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issue 22 - 2003

Prompt Corner

Dashing around in foreign parts has meant that I only actually saw one of the productions in this issue, so that I find myself in the position of many of our readers, relying on our esteemed contributors for guidance on the best shows of this fortnight. There's almost unanimous praise for Matthew Kelly's performance in Of Mice and Men, some strong divisions over Neil LaBute's The Mercy Seat and the usual bewilderment over Howard Barker's latest, 13 Objects. On the Fringe, the Latchmere continues to attract attention and there were kind words for Jennifer Farmer's Breathing. Talawa are back and giving a boost to the beleaguered team at Stratford East with Urban Afro Saxons­; we must wish a continuing surge of energy for both, and better still a matching surge of funding.

Funding is bedevilling the new Hampstead, which seems to have discovered that in spite of a lot of careful, energy-saving planning the new, bigger space costs a lot more to run than the old portakabin. It's not easy to double your audience, either, especially when your natural supporters among the critics are sniping away at everything you do. The Straits got a better reception than some of the earlier shows in the new house, and we must hope that the re-appearance there of Stephen Lowe next month after a longish silence will continue the trend.

Bad news from English Touring Theatre, too, who have found a black hole in their accounts and may have to cancel a couple of spring shows after their new Richard Bean show at the Royal Court in January. Fingers crossed there, and also for the Bridewell, desperately seeking support and (strangely) not yet finding it from the Corporation of London, whose other fringe theatre, The Pit, has just been recognised with an Empty Space award. Few critics went to the Bridewell's latest, Notes Across a Small Pond, but it's the kind of essential musical development which makes them a crucial part of the London theatre jigsaw. (If you have the chance, go to the site www.publications.parliament.uk /pa/cm200203/cmselect/cmcumeds/uc1153-i/uc115302.htm and check out a very informative afternoon spent by Gerald Kaufman's House of Commons Arts Committee, discussing the Bridewell and other aspects of current theatre funding in a surprisingly sympathetic and well-informed way - apart from the egoistic contributions of Michael Fabricant.)

Out of London, you can check the early progress of the new regimes at both Glasgow's Citizens and Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum. Rupert Goold in Northampton and the David Farr/Simon Reade partnership in Bristol have both got off to a flying start already, with a surprising number of reviewers actually going to Northampton for the Goold Othello, (covered here in its Greenwich transfer). No one seems to have been to Nottingham for the rival Othello, which lost its lead in rehearsal. (Bristol and Northampton are going head to head in January with rival versions of Paradise Lost, which should be enlightening - better get out your Milton now, folks.)

The show I did see was Justifying War at the Tricycle. You can sympathise with Richard Norton-Taylor for closing his files on the Hutton Enquiry before the recall of witnesses for a second round, but in doing so he denied himself and us some of the juicier moments. With only 12 of 75 witnesses testifying in his version, and those inevitably cut, the result was less confrontational than some of the Trike's earlier courtroon reconstructions and therefore less dramatic - only Roland Oliver's splendid, blustering Andrew Mackinlay made much impact: at least his short contribution pointed firmly to the shifty deceptions that preceded Hutton, even if this re-enactment failed to nail more of them. I'd very much like to come back for a revised version once the report's conclusions are published. They may give Mr Norton-Taylor some more guidance on what to include, what to omit.

You might find it an interesting exercise to look at the contributions made to this issue by the Spectator's poetry editor and second string theatre critic, Lloyd Evans. He doesn't seem to like theatregoing very much, and is quite happy to show it by leaving shows. His stance isn't completely clear, however. He left Electra at the first interval and 'went home wondering if I was really suited to this job. After all, I'm one of those self-contained souls who regard play-going as an elaborate and pointless exercise.' He went in better spirits to Of Mice and Men, but At the first opportunity, I fled into the night. I enjoy this job, yes, but .' He left Thoroughly Modern Millie at the interval, too, and also the Oxford Stage  Americans, though admittedly he thought the latter had finished. In one of these reviews he mentions that he is paid for his writing. Should he be on half pay?                                                                                                                          
Ian Herbert

