Issue 22, 2009
Prompt Corner
As I’ve remarked before, the time-lag between a particular opening night and the corresponding issue of Theatre Record can result in strange dislocations, such as reviews of a major West End show appearing after the production’s run has been cut short. There’s a semi-example of that in the current issue: the “More on previous productions” pages at the back include reviews of Con O’Neill’s appearance in Prick Up Your Ears, replacing Matt Lucas who left the production following his ex-civil partner’s suicide. Unfortunately, O’Neill’s arrival was not enough to buoy up the production’s box office, and it closed on November 15. But how much more complicated things become when Theatre Record itself is an element in an ongoing story...
Last issue I commented at some length on various errors and controversial views by Tim Walker in his Sunday Telegraph reviews. I’ve noted before that Tim has stated his determination to be revenged on me, and on Mark Shenton, who occasionally makes similar comments on his blog on The Stage web site. I remarked in Issue 07 this year on previous pointed comments made by Tim about fat people as a way of getting at Mark and myself (although Mark has trimmed down enviably in recent months). In a review reprinted in Issue 05, Tim wrote about his sudden change of heart in refusing to apply for membership of the Critics’ Circle (of whose Drama section Mark is chairman and I am secretary), comparing his own stance with resistance to Nazism.
Diatribe
And then on 8 November, in a review reprinted on p1163 of this issue, Tim devoted fully half of his coverage of Pains Of Youth to a diatribe about the size of the person sitting behind him in the theatre. That person was me. Now, to be sure, I’m very fat indeed, but all Tim’s allegations about physical contact are entirely untrue, and I strongly suspect physically impossible. I’m not wounded by the insults: I’ve been fat almost all my life, so I was used to mockery and abuse by the age of eight or so, and most of that mockery was more sophisticated than Tim’s. But read that review, and marvel at two things: one, it was written by a grown man; two, it was published by a quality national newspaper. The Sunday Telegraph’s arts editor either actively passed that copy as being of suitable relevance and quality for the paper, or else doesn’t care enough to check his columnists’ writing. As far as I know, six of my fellow critics – including Paul Taylor, quoted opposite, and Rhoda Koenig – have written to the paper in protest at Tim’s remarks. He seems to believe that this is ipso facto evidence of an orchestrated campaign against him; it doesn’t seem to occur to him that there might simply be that many people who felt spontaneously and actively disgusted by his comments. (For the record, there has been no such campaign. Also for the record, I wasn’t on Financial Times duty that night, and left at the interval due to illness.)
But where does the aspect of scheduling enter this frankly pathetic saga? Well, here’s the thing: Tim wrote that review before the last issue of Theatre Record was published. So it can’t have been my sustained criticism of various of his writings in that issue that goaded him to such a personal response. At most, it can only have been my brief remark about his musings on Inherit The Wind in Issue 20. I wrote last issue that I felt somewhat embarrassed and guilty at addressing one writer so persistently, but now Tim has retrospectively justified my stance. So, if he’s now seen Issue 21, what can we expect him to launch at me in a future column? Well, let me make a prediction, and again it involves this strange two-track time scale we work on. As I write this, Tim’s review of Alan Bennett’s The Habit Of Art has not yet been published; it will have been in print by the time you receive this issue, though, and Issue 23 in turn will reprint that and other reviews.
And I feel grimly confident that his review will include some remarks which, while ostensibly being about the size of actor Richard Griffiths, are in fact pointed elsewhere entirely. Let’s see, shall we? I may be being quite paranoid; but of course, even paranoids sometimes actually are persecuted...
Relieved
Context is an interesting thing. Without knowledge of the background to some of Tim’s remarks, their pointed nature is quite unnoticeable. Similarly, a number of the reviews of Atiha Sen Gupta’s What Fatima Did... at Hampstead are quite glowing, and rather at odds with the three-star ratings which originally accompanied them. We keep arguing against the reductivism of star ratings, or arguing at least that they have to be read in the context of the review text, but on this occasion it’s been the other way round. Reviewers have been so relieved to find a non-turkey towards the end of Anthony Clark’s stewardship of Hampstead that this note is sounded too strongly in the text, and it is the star ratings that more truly reflect the adequate but imperfect state of the play. Yet this is an isolated instance – indeed, a unique one as far as I can recall – and does not constitute an argument for Theatre Record beginning to print the star ratings which accompany most reviews. Nicholas Wright’s Mrs Klein relies on context, too. It is a play designed to be appreciated by what one might call the “psychoanaliterate”, and they are still principally the middle classes. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the urge to clarify my remarks at the end of my FT review elsewhere in this issue.
