Rev Stan's theatre blog

Review: Death Tax, second play in the Royal Court's weekly rep

After last week's faltering start with The President Has Come To See You, it feels like the Royal Court's weekly rep is starting to get into its stride.

The second of six plays in the Open Court season, Death Tax by New York writer Lucas Hnath, while not perfect felt a more rounded and, crucially, rehearsed.

Set in a nursing home, Maxine (Anne Calder-Marshall) is an elderly resident who suspects her daughter (Siobhan Redmond) has paid a nurse (Natasha Gordon) to speed her demise to avoid inheritance tax changes that will diminish what she is bequeathed.

To foil the plot, Maxine pays the nurse an additional sum to try and keep her alive until after the tax changes come into force. It sets off a string of dodgy deals where morals and motives are examined as truth becomes distorted.

And in the main there is some really interesting stuff in this piece and some cracking dialogue. The problem is that it feels like two slightly different plays cut and shut together. The final and fifth scene works better with the first and raises interesting questions about the prolonging of life and if we have the ability should we and who should pay?

Review: Ciaran Hinds in The Night Alive, Donmar Warehouse

Following on swiftly from the Donmar's production of Conor McPherson's The Weir is his new play The Night Alive.

Like The Weir the story unfolds in one room, this time the bedsit of Tommy (Ciaran Hinds), and the narrative revolves around the arrival of a woman this time Aimee (Caoilfhionn Dunn). While the arrival of Valerie in The Weir brings out the verbal testosterone in the men of the play, Aimee brings a mixture of hope and trouble.

Tommy is Aimee's knight in shining armour coming to her assistance when she is attacked. A relationship of sorts blossoms each helping the other in their own way but it puts Tommy's lifestyle into sharp focus while he remains blind to Aimee's, something that has dramatic consequences.

Where The Weir's dark edges were more supernatural, in The Night Alive it is a sense of a danger and there are moments where the tension is palpable. Of course it is peppered with Conor McPherson's wit and humour but it doesn't quite reach the same level of warmth and heart.

Review: Daniel Radcliffe is the funny and tragic Cripple of Inishmaan

The first time I saw Daniel Radcliffe on stage, in Equus, I was unexpectedly impressed and he reignited my love of theatre (I have him to blame for all this, sort of). And in Martin McDonagh's Cripple of Inishmaan where he takes the title role he has impressed me all over again.

He is the centre of the story in spirit if not always as a physical presence. Set in 1934 on the little Irish island of Inishmaan, Billy (Radcliffe) is the butt of many of the locals jokes - the fact that he likes to look at cows doesn't help. His physical deformity prevents him from working so he spends most of his time reading and day dreaming but when news arrives of a film crew on a neighbouring island he sees a diversion, a means to a different life.

McDonagh's humour in the Cripple of Inishmaan is cruel and biting but what elevates this above being just a black comedy is an underlying feeling that tragedy is never far away. This is a play that toys with your emotions you'll laugh, often guiltily, one minute and want to cry the next.

There isn't a character that doesn't burst off the stage with personality and wit and it must be a joy for the actors. From Pat Shortt's Johnnypateenmike, who treats news and gossip like hostages only to be released in return for food, to the fiery Sarah (Helen McCormick) who metes out her own egg-missile revenge on the priest with wandering hands.

Review: The President Has Come to See You, Royal Court weekly rep has a tenative start

When the post show discussion on Twitter centres on whether forgotten lines and prompts were part of the play or not is does have you wondering. At first I thought it was me and not the play, as to why I was a little confused about what was going on but the discussion highlighted the small amount of time the actors had to rehearse. Now I am thinking it might have been the play.

The President Has Come to See You is the first in a season of six new plays in the Royal Court's Open Court season. The idea is to have one company of actors performing a play a week with one week's rehearsal.

