Issue 16 / 17 - 2005
Prompt Corner 
Last issue, I began this column by remarking on how different one's perspective is amid Edinburgh's festival season. How much more different, then, to return and find that, even in a double issue covering four weeks' worth of openings, one has seen precisely one of the shows in question, and that one a 22-carat stinkeroo.
My Edinburgh experience this year was itself radically different from my usual. Since my Financial Times Edinburgh beat covers both theatre and comedy, my average Edinburgh stint of three and a half weeks would include eighty-some-odd shows, balanced around 60%-40% in favour of theatre. This year, I saw roughly the same number of plays - 50 or so - but the proportions were reversed, due to my unexpected invitation (only received, literally, the moment I had arrived in my Edinburgh flat, before I had even unzipped my bag) to join the judging panel of the Perrier comedy awards. Somehow I managed to cram more than 120 shows into my stay, of which fully 70 were comedy.
Concept
Now, the Edinburgh comedy climate is fundamentally different from that which obtains on most of the rest of the circuit. Your average comedian will have five-, ten- or twenty-minute sets, depending on their place on the bills of the club engagements which form the bulk of their regular work. In Edinburgh, each act has their own show: an hour devoted to them and them alone. This has led to a convention of "concept" shows, as comics look for an idea that will sustain and give structure to an hour of work. From this year's Perrier shortlists, for instance, Chris Addison took the Periodic Table of the Elements as a jumping-off point to muse on our relationship to the stuff of the universe, Jason Manford examined and (usually) debunked a number of urban legends, and Mark Watson predicted the remainder of his life, at a rate of one year per minute. (Watson also performed an astounding one-off marathon show applying the same concept to the entire Anno Domini era: 2005 minutes, some 33½ hours.)
There are whole genres of Edinburgh comedy shows, such as that in which one trait or event from the performer's family history is examined (which may have culminated this year in Dan Tetsell's investigation of his grandfather's time in the Waffen SS, in a show which succeeded in being genuinely comic without trivializing its basis), or the wacky-project show exemplified in recent years by Dave Gorman's accounts of his globe-trotting attempts to meet, say, as many other Dave Gormans as possible within a given set of constraints. (Gorman also takes a lot of the blame for comedians' increased reliance on Microsoft Powerpoint presentations.) This hunger for concept, as much as the trade-fair aspect in which hordes of broadcast executives annually descend on the Fringe looking for new talent, also explains the popularity in Edinburgh of character and sketch comedy, which form a much smaller part of year-round circuit work.
Theatrical
It's this nexus of factors that has led me to wonder whether perhaps Theatre Record should be printing more comedy reviews. As I say, for the most part the matter doesn't arise: we've been operating on the reasonable criterion of including reviews of West End comedy shows that are more than merely one-nighters. I think it might be worth carrying more coverage of large-scale national tours as well. (For instance, we had been sitting for several months on a clutch of reviews of Harry Hill's UK tour this spring, aware of the possibility of a West End run, before finally giving up and abandoning the cuttings in question, in the face of single Sunday-night London date later in September.) However, when shows do crop up which tend more towards theatrical thought, scripting and staging, where should we draw the line?
London venues such as the Albany (a pub venue in London W1, not to be confused with the other, more frequently theatrical Albany, a purpose-built space in SE8) and clubs like the (currently moribund) Ealing Live concentrate on this kind of work rather than conventional stand-up. Ought we to reprint coverage of such venues and shows on the few occasions when they are available? One critic suggested the foundation of a sister publication, Comedy Record, but frankly there simply isn't enough published matter to warrant it. Perhaps a supplement once or twice a year, along the lines of TR's former offshoot Cuttings From The Edge? I don't know. It's entirely possible that the issue simply won't arise again until next August, when the same comedic currents come to media prominence once more.
Mysteries
There are a number of mysteries regarding Behind The Iron Mask. Given a source novel so thoroughly based on the enigma of the masked prisoner's true identity, what kind of stage show neglects to offer any kind of solution? How could we tell whether the man onstage, wearing headgear that makes him look like something Tom Baker's Dr Who might once have met, was really doing the singing? And, given the answer to that question (at times you could spot his tongue through the mouth-slit, and his miked voice was a bit muffled. though, oddly, sometimes not as much as the Jailer's), what kind of musical has its success dependent on unclear singing? How did they manage to make the live score sound more artificial than if it had been taped? And, as at least one of the reviews herein trenchantly muses, how can a prisoner in 1669 be reading, let alone singing, the verse of Tennyson? On all such points, history is likely to remain blessedly silent.
At the Back
Back after what we Francophones call une aussi longue absence, I find little has changed in London theatre lately. The shifts are small ones, and perhaps it needs the perspective of a decade to measure them. So, what has changed in the bill of fare since September 1995?
At the end of this summer there are more West End seats being sold than then, I'd guess, with the Globe and Lyceum added to the list of available spaces, and the Open Air selling better than ever. The theatre-blocking phenomenon continues, but it's what you might call sub-theatre shows like Stomp, Dancing In The Streets and The Rat Pack which are now taking up valuable space alongside a diminishing number of big musicals. Phantom, Lez Miz and Blood Brothers are still with us, touring staples like Fame, Joseph and Saturday Night Fever have come back to prove that there is an enduring audience for feel-good, simple fare, and it seems quite possible that Chicago, Mamma Mia and even We Will Rock You will run for a decade each. On the other hand, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang leaves us this month after three years, which makes you wonder about the long-term prospects for Mary Poppins. And if the lyric theatres were suddenly to become unblocked, where are the big new musicals to fill them? Bold attempts like The Big Life have not succeeded, and to bring the Open Air's High Society indoors is to beg the question.
Philanthropy
In 1995 you could find Ayckbourn, Harwood, Marber, Pinter and Stoppard in commercial theatres. Now after a strong spring for straight plays we are left with Death Of A Salesman, with Mary Stuart transferring soon, George Dillon on his way and comedies from the Cooneys and Nigel Planer taking their chance in what used to be a secure market. The non-lyric theatres in the Really Useful empire have not delivered much in profit for the last ten years, and the description of their new co-owner Max Weitzenhoffer as a philanthropist very much defines his position. We have to wish him and programming partner Nica Burns every success when they take over officially on 1st October, knowing that their theatres will last as long as that philanthropy lasts. The Apollo has that Mary Stuart, the Garrick gets the Planer, the Lyric continues with Salesman, and the Duchess is to be announced. With the Albery dark and the Playhouse about to go dark again, the West End's growing problem seems to be the provision of good new non-musical fare. At least we have the Cameron Mackintosh promise of RSC London seasons to comfort us here, and of course the Barbican has more than made up for the RSC's absence by its own bold programming.
Our hopes for new work from our big playwrights must rest with the National, where a David Edgar and a Howard Brenton are on the way. The Royal Court looks solid, with Richard Bean, Martin Crimp and Gregory Burke all coming up, and the Donmar promises a new Ravenhill.
House Full
It's in the area of mid-range theatres like the Donmar that we have seen the most significant consolidation in London theatre. Its success along with the Almeida in filling seats, if not making money, has encouraged other theatre owners to look at smaller spaces - witness the conversion of the Whitehall into Trafalgar Studios. The idea has its merits - better to hang up the House Full sign outside a 300-seater than have a half-empty 600-seater - yet the smaller Trafalgar space has never been used, and the big one may be dark until the RSC arrive in December. There's no sign of life at The Venue for the present, and the closing of the Arts means we have to wait for the Sondheim to open on top of the Queen's to see whether this trend is real and sustainable. My one London theatre visit in these last two months was to inspect the new 200-seater Sound theatre, tucked in the back of what was the Swiss Centre. It made good preparation for Edinburgh - indeed, James Kerr's Prometheus is almost a typical 'C' Venue show, with a student chorus who wouldn't have looked out of place leafletting in Chambers Street and only a fine performance from David Oyewolo to lift it out of the ordinary. The theatre, too, is sadly no more than a Fringe lash-up, with temporary seating around an intrusive pillar and unwelcoming, improvised public areas.
On the West End borders, we have lost the Mermaid and the Westminster, not to mention the shadowy Shaw (again), never great profit centres but theatres which I still feel could have been made to work in the right hands. We have gained the New Players', but it has yet to prove itself. The Bridewell has gone to the amateurs, leaving a gap in musical enterprise which the tiny Jermyn Street and Landor and not much bigger Gatehouse can hardly be expected to fill. Soho is a true success story, challenging the Court and the Bush as a new writing venue and even creating a distinct, softer writing ethos of its own. David Babani has worked wonders with the Chocolate Factory, too, but one can't but wonder how isolated the space will seem this winter when the neighbouring Globe is on holiday and Southwark Playhouse has to close.
Novelty
Above all, where is the new work to fill these spaces, large and small? Canny producers, mainstream and fringe alike, are looking for solid classics to revive: the New Ambassadors, ideal for low-risk new work, is about to house the return of Journey's End. Autumn will see bright original writers like David Eldridge and Samuel Adamson marking time as Ibsen adaptors. Is it time to admit that most of that huge crop of in-yer-facers from the Nineties have sunk without trace? That too many of them have been victims of novelty syndrome, where a first play is a prize, a second a risk and a third a downright encumbrance?
And where are the new directors? The giants who forced their way up from the Fringe, Stephen Daldry and Declan Donnellan, Deborah Warner and Katie Mitchell, are international figures but no longer thrusting youngsters. Their successors have worked their way into residencies in or from the regions - David Farr, Rupert Goold, Michael Grandage, Thea Sharrock. Who's next? As for design, it is probably time to admit that the golden age of British theatre design, which produced a near-monopoly of the Prague Quadriennale and gave its leaders carte blanche in the world's opera houses, has come to an end, just as that technical supremacy which made it possible to mount the world's most exciting new musicals in London in the Eighties now seems a thing of the past. Young American TV stars come to London and often hold their own with the cream of our acting talent. Cream?
Where we do seem to be thriving is in areas that the commercial theatre will find hard to use - the site-specific and physical work that is now spreading British influence around the world. The National has caught this trend, having long supported Complicité and now Improbable, but one can hardly see a place in the West End for Frantic Assembly or Forced Entertainment, Stan's Café or Shunt, groups which have caught the imagination of the young audience. Never mind, it will be quite difficult enough to guess and respond to the demands of the old audience which the young so despise. Those pensioners tottering along Shaftesbury Avenue today are not the same ones as in 1995 - they, too, are a new audience to be researched and fostered.
Ian Herbert : ian@herbertknott.com
Contents / Reviews
London |
||||
ANTIGONE AT HELL'S MOUTH Revival of adaptation by Nick Darke of play by Sophocles |
Soho |
15 Aug |
3 Sep |
1059 |
THE BEACH New play by Peter Asmussen, translated by David Duchin |
Theatre 503 |
11 Aug |
21 Aug |
1054 |
BEHIND THE IRON MASK New musical by John Robinson, from story by Alexandre Dumas |
Duchess |
2 Aug |
20 Aug |
1036 |
BEST MEN / BETWEEN WOMEN New plays by Adam Megiddo / Alex McSweeney respectively |
Hen & Chickens |
4 Aug |
27 Aug |
1042 |
CRIMES OF THE HEART / COLONEL CHABERT Beth Henley / Honoré de Balzac revivals, in rep |
Etcetera |
2 Aug |
14 Aug |
1047 |
DARK ROOTS Play presented by Teatro Línea de Sombra as part of Mexart 2005 |
Riverside |
5 Aug |
6 Aug |
1043 |
FAIR New play by Joy Wilkinson (Floodtide) |
Finborough |
18 Aug |
3 Sep |
1061 |
HOMESICK New play by Dafna Rubinstein |
New End |
4 Aug |
28 Aug |
1051 |
JUSTICE New play by Christopher Hanvey |
Old Red Lion |
4 Aug |
20 Aug |
1044 |
KAFKA'S DICK Revival of play by Alan Bennett |
Upstairs at the Gatehouse |
3 Aug |
28 Aug |
1045 |
MACBETH Revival of play by Shakespeare (Oxford Shakespeare Co) |
Kew Gardens |
21 Aug |
28 Aug |
1058 |
MAN FALLING DOWN: A MASK PLAY New play written and devised by Jack Shepherd and Oliver Cotton |
Globe |
15 Aug |
19 Sep |
1057 |
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR Revival of play by Shakespeare (Oxford Shakespeare Co) |
Kew Gardens |
20 Aug |
28 Aug |
1058 |
MIDNIGHT New adaptation by Vicky Ireland from book by Jacqueline Wilson |
Peacock |
10 Aug |
27 Aug |
1048 |
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM Revival of play by Shakespeare (Lord Strange's Men) |
Old Observatory Gardens |
9 Aug |
21 Aug |
1047 |
ORESTES New play by Dan Horrigan (Secret Centre Th) |
Lion & Unicorn |
15 Aug |
11 Sep |
1060 |
PROMETHEUS BOUND Revival of play by Aeschylus, translated by James Kerr |
Sound |
19 Aug |
13 Sep |
1063 |
THE REAPPEARANCE OF CHRIST IN THE EAST END New play by Peter Hamilton |
White Bear |
2 Aug |
28 Aug |
1041 |
ROSALIND / THE BEAR JM Barrie / Anton Chekhov revivals (Yellow Chair Prods) |
Rosemary Branch |
11 Aug |
28 Aug |
1064 |
RUSSIAN NATIONAL MAIL New play by Oleg Bogaev (Sputnik Th) |
Old Red Lion |
25 Aug |
10 Sep |
1069 |
THE SEAGULL Revival of play by Anton Chekhov, translated by Elisaveta Fen (Galleon TC) |
Greenwich Playhouse |
9 Aug |
4 Sep |
1053 |
SILENCE Revival of play by Moira Buffini (Pyre Prods) |
Arcola |
10 Aug |
27 Aug |
1052 |
SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION / SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO J Guare / D Mamet revivals |
Union |
3 Aug |
13 Aug |
1043 |
THE STARS THAT PLAY WITH LAUGHING SAM'S DICE Revival of play by Robert Calvert |
Pentameters |
25 Aug |
10 Sep |
1062 |
THE STORM New play by Peter Oswald, based on The Rope by Plautus |
Globe |
12 Aug |
30 Sep |
1055 |
TOM, DICK AND HARRY New play by Ray Cooney and Michael Cooney |
Duke Of York's |
23 Aug |
1065 |
|
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA Revival of play by Shakespeare |
Globe |
24 Aug |
28 Sep |
1058 |
VICTORIA PLUMS New solo show by Sheila Steafel |
New End |
8 Aug |
27 Aug |
1068 |
THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS Revival of play by David Conville, adapted from book by Kenneth Grahame |
Open Air |
5 Aug |
27 Aug |
1046 |
Regions |
||||
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE Revival of play by Joseph Kesselring |
Derby Playhouse |
25 Aug |
17 Sep |
1080 |
AS YOU LIKE IT Revival of play by Shakespeare (RSC) |
Stratford, Royal Shakespeare |
17 Aug |
13 Oct |
1070 |
DOLLY WEST'S KITCHEN Revival of play by Frank McGuinness |
Pitlochry Festival |
9 Aug |
19 Oct |
1086 |
5/11 New play by Edward Kemp |
Chichester, Festival |
18 Aug |
8 Sep |
1074 |
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST Revival of play by Oscar Wilde |
Oxford Playhouse |
23 Aug |
10 Sep |
1080 |
TIME AND TIME AGAIN Revival of play by Alan Ayckbourn |
Scarborough, Stephen Joseph |
2 Aug |
17 Sep |
1079 |
THE SCARLET LETTER Revival of adaptation by Phyllis Nagy from novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne |
Chichester, Minerva |
16 Aug |
8 Sep |
1073 |
TWO AND TWO MAKE SEX Revival of play by Richard Harris and Leslie Darbon |
Reading, Mill at Sonning |
2 Aug |
10 Sep |
1078 |
WAITING FOR GODOT Revival of play by Samuel Beckett |
Bath, Theatre Royal |
25 Aug |
3 Sep |
1081 |
YOU NEVER CAN TELL Revival of play by George Bernard Shaw |
Bath, Theatre Royal |
25 Aug |
3 Sep |
1083 |