Girl from the North Country

by Conor McPherson, songs by Bob Dylan

seen at the Old Vic on 20 August 2025

This is a revival of the Old Vic's 2017 production with a new cast, providing a welcome opportunity to see the piece again.

See my review from 6 September 2017 for details of the production. 

What I noticed particularly on this viewing was how melancholy the narrative arc was. Unusually for a musical, no applause was offered by the utterly engaged audience for any of the songs, allowing for a completely unbroken span of attention throughout the performance, and preserving the atmosphere of increasing desperation without distraction. This was by no means because the audience was dissatisfied, as the enthusiastic applause at the end demonstrated, but somehow a sense prevailed that interim applause would break the spell.

Faith Healer

by Brian Friel

seen by live streaming from the Old Vic on 18 September 2020

Matthew Warchus directed Michael Sheen as Frank Hardy the eponymous faith healer, Indira Varma as his wife Grace and David Threlfall as his manager Teddy in Brian Friel's powerful play, presented in the Old Vic's 'In Camera' series of filmed live performances for which one can buy a ticket for viewing from one's own home. The theatre itself is devoid of an audience, and only the actors and a skeleton technical staff are in the building during a performance.

The play is ideally suited to the constraints imposed by the government's regulations in response to the current pandemic. It consists of four monologues, by Frank, Grace, Teddy and then Frank again, in which only one actor at a time need be onstage. The three characters speak of fateful trips to a village in Sunderland and to another in County Donegal, presenting the audience with a series of conundrums as it becomes clear that each of them remembers events that cannot all be true, since they are contradictory. That all three are speaking of the same events is clear from the repetition of whole phrases of description, mainly to do with geographic positioning, but their recollections of event and motivation complicate the picture in a way which a more conventional dramatic presentation would be hard pressed to emulate. Is this just the inevitable unreliability of memories of trauma, or is there deliberate or prudential falsification? The playwright gives no real clue, leaving us to draw our own conclusions and to construct our own sense of what may have happened. 

I last saw and reviewed the play at the Donmar in August 2016; it was fascinating to see it again with a different cast and essentially through a different medium. Michael Sheen's Frank was an impassioned man possibly using his old habit of chanting Welsh and Scottish village names to calm his nerves before an engagement to mask a more profound anguish than he can face up to even while trying to confide in us. Neither Indira Varma's fragile Grace nor David Threlfall's drink-sodden Teddy can be free of their own pain, so their recollections too conceal matters on which we are invited to speculate. With all the circumstantial detail of the monologues, there remains an enigma at the heart of the play.

Perhaps the raw power of the play was slightly dulled by the means of transmission: I cannot help feeling that it would have been more overwhelming if one was actually in the auditorium sharing the communal theatrical experience. Nonetheless, in the skilled hands of this formidable cast, it was a great addition to the 'In Camera' season.

Lungs

by Duncan Macmillan

seen by live streaming from the Old Vic on 3 July 2020

(apologies for not posting this sooner)

This two-handed play starring Matt Smith and Claire Foy was performed at the Old Vic last year. In the current lockdown the two actors, directed by Matthew Warchus, agreed to give six new performances in a revised format to be made available by subscription - that is, by buying a 'ticket' to gain access to the live transmission of a selected performance.

In line with government requirements in response to the coronavirus most theatres in London are still closed. The Old Vic has devised a means of bringing performances to a wider public by choosing short plays with minimal casts and selling 'tickets' for the right to watch a performance at home. The performance is filmed on the Old Vic's stage, with no audience in the auditorium and a skeleton film crew which maintains social distancing.

The stage was virtually bare, with just two small platforms, one for each actor to sit or lie on at certain points; they scrupulously kept their distance from one another, but for much of the time there was a separate camera trained on each of them, mostly in close-up and so resembling a Zoom video. It was very clever technically speaking.  

As for the play itself, it is an intense look at a young couple, well-meaning, aware of the greater problems in the world (climate change and economic damage), wondering if they should have a child together. The prospect brings up all sorts of doubts and tensions, and things go horribly awry, though there is a strong hint that they have an abiding future together. The performances revealed the style of both actors, I think, Foy seeming quite self-possessed but banking down great gusts of emotion, Smith good at a certain type of masculine awkwardness and insecurity. I found parts of it far too wordy, especially when the woman was establishing her eco credentials, and I am quite relieved that I did not pay for an expensive ticket to see it last year, while at the same time being glad to see it here at home.

Three Kings

by Stephen Beresford

seen by live streaming from the Old Vic on 5 September 2020

Matthew Warchus directed Andrew Scott in this new play by Stephen Beresford, an hour long monologue filmed live in four separate performances available by subscription - that is, by buying a 'ticket' to gain access to the live transmission of a selected performance.

In line with government requirements in response to the coronavirus most theatres in London are still closed. The Old Vic has devised a means of bringing performances to a wider public by choosing short plays with minimal casts and selling 'tickets' for the right to watch a performance at home. The performance is filmed on the Old Vic's stage, with no audience in the auditorium and a skeleton film crew which maintains social distancing.

