Issue 16/17, 2007
Prompt Corner 
Writing this column at this time of year always seems to involve a combination of deep-level recollection and outright imaginative exercise. Spending more or less the whole of August in Edinburgh as I do, and in that hothouse atmosphere seeing more than twice as many shows as are covered in this entire double issue (including the late extras at the back!), tends to twist one's theatrical viewpoint into a different topology, at least for a while. One of the most useful phrases I learned early in my career was a London editor's term for the inexplicable fever that seems to descend on Festival critics: "the Edinburgh bends".
Consequently, a significant degree of recalibration was required when I took a brief trip down to Bath and Stratford to review the second tranche of Peter Hall Company openings and the latest three in Michael Boyd's Histories project for the RSC. In theory, five shows in two days ought to have been a walk in the park compared to my standard Edinburgh regime of five a day; in practice, the abbreviated Fringe attention span (few theatrical offerings there are now even as much as 90 minutes long) took some overcoming. My reviews reprinted later in the issue may demonstrate as much. But it is always worthwhile making connections with extrinsic matter that may illuminate the subject at hand. Victory at Bath, for instance, was not the only Athol Fugard premiere of the month; his Exits And Entrances was playing simultaneously at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh. And, perfunctory and pessimistic as the Bath play may be, it was still more substantial than the kind of Afrikaner version of The Dresser offered to Fringe audiences, in which the two characters speechified at each other far more than they conversed.
Tokenism
A similar connection, slightly at an angle to the main topic but in the event extremely telling, was made by my companion at Carmen Jones just before I headed north. Several reviewers have commented on the awkwardness of placing the orchestra in a pit centre-stage, so that the vocal and dramatic action takes place either behind them or on a narrow walkway in front. But foregrounding the presence of the orchestra also made something else visible. As my friend pointed out, the all-black cast was in stark contrast to what, on the night we saw the show, was an all-white orchestra (with the possible exception of one Oriental player). Director Jude Kelly and designer Michael Vale had inadvertently made conspicuous the principal issue surrounding the work itself.
Whether Oscar Hammerstein's modemisation of Bizet's opera was motivated by audacity or patronising exoticism, a staging that largely keeps the black folk behind the whites and in a separate area really does make the whole exercise look like the tokenism it is so easy to interpret it as being. If, say, Sherry Boone as Cindy Lou had gone for a rest to sit with the string section, ft could almost have been another Rosa Parks moment. I know that sounds flippant, but once seen, that distinction of skin colour between singers and players is impossible to ignore.
Concern
The month's main topic, as alluded to on the cover of TFi's last issue, is the onward march of the West End musical. I don't think that the proliferation of musicals in itself is any kind of death-knell for the serious play in the West End... no more than was that rash of serious plays a couple of years ago that closed before we could reprint their reviews. (Simon Gray's biography in the Peter Hall Company's programme this year mentioned The Old Masters as having enjoyed "an extended run in the West End" – that'll be "extended" in the same sense in which the Pope is a Sunni Muslim or Dick Cheney a flawless marksman.) In each case, a coincidence of events has simply provided fodder to fill a few pages in an otherwise lean journalistic period.
But there are some real causes for concern as well. Even musicals moving into what are normally considered "playhouses" (such as Buddy at the Duchess) do not pose problems in themselves; rather, it's the expected longevity of the average musical's run that puts a stage out of commission for plays for a comparatively greater period. That longevity is in some cases being bolstered by literally millions of pounds' worth of free advertising in the form of quote-reality-unquote TV series choosing stars for the productions.
Airtight
And when there isn't even a significant aspect of risk or innovation in those productions, the squalor of the arrangement is compounded further. As has been pointed out, the Palladium revival of The Sound Of Music, whose casting-by-TV How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? started the whole ball rolling, is at least a fresh staging from the bottom up; however Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is simply the return of the late Steven Pimlott's production first unveiled in 1991 and Grease dates from a couple of years later. Basically, the producers have a more or less watertight proposition already, but in securing such lengthy, inherently adulatory TV coverage they make it airtight to a degree that would impress NASA.
It's hard to tackle such subjects without at some point having to come out and say that "this isn't what theatre/TV is for, at which point the arguments about commercial realities, market forces and the primacy of entertainment all rise up to make such reservations look like ivory-tower paternalism. But, even if the free market worked in such areas (and this isn't the place for that debate), this is not a free market it's more like a self-supporting media/commercial cartel. Sometimes you have to go ahead and sound pompous (and Lord knows, I have the experience in that department), and say loud and clear that this won't do.
Finally, a brief apology for the absence of the little box opposite detailing publishers of plays covered in this issue (also missing last issue). Just one more victim of decompression from the Edinburgh bends, I'm afraid; normal service will be resumed.
