top drawer.

But then what did I know? Or indeed what do I know? Except that, on Googling this production, it seems that both performers picked up Olivier Award nominations for their performances in this one that year – click here.

I saw this production with Bobbie midweek – on a Tuesday – whatever next?

I wonder whether Ivan Shakespeare sold us the programme or ushered us to our seats – I didn’t know him back then, but I believe he was volunteering at the Almeida for many years before I met him through NewsRevue.

The production was actually an RSC thing – a brief exile from the Barbican at the Almeida.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry on this production.

Below is Nicholas de Jongh’s Guardian review:

Nicholas de Jongh on Hello & GoodbyeNicholas de Jongh on Hello & Goodbye Tue, Aug 9, 1988 – 17 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Below in Michael Ratcliffe’s Observer review:

Ratclliffe on Hello & GoodbyeRatclliffe on Hello & Goodbye Sun, Aug 7, 1988 – 39 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

This was a really memorable night at the theatre – more than 30 years later, I can still visualise the Johnny and Hester characters hollering at each other – I can still almost feel their pain.