It was only late last week that the company was announced presumably drastically reducing their rehearsal time for this first play. And if that was indeed the case then they did a sterling job considering but there was a scene about three quarters through that became very fragmented with forgotten lines. Paul Bhattacharjee, playing the President, seemed to get angry either with himself or the slow prompt and some of the other actors looked a little awkward.

Review: In which Stan goes to a comedy musical - Spamalot

Anyone familiar with my theatre-going habits will probably be surprised I went to see Spamalot, it being a musical. But I was very kindly offered the tickets and I like to branch out every now and again and test my prejudices.

The first thing to say about Spamalot is that a lot of the audience seemed to be enjoying it (as were the actors who looked close to corpsing a couple of times). And I did laugh two or three times - there were two and a half good 'sketches'.

I say sketches because the story is kind of irrelevant, a lose frame on which to hang a number of set ups for songs and comic scenarios. And this is fine but I was expecting the comedy to be a little more biting and satirical rather than just plain silly. OK so I'll always laugh at a fart joke, and I did but much of the humour just felt old school and hackneyed.

The play that isn't written yet but should be

Always fascinated by how writers get their inspiration particularly contemporary playwrights and had a sort of moment of inspiration myself the other evening. I say 'sort of' because I have neither the skill or talent to write a play.

I had flicked on Radio 4 while I was doing the washing up and there was a program about the internet and the law. The panel were having a discussion about the responsibility of the likes of Google when it comes to censoring porn.

One of the guests was a lawyer whose area of work was representing the porn industry. As I listened to him clinically defending rape porn and simulated child pornography - if all parties are consenting and of legal age then no law has been broken - it made me wonder about the moral implications of what he was defending and what sort of person he was.

Lawyers have to defend suspected criminals, even when evidence against them is seemingly incontrovertible (look at the April Jones murder) so you would have to have or develop a certain mindset in order to do your work but how much does that filter into their persona outside the courtroom? Is the inner moral code or emotion temporarily pushed into submission, does it play on the conscience? When that porn industry lawyer is defending simulated rape porn is he surpressing a feeling of repulsion?

I know that some big media companies have lawyers who read their publications from cover to cover to make sure there is nothing libellous so would a porn lawyer have to watch a certain amount to determine its legality? Has the lawyer of my fictional play become desensitised to it? Does he talk about his work to anyone and what do they think?

Moral codes in a modern setting are often explored in contemporary theatre; Lucy Kirkwood's NSFW last year looked at lad mags vs women's glossy's and their portrayal of woman, for example and I think a porn industry lawyer would certainly make for a fascinating character study.

So come on, any takers out there in the world of playwrights? I look forward to seeing it at the Royal Court Upstairs or Soho Theatre sometime in the future.

Review: Happy New at theTrafalgar Studios 2

The Old Red Lion Theatre is having a good run of transfers into the West End at the moment and Happy New is the latest. And a curious play it is, a sort of Australian Elling.

When brothers Lyall (Joel Samuels) and Danny (William Troughton) were children, they were discovered locked up and abandoned in chicken coop. Rescued and rehabilitated they have become curiosities within Australian culture. TV presenter Pru (Lisa Dillon) has brought them into the limelight but it is now time for them to go out into the real world and get on with their lives.

Happy New feels like a black comedy without as many laughs as it should have. When someone throws a roast chicken at them I did have to stifle a fit of giggles in the otherwise silent auditorium.

The characters are given long speeches which border on surreal, contemporary, poetry and is laced with melodrama the reason for which only becomes clear much later in the play. In fact the script drips with simile and metaphor and is beautifully performed.

It is refreshing in that sense but there was something a little too surreal which felt alienating and maybe explains the lack of laughs - you are not sure what you are watching. The play feels slightly unbalanced with most of the exposition towards the end when it feels too late to really have an impact.

There was much that I liked about Happy New but it would probably benefit from a second look to see if greater insight made it sing at the top of its voice. It runs at the Trafalgar Studios 2 until 29 June.

