Tag: Margie Bailie

Entertaining Mr Sloane by Joe Orton, The Arts Theatre, 27 January 2001

After the hoo-ha of being grounded from the Royal Court revival of this play in 1975, Entertaining Mr Sloane had been on my bucket list (not that bucket lists had been invented back then) for more than a quarter of a century.

So the chance to see Alison Steadman reprise the role of Kath at the Arts Theatre seemed too good to miss.  I recall she was a very good Kath, ably supported by Neil Stuke as Sloane, Bryan Pringle as Kemp and Clive Francis as Ed.  Variety magazine was less sure about Steadman, but still rated the production.

Did the play still have what it takes, nearly 40 years on?  Michael Billington certainly thought so.  Janie wasn’t so sure – she’s never been convinced by Orton. I thought this one worked better than the revival of What the Butler Saw at the National, which I recall disappointed me, so I didn’t find it dated; but  Tom Keatinge did.

But who cares – I’ve seen the play now and mum couldn’t stop me this time.

Blue / Orange by Joe Penhall, Cottesloe Theatre, 1 May 2000

This was one of our “oh wow!” visits to the theatre.

Superb,

was all I write in the log, but I knew I wouldn’t need to write much down because the evening was so memorable.

It was a bank holiday Monday and Mum’s birthday. “How did you get away with that?”, I hear you readers cry.

My diary notes that we went to Mum & Dad for bank holiday lunch before going on to the RNT for Blue / Orange. Simple enough.

This is a great play, which was masterfully performed by Chiwetel Ejiofor (our first sighting of him), Andrew Lincoln and Bill Nighy. Roger Michell directed. Theatricalia tells all here.

Paul Taylor was impressed. “Gripping”, he says:

Blue / Orange Taylor IndyBlue / Orange Taylor Indy 14 Apr 2000, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard also rated it highly.

Blue / Orange de Jongh StandardBlue / Orange de Jongh Standard 14 Apr 2000, Fri Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer in the Telegraph hated the play:

Blue / Orange Spencer TelegraphBlue / Orange Spencer Telegraph 17 Apr 2000, Mon The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

My friend, Michael Billington, had a downer on the National at that time – it took me a dozen or so more years to acquire a similar view. Still, Michael B approved of this one:

Blue / Orange Billington GuardianBlue / Orange Billington Guardian 19 Apr 2000, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com