Tag: Vicki Mortimer

The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard, Albery Theatre, 26 February 2000

This production was credited as “Donmar Warehouse at the Albery” and everything about it was Donmar Warehouse, but playing away from home. This production had received glowing reviews and awards the year before at the Donmar. We missed out then but were not about to miss out on it now.

Excellent cast, Nigel Lindsay, Sarah Woodward, Stephen Dillane & Jennifer Ehle leading, with David Leveaux directing.

Here is a Theatricalia entry link for this one.

No notes in the log, but I remember it as a very good production and I am pretty sure that Janie warmed to it.

We had seen an amateur production of The Real Thing at The Questors a few year’s earlier, along with The Duchess (Janie’s mum)…

The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard, The Questors Theatre, 3 April 1993

Our “Donmar Warehouse at The Albery” experience was a more relaxing evening and a very fine production. Janie doesn’t really warm to Stoppard, but she did warm to this one.

I won’t overdo the reviews, as they are from the original production 9 months earlier, but here’s just a couple of examples of the raving – the first from our friend Michael Billington in The Guardian…

Real Thing Billington GuardianReal Thing Billington Guardian 03 Jun 1999, Thu The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

…followed by a fairly rare example of Charles Spencer in the Telegraph lining up with Billington to praise the same production to the rafters:

Real Thing Spencer TelegraphReal Thing Spencer Telegraph 03 Jun 1999, Thu The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

I think Janie must have sourced these tickets, because her diary notes that we’ll be sitting in the fifth row. Great diary detail, 25 years on, that one.

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.

Closer by Patrick Marber, Cottesloe Theatre, 31 May 1997

No equivocation from us nor the critics on this one. While my “very good” report on many pieces covers a range of satisfaction, for this one I wrote:

One of the very best…

…which is not something I wrote often. I very clearly recall Janie and I walking out after Closer saying “wow” to each other.

Patrick Marber himself directed it and we were skilful/fortunate to see the original cast at the Cottesloe as this production upscaled in the light of rave reviews, multiple awards and huge audiences. We saw Liza Walker, Clive Owen, Ciaran Hinds and Sally Dexter. Here is the Theatricalia entry.

Here are the pick of the reviews.

First up – Charles Spencer in the Telegraph raving about it:

Closer Spencer TelegraphCloser Spencer Telegraph 30 May 1997, Fri The Daily Telegraph (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Michael Billington in The Guardian described it as a triumph and a great play:

Closer Billington GuardianCloser Billington Guardian 31 May 1997, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

David Bennett in The Independent was perhaps a lone unequivocal voice, who saw it as essential viewing but dangerously autobiographical:

Closer Bennett IndependentCloser Bennett Independent 31 May 1997, Sat The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Yet Robert Butler the next day in the same paper was very excited about the play/production:

Closer Butler IndyCloser Butler Indy 01 Jun 1997, Sun The Independent (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Janie and I both just so remember that “wow” feeling and still remember this as one of the very best plays/productions we have ever seen.