Excellent cast, led by Ron Cook. We loved Closer, so were keen to see more Patrick Marber, who directed this one himself (not always the best idea…) Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.
Nicholas de Jongh did not like it, awarding the production the dreaded blob:
That was my one word log entry for this one, which both of us o indeed remember as superb. We were deep into Neil LaBute back then and might still be if he was still writing plays like this one.
Add to that Almeida quality of production and four fine actors: Rachel Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Frederick Weller – it wasn’t going to go wrong. I don’t normally approve of playwrights directing their own work, but Neil LaBute was actually very good at doing the director’s job with his own material.
A rare visit to the Almeida on a Friday for us – it was a bank holiday weekend and we had little else on, so I think this will only have come down to getting good seats for a preview.
Here’s what the critics had to say best part of a week after we had seen it. Charles Spencer was very impressed in The Telegraph:
Janie and I have a very clear memory of the opening of Marriage Play, in which Bill Paterson’s character, Jack, repeatedly taunts his wife, played by Sheila Gish, with the phrase “I’m leaving you”. It’s a bit “Who’s Afraid…” meets “Dances of Death”, I suppose. But we both recall really enjoying Marriage Play, while we thought a lot less of the second half’s short play, Finding The Sun.
What did the critics think?
Our friend, Michael Billington, was not wild about the evening as a whole, much preferring Marriage Play:
To the bus station we went that Saturday to see Lulu very early in the Almeida run. The theatre was being refurbished that season – hence the bus station.
This play might have benefitted from the more intimate atmosphere of the Almeida Theatre itself. The coldness of the bus station served to emphasise the absence of warmth in a sex worker’s craft.
With Anna Friel, Oliver Milburn and Alan Howard taking lead roles and Jonathan Kent directing, it was always going to be a well put together show. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.
Nicholas de Jongh was captivated by Anna Friel’s Lulu, but several of his critic colleagues were not. The following piece from the Standard shows the critical divide.
Janie and I were similarly conflicted over this one It wasn’t just about the bus station setting. Wedekind’s work is open to wide interpretation and this version seemed to be hedging its bets.
Our friend, Michael Billington, expressed similar sentiments well:
Very unusual for us and almost unheard of at The National. Fabulous cast: Toby Jones, Clare Higgins, Karl Johnson, Michael Culkin, Gary Lydon, Declan Conlon, Monica Dolan, Tony Rohr.
What went wrong? In truth, we don’t tend to recall the bad experiences unless they are bad for a memorable reason Let’s see if the reviews help me.
Twos tars from Michael Billington…”dated Dublin Ionesco”…that’s NOT good:
…so thoroughly expected to enjoy Kevin Elyot’s next play, Mouth To Mouth, which indeed we did. Not quite to the same extent as The Day I Stood Still – Mouth to Mouth was quite dark – but still we liked it a lot. Fine acting and thought provoking writing.
Here is the Theatricalia entry. Michael Maloney, Lindsay Duncan, Adam Godley, Peter Wight, Andrew McKay, Lucy Whybrow and Barnaby Kay, directed by Ian Rickson. What’s not to like?
Apart from the quintessentially US nature of the production and the left field approach to tackling racism through performance, it’s hard to see much similarity between the evenings.
Rebecca Gilman’s play was memorable through its “warts ‘n’ all” approach to anti-racism and political correctness on campus. Also memorable was a superb performance by Emma Fielding in the lead role. The supporting cast were also “Royal Court good”, as was Dominic Cooke’s directing.
Our friends David and Rachel found it interesting and we had plenty to discuss over grub after the play.
Our other friend, Michael Billington, gave it a very good review in the Guardian:
We also both remeber it quite well, 25 years later. That might have a fair bit to do with the superb cast: Mark Rylance, Harriet Walter, Imelda Staunton and Oliver Cotton. The production was directed by Matthew Warchus. We didn’t recogognise his name then but we certainly do now. Here is the Theatricalia entry for this one.
Yasmina Reza (as translated by Christopher Hampton) was all the rage in the English speaking world back then. This was our fourth go at one of hers – Art having been the piece that kicked off the Reza fashion…
Anyway, apart from Art, with thought Life x 3 to be the most interesting and memorable of Reza’s works.
Again we went to a preview, so we were ahead of the critics. What did they think? Here’s Charles Spencer who seemed pretty impressed with it, at least as entertainment if not as profound drama:
Janie’s diary reminds me that we had dinner the night before with Jamil and Suad Amyuni at Home House, which was also a very memorable evening in its own way.
Janie’s diary also notes, beside Far Away
1/2 hour.
It was short, but not quite that short. I know we saw a preview, but I trust my memory and the reviews that, even the preview, ran to more than 45 minutes, but probably less than an hour.
Fabulous cast – not only Linda Bassett but also Kevin McKidd and Katherine Tozer, directed by Stephen Daldry. I only realise now what a hot ticket this must have been and how privileged we are/were, as Royal Court members, to grab hot tickets like this before they all got grabbed.
Predictably, Charles Spencer didn’t think much of it – he didn’t tend to get Caryl Churchill:
Even giving the casting vote to our friend Michael Billington doesn’t really help, as Billy-o gives the production four stars but his review is somewhat equivocal.
Strangely, the productions that tend to float our boats the most tend to split the reviewer jury. I guess Janie and I like controversial stuff. And as the now late (25 years on) Jamil Amyuni once famously put it in a different context:
Anyway, The National obviously felt the urge to have another go at Hamlet less than 12 years later, with Simon Russell Beale, Peter McEnery, Sara Kestleman and Denis Quilley to name but a few.
Janie remembers being impressed by the acting, but still not really relating to or engaging with Shakespeare. I remember feeling that I had probably previously seen the best production of Hamlet I was ever going to see, despite thinking that this was pretty darned good; especially Simon Russell Beale’s performance.
Very good indeed.
That’s what I wrote in my log.
But you don’t want to listen to us. Here are some reviews. First up – Nicholas de Jongh, who also liked Simon Russell Beale more than he liked the production
Similarly, our friend Michael Billington applauds SRB’s performance and John Caird’s directing of it, but feels that the production strips out the big picture political aspects of the play:
Janie noted in her diary that the play ran for 3 hours and fifteen minutes, so I’ll guess that she was grateful for John Caird’s cuts of the political elements – goodness knows how long the play would have taken in John Caird’s hands if we’d also had the Fortinbras sub-plot to deal with.
Still, to summarise the critics – they warmed to the production almost exclusively because of Simon Russell Beale’s quality. I’m surprised that no-one gave their review the headline, “Saved By the Beale”. They missed a trick there.
Katz de Jongh Standard 14 Jun 2001 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Katz Taylor Independent 14 Jun 2001 The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
Katz Billington Guardian 14 Jun 2001 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com
