Tag: John Haynes

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

Anna Weiss by Mike Cullen, Whitehall Theatre, 26 November 1999

A rare visit to theatre in town on a Friday evening for us – I think the plan was for Janie’s sister Hilary and her husband Chris to visit that Saturday/Sunday but in the end that visit got postponed.

My log is silent on this play/production, so it obviously didn’t have a profound impact on us. Excellent cast though: Shirley Henderson, Catherine McCormack & Larry Lamb, directed by Michael Attenborough.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.

Nick Curtis in The Standard admired the attempt to tackle the very difficult issue of extreme child abuse, but felt that this play/production didn’t work:

Weiss Curtis StandardWeiss Curtis Standard 23 Nov 1999, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph expressed similar sentiments to those of Nick Curtis:

Weiss Spencer TelegraphWeiss Spencer Telegraph 27 Nov 1999, Sat The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Other regulars don’t seem to have reviewed this piece – perhaps they were stunned into similar silence to my own.

Three Days Of Rain by Richard Greenberg, Donmar Warehouse, 13 November 1999

After a hat trick of theatre visiting evenings during a short break period at the end of October…

Corpus Christi by Terrence McNally, Pleasance Theatre, 29 October 1999

…nada for a couple of weeks. We went to Kim & Mickey for dinner on Saturday 30 October, but then seemed to lie low socially and culturally for a fortnight. Janie’s diary suggests that she was working full pelt. Mine suggests that I was on a major report writing deadline or two, as I saw few clients and blocked out several half days and whole days for writing.

Then we went to the Donmar Warehouse to see this beauty of a play/production, which we both rated as:

Very good.

Great cast: Colin Firth, Elizabeth McGovern & David Morrissey. Directed by Robin Lefevre.

It had enjoyed a short run at the Donmar earlier in the year; we caught its autumn return. Janie booked it, so her diary reports that we sat in seats A24 & A25 and that she parted company with £48 in total. Thems was the days!

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard shared our liking for this play/production:

Rain de Jongh StandardRain de Jongh Standard 03 Mar 1999, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

David Benedict in the Independent was less sure:

Rain Benedict IndependentRain Benedict Independent 03 Mar 1999, Wed The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph really liked it:

Rain Spencer TelegraphRain Spencer Telegraph 04 Mar 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Lynn Gardiner loved it in the Guardian:

Rain Gardiner GuardianRain Gardiner Guardian 06 Mar 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Antigone by Sophocles, The Old Vic, 28 October 1999

For some reason, stuff at The Old Vic rarely works for us and this production of Antigone was no exception. It had been bigged-up in the media on the back of a big name cast, headed up by Tara Fitzgerald alongside Jonathan Hyde, Anna Calder-Marshall, Zubin Varla and several others, under the skilled direction of (and adaption by) Declan Donnellan.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for that production.

Janie and I didn’t think that Tara Fitzgerald suited that part, or indeed possibly the stage, but what do we know?

Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard gave it a blob:

Antigone Standard Old Vic Antigone Standard Old Vic 12 Oct 1999, Tue Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

On the other hand, Paul Taylor in The Independent liked it a lot:

Antigone Taylor IndependentAntigone Taylor Independent 12 Oct 1999, Tue The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, in the Guardian, absolutely loved it:

Antigone Billington Guardian 1 of 2Antigone Billington Guardian 1 of 2 14 Oct 1999, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com Antigone Billington Guardian 2 of 2Antigone Billington Guardian 2 of 2 14 Oct 1999, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

More often than not, if the critics are divided, we side with Billington (Guardian) over Spencer (Telegraph), but Charles Spencer panned this production (perhaps more vociferously than our view). I’ll let him have the last word:

Antigone Spencer TelegraphAntigone Spencer Telegraph 13 Oct 1999, Wed The Daily Telegraph (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.

Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Richmond Theatre, 19 June 1999

This production began its life at The Young Vic in the autumn of 1998, wending its way to several regional theatres before returning to London in 1999, when we saw it at The Richmond Theatre.

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

In 1998, I was busy getting friendly with Nicole Kidman in the Blue Room while Michael Billington was reviewing Our Country’s Good:

Blue Room & Our Country's Good Guardian BillingtonBlue Room & Our Country’s Good Guardian Billington 19 Sep 1998, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But I digress.

Fascinating piece about the production in the Telegraph by Charles Spencer. Joe White assisted Max Stafford-Clark directing this piece after release from Wormwood Scrubbs:

Spencer Our Country's Good Joe White TelegraphSpencer Our Country’s Good Joe White Telegraph 15 Sep 1998, Tue The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Janie might have got more out of this production had she known all that and had she known then what she knows now about rehabilitation of former prisoners…or lack thereof.

Our verdict on this piece/production at the time:

I liked it more than Janie did

Possibly it helped that I know (and like) The Recruiting Officer better than Janie does/did.

The cast no doubt changed over the year or so it toured, but we saw David Fielder, Stuart McQuarrie, David Beames, Fraser James, Ian Redford, Mali Harries, Ashley Miller, Sally Rogers and Michele Austin. Not bad.

I have no doubt that we ate at Don Fernando’s afterwards…and why not? Well, 25 years later, we couldn’t because the place has now closed down.

Rose by Martin Sherman, Cottesloe Theatre, 29 May 1999

Janie and I remember being really impressed by Olympia Dukakis’s performance in this one woman play, while finding the play itself “a bit much”.

To be fair, we were a bit numb that weekend – we had attended Jenny Jamilly’s funeral the day before and were possibly not in the mood for high drama. Let alone uber-Jewish high drama, nach.

We saw a preview late May although the play didn’t receive its press night until some four weeks later.

The critics seem to have sided with us viz the performance and the play. Here’s Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard:

Rose de Jongh StandardRose de Jongh Standard 25 Jun 1999, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend Michael Billington similarly liked the performance but not the play:

Rose Billington GuardianRose Billington Guardian 26 Jun 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Only Charles Spencer in the telegraph, amongst the reviews I can find, lauded both the performance and the play:

Rose Spencer TelegraphRose Spencer Telegraph 28 Jun 1999, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Sleep With Me by Hanif Kureishi, Cottesloe Theatre, 24 April 1999

We rated this piece very good. We saw it very early in the run – just a couple of days after press night so before reviews were out.

Excellent cast, including Jonathan Hyde, Sian Thomas, Peter Wight & Penny Downie – here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard really liked it:

Sleep Standard de JonghSleep Standard de Jongh 23 Apr 1999, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, didn’t much like it:

Sleep Billington GuardianSleep Billington Guardian 23 Apr 1999, Fri The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer, on the other hand, absolutely hated it:

Sleep Spencer TelegraphSleep Spencer Telegraph 26 Apr 1999, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Betrayal by Harold Pinter, Lyttelton Theatre, 3 April 1999

Very good.

Our verdict in the log back then.

This was a major revival of Pinter’s classic, directed by Trevor Nunn with a cracking cast including Imogen Stubbs, Douglas Hodge, Anthony Calf and several other fine actors.

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

Unusually, we got to this one late – it had been running at the National for a while, since November 1998, by the time we saw it, towards the end of its run.

Charles Spencer had given it a rave review in The Telegraph:

Betrayal Telegraph SpencerBetrayal Telegraph Spencer 26 Nov 1998, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Our friend, Michael Billington, in The Guardian, confessed that he hadn’t “got” this play first time around but got it through this production:

Betrayal Guardian BillingtonBetrayal Guardian Billington 25 Nov 1998, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard also liked it:

Betrayal de Jongh StandardBetrayal de Jongh Standard 25 Nov 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Shopping And F***ing by Mark Ravenhill, Queen’s Theatre, Then Dinner At Mr Kong, 28 February 1998

This play/production had enjoyed rave reviews and lengthy transfers. Unusually for us, more than a year after it first came out, we decided to book it and see what it was like.

We’re not usually shrinking violets as far as “no holds barred” serious theatre is concerned, but we found this play intolerable. Perhaps our emotions were heightened by the recent shock news about Janie’s twin, Phillie, whose radical cancer surgery had taken place a couple of week’s earlier.

My logged verdict:

Ghastly – we walked out at half time.

Charles Spencer was pretty plain about the piece in The Telegraph:

Shopping Spencer TelegraphShopping Spencer Telegraph 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in The Independent, similarly:

Shopping Taylor IndependentShopping Taylor Independent 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh had warned the world in The Standard but still voted it good:

Shopping de Jongh StandardShopping de Jongh Standard 02 Oct 1996, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

We should have listened to my friend, Michael Billington:

Shopping Billington 1 of 2Shopping Billington 1 of 2 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com Shopping Billington 2 of 2Shopping Billington 2 of 2 03 Oct 1996, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Mercifully, after walking out early, Mr Kong gave us sanctuary more than an hour earlier than our booking.

Borrowed from www.allinlondon.co.uk

At that time, along with Fung Shing, one of our favourite up market eateries in Chinatown, this is yet another fine place that didn’t make it into the 2020s.