This is the second such production that I have seen. (I regret to admit that I failed to post a notice of the first, but I shall rectify the omission).

In Three Kings Andrew Scott as Patrick tells of his encounters with his estranged father when he was eight, sixteen, and as a grown man as his father is dying, and with some other people after his father's death. His portrayal of Patrick was intensely interesting, by turns rueful, sardonic, angry and hurt, while his evocation of others (not least the father) was skilfully managed given the constraints of the medium. He conveyed a wide range of emotion with subtle adjustments to the tone of his voice, and his visual cues were expertly calibrated for close camera work, all of which made this a performance well worth seeing. (Of course Scott has wide experience in film and television work as well as on the stage, and this stood him in good stead here.)

Even in such a short piece, delivered by just one actor, the outlines of three flawed lives, and hints of the effects these have had on other people, are brought to life by a brilliant actor.

Endgame

by Samuel Beckett

seen at the Old Vic on 18 February 2020

Richard Jones directs Alan Cummings as Hamm, a wheelchair-bound blind man, Daniel Radcliffe as Clov, his servant who cannot sit down, Karl Johnson as Nagg, his father, and Jane Horrocks as Nell, his mother, the two parents being confined in dustbins, in Beckett's dystopian vision of the human condition near its wits' end.

The first time I saw this play I was 12 or 13, and it was a play reading at a nearby girls' school. The second time, I was 18 and it was produced at my own school. I think it's fair to say that neither production really managed to get beyond the sheer bleakness of the situation to the manic humour running through it. I saw a production at Trinity College, Dublin many years later, and it was a revelation. The most surprising thing was the lyricism of much of the language, which for me was unlocked by the Irish lilt of the actors in Dublin. This was possibly the most important factor missing from the attempts of Australian schoolchildren to grapple with the text.

Present Laughter

by Noel Coward

seen at the Old Vic on 31 July 2019

Matthew Warchus directs Andrew Scott as Garry Essendine with Indira Varma as his estranged wife Liz and Sophie Thompson as his personal assistant Monica, with others supporting, in this revival (designed by Rob Howell) of Noel Coward's skewering comedy about theatrical celebrity first seen in the 1940s.

The set, in bright pastels, looks like a demented cross between a swank flat (where it is supposed to be) and an art deco cinema or theatre foyer, emphasising the fact that Garry Essendine lives on his celebrity status. Five entrances allow for a truly farcical set-up as people emerge from or are hidden in various rooms of the flat, or arrive at its front door, as the plot requires; but, typical of Coward, it is all very knowing, and one character complains (over the telephone) of being in a French farce. This calling the audience's attention to the mechanics of what they are witnessing is  high-risk strategy, but Noel Coward, at the peak of his powers, can pull it off, providing the cast rises to the occasion. This cast does, in splendid form.

All My Sons

by Arthur Miller

seen by live streaming from the Old Vic on 14 May 2019

Jeremy Herrin directs Bill Pullman as Joe Keller, Sally Field as his wife Kate, Colin Morgan as his son Chris and Jenna Coleman as Ann Deever, the daughter of Joe's disgraced foreman Steve and prospective wife of Chris in a Headlong co-production with the Old Vic of Arthur Miller's 1947 play about the corrosive effect of capitalism on small-town lives.

Joe, Kate and Chris live still in the suburban house where Chris and his brother Larry (now missing in action from the war, presumed dead by all except Kate) grew up. Ann and her mother and brother George (Oliver Johnstone) left the neighbouring house after Steve was convicted for sending faulty cylinders to the Air Force during the war, which caused the deaths of at least 21 pilots. Joe himself spent some time on jail, but was exonerated and released when the court accepted testimony that he was not involved in the deception.

A Monster Calls

based on the novel by Patrick Ness

seen at the Old Vic on 11 July 2018

Sally Cookson directs Matthe Tennyson as Conor O'Malley, with Marianne Oldham as his mother, Selina Cadell as his grandmother, Stuart Goodwin as the Monster, and a supporting cast playing the other characters, in this company-devised adaptation of the celebrated novel by Patrick Ness about a 13-year-old boy whose mother is desperately ill, and who is confused, angry and terrified by the situation and his conflicting reactions to it. The novel itself is based on the ideas of the late Siobhan Dowd, who died before she could complete her version of the story.

The stage is a bare white box with functional wooden chairs placed along the sides, and a number of large ropes suspended from above and tied back to the wings. One panel on high on the back wall cn be opened to reveal the instrumentalists who provide most of the musical accompaniment and some of the sound effects (other music and effects are pre-recorded). The white space reflects Conor's numb mind, pays tribute to Peter brook's famous description of the acting arena, and allows for some colourful projections, particularly of Conor's persistent nightmare.

The Divide

by Alan Ayckbourn

seen at the Old Vic on 7 February 2018

The play, directed by Annabel Bolton, features Erin Doherty as Soween and Jake Davies as her brother Elihu, with a supporting cast of eleven, and a choir with a small orchestra (music by Christopher Nightingale). It is designed by Laura Hopkins and lit by David Plater.