Ian Shuttleworth | ian@theatrerecord.com
At the Back
No "At the Back" this issue
Contents / Reviews
London |
||||
ABSURDIA Revivals of two plays by N F Simpson plus new play by Michael Frayn |
Donmar Warehouse |
31 Jul |
8 Sep |
907 |
THE ACCIDENTAL LIVES OF MEMORIES New play by Frank Bramwell |
White Bear |
7 Aug |
26 Aug |
906 |
BUDDY Revival of musical by Rob Bettinson and Alan Janes with the music of Buddy Holly |
Duchess |
3 Aug |
1 Jan |
930 |
CARMEN JONES Revival of musical by Georges Bizet/Oscar Hammerstein II |
Royal Festival Hall |
31 Jul |
2 Sep |
912 |
COLOURED LIGHTS New musical revue by Tim McArthur, songs by John Kander & Fred Ebb |
Greenwich Playhouse |
23 Aug |
9 Sep |
944 |
DISNEY'S THE JUNGLE BOOK KIDS New adaptation by Marcy Heisler from Rudyard Kipling |
The Scoop |
10 Aug |
9 Sep |
911 |
THE ENCHANTMENT Revival of play by Victoria Benedictsson in new version by Clare Bayley (NT) |
Cottesloe |
1 Aug |
1 Nov |
920 |
EVITA FOR PRESIDENT Solo show by Pieter-Dirk Uys |
Tricycle |
30 Jul |
1 Sep |
905 |
FANTASTIC MR FOX Revival of adaptation by David Wood from story by RoaId Dahl |
Open Air |
1 Aug |
25 Aug |
924 |
FOOTLOOSE Return of stage adaptation of screenplay by Dean Pitchford |
Playhouse |
17 Aug |
1 Jan |
924 |
FROM BOTH HIPS Revival of play by Mark O'Rowe |
Old Red Lion |
31 Jul |
18 Aug |
919 |
GET HAPPY! Return of musical by Debbie Saloman |
King's Head |
1 Aug |
26 Aug |
923 |
GREASE Return of revival of musical by Warren Jacobs/Jim Casey |
Piccadilly |
8 Aug |
1 Jan |
936 |
THE HAMLET PROJECT Revival of play by Shakespeare, adapted by Hannah Kaye (Chameleon's Dish TC) |
Arcola |
31 Jul |
18 Aug |
932 |
HELEN OF TROY New adaptation by Phil Willmott from Euripides (Steam Industry) |
The Scoop |
3 Aug |
9 Sep |
928 |
HOLDING FIRE! New play by Jack Shepherd |
Globe |
3 Aug |
5 Oct |
933 |
HUMAN REMAINS New play by Jon Bonfiglio |
Canal Cafe |
1 Aug |
26 Aug |
929 |
HUMBLE BOY Revival of play by Charlotte Jones |
Upstairs at the Gatehouse |
3 Aug |
2 Sep |
929 |
IN THE CLUB New play by Richard Bean |
Hampstead |
2 Aug |
25 Aug |
925 |
JAMIE THE SAXT English premiere of play by Robert McLennan |
Finborough |
7 Aug |
1 Sep |
935 |
MA VIE EN ROSE New adaptation based on film by Alain Berliner |
Young Vic, Maria |
22 Aug |
25 Aug |
945 |
THE MAIDS Revival of play by Jean Genet (Soles TC) |
Etcetera |
18 Aug |
26 Aug |
928 |
A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM Revival of play by Shakespeare (Oxford Shakespeare Co) |
Kensington Palace Gds |
8 Aug |
17 Aug |
906 |
ON RAGLAN ROAD New play by Tom O'Brien (Croft Prods) |
Old Red Lion |
21 Aug |
8 Sep |
947 |
SILENCE Revival of play by Moira Buffini (NYT) |
Wilton's Music Hall |
21 Aug |
1 Sep |
942 |
THE SUITCASE KID New adaptation by Vicky Ireland from book by Jacqueline Wilson |
Orange Tree |
24 Aug |
30 Sep |
932 |
SWEET WILLIAM Solo show by Michael Pennington |
Little Angel |
21 Aug |
26 Aug |
943 |
TIMON OF ATHENS Revival of play by Shakespeare (Instant Classics) |
Camden People's |
7 Aug |
25 Aug |
929 |
20 CIGARETTES New play by Marcy Kahan (NYT) |
Soho |
15 Aug |
30 Aug |
941 |
THE VEGEMITE TALES Return of Melanie Tait play |
Venue |
1 Aug |
27 Oct |
928 |
WHITE BOY New play by Tanika Gupta (NYT) |
Soho |
10 Aug |
1 Sep |
940 |
YOGA BITCH New solo piece by Suzanne Morrison (Theodolite Prods) |
Theatre 503 |
14 Aug |
25 Aug |
944 |
Regions |
||||
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE Revival of play by Joseph Kesselring |
Southwold |
31 Jul |
4 Aug |
960 |
DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES Revival of adaptation by Owen McCafferty from teleplay by J P Miller |
Keswick, Theatre-by-the-Lake |
27 Jul |
31 Oct |
960 |
DEADLOCK New play by Peter Benedict |
Richmond / touring |
30 Jul |
4 Aug |
959 |
HENRY IV PART 1 Revival of play by Shakespeare (RSC) |
Stratford, Courtyard |
16 Aug |
14 Mar |
954 |
HENRY IV PART 2 Revival of play by Shakespeare (RSC) |
Stratford, Courtyard |
16 Aug |
14 Mar |
954 |
HOBSON'S CHOICE Revival of play by Harold Brighouse |
Chichester Festival |
2 Aug |
1 Sep |
948 |
HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES Revival of play by Alan Ayckbourn (Peter Hall Co) |
Bath, Theatre Royal |
15 Aug |
25 Aug |
962 |
NEVER FORGET New musical by Danny Brocklehurst and Guy Jones, with the music of Take That |
Manchester, Opera House / touring |
23 Aug |
1 Sep |
961 |
THE PENELOPIAD New adaptation by Margaret Atwood from her book (RSC) |
Stratford, Swan |
2 Aug |
18 Aug |
950 |
RICHARD II Revival of play by Shakespeare (RSC) |
Stratford, Courtyard |
16 Aug |
13 Mar |
954 |
ROMEO AND JULIET Revival of play by Shakespeare (Globe TC) |
Queensferry, Hopetoun Ho / touring |
21 Aug |
23 Aug |
960 |
VICTORY New play by Athol Fugard (Peter Hall Co) |
Bath, Theatre Royal |
15 Aug |
25 Aug |
964 |