The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare
Step on Stage Productions at Queen Charlotte Theatre at RACC, Richmond, 20th November
Review by Thomas Forsythe
Throw away the shoehorn! The Merchant of Venice is usually over-analysed in an often misguided attempt to shoehorn its way of thinking into the 20th Century mindset. Although it is a comedy only in the literary sense of having a happy ending for (most) of its protagonists, it is at heart a cracking tale, well told.
If you wanted to see a production of The Merchant of Venice that was as simple as it was slick, and as entertaining as it was erudite, then you should kick yourself if you missed Step on Stage’s one-night performance last weekend.
Masked Ball in Belmont: Nerissa (Maddie Taylor), Portia (Fiona Lock) and Jessica (Tilly Hollywood) Photograph by Step on Stage Productions
Incredibly, no actor was older than fifteen, and the youngest was six years’ old! A cut-back version that lasted under an hour, it had the essence of the story, well told by a troupe who clearly knew what they were doing, and did it brilliantly. Moreover, it was done under “Fringe” conditions, minimal get-in time, no changes to existing technical set-up, instant get-out.
As soon as the play opened with a crisply choreographed dance to well-chosen period music, we could see that here we had a smooth running ensemble, no weak links, no divas.
Saoirse Frisby was fluent and natural as Antonio, the merