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

…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

The Blue Room by David Hare, (adapted from Arthur Schnitzler), Donmar Warehouse, 26 September 1998

By gosh there was a fuss in the UK press about this one, with theatre journalists falling over themselves to heap praise, in particular on Nicole Kidman, essentially for looking the part and being able to act.

We had tickets for the first Saturday, because back then, as members of the Donmar, that was the sort of thing we did, especially if someone as grand as David Hare was credited with writing a whole new version of a play.

The play, originally known as La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler, was highly controversial when it was written at the turn of the 20th century. There are 10 characters. David Hare’s version at Sam Mendes’s request at The Donmar (subsequently transferred to the Cort Theatre in New York) was not the first time the play was staged as a two-hander. It starred Iain Glen and Nicole Kidman.

Janie and I thoroughly enjoyed our evening, but probably for all the wrong reasons. My log comment speaks volumes:

Nice bodies, shame about the play.

Having been wowed by David Hare’s wonderful solo performance piece Via Dolorosa the week before…

…Janie and I found The Blue Room to be comparatively thin dramatic gruel.

Still, nice bodies as I (and the fawning journalists) said, plus a bizarre moment for me personally. Janie and I were sitting right at the front at one of the sides of the stage, as oft we did at the Donmar. As the stars took their final bow and departed the stage, Nicole Kidman seemed to look straight at me and wave at me with her fingers. One of Janie’s patients was in the audience that night and came up to us as we were leaving the theatre in a state of great excitement, because she had seen Nicole Kidman waving at me. The patient wondered whether I knew Nicole Kidman personally, to which my answer was, “not until this evening”.

25 years later, all I can say is that me and Nicole, we go back a long way.

Here are some of the fawning newspaper pieces. The Standard, seemingly without irony, devoted its Page 3 to the news & review. Frankly some of the language used in this Standard page would not be acceptable 25 years later:

Blue Room Standard Blue Room Standard 23 Sep 1998, Wed Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in The Telegraph was blown away by Kidman’s bravura performance:

Blue Room Spencer TelegraphBlue Room Spencer Telegraph 23 Sep 1998, Wed The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

In the Guardian, there is a gushing piece in The Arts Diary which, like the other papers, probably would get heavily edited or spiked today, while our friend Michael Billington did the worthy thing and reviewed Our Country’s Good at The Young Vic instead. (Janie and I went to see that the following spring when it came back from its tour.)

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