My own most telling example of context came on 9 November, when I was in Berlin for the Fest der Freiheit commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Wall. While it was refreshing to see a recognition that popular culture has a part to play in such celebrations alongside “high” culture, I have to say that the examples on show didn’t strike me as the best we had to offer. I mean, can you equate Daniel Barenboim with Jon Bon Jovi, who seemed to be there principally because he’d hacked a lump of the Wall off as a keepsake for himself in 1989? But as to the matter of context: JBJ was belting out “We Weren’t Born To Follow”, which might have been intended as a rhapsody to individual freedom in the new reunited Germany as opposed to old DDR-era regimentation... but the line that kept hitting home was his insistence that we must “believe that the sun will shine tomorrow”, whilst the heavens were tipping rain down on him.
Ian Shuttleworth | ian@theatrerecord.com
At the Back
Can You Hear Me In Lecce?
It’s an awful confession, but I knew nothing about Lecce when I was invited there to join in the tenth birthday celebrations of its theatre company, the Cantieri Teatrali Koreja – Koreja Theatre Workshop, let’s call it. Lecce turned out to be the most beautiful baroque city, described by some as the Florence of the South, lying not far from the sea (nothing is) in the very heel of Italy, the territory known as Salento, rich in vines and olives, dotted with ancient Greek colonial settlements – there’s even a cluster of villages near Lecce where they still speak a Greek-based dialect called Grika.
Ownership
Koreja has a longer history than the ten years it has spent in its own theatre, having been started in the countryside nearby by a group of actors, some of whom had worked with Eugenio Barba. Later they moved in to play a couple of seasons in Lecce’s municipal theatre. In 1999 they found a disused brickworks on the city’s outskirts, which they have turned into a fine theatre complex of their own – the sense of ownership is considerable, because they built it themselves. At its core is an adaptable, 220-seater studio theatre, which we saw in a standard, high-rising configuration of seats facing a large flat stage, but could convert easily by pushing back its bleachers. This is approached from a large foyer, big enough for events of its own, which also opens on to a smaller studio-cumrehearsal room. The in-house workshop builds all Koreja’s productions. Perhaps the most important part of the building is the kitchen and dining room, where everyone eats together.
This tenth anniversary celebration was an opportunity to present some of the company’s successes, and launch a new piece. They do a lot of work for young audiences, with regular Sunday shows and a thriving educational programme. One of their own children’s shows is Paladins Of France, in which the company appear as fantastical life-sized parodies of the traditional Italian puppets who have for centuries enacted the adventures of Orlando and his fellow knights. For it the company has won awards both in its native Italy and abroad. It has toured extensively for several years.
Memories
The text of Paladins is by Francesco Niccolini, a Florentine writer who has provided several scripts for Koreja. His latest is Doctor Frankenstein, a duologue for the Doctor and his monster which examines their relationship at the point when the “monster” – here a waif-like figure who easily engages our sympathies – realises just how great is his difference from other creatures. “What do you want?” Frankenstein asks him. “Memories,” is his reply. Iole Cilento’s busy laboratory set prevents the play from descending into an hour of static dialogue, but there’s no escaping the fact that Koreja is a very text-conscious theatre. The same two actors, Fabrizio Saccomano and Fabrizio Pugliese, appeared the next evening in a version of Pinter’s The Dumb Waiter, which began rather surprisingly with a full-width mirror curtain across the stage, in which the audience were reflected. There was hardly time to wonder whether this gimmick was appropriate to Pinter before the audience found itself in a situation more reminiscent of Genet.
