We quite liked this play. I recall it was an excellent production, very well acted and directed, but it had a slightly old-fashioned feel to it…
…perhaps that was the effect Nicholas Wright and Richard Eyre were after.
In truth, not really our sort of play. But it covered an interesting, almost comical, moment in history and we had the benefit of a superb cast to depict it.
So we were glad to have seen it, despite it not really being our type of play.
This visit to the Royal College of Music (RCM) was my first proper excursion visit with The Gresham Society, following my initial singalong taster session at Wilton’s Music Hall a few weeks earlier.
For me, it was especially fascinating to see the fine collection of musical instruments, some very early, not least because Janie and I listen to a lot of early music. Subsequently I have become a (very amateur) practitioner of early music myself, although only with my voice and my mock Tudor instrument.
My mock Tudor baroquelele – strangely not in the RCM collection
I think the Gresham Society crowd went on to enjoy libations somewhere near the RCM, whereas I had other fish to fry that evening.
A Tribute To Ken Campbell
I was a long-time fan of Ken Campbell and his superb comedy work. Janie less so.
This early evening round table discussion at The Royal Court worked out very well for me, as I was able to fit it in between the Gresham Society Visit To The Royal College Of Music and our dinner engagement with Charlie & Chris.
Chris had said that he would be unable to get to The Henry Root in South Kensington for dinner until about 7:30. Janie was keen to have a drink and a chat with Charlie “before the boys get here”, so the plans were well set.
Or, if that link ever fails, here is an upload of the download, as it were:
ROYAL COURT ROUNDTABLE TRIBUTE TO KEN CAMPBELL
Dinner With Janie, Charlie & Chris At the Henry Root
Unfortunately there was no recording, upload or download of the sparkling conversation in The Henry Root when Janie, Charlie, Chris and I gathered there later that evening.
The Henry Root, which was a rather jolly bistro restaurant named after William Donaldson’s wonderful letter-writing character, is now long gone. It was Ok; Janie and I dined there more than once in those heady days of the early teenies.
That particular evening with Charlie and Chris was an especially good one, as I remember it.
We found it interesting and thought provoking. We were a bit “theatred out” by the end of it, but that was as much Wally Shawn’s fault from the night before as anything else. I’ll guess we went to May’s (Shanghai Knightsbridge) for some Chinese food after this one. We had many issues from the two evenings to chat about over dinner and the rest of the weekend.
I remember us both finding this piece about low-level BBC shenanigans interesting and enjoyable – despite a suicide forming the denouement (that is not a spoiler). I suspect, given subsequent events at the BBC, it would seem tame and much beside the point today.
I think I picked up the terms “cruel spectacles” and “waning powers”, both of which I use a fair bit, from this particular show.
Great cast, with Ben Chaplin, Paul Ritter, Bruce Alexander, Angela Thorne and Leo Bill really standing out.
Well directed by Richard Eyre and produced of course to RNT standards.
But on this occasion, our friend, Michael Billington, disagreed with us, comparing The Novice unfavourably with a play at the Royal Court, Mr Kolpert, which we did not see, despite going to the theatre an infeasible number of times that May.
We normally liked to see these “Cottesloe-type plays” at the Cottesloe, but we missed the boat with this one, seeing it a few month’s later at the Lyttelton.
Not really our cup of tea, this one. Janie isn’t all that keen on Stoppard in general and I found this one “a bit slow”.
I suspect we were both exhausted having worked all the way up to Christmas and then done the family bit for Christmas itself. I can see that Janie arranged a cab for Pauline, so I suspect this is the Christmas that Pauline came to the house and was thoroughly rude to my mum, dad, Hilary, Jacqui and Len – Len tried snipping back – good for him.
But away from the real life drama, this Stoppard drama was about A. E. Housman, with a marvellous cast, including John Wood as “the man in old age” and Paul Rhys as “a younger version of the man”. Also a selection of the usual suspects for fine National Theatre character acting, including Michael Bryant, Robin Soans, Benjamin Whitrow and John Carlisle. Richard Eyre directing – at the National for the last time. There is a Theatricalia entry – here.
That was my one word verdict on my log about this one.
Richard Eyre directing Samantha Bond, Eoin McCarthy, Ronald Pickup, Dame Judi and other excellent members of the cast – here is the Theatricalia entry for this play/production.
Our friend Michael Billington didn’t like it much:
So, only me and Janie rating it highly when it first came out then – but Amy’s View transferred to the West End and Broadway picking up Tony nominations and a New York Drama Critic’s award.
Somehow Janie and I missed this one when it ran at The National a couple of years earlier – I guess we were kinda busy back then. Anyway, we resolved to see the first revival of Skylight at the National, with Bill Nighy and Stella Gonet picking up the leading parts this time around.
It was very good indeed. We saw it wherever it transferred after the RNT
Janie’s diary suggests that she (unusually) did all the booking for this one (perhaps she was keener than me) so I can report that she/we paid £25 per ticket to sit in Row D 9 & 10 of the Vaudeville Theatre – this sort of detail would not be found in my diary, which simply says “Skylight 8.00”.
David Benedict in The Indy had this to say about the transfer – broadly positive I think – making it plain that Nighy & Gonet is a very different casting to Michael Gambon & Lia Williams.
This was a great production of great play. Paul Scofield as the big man, Vanessa Redgrave as the long-suffering wife, Eileen Atkins, Michael Bryant, a great supporting cast, Richard Eyre directing, what was not to like?
Janie doesn’t tend to like “classics” but tends to makes an exception for Ibsen. This production was no exception to her exception.
As is often the case, the Lyttleton did the play no favours, too big and set back for intimacy yet not quite big enough or shaped right to be the big stage. But when the only criticism one can muster is that, the fact is that this was a great night at the theatre and I am so glad we saw this production.
That was the record in the log and that is faint praise. A superb cast including Alan Howard, Bernard Cribbins and Anne-Marie Duff . Richard Eyre directing. What’s not to like?