Recently seen:

Amen Corner, National Theatre

Strange Interlude, National Theatre

Chimerica, Almeida Theatre

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This is a cheap shot and I'm slightly embarrassed but only slightly. Lisa Dillon is a former beau of Patrick Stewart who was in Richard II with Mr W.

Review: Amen to Amen Corner

Despite the name of this blog, I'm not a religious person but I do like listening to gospel singing on occasions. Of course James Baldwin's play is more than gospel singing, much more, but the songs  provide rare moments of harmony between a group of characters connected by faith but conflicted by internal politics.

The protagonist of the piece is Sister Margaret (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) a strict but dedicated pastor of a small Harlem church whose past catches up with her testing her faith, re-kindling old emotions and threatening her position.

Sister Moore (Cecilia Noble) is Sister Margaret's foil and a delicious character to watch. She is all outward innocence and piety, 'praise the Lord' never far from her lips, while inwardly she is manipulating and conniving. Most of the laughs come from Sister Moor thanks to Noble's superb comic timing and delivery. She can make the most innocent phrase funny.

"Bollocks about the Pause" - Harold Pinter platform at Trafalgar Studios

Director Jamie Lloyd chaired a discussion about Harold Pinter's influence on British Theatre last night with Guardian theatre critic and Pinter biographer Michael Billington joining actors Gina McKee and Lia Williams and playwright Nick Payne for the discussion.

McKee and Williams particularly provided an interesting insight into working with Pinter and naturally there was a lengthy discussion on the Pinter pause. Here are some highlights of the discussion.

Influence

MB Pinter taught us that in drama everything should have significance.

NP A lot of contemporary playwrights influenced by Pinter: Mike Bartlett, Jez Butterworth and Simon Stephens. There is a desire to let the audience find their own meaning. [Of experience with first play being stage] I was surprised by how many questions actors asked during rehearsal and initially felt I had to have an answer for everything.

LW Pinter didn't know everything about his characters and it astonished me as I hadn't come across that before or since. You can go anywhere with performing Pinter as long as you are meticulous with punctuation and your timing.

Review: Anne-Marie Duff in a Strange Interlude

Eugene O'Neill's epic play has been sliced down to 3 hours and 10 minutes (plus interval) from more than 4 hours for this National Theatre production. And it is a good job too, particularly if you are sitting in the backbreaking cheap seats in the first few rows at the Lyttleton where its being staged.

It does cover a lot of ground in its 3 hours and 10 minutes,  the life of Nina (Anne-Marie Duff) from a young woman mourning the loss of her lover in the First World War to a mother seeing her son head off to marry. But I confess, I'm not sure what they chopped out, never did it feel under developed or that there were holes in the plot development.

A Strange Interlude is at times rambling and bloated almost like O'Neill wanted to enjoy the sound of his own words in actors mouths but equally at others it focused and utterly gripping.

Nina is surrounded by men who dote on her: Charles (Charles Edwards) a father-like figure who secretly loves her; Edmund (Darren Pettie) her lover and Sam (Jason Watkins) her husband. They all think they know what is best for her but really are all dependant on her for their own happiness. Nina is an intriguing character self-obsessed, jealous and melodramatic and yet sacrifices much of her own freedom and happiness for the sake of others.

O'Neill has his characters tell the audience what they are really thinking so that there becomes a disconnect between their external and internal persona. The pure honesty of the vocalised internal voices is often humourous but equally displays an uglier side of mankind.

Anne-Marie Duff puts in a stunning performance in this marathon role and is ably supported by the male cast and while a very meaty play with much to mull over I would never for one moment say it wasn't long enough. It did feel long and would benefit from further trimming.

I'm really glad I've seen it but it's not a play I would rush to see another production of. I've ticked the Strange Interlude box.

Strange Interlude runs at the National's Lyttleton Theatre in rep until Aug 12.

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Jason Watkins was in The Hour with Mr W