Follies

by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Goodman (book)

seen at the National Theatre (Olivier) on 19 December 2017

Dominic Cooke directs Imelda Staunton, Janie Dee, Philip Quast, Peter Forbes and many others in this revival of Sondheim's bittersweet 1971 musical in which the demolition of an old Broadway theatre brings a group of 'Weismann girls' to a reunion during which memories are evoked and life stories hinted at and regretted.

Impresario Weismann produced an annual variety show of 'Follies' between the wars (1918 to 1941); In 1971, with the impending demolition of his theatre, he hosts a reunion with eleven 'girls' and one 'boy' from his troupe, plus two husbands and some other guests (or staff). The older, and possibly wiser, characters are shadowed by their younger selves in full 'Follies' costumes.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

by Edward Albee

seen at the Harold Pinter Theatre in 22 March 2017

James Macdonald directs Imelda Staunton as Martha, Conleth Hill as George, Luke Treadaway as Nick and Imogen Poots as Honey in a new revival of Albee's famous play. (I've seen two previous revivals - Diana Rigg and David Suchet in 1997, and Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin in 2006, and also, of course, the celebrated Taylor/Burton film.)

The play's pyrotechnics demand the very highest stamina and skill from the cast, and these are in plentiful supply with these four. Imelda Staunton is magnificently fiery and mercurial as Martha, while Conleth Hill is the perfect foil, shambling, drily sarcastic, but finally proving to be just as formidable. Luke Treadaway as the handsome young biologist, hopes to use icy politeness as a shield against the maelstrom engulfing him, but finds himself completely outmanoeuvred, and Imogen Poots as his naive wife wonderfully portrays a rather sheltered and silly girl descending into drunken self-awareness.

The play remains immensely powerful, and the denouement, even when it is known (as it must be to anyone who has seen it more than once) is still deeply moving as George and Martha face a new day in quiet apprehension after a night of shattering argument and recrimination. Though the speechifying can at times seem just too convoluted and lengthy for modern taste - playwrights now are often more economical with words - in the hands of such brilliant actors one just watches the spectacle with horrified awe.