When I bought the tickets, it was for a two-part production to be seen in the afternoon and evening (this was how it had been presented at last year's Edinburgh Festival). Later I had an email informing me that there would be only one part. Shortly before my attendance the now-customary email giving performance details mentioned a running time of four hours and 5 minutes. By the time I reached the theatre the running time was three hours and 45 minutes. Was I to see only unsatisfactory chunks of the original work? Or was it so much a work-in-progress that it would prove still to have too much padding? Ayckbourn has in the past been a master at complex narratives spanning more than the usual performance time - for example The Norman Conquests, three plays covering the same weekend in the dining room, the living room and the garden of a house; or, even more ambitiously, House and Garden, two plays to be performed by the same cast simultaneously on adjoining stages, requiring the audience to attend twice to perceive the technical brilliance of the stage-craft. Had something gone wrong with The Divide?

Girl from the North Country

by Conor McPherson, songs by Bob Dylan

seen at the Old Vic on 6 September 2017

Conor McPherson directs his own musical play set in a debt-ridden guesthouse in Duluth Minnesota (Dylan's birthplace) in 1934; a sketchy story from the Depression years is used as the framework for a score od Dylan's songs drawn from a wide range of his recordings, here re-arranged and sung by an exemplary group of soloists and backing singers. Principal parts are taken by Ciarán Hinds (Nick, the landlord), Shirley Henderson (Elizabeth, his wife suffering from dementia), Sheila Atim (Marianne, their adopted coloured daughter) and Ron Cook (the narrator/doctor, in a style reminiscent of 'Our Town' by Thornton Wilder).

Though not at the bottom rung of society's ladder, most of the characters are struggling to avoid it, not least Nick, the proprietor of the guesthouse, faced with impoverished guests, an increasingly sick wife, and a daughter who has fallen pregnant but is unwilling to accept the (somewhat forced) offer of marriage from an elderly (white) widower. The possibility of Nick's lover providing a financial escape once the probate from her husband's will is settled in her favour evaporates in 'Bleak House' style when costs consume the estate; the outlook is extremely grim with the presence of a gun on stage intimating the worst. However, the denouement, desperately sad as it must be, is nonetheless tinged with unexpected and moving dignity; there is even hope for Marianne as she takes up with someone who may be an escaped prisoner but who is nevertheless kind and honourable (it is noticeable but not forced on one's attention that her name is nearly Mary and his is Joseph). 

The stories are not deeply engaging, being little more than anecdotal, and the idea of a motley group of people thrown together by circumstance lends only a superficial unity to the proceedings, but all this is hardly the point. The production owes its deserved success to the wonderful songs - the lyrics are revealed to be at times heart-wrenchingly appropriate despite their familiarity - and to the inventive way in which they have been adapted to suit the situation. Add to this the skill and commitment of the instrumentalists and the singers, and the result is a poignant insight into the lyricism of Dylan's songs arising from a really entertaining ensemble piece. Curiously, the title song was omitted from the performance we saw, even though it was listed in the program, but many other songs were a sheer joy to listen to.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

by Tom Stoppard

seen at the Old Vic on 29 March 2017

David Leveaux directs the 50th anniversary revival of Tom Stoppard's first great hit, playing in the theatre where it was first performed in London after transferring from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival of 1966, with Daniel Radcliffe playing Rosencrantz, Joshua McGuire playing Guildenstern, and David Haig the Player King.

The two main characters are mere extras in Hamlet, their fate sealed somewhat callously by the prince when he rewrites  letter leading to their undeserved execution at the English court. In Stoppard's play, everything depends on their chemistry, as they struggle with uncertainties about their past, with their entanglement in Danish court politics, with the significance of their own lives, and even with remembering their own names (not helped by the tendency of almost everyone else to confuse them).

In this production Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua McGuire make a great double act, the first a bit nervy but happy to try to ride the present moment, the second more speculative, more determined to try to impose meaning on what is happening. The players erupt into their lives with a stunning performance by David Haig of overwhelming theatricality, supported by a carnivalesque troupe who hardly say a word.

In Trevor Nunn's 2011 production with Samuel Barnett as Ros and Jamie Parker as Guil, I found the relationship between the two, and their final predicament, more moving. I think this is because Samuel Barnett played a more needy and dependent Rosencrantz. Where he was deeply frightened, Daniel Radcliffe is both more controlled and more panicky. Interestingly, he also comes across as intensely likeable. It's a wonderful performance, allowing for a really satisfying contrast with Joshua McGuire's more cerebral Guildenstern. Their physical confidence in one another, exemplified not least in the fact that almost all the coin tossing involves Radcliffe actually catching the coins, and their comic timing in the set piece routines such as the question-and-answer match, and in so much else, is a real joy to watch. 

Perhaps here the existential ruminations outweigh the more personal sense of waste and loss, accounting for the difference in my emotional reactions; but this is a very fine and at times hugely funny production of a modern classic.