Tag: Stuart McQuarrie

In The Republic Of Happiness by Martin Crimp, Royal Court Theatre, 22 December 2012

Janie and I can do weird.

Janie and I can do Martin Crimp.

Janie and I can do Martin Crimp weird…

…but this one was just the wrong side of weird for us. Think impenetrable.

Super cast and beautifully produced, but what the blithering heck was it about?

Here is a link to the Royal Court Resource for this play/production.

Below is the trailer for the piece:

On the whole the critics didn’t get it either – here is a link to a search term that finds the reviews.

I have a copy of the play if anyone wants to seek enlightenment from reading that, let me know. I challenge you.

Tucked into my copy of the play is a short script for something else – I think it is a sample from one of Simon David’s pieces – quite impenetrable without context – clearly it was that sort of night.

Detroit by Lisa D’Amour, Cottesloe Theatre, 12 May 2012

I remember we were really looking forward to this play/production.

Transfers from the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in the US are usually top notch, as are Cottesloe productions.

In many ways this was top notch; a well written, well-acted, well-directed piece about suburban America. It just didn’t really light up.

Perhaps we had been spoilt too recently by Bruce Norris’s Clybourne Park – another mid-west suburban play…

Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, Royal Court Theatre, 4 September 2010

…or the harder-hitting Neil LaBute’s we’d been enjoying the last few years.

We enjoyed our evening but had been (perhaps unfairly) half-expecting to be wowed, which we were not.

Mixed reviews from the critics – click here for a link.

Below is the RNT trailer – not very revealing…

…this Steppenwolf vid explains more:

Wanderlust by Nick Payne, Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, 25 September 2010

I’m pretty sure this is the first Nick Payne play we saw. I remember little about it, other than the fact that the play was pretty full on about sex and that, despite its unsubtleties, we came away with the impression that we wanted to see more of this writer, which indeed we did.

Here is a link to the Royal Court resource on the play/production.

The usual praise for the Royal Court’s production qualities whether upstairs or downstairs. Super cast too.

Here is a search term that will find you the reviews and stuff if you want a deeper dive.

Happy Now? by Lucinda Coxon, Cottesloe Theatre, 9 February 2008

Unusually, we took Phillie to the theatre with us on this occasion. It must have been a long prearranged thing; I think Tony was doing one of his long business trips in the far east, so we had Phillie to stay for the weekend and it was planned far enough in advance for us to book a good Cottesloe production for us all to see.

This was a very good play/production. Funny, thought-provoking and very well acted. Great cast; not least Stanley Townsend, Olivia Williams and Dominic Rowan. Thea Sharrock, who had impressed us so much directing at the Gate, was starting to get higher profile gigs; this being an early example of one of those.

This award-winning play and production has a comprehensive Wikipedia entry – click here, which includes links to some of the better reviews.

Phillie, bless her, unaccustomed as she was to the theatre, was a bit “west-end theatre-ish” at first, talking as if she was in her living room watching TV, until Janie gave her “the look” a couple of times. I think Phillie enjoyed that theatre trip very much.

I’m pretty sure this was the occasion that, afterwards, we went on to Zinc Bar and Grill in Heddon Street.  Now gone, I believe, a couple of reviews of that Conran place survive:

Anyway, Phillie really enjoyed herself that evening – she got quite tipsy at Zinc, as was her wont by then, but the important thing was that she had a good time.

Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Richmond Theatre, 19 June 1999

This production began its life at The Young Vic in the autumn of 1998, wending its way to several regional theatres before returning to London in 1999, when we saw it at The Richmond Theatre.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production.

In 1998, I was busy getting friendly with Nicole Kidman in the Blue Room while Michael Billington was reviewing Our Country’s Good:

Blue Room & Our Country's Good Guardian BillingtonBlue Room & Our Country’s Good Guardian Billington 19 Sep 1998, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

But I digress.

Fascinating piece about the production in the Telegraph by Charles Spencer. Joe White assisted Max Stafford-Clark directing this piece after release from Wormwood Scrubbs:

Spencer Our Country's Good Joe White TelegraphSpencer Our Country’s Good Joe White Telegraph 15 Sep 1998, Tue The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Janie might have got more out of this production had she known all that and had she known then what she knows now about rehabilitation of former prisoners…or lack thereof.

Our verdict on this piece/production at the time:

I liked it more than Janie did

Possibly it helped that I know (and like) The Recruiting Officer better than Janie does/did.

The cast no doubt changed over the year or so it toured, but we saw David Fielder, Stuart McQuarrie, David Beames, Fraser James, Ian Redford, Mali Harries, Ashley Miller, Sally Rogers and Michele Austin. Not bad.

I have no doubt that we ate at Don Fernando’s afterwards…and why not? Well, 25 years later, we couldn’t because the place has now closed down.

The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol, Almeida Theatre, 20 December 1997

“Back in the day” when we didn’t mind going off to the theatre in the pre-Christmas maelstrom.

Also back in the heyday of the Almeida. I’m glad we went, as this was a very good production indeed.

Tom Hollander as Khlestakov, the civil servant mistaken for the Government inspector. My neighbour, Iain McDiarmid, performing as the Lord Provost (rather than directing this time), Jonathan Kent directing. There is a Theatricalia entry for this one – here.

Nicholas de Jongh in The Standard was more taken with the production than the play…I am inclined to agree, not being a great lover of farce:

18 Dec 1997, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

However, my friend Michael Billington in The Guardian suggests that it is the production, not the play, that, if anything, errs towards farce in this instance:

20 Dec 1997, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

John Gross in The Sunday telegraph seemed to like it, admiring its universal appeal:

Waste Land & Government Inspector Sunday telegraphWaste Land & Government Inspector Sunday telegraph 28 Dec 1997, Sun Sunday Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

My records tell me that we ate at Granita after the show. As far as I know Janie and I didn’t make any sort of deal there in the Blair/Brown style.