Tag: Peter McEnery

Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw, Almeida Theatre, 6 September 1997

I’ve never been sure about Shaw, but we thought we’d give this a try because it was The Almeida and because top flight Shaw productions were few and far between at that time.

Great cast and crew – see Theatricalia entry – including Emma Fielding, Richard Griffiths, Patricia Hodge, Penelope Wilton, Malcolm Sinclair and Peter McEnery, with David Hare in the director’s chair.

Despite all those good people, this one added to my/our sense of interminability, which had already been piqued by Suzanna Andler the previous week, which was soon followed by wall-to-wall coverage of Princess Diana’s tragic demise, which took ceaselessness to new levels.

Anyway, my contemporaneous words on Heartbreak House, speaking for both me and Janie:

Seemed interminable in the second half. Had “moments”, but all too few.

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard liked it a lot:

Heartbreak de Jongh StandardHeartbreak de Jongh Standard 04 Sep 1997, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Paul Taylor in the Indy also loved it:

Heartbreak Taylor IndyHeartbreak Taylor Indy 05 Sep 1997, Fri The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Kirsty Milne in The Sunday Telegraph at least nodded to the idea of Shaw being wordy.

Heartbreak Milne TelegraphHeartbreak Milne Telegraph 07 Sep 1997, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Like Milne, Michael Billington did a compare and contrast between Shaw and Wesker:

Heartbreak Billington GuardianHeartbreak Billington Guardian 06 Sep 1997, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

So maybe it was us, not them. Or maybe Shaw is/was simply too wordy for our modern eyes and ears.

A Dream Of People by Michael Hastings, The Pit, 18 August 1990

I’ve long been partial to a bit of Michael Hastings; I think he is under-rated as a playwright and novelist. So I no doubt chose this one on the back of its authorship.

It’s quite an odd play; sort-of about the welfare state ideal in the hands of a quirky civil service idealogue. Typical Hastings in its untypicality.

Bobbie and I both liked it.

I was reminded of this piece, without remembering exactly which piece I was being reminded of, when Janie and I saw Really Old, Like 45 at The Cottesloe some 20 years later:

Really Old, Like Forty Five by Tamsin Oglesby, Cottesloe Theatre, 30 January 2010

Peter McEnery played the lead and Janet Suzman directed the piece. The Theatricalia entry for the production can be found here. Not yet ever revived (he says in January 2021), I imagine a re-read would quickly determine whether it is now due for a revival or explain why it has not yet been revived.

Michael Billington in The Guardian clearly liked it while peppering his piece with a bit of Billingtonian faint praise.

Billington on HastingsBillington on Hastings Sat, Aug 4, 1990 – 19 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney in The Observer was also fascinated but not entirely convinced:

Coveney on Piano & HastingsCoveney on Piano & Hastings Sun, Aug 12, 1990 – 50 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com