Tag: Queen’s Theatre

The Lady In The Van by Alan Bennett, Queen’s Theatre, 4 February 2000

This play/production was hugely hyped and got rave reviews when it opened a few week’s before we attended. I think we applied for our tickets before the show opened, opting to wait until good seats were available. Even then, we needed to opt for a Friday rather than a Saturday to get what we wanted. Such was the pull of the West End, not least Maggie Smith…or rather “Dame Maggie”…in those days.

Here’s a link to the Theatricalia entry for this one.

Here’s a gushing preview from The Telegraph, by way of example:

Dame Maggie Telegraph PreviewDame Maggie Telegraph Preview 03 Dec 1999, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Despite Janie’s reservations about Dame Maggie, we were drawn in and actually rather enjoyed this production. The play is a little contrived and mawkish, but the performances, especially Dame Maggie’s, were excellent, as was the intriguing van-themed set.

Van Butler IndependentVan Butler Independent 12 Dec 1999, Sun The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Charles Spencer also loved it:

Van Spencer TelegraphVan Spencer Telegraph 09 Dec 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Some equivocation in Nicholas de Jongh’s Standard review, that reflects my thoughts on the play/production more than the utter gush reviews:

Van de Jongh Standard

Praise with some equivocation also from our friend Michael Billington in the Guardian:

Van Billington GuardianVan Billington Guardian 08 Dec 1999, Wed The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Looking back 25 years Janie and I are both glad we saw this one.

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.