I Am The Wind by Jon Fosse, Young Vic, 21 May 2011

This short Norwegian play ticked most if not all of our boxes, in theory.

Adapted by Simon Stephens, whom we very much admire. Two fine actors in Tom Brooke and Jack Laskey. An astonishing, watery set…

…yet somehow the piece failed to move us much. To us, it felt like a slight piece with ideas above its station.

The critics loved it – click here for a search term that provides links to all the right places.

You can see a vid clip if you click through this link from this production at the Festival Avignon.

Paul Taylor in The Independent – click here – claimed not to much like Jon Fosse but found this production one of the best things he’d ever seen.

We didn’t get that “extra something” from the experience, but what do we know?

Sweet Nothings by Arthur Schnitzler, in a new version by David Harrower, Young Vic, 27 March 2010

There’s always something a bit weird about Arthur Schnitzler plays and this one was no exception. All very hedonistic and tragic.

Here is the officiallondontheatre.co.uk resource on this Young Vic production.

The Young Vic made a YouTube trailer for this production:

The cast were very good and the production was excellent.

Well received too – this search term – click here – finds many reviews – nearly all good.

There’s just something about fin-de-siecle Austrian plays that doesn’t quite float our boat, however well done they are.

Still, we were pleased to have seen this one – it was one of the best things we had seen so far that year…but then we were having a poor year for theatre up to that point.

In The Red And Brown Water by Tarell Alvin McCraney, Young Vic, 4 October 2008

Of course we hadn’t heard of Tarell Alvin McCraney when we booked this. We simply booked it because it sounded like an interesting play, which it was.

But at the time of writing this up (March 2017), Tarell Alvin McCraney is a topical name, because he wrote Moonlight, which won the best picture Oscar a few weeks ago. Go figure. Here is a link to a recent Young Vic blog piece recognising this achievement.

Official London Theatre has an excellent resource on the outline of this play/production from back then, saving me time & trouble – click here.

The Young Vic published an extensive resources document for students/teachers etc. this play/production – you can click it down – here – from this link.

Reviews were mixed:

I must say I concur with this view. I remember the production where the Young Vic was turned into a watery stage, but I couldn’t hand on heart have told you anything about it from memory, until after I flicked through the script just now.

Perhaps Janie’s memory will do better – I’ll test that a bit later but only report back if she surprises me with profound recall.

The Young Vic published a short vid showing how they made the watery stage happen – see below.

The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca, Young Vic Theatre, 5 June 1999

Very good indeed…

…we both said. We’re both partial to a bit of Lorca in any case.

Wonderful play, excellent production.

This production had been doing and continued to do the rounds for some time, at regional theatres. A superb cast, including Sandra Duncan, Amanda Drew, Tanya Ronder & Carolyn Jones, directed by Polly Teale – here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for this production.

Our friend, Michael Billington, was also impressed by the production, once it landed at the Young Vic.

Bernarda Guardian BillingtonBernarda Guardian Billington 22 May 1999, Sat The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Nicholas de Jongh in the Standard was also mostly very impressed:

Bernarda, de Jomgh, StandardBernarda, de Jomgh, Standard 20 May 1999, Thu Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

Foe by J M Coetzee, Young Vic Theatre, 4 May 1996

We loved Complicité, (or Théâtre de Complicité as it was then known) back then. This joint production with West Yorkshire Playhouse at the Young Vic was perhaps not their best work.

It is based on a J M Coetzee novel which is basically a sequel to Robinson Crusoe.

We found it impenetrable.

It seems we weren’t alone with that feeling. Michael Billington reviewed it thusly:

Billington on FoeBillington on Foe Sat, Mar 9, 1996 – 28 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Coveney got on with Foe a bit better it seems:

Coveney on FoeCoveney on Foe Sun, Mar 17, 1996 – 71 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Othello by William Shakespeare, RSC at the Young Vic, 4 November 1989

My log says that this was a transfer from The Other Place in Stratford and that I (possibly we – Bobbie was with me) was/were not 100% sure about it.

What was there not to be sure about? Splendid cast: Willard White as Othello, Ian McKellen as Iago, Imogen Stubbs as Desdemona, Zoe Wannamaker as Emilia…Trevor Nunn directing.

Well, actually, I think I have a bit of a problem with this play. Janie and I saw a National Theatre production about eight years later and I just couldn’t get on with that either.

https://ianlouisharris.com/2022/08/02/othello-by-william-shakespeare-cottesloe-theatre-2-august-1997

I also have a feeling that the 1989 RSC production felt a little over-theatrical to me. There is a certain Trevor Nunn style. Little did I know then that Janie and I would meet Trevor and Imogen – strangely around about the time we saw the 1997 RNT Othello.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this one.

Here are Ian McKellen’s thoughts on the matter.

Bobbie might be full of memories of this one and chime in…let’s see!

Michael Ratcliffe in The Observer wrote this:

Ratcliffe On OthelloRatcliffe On Othello Sun, Aug 27, 1989 – 36 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Billington in the Guardian wrote this:

Billington on OthelloBillington on Othello Sat, Aug 26, 1989 – 20 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Went To See An Enemy Of The People by Henrik Ibsen (Arthur Miller Adaptation), With Bobbie & Ashley, Young Vic, 9 November 1988

What a super production this was. I remember being much taken with it, although, strangely, while I clearly recall seeing this with Bobbie, I did not recall Ashley joining us for this one. But the diary is clear:

What a cast and crew too. Here is the Theatricalia page for it. A young Tom Wilkinson and Connie Booth playing the big leads, with lots of good folk in support. David Thacker directed.

