What's It All About? Bacharach Reimagined

conceived by Kyle Riabko and David Lane Seltzer

seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory on 3 July 2015

Kyle Riabko and six other young musicians pay tribute to the songs of Burt Bacharach in a 90-minute revue-style program featuring 33 of the composer's songs. Both Bacharach and his principal lyricist Hal David approved of the enterprise, which was first seen in New York in December 2013. (Riabko and two others of the cast are from the original production.)

Letter in the TLS

The following letter appeared in the Times Literary Supplement for July 3 in response to their review of the play in the edition for June 19, which was less than enthusiastic.

1984

adapted from George Orwell's novel by Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan

seen at the Playhouse Theatre on 1 July 2015

This production, originally at the Almeida Theatre, is directed by Robert Icke and designed by Chloe Lamford, and it features Matthew Spencer as Winston Smith, Janine Harouni as Julia and Tim Dutton as O'Brien.

The setting is a large wood-panelled room which can serve as office, canteen, shop, or Winston's flat - but our expectations are put into doubt during the opening scene in which Winston begins his forbidden diary, because there seems to be some sort of seminar (whether literary, sociological or historical is unclear) taking place to discuss the provenance of the diary. Some scenes are played out more than once, and Winston is constantly (and plausibly) being asked where he thinks he is. All of this cleverly de-stabilises our sense of the narrative drive, in just the way that Winston's own rewritings and adjustments of historical records (as part of his job) play havoc with the collective memory of what has happened.

The flat in which Julia and Winston try to live without the endemic surveillance of the Party is viewed by us only on film projected above the wood panelling - a subtle clue that surveillance has not been avoided after all.

At various points, blinding white light flashes to disrupt a scene.

Much of this can be played as comedy of course, with the fatuous Parsons extolling his daughter's precocity in scene after scene - until at the final repetition, one of the listeners has completely disappeared and can no longer contribute to the expected conversation. At this stage (at the latest) the audience's laughter can no longer be comfortable.

Any lingering hopes that this is an enjoyable parable are stripped away by the final scenes in which Winston is 'made perfect' by means of agonising tortures. The blackouts and blinding flashes of light are only just able to cover for the horror of O'Brien's relentless breaking of Winston's spirit in a room without darkness - a white space with a white plastic floor onto which the hapless prisoner bleeds and vomits.

This is an extraordinary visualisation of Orwell's novel. Perhaps the only thing missing is Orwell's relentless insistence on the sheer grubbiness of everything in Airstrip One, and the pervading smell of boiled cabbage (Orwell was obsessed with the smells of things as signifiers of mood and of prosperity or the lack of it). The cast are extremely good at conveying the stoical acceptance of oppression which defines their lives.

There is very little comfort. Even the idea that the Party ultimately failed, hinted at by the seminar discussions, is called into question by a final half-swallowed comment by one of the participants.

The Motherfucker with the Hat

by Stephen Adly Guirgis

seen at the National Theatre (Lyttleton) on 30 June 2015

The production is directed by Indhu Rubasingham and designed by Robert Jones, and features Ricardo Chavira as Jackie (a prisoner on parole), Flor De Liz Perez as his girlfriend Veronica, Alec Newman as his sponsor (apparently in AA) Ralph, Nathalie Armin as Ralph's wife Victoria, and Yul Vázquez as Jackie's cousin Julio. It consists of nine scenes set variously in the flats of Veronica, Ralph and Julio.

The title is indicative of the language used within the play - street smart New York profanity. But Guirgis is a master when it comes to idiomatic dialogue; the rhythms are perfect and the title phrase acts as a leitmotiv throughout, indicating Jackie's frustration with his world as he tries to go straight but still maintain his sense of control. He has unfortunately found a stranger's hat in Veronica's flat, and her denial that anything untoward has happened does not reassure him. A series of incidents and revelations follow, which could easily have become vicious and nasty, but somehow we are in a comedic world where the worst does not happen - though there is still plenty of hurt (physical and mental) and heartache.

The cast are excellent (three are from the US, and Yul Vázquez was in the original production), and the staging is brilliant, with the three flats on separate truckle stages appearing and disappearing in the blackness of the Lyttleton stage, and a series of red-painted New York fire escapes floating into different configurations for each venue.

An essay in the programme refers to Guirgis's interest in the problem of leaving childish things behind and learning to behave in a grown up manner. Jackie in particular has a lot to learn about this process, but Ralph is correct in pointing out that Veronica too is hiding from adulthood by her reliance on coke. Yet Ralph himself is hardly a shining example. It is Julio, the disregarded 'faggot cousin', who has the wisest outlook, and perhaps the play's most moving reminiscence.

Despite the sense that any progress in these people's lives is fragile and small, the overall impression is of enormous vitality and energy, which is curiously refreshing.

Measure for Measure

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on 28 June 2015

This production is directed by Dominic Dromgoole and features Mariah Gale as Isabella, Kurt Egyiawan as Angelo, Dominic Rowan as the Duke, Joel MacCormack as Claudio, Dean Nolan as Elbow and Brendan O'Hea as Lucio. It is presented in 16th century dress to underline the conflict between Puritans and the more bawdy elements of society.

There is plenty of raucous business to keep a good-humoured audience happy; as the musicians are warming up, two houses are wheeled into the groundling space, and bawds and their pimps start crying for trade. When a couple enters either house, it starts rocking most suggestively. Later, when Angelo decrees that suburban houses of ill-repute are to be demolished, these are collapsed and wheeled off.

Oresteia

by Aeschylus in a new version created by Robert Icke

seen at the Almeida Theatre on 27 June 2015

'Oresteia', directed by Robert Icke and designed by Hildegard Bechtler, features Lia Williams as Klytemnestra, Angus Wright as Agamemnon (and Aegisthus), Luke Thompson as Orestes and Jessica Brown Findlay as Elektra. It is the first in a series of Greek plays at the Almeida in 2015.

The 'new version' is definitely a 'version' and not merely a translation of the Greek text. The original trilogy ('Agamemnon', 'Choephori' or 'Libation Bearers', and 'Eumenides' or 'Kindly Ones') has in effect been turned into a tetralogy by dramatising an incident mentioned in 'Agamemnon' as a fully-fledged action in its own right. Looked at another way, Euripides's play 'Iphigenia at Aulis' has been adapted into an extended prologue to Aeschylus's trilogy.

King John (again)

by William Shakespeare

seen at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre on 25 June 2015

I decided to see this production again in a stage space after the visually frustrating experience at the Temple Church. Ironically I chose a fabulous seat in the centre of the lower gallery - which happened to create sightline problems of its own in this case, as I was facing one of the main axes of approach where actors often stood in a direct line obscuring anyone in the centre of the stage. However, this was a minor problem compared with the massive pillars of the church.