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At the Back

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Contents / Reviews

London
13 OBJECTS short plays by Howard Barker (The Wrestling School)	Riverside 3	29 Oct	8 Nov	1463
4PLAY play by Eddie Coleman	Hen & Chickens	28 Oct	16 Nov	1487
AMERICANS play by Eric Schlosser (Oxford Stage)	Arcola	29 Oct	22 Nov	1465
BREATHING play byJennifer Farmer	Latchmere	30 Oct	16 Nov	1468
COLLISION play by Dominic Leyton	Old Red Lion	30 Oct	15 Nov	1469
ELECTRA  revival of Jean Giraudoux play in Winifred Smith version	Gate	22 Oct	15 Nov	1448
GILT play by Stephen Greenhorn, Rona Munro, Isabel Wright  (7:84)	Soho	3 Nov	8 Nov	1475
IDENTITY PANIC play by Mikko Isomaki  (Inside Leg Productions)	Greenwich Playhouse	29 Oct	16 Nov	1479
JUSTIFYING WAR - Scenes from the Hutton Enquiry edited by Richard Norton-Taylor	Tricycle	4 Nov	6 Dec	1480
KILL THE MESSENGER Jonathan Shelley and Christopher Lambert	Upstairs/Gatehouse	28 Oct	15 Nov	1449
KISS OF LIFE Chris Goode solo	Drill Hall 2	4 Nov	23 Nov	1469
THE MERCY SEAT play by Neil LaBute	Almeida	30 Oct	6 Dec	1470
NOTES ACROSS A SMALL POND three musicals: Blood Drive/The Happiness of Fish/Re-Love	Bridewell	31 Oct	15 Nov	1467
OF MICE AND MEN John Steinbeck revival	Savoy	23 Oct	6 Dec	1450
OTHELLO Shakespeare revival  (Royal, Northampton)	Greenwich	4 Nov	16 Nov	1485
OVER MY SHOULDER play by Richard Stirling with music	Wyndham's	28 Oct	8 Nov	1458
THE STRAITS play by Gregory Burke	Hampstead	3 Nov	29 Nov	1477
THAT'S ME ON THE LEFT, IN THE PARKA Bob Karper solo	Oval House	23 Oct	8 Nov	1460
THE TUNNEL OF OBSESSION David Graham-Young play from novel by Ernesto Sabato	Warehouse, Croydon	31 Oct	16 Nov	1457
UNION OF SHORTS VI eight short plays	Union SE1	23 Oct	8 Nov	1464
URBAN AFRO SAXONS play by Kofi Agyemang and Patricia Elcock  (Talawa)	T R Stratford E15	27 Oct	15 Nov	1455
Regions
AGE/SEX/LOCATION  play by Richard Hurford (Pilot)	Theatre Royal, York	31 Oct	15 Nov	1490
BIRD CALLS  play by Lesley Glaister	Crucible Studio, Sheffield	21 Oct	8 Nov	1488
BLIND SIGHT  adapted by Stuart Laing from novel  (Des Aveugles) by Hervé Guilbert	Tramway, Glasgow	24 Oct	1 Nov	1497
BLOOD AND ICE revival of the play by Liz Lochhead	Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh	25 Oct	15 Nov	1498
THE CUTTING ROOM adapted by Tam Dean Burn from the novel by Louise Welsh	Citizens Stalls, Glasgow	22 Oct	15 Nov	1494
THE GLASS MENAGERIE revival of the play by Tennessee Williams	Byre, St Andrews	31 Oct	22 Nov	1500
HAMLET revival of the play by William Shakespeare	Nuffield, Southampton	21 Oct	15 Nov	1489
THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD revival of the play by J M Synge	Royal Exchange, Manchester	3 Nov	29 Nov	1489
PRIVATE LIVES revival of the play by Noel Coward	Citizens, Glasgow	24 Oct	15 Nov	1496
THE QUEEN OF SPADES adapted by Jon Pope from the story by Alexander Pushkin	Citizens Circle, Glasgow	23 Oct	15 Nov	1495
TRUE WEST revival of the play by Sam Shepard	Bristol Old Vic	4 Nov	22 Nov	1493
WAY UPSTREAM revival of the play by Alan Ayckbourn	Stephen Joseph, Scarborough	22 Oct	15 Nov	1488

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