Richard III

by William Shakespeare

seen at the Barbican on 19 February 2017

Thomas Ostermeier directed members of the Schaubühne Berlin company in a startling production of Shakespeare's play rendered in modern German prose by Marius von Mayenberg. Lars Eidinger played the king, supported by Moritz Gottwald as Buckingham, Eva Meckbach as Elizabeth, and Jenny König as Lady Anne, with others taking multiple parts. The set was designed by Jan Pappelbaum.

It is always fascinating to see Shakespeare performed in another language, though of course the surtitles tend to make use of the original text, thus re-familiarising the work. (At times, some lines were repeated in English, and the non-Shakespearean comments to the audience were also in English.) Here, too, was a very modern design, an almost bare stage dusted with sand, with a huge wall at the back containing a ceremonial exit in the middle (usually covered by hung carpets), with less conspicuous exits on either side and on an upper level accessed by a set of stairs and a ladder. In fact, it was a stage formally similar to classical Greek or Roman theatres, but with a modern or timeless feel. An electric cable suspended from above allowed a small spotlight and microphone to be constantly available for Richard's asides and interior musings.

Triple Exposure

by Ian Cullen and Drew Launay

seen at Camberley Theatre on 17 February 2017

Ian Cullen directed a rehearsed reading by the Farnham Rep of a play he co-wrote with Drew Launay and completed after the latter's death.

Julia and Adrian have been living together for a year or so, mainly it seems at Julia's expense (Adrian is a freelance writer and photographer; his photographs may be seen by some as pornographic or at the very least exploitative). Julia is about to leave to visit her sick ex-husband; Adrian is unwilling to exert himself to pronounce a strong aversion to her going. Misunderstandings about commitment and freedom are thus given plenty of opportunity to raise themselves and cause confusion.

Saint Joan

by Bernard Shaw

seen at the Donmar Warehouse on 15 February 2017

Josie Rourke directs Gemma Arterton as Joan, Fisayo Akinade as the Dauphin, Richard Cant as Poulegny and de Stogumber, Hadley Fraser as Dunois, Jo Stone-Fewings as Warwick, Niall Buggy as the Archbishop, Rory Keenan as the Inquisitor and Elliot Levey as Cauchon in a production designed by Robert Jones.

Shaw's play, written in 1923, not long after Joan was canonised in 1920, uses material gleaned from historical sources close to the events of Joan's life and trials to present a strong-willed and forceful woman undone by the political realities of her time - a picture also of his general vision of the individual struggling to assert the best of humanity against often overwhelming odds.

Amadeus

By Peter Shaffer

seen at the National Theatre (Olivier) on 31 January 2017

Just over 36 years ago, on a cold December morning of 1980, I queued outside the National Theatre in the hope of buying two day release tickets for Peter Hall's original production of Amadeus starring Paul Scofield (Salieri), Simon Callow (Mozart) and Felicity Kendal (Constanze). In those pre-electronic days the limited number of day tickets were only on sale at 9 am from a small booth near the entrance to the building, which was not open to the general public until a later more civilised time of day. Inexplicably, the couple in front of me declined the tickets on offer, and so a friend and I were able to see the play from the centre of the fifth row of the stalls. In this prime position, it seemed as if Salieri was speaking to us alone out of the whole unwieldy amphitheatre of the auditorium as he mused on the appalling mixture of joy, pain, jealousy and betrayal he experienced on first hearing the music of Mozart.

The National has now revived the play in a new production directed by Michael Longhurst with Lucian Msamati as Salieri, Adam Gillen as Mozart and Karla Crome as Constanze, with the participation of the Southbank Sinfonia to provide the musical interludes. Once again, I bought a ticket at the last moment; just by chance there was a return for the evening performance when I asked to the Box Office in the afternoon, this time in the centre of the eleventh row.