Tag: James Saunders

Next Time I’ll Sing To You by James Saunders, Orange Tree Theatre, 12 November 2011

This is the sort of play/production that we like so much more in theory than we do in practice.

Here is a link to the Orange Tree’s excellent on-line resource for this production.

The idea of it is wonderful. It is an innovative 1960’s play exploring the meaning of life through the story of a successful man who decides to become a hermit.

Also, James Saunders had a long association with Sam Walters and the Orange Tree, which was being celebrated by this revival.

The play does have flashes of brilliance, humour and insight to it, but in truth we found it fairly hard going as an evening in the theatre. There is one heck of a lot of existential angst involved.

Here is a link to a search term that finds the reviews.

I remember being quite excited by the coincidence of the koi carp on the cover of the programme…

…The Price Of Fish (still available at all good book outlets, including the one you can click through here and below) was first released that very same weekend, resplendent with its dollar koi imagery:

Bodies by James Saunders, Orange Tree Theatre, 24 August 1996

Not especially memorable, this one…

…I noted in my log.

Janie and I were very keen on The Orange Tree at that time and on the whole the plays and the productions were excellent. James Saunders is not the easiest playwright, though.

Here is a link to the Bodies page on the James Saunders website.

We saw a revival of the piece, which had been an early effort at the Orange Tree back in the 1970s. Sam Walters had directed the original version; Dominic Hill directed our revival – no doubt mentored by Sam at that time. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for the version we saw.

Here is the review from the Independent.

Bodies Adrian Turpin IndependentBodies Adrian Turpin Independent 25 Sep 1996, Wed The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Here is Nick Curtis’s review from The standard:

Bodies Nick Curtis StandardBodies Nick Curtis Standard 03 Sep 1996, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Retreat by James Saunders, Orange Tree Theatre, 3 June 1995

I rated this two-hander with Tim Pigott-Smith & Victoria Hamilton as superb at the time, so it must have been quite special.

I cannot find much about it on the web, but this page from the James Saunders website helps, with a good description of the piece and some nice quotes from the notices. If anything ever happens to that site, I have scraped the page to here.

So this turned out to be James Saunders’ last play and I think the only one of his that was premiered in the new Orange Tree Theatre by Sam Walters (several of the earlier ones had premiered above the pub).

It must have been this play that made me seek out James Saunders’ work subsequently, but in truth his earlier work, especially the absurdist pieces, were far less to my taste than this gripping, psychological two-hander.

Michael Billington reviewed it and really liked it. I say that with some surprise, as for some reason the James Saunders’ website doesn’t have a quote from Billington.

Billington on RetreatBillington on Retreat Wed, May 17, 1995 – 33 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

I’m so glad Janie and I saw this. I wonder whether it is due a revival; I’d need to re-read it but I sense it is in many ways timeless.