Little Eyolf

by Henrik Ibsen

seen at the Alemida Theatre on 17 December 2015

The play is directed by Richard Eyre, in a new adaptation by the director based on a literal translation by Anne and Karin Bamborough. It features Jolyon Coy as Alfred Allmers, Lydia Leonard as his wife Rita, Eve Ponsonby as his sister Asta, Sam Hazeldine as Bjarne Borgheim, Eileen Walsh as the Woman (the so-called 'Rat Wife'), and Adam Greaves-Neal (in this performance) as Eyolf (the son of Alfred and Rita). The set is designed by Tim Hatley and lit by Peter Mumford.

At eighty intense minutes, played without a break, this is a distillation of an already comparatively short play in which a married couple, drifting apart in unhappiness and recrimination even before the catastrophe which concludes the first act, are stretched to breaking point by the accidental drowning of their crippled young son Eyolf. 

As You Like It

by William Shakespeare

seen at the National Theatre (Olivier) on 15 December 2015

This modern-set production is directed by Polly Findlay with sets designed by Lizzie Clachan and it features Rosalie Craig as Rosalind and Joe Bannister as Orlando, with Patsy Ferran as Celia, Paul Chahidi as Jacques, Philip Arditti as Oliver and Mark Benton as Touchstone.

Banks of computer desks on a carpet of brightly-coloured rectangles greet us, with many besuited employees busy hot-desking. In a nice nod to the later pastoral setting, the screen savers are of lush English trees and the post-it notes are all green; there are bonsai trees on every desk. A young man in overalls arrives with a toolbox and starts tinkering with a machine, then polishing some glass.

Suddenly, he is Orlando, bemoaning his lot, a mere drudge in his brother's prosperous IT firm. Soon, the same set, without the bonsai and with less idyllic screensavers, is the domain of Duke Frederick, and somehow (despite the implausibility) there is a wrestling match set up in front of all the desks.

The Winter's Tale

by William Shakespeare

seen by live streaming from the Garrick Theatre on 26 November 2015

This is the first play of six presented by the Kenneth Branagh company at the Garrick in the West End. Directed by Branagh with Rob Ashford, it features Kenneth Branagh as Leontes, Miranda Raison as Hermione, Hadley Fraser as Polixenes, John Shrapnel as Camillo, Michael Pennington as Antigonus, Judi Dench as Paulina, Jessica Buckley as Perdita and Tom Bateman as Florizel. The set and costume design is by Christopher Oram.

Dressed notionally in the late nineteenth century, the opening scenes in Sicilia show the court in Christmas mode with carols and an opulent tree, warm lighting keeping out the winter cold. But all soon turns sour as Leontes mistakes his wife's admittedly rather flirtatious friendliness towards Polixenes as a sign of her adultery. He becomes ragingly jealous, arraigns Hermione for treason, disowns the baby girl born to her in prison, and refuses all reproof, pained from the courtiers or furious from Paulina, until calamity strikes with the death of his son and Hermione's collapse.

Of Mice and Men

by John Steinbeck

filmed live performance from the Longacre Theater (Broadway) seen on 19 November 2015

John Steinbeck adapted his own novel for the stage in 1937. This production, the last performance of which was filmed in July 2014, was directed by Anna D. Shapiro and starred James Franco as George and Chris O'Dowd as Lenny.

The play hinges on the two man characters, of course, and here were two actors who worked together extremely well to picture the awkward mutual dependence of two poor men moving through 1930s America looking for agricultural work. George protects Lenny, who is variously described as 'nuts' and 'not bright' - he is as simple-minded as a two year old, with a dangerous lack of awareness for the consequences of his actions, but with enormous strength. George knows that if Lenny works in peace all will be well, but he is also mindful that Lenny can easily get himself into trouble. In the end, tragedy prevails.

French Without Tears

by Terence Rattigan

seen at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond on 11 November 2015

Terrence Rattigan's reputation, skewered by the so-called 'Angry Young Men' in the 1950s, has risen again in the last couple of decades with a series of impressive revivals of his more weighty plays. 'French Without Tears', his first major success from 1936, is a farce, but as is often the case with Rattigan, there are serious undertones which point to a real, if unacknowledged, fragility in many of the characters.

This production, directed by Paul Miller, features a young cast, (two professional debuts and several recent graduates) with David Whitworth playing the only senior role, M. Maingot. Managing a farce in a small acting space with the audience on four sides and the front row on the stage floor level is quite an accomplishment, and the actors managed this with enormous vitality and skill. While at times the public schoolboy accents may have seemed a trifle overdone in the small space, the overall effect was completely convincing - another of the secrets of a successful production: if the cast is too knowing or the speaking too exaggerated the effect falls flat.

Thomas Tallis

by Jessica Swale

seen at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse on 7 November 2015

The play, directed by Adele Thomas and designed by Hannah Clark with Harry Christophers providing musical expertise, features Brendan O'Hea as Thomas Tallis, with Simon Harrison and Katy Stephens taking various parts and Guy Amos as King Edward VI, and with six singers from The Sixteen.

In the gorgeous atmosphere of the candle-lit playhouse the music of the great Tudor composer Thomas Tallis could hardly fail to charm, and indeed as the play opens with Tallis himself speaking to us about the roughness of human speech being transformed into song we await the first sounds of polyphony with eager expectation. We are not disappointed, as the sounds emerge from behind the doors, and then the six singers appear - immaculately attired in modern evening dress. 

The Wars of the Roses

by William Shakespeare adapted by John Barton and Peter Hall

seen at the Rose Theatre, Kingston-upon-Thames on 29 October 2015

In 1962 John Barton and Peter Hall devised three plays they called 'Henry VI', 'Edward IV' and 'Richard III' from Shakespeare's original 'Henry VI' Parts 1, 2 and 3, and 'Richard III'. Presented under the overall title 'The Wars of the Roses', this was a major success for the then-new Royal Shakespeare Company, but the adaptations have rarely been performed since. Trevor Nunn saw the original productions as an undergraduate, and they inspired his vocation as a theatre director - he later followed Peter Hall as artistic director of both the RSC and the National Theatre. Peter Hall was also the founding patron of the Rose Theatre, and so Trevor Nunn has revived the trilogy here as a tribute to his mentor.

This production features Alex Waldmann as Henry VI, Joely Richardson as his queen Margaret of Anjou, Kåre Conradi as Edward IV, Alexandra Gilbreath as his queen Elizabeth, Robert Sheehan as Richard of Gloucester (later Richard III) and Alexander Hanson as Richard Plantagenet the Duke of York. The many other speaking parts are shared between these and sixteen other actors, some young boys and a 'company community chorus' of sixteen more assorted soldiers and peasants. The set was designed by John Napier and Mark Friend.