Tag: Samantha Barker

Conversations After A Burial by Yasmina Reza, Almeida Theatre, 16 September 2000

I should describe this as “the weekend of the playwright Rezas”, shouldn’t I, having seen Reza de Wet’s play Crossings on the Friday…

Crossing by Reza de Wet, Riverside Studio 3, 15 September 2000

…we ventured to the Almeida for Yazmina Reza’s much anticipated follow up to Art…except it turned out to be an earlier play, not a subsequent one.

I wrote nothing in the log about this one, and sense that we weren’t overly impressed, but nor were we especially disappointed. I remember little about it other than it being a very high-end Almeida cast and production.

Paul Higgins, Amanda Root, Clare Holman, Claire Bloom, Matthew Marsh & David Calder were the cast. Howard Davies directed it. Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry.

Let’s see what the pundits had to say.

Susannah Clapp was not impressed, other than with Claire Bloom:

Burial Clapp Observer Burial Clapp Observer 17 Sept 2000 The Observer (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

On the other hand, John Gross in the Sunday Telegraph really liked it:

Burial Zinc Gross Sunday Telegraph Burial Zinc Gross Sunday Telegraph 17 Sept 2000 Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh also talks up Claire Bloom while damning the production with faint praise:

Burial de Jongh Standard Burial de Jongh Standard 13 Sept 2000 Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Casting vote to our friend Michael Billington, who liked its Chekhovian quality:

Burial Billington Guardian Burial Billington Guardian 13 Sept 2000 The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Richard II by William Shakespeare, Almeida at Gainsborough, 20 May 2000

We were still at the stage that I thought Janie might just be converted on to Shakespeare, so I booked a couple of Bard productions that spring: Ralph Fiennes playing the title role in this one and Tony Sher playing the title role in the Scottish one.

The idea didn’t really work on Janie – especially Richard II, which she found long and dull, despite a great cast and very solid production.

If I remember correctly, Gainsborough was a pop up theatre on the site of a disused film studio in Hoxton. This was one of the Almeida’s homes for a while, during which time the theatre was being poshed-up a bit.

Ralph Fiennes was a nodding acquaintance of mine back then – one of several actors who frequented Lambton Place in those days. This I disclose in the interests of openness and transparency, not that nodding acquaintanceship might affect my judgment.

I thought this production was very good, but I have always had my doubts about Richard II as a play. It is one that I “studied” at school, as a precursor to Henry IV Part one being my ‘O’ Level text. If Michael Lempriere couldn’t make it interesting for me, even Ralph, Jonathan Kent directing and an excellent supporting cast were going to struggle.

Paul Taylor in The Independent liked it but was a little underwhelmed:

Richard Taylor IndependentRichard Taylor Independent 13 Apr 2000, Thu The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard was more impressed by the set than anything else:

Richard de Jongh StandardRichard de Jongh Standard 13 Apr 2000, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Even Charles Spencer in The Telegraph described it as “far from electrifying” and “dull”:

Richard Spencer TelegraphRichard Spencer Telegraph 14 Apr 2000, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Not our greatest weekend of theatre, 19/20 May 2000. But you cannot win them all.