…we ventured to the Almeida for Yazmina Reza’s much anticipated follow up to Art…except it turned out to be an earlier play, not a subsequent one.
I wrote nothing in the log about this one, and sense that we weren’t overly impressed, but nor were we especially disappointed. I remember little about it other than it being a very high-end Almeida cast and production.
Paul Higgins, Amanda Root, Clare Holman, Claire Bloom, Matthew Marsh & David Calder were the cast. Howard Davies directed it. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.
Let’s see what the pundits had to say.
Susannah Clapp was not impressed, other than with Claire Bloom:
Neither Janie nor I remember much about this play/production. Nor did I write any comments about it in my log – just the details of the visit.
The play is about a Samaritan helping a desperate young woman and the Samaritan becoming emotionally entangled with her. Janie would doubtless look on the whole thing very differently 25 years on, having been a Samaritan since the pandemic – i.e. for over five years at the time of writing.
The leads were played by Julian Wadham and Claudie Blakely, both of whom we rate highly. I do recall that I had been to see Julian Wadham perform more than once “back in the day” with Bobbie and her work colleagues from the law reports, as Julian’s sister, Sarah, worked with them. I also recall that this theatre visit came up in conversation at Bobbie’s place a few day’s before we went to see this play, when Janie and I visited her for dinner the previous Saturday.
In truth, I remember little detail about this piece. My impressionistic memory of it is that we found the piece impenetrable and sensed that Miller was, sadly, well past his prime when he wrote it. I didn’t write anything positive or negative about it in my log…which is a tad negative.
Article from 28 Jul 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England)
Even Arthur Miller, even the Almeida (which was terrific back then) could muster the occasional dud and this was one of those.
Janie and I quietly agreed that we’d think twice before again booking to see plays written by great writers once they were quite so deep into their dotage.
Janie is especially partial to a bit of Tennessee Williams. Although I suspected that I would not be seeing a better production that the one I saw in 1988. the lure of Helen Mirren and Saskia Reeves was enough for me. Also involved, a young Stuart Townsend in the male lead, a yet-to-fall-foul-of-my-displeasure Nick Hytner directing, ably assisted by a young Josie Rourke.
Our friend, Michael Billington, was quite impressed:
This was a great production. I recall gently persuading Janie to see Macbeth again – she’s no fan of Shakespeare and felt that she had “done” Macbeth when seeing the 1994 Jacobi version.
It was the pull of Tony Sher and Harriet Walter that won Janie round, firstly to attending and in the end to admitting what a fabulous production this production at The Young Vic was. It was fast, it was furious, it was very memorable. Greg Doran knows a thing or two about doing Shakespeare.
The Theatricalia entry reminds me that the 2000 version was an RSC touring production that started at the Swan in late 1999 and ended up at The Young Vic in mid 2000.
We were still at the stage that I thought Janie might just be converted on to Shakespeare, so I booked a couple of Bard productions that spring: Ralph Fiennes playing the title role in this one and Tony Sher playing the title role in the Scottish one.
The idea didn’t really work on Janie – especially Richard II, which she found long and dull, despite a great cast and very solid production.
If I remember correctly, Gainsborough was a pop up theatre on the site of a disused film studio in Hoxton. This was one of the Almeida’s homes for a while, during which time the theatre was being poshed-up a bit.
Ralph Fiennes was a nodding acquaintance of mine back then – one of several actors who frequented Lambton Place in those days. This I disclose in the interests of openness and transparency, not that nodding acquaintanceship might affect my judgment.
I thought this production was very good, but I have always had my doubts about Richard II as a play. It is one that I “studied” at school, as a precursor to Henry IV Part one being my ‘O’ Level text. If Michael Lempriere couldn’t make it interesting for me, even Ralph, Jonathan Kent directing and an excellent supporting cast were going to struggle.
Paul Taylor in The Independent liked it but was a little underwhelmed:
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.:
This production was credited as “Donmar Warehouse at the Albery” and everything about it was Donmar Warehouse, but playing away from home. This production had received glowing reviews and awards the year before at the Donmar. We missed out then but were not about to miss out on it now.
Excellent cast, Nigel Lindsay, Sarah Woodward, Stephen Dillane & Jennifer Ehle leading, with David Leveaux directing.
Our “Donmar Warehouse at The Albery” experience was a more relaxing evening and a very fine production. Janie doesn’t really warm to Stoppard, but she did warm to this one.
I won’t overdo the reviews, as they are from the original production 9 months earlier, but here’s just a couple of examples of the raving – the first from our friend Michael Billington in The Guardian…
I think Janie must have sourced these tickets, because her diary notes that we’ll be sitting in the fifth row. Great diary detail, 25 years on, that one.
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.
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.
We thought this play/production was wonderful and we both remember this particular evening at the Almeida extremely well.
I had been especially keen to book this production, as I had read the play in the late 1980s, found it very interesting and wondered whether I would ever get to see it performed.
Janie and I attended a preview, as oft we do. Wallace Shawn was there and we chatted with him for quite some while. He came across as being exactly the sort of slightly-awkward, self-effacing type that he depicted in the film My Dinner With Andre, which is a great favourite of ours. A couple of times I said to Wallace, “I’m sure you need to speak with some other people”, to allow him to move on without discomfort, but he made it quite clear that he was happy chatting with us and continued to do so.
We talked about his other plays, many of which I had read and several of which Janie and I had seen together. We also chatted about the Almeida production of Aunt Dan & Lemon. He told us how thrilled he was that Miranda Richardson was playing Aunt Dan, as he was a huge fan of hers. I remember reflecting afterwards, with Janie, that Wallace Shawn seemed more star struck about Miranda Richardson than we were star struck by chatting with him.
The production was truly excellent. I had wondered, when I read the play, how it could possibly be staged well. Director/designer Tom Cairns and the production team had a myriad of clever answers, not least the hugely effective but not overpowering use of video projections on a screen.
Glenne Headly was superb as Lemon, as was Miranda Richardson as Aunt Dan. An excellent supporting cast including Corey Johnson and Kerry Shale.
Our friend Michael Billington loved this play/production:
It’s a shame that the Guardian mis-labelled the photo as Natasha Richardson (daughter of Vanessa Redgrave, no relation to Miranda). I wonder whether Wallace Shawn laughed or cried at that mistake back then?
Charles Spencer in The Telegraph considered the piece to be pernicious and wrong-headed, which is an interesting counter-argument to those coming at the piece from a more liberal perspective:
Thinking about the play some 35 years after reading it and 25 years after seeing it, I am struck by the thought that the play would, today, seem implausible, because an academic with Aunt Dan’s views would be lucky to survive even one semester as an Oxford don. Mind you, Wallace Shawn probably wouldn’t last much longer in an elevated academic institution either. Having thought provoked in this manner is not for wimps.
One of the very best and most memorable evenings we have spent at the theatre.
Burial Clapp Observer 17 Sept 2000 The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Burial Zinc Gross Sunday Telegraph 17 Sept 2000 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Burial de Jongh Standard 13 Sept 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Burial Billington Guardian 13 Sept 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