Light penetrated the mirror to show two scantily clad women engaged in physical banter while cleaning up the blood on set. They proceeded to deliver the first ten minutes of Pinter’s text, before leaving the now open stage to Messrs Saccomano and Pugliese, who repeated those early lines and finally produced an atmosphere that might be classed as Pinteresque. Their efforts were somewhat hampered by the use of a bucket to represent the dumb waiter of the play’s title, a key player here badly miscast. The cleaning ladies were presumably inspired by a casual remark from one of the bemused killers, who wonders who clears up after they have done their dirty work. Even with their addition, this was, like most of Koreja’s performances, a short evening.
Grika
The final show I saw used bigger resources: Salvatore Tramacere, artistic director of Koreja and director of the two previous pieces, joined the aptly named musical director Antonio Pizzicato to create The Passion Of The Trojan Women, which employed on-stage musicians to support a larger cast of six in a performance that was part tragedy, part oratorio. Its rather curious intent, to merge the events of Euripides’ Trojan Women, in particular the sacrifice of Astyanax, with Christ’s passion, was in fact a reflection of the Grika culture of the area, where the survivals of classical Greece merge with the mourning traditions of a later, Christian era. The highly ritualistic and surprisingly successful result was achieved by some fine singing and sympathetic local music.
Overall it was fascinating to see the development of a small, close-knit company that has stayed together for many years in the not always supportive conditions of Italian theatre. Koreja has to tour to survive – they will not be back in their theatre until February, leaving it to other touring companies (including Cesc Gelabert and Romeo Castellucci) in the mean time.
Network
The other reason for a gathering of foreign visitors at this time was the inauguration of a new theatre network, Interact, in which Koreja’s manager Franco Ungaro has been a prime mover. It aims to bring together small innovative theatre companies and festivals around the world, with the thrust of its collaboration covering four areas, Performance, New Work, Productions and Cultural Exchange. So far the network’s lone UK member is Colchester’s Mercury Theatre, but these are early days. Otherwise, apart from the Lit Moon company from Santa Barbara, whose director John Blondell is Interact’s first President, the present membership is drawn largely from the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, stretching beyond to Turkey, Georgia and Iran. It remains to be seen whether the network will be able to meet the varying needs of its members, be they theatre companies looking to organise tours or festivals looking for new product, but there was certainly a great sense of willingness to co-operate in the group’s first working meetings. Theatres seeking to be seen in lesser known areas like Albania, Macedonia or Montenegro could do worse than look at Interact, and visit their website, www.interact-net.net, for further information.
Ian Herbert | ian@herbertknott.com
Production |
Venue | Opened | Closed | Page |
| ARTURO BRACHETTI: CHANGE New cabaret show | Garrick | 26 Oct | 3 Jan | 1153 |
| BLOW UP! THE CREDIT CRUNCH MUSICAL New musical by Charlie Talbot and Dunstan Kornicki | King's Head | 28 Oct | 28 Nov | 1152 |
| IF THERE IS I HAVEN'T FOUND IT YET New play by Nick Payne | Bush | 22 Oct | 21 Nov | 1148 |
| LITTLE FISH European première of musical by John LaChiusa | Finborough | 29 Oct | 21 Nov | 1150 |
| MARILYN: FOREVER BLONDE, THE MARILYN MONROE STORY IN HER OWN WORDS AND MUSIC | Leicester Square | 22 Oct | 18 Nov | 1150 |
| MISTERIOSO New play by Stefano Benni (Theatralia) | Riverside | 22 Oct | 8 Nov | 1159 |
| MRS KLEIN Revival of play by Nicholas Wright | Almeida | 29 Oct | 5 Dec | 1165 |
| NOT THE MESSIAH (HE'S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY) New comedic oratorio by Eric Idle and John Du Prez | Royal Albert Hall | 23 Oct | 23 Oct | 1151 |
| ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES New play by Bryony Lavery (Primavera) | Arcola | 30 Oct | 21 Nov | 1169 |
| PAGES: PROMISED LAND Return of musical by Alex Constantine et al. (MokitaGrit) | Union SE1 | 23 Oct | 7 Nov | 1164 |
| PAINS OF YOUTH New version by Martin Crimp of play by Ferdinand Bruckner (NT) | Cottesloe | 28 Oct | 1160 | |
| RIGGED New play by Ashmeed Sohoye (Theatre Centre) | Unicorn | 13 Oct | 17 Oct | 1152 |
| RUST Puppet show by Green Ginger | Pleasance | 3 Nov | 15 Nov | 1170 |
| SEIZE THE DAY New play by Kwame Kwei-Armah | Tricycle | 2 Nov | 17 Dec | 1173 |
| SHRADDHA New play by Natasha Langridge | Soho | 4 Nov | 21 Nov | 1176 |
| THEY ONLY COME AT NIGHT: VISIONS New piece by Slung Low | Barbican Centre | 30 Oct | 15 Nov | 1171 |
| THIS MUCH IS TRUE New play by Paul Unwin and Sarah Beck | Theatre 503 | 3 Nov | 21 Nov | 1172 |
| WHAT FATIMA DID... New play by Atiha Sen Gupta | Hampstead | 27 Oct | 7 Nov | 1155 |
| THE WITCH OF EDMONTON revival of play by Thomas Dekker, William Rowley and John Ford | Courtyard | 22 Oct | 15 Nov | 1168 |
| WOMEN OF MANHATTAN UK première of play by John Patrick Shanley | Old Red Lion | 22 Oct | 7 Nov | 1164 |
| ZOMBIE PROM UK première of musical by John Dempsey and Dana P Rowe | Landor | 22 Oct | 14 Nov | 1164 |
Regions |
||||
AN ARGUMENT ABOUT SEX New play by Pamela Carter |
Glasgow, Tramway / touring | 3 Oct | 17 Oct | 1190 |
| BABYLONE New adaptation by David Eldridge of play by Jean-Marie Besset | Coventry, Belgrade | 27 Oct | 14 Nov | 1179 |
| BEYOND THE HORIZON / SPRING STORM Revival by Eugene O’Neill / première by Tennessee Williams | Northampton, Royal | 22 Oct | 14 Nov | 1177 |
| CARDBOARD DAD New play by Alan Harris | Cardiff, Sherman | 15 Oct | 31 Oct | 1179 |
| DEAD CAT BOUNCE New piece by Volcano TC | Swansea, Taliesin Arts Centre | 23 Oct | 23 Oct | 1186 |
| FESTEN Revival of adaptation by David Eldridge from film by Thomas Vinterberg | Mold, Clwyd Theatr Cymru | 27 Oct | 14 Nov | 1180 |
| GHOSTS Revival of play by Henrik Ibsen | Bolton, Octagon | 30 Oct | 21 Nov | 1181 |
| GRAND GUIGNOL New play by Carl Grose | Plymouth, Drum | 3 Nov | 14 Nov | 1184 |
| MAKE BELIEVE New piece by Quarantine | Manchester, Contact / touring | 28 Oct | 7 Nov | 1180 |
| THE MOON SAILS OUT New biographical drama on Federico Garcia Lorca | Cumbernauld | 28 Oct | 31 Oct | 1190 |
| A MURDER HAS BEEN ARRANGED Revival of play by Emlyn Williams | Hornchurch, Queen’s | 2 Nov | 21 Nov | 1181 |
| OTHELLO Revival of play by Shakespeare | Glasgow, Citizens | 23 Oct | 14 Nov | 1189 |
| THE PROS, THE CONS AND A SCREW New play by Tim Elgood | Derby | 3 Nov | 21 Nov | 1182 |
| A TENDER THING New play by Ben Power (RSC) | Newcastle, Northern Stage | 4 Nov | 7 Nov | 1185 |
| TOPDOG/UNDERDOG Revival of play by Suzan-Lori Parks | Glasgow, Citizens | 22 Oct | 7 Nov | 1185 |
| THE TRAGICAL AND DISTURBING TALE OF LITTLE LUPIN New play by Luci Gorell Barnes | Bristol Old Vic | 27 Oct | 31 Oct | 1180 |
| UNCLE VANYA Revival of play by Anton Chekhov | Bristol Old Vic | 3 Nov | 21 Nov | 1182 |
| WATCH ME FALL New play presented by Action Hero | Warwick Arts Centre / touring | 20 Oct | 21 Oct | 1180 |