This was the Arthur Miller adaptation of the Ibsen play. WhatsOnStage.com listed this production as one of the six best Miller productions – with a tribute from Jeremy Herrin. So there.

I’m pretty sure this production was in the round and I remember feeling a sense of claustrophobia being so close to the action and the intense dilemmas and pain of the central characters.

This play, its morality and injustices came to my mind so many years later, in the late teenies, when the British gutter press started to brand anti-Brexit folk as “Enemies of the People”. Although I had seen a good production of the play subsequent to this 1988 production, it is Tom Wilkinson’s agonies, witnessed at close quarters so long ago, that sprang into my mind.

I’m struggling to remember the rest of the evening, but perhaps Bobbie and/or Ashley will recall it. I’m guessing that Ashley stayed with Bobbie on that occasion, as she was, by then, ensconced in her natty new pad in DuCane Court, whereas I was still plotting my imminent escape from my parents’ house – which I pulled off just a few week’s later.

We three won’t simply have parted company at the doors of the Young Vic, that’s for sure. I’m guessing we might have taken a late meal at the Archduke or perhaps RSJs at that time. Anyone remember?

Postscript: Ashley Fletcher has chimed in to deny all involvement in this particular evening. The Ashley mention must have been Ashley Michaels, my (by then former) colleague from Newman Harris. I’ll pick Bobbie’s brain if/when I get the chance, but I suspect she’ll do that, “I can’t even remember what I did last week” routine.

Fortunately my subscription to the clippings service yields some retained memory – here is Michael ratcliffe’s Observer review:

Ratcliffe on EnemyRatcliffe on Enemy Sun, Oct 16, 1988 – 40 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Billington’s Guardian review is shown below:

Billington on EnemyBillington on Enemy Sat, Oct 15, 1988 – 36 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

A Touch Of The Poet by Eugene O’Neill, Comedy Theatre, 26 March 1988

Not one of Eugene O’Neill’s greatest plays, but my log suggests that Bobbie and I both found this production very good…

…and why shouldn’t we. Vanessa Redgrave & Timothy Dalton, with support from Amanda Boxer, Malcolm Tierney and several other good names. David Thacker directed it.

Here is the Theatricalia entry for this production.

This was, in fact, a West End transfer of a much-lauded Young Vic production; the UK premier of this play. Bobbie and I couldn’t get in at the Young Vic but got in early during the transfer, so saw the original Young Vic cast/production.

Here is the Wikipedia entry on this lesser-known O’Neill play.

A rarity for a production of this antiquity, I have managed to find a review by Frederick Wilkins in The Eugene O’Neill Newsletter – dated Spring 1988 – which reviews the Young Vic production at both of its locations.

(Just in case anything ever happens to that Newsletter, I have scraped that fascinating review to here)

Michael Ratcliffe’s review is clipped below:

Michael Ratcliffe On CatMichael Ratcliffe On Cat Sun, Feb 7, 1988 – 26 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

Michael Billington admired the piece thus:

Billington on PoetBillington on Poet Thu, Feb 4, 1988 – 14 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com

I wonder what Bobbie remembers of that production and that evening?

Postscript: a couple of days before I got to this piece, to add the clips, in January 2020, I ran into Vanessa in Speck. Small world.

Scapino, Young Vic, 23 January 1974

I started to keep a diary in January 1974.  The 23 January entry is my first record of visiting the theatre, although I went with my parents to see pantomimes and children’s shows before then.

This visit I’m sure was my first school trip to the theatre, an Alleyn’s School outing.  I think just for my class; 1S, probably Ian Sandbrook’s initiative.  It was a revival of the first production at the Young Vic Theatre, which I think therefore makes it the Young Vic’s first production as an independent theatre company.  It seems the revival was a precursor to a glittering US transfer.

All the 11 year old “critic” wrote at the time was:

“Scapino v good indeed.  Jim Dale good.  Got to bed very late.”

Yet the evening stays quite clearly in my memory.  I remember liking the patter song about Italian food and I also recall catching a plastic facsimile of a glass of wine and keeping it in a bottom drawer for years and years.  It survived many clear outs, but I think it came a cropper in the end.  Who knows, it might turn up in one of my junk boxes some day.

This Michael Billington piece about that production and the early days of the independent Young Vic is charming, click here.

This archive review from the Columbia Daily Spectator was written only a couple of months after our visit.  The late great Ian Charleson gets an honourable mention in this piece.

There is some material on this production right at the beginning of the Young Vic’s 50 year celebration on-line article – click here.

Here is a link to the Theatricalia entry for the production – whether or not some of the cast changed for the independent revival is lost in the mists of time. I think the main cast was those on the Theatricalia list.

Below is Milton Shulman’s review of the opening night, in September 1970, which he pretty much raved about:

Scapino Shulman StandardScapino Shulman Standard 14 Sep 1970, Mon Evening Standard (London, Greater London, England) Newspapers.com

The Guardian did an Arts Diary picture piece on the p[roduction:

Scapino GuardianScapino Guardian 11 Sep 1970, Fri The Guardian Journal (Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England) Newspapers.com

If you want to read the script on the Internet Archive, I think you might need a (free) login to borrow it but you can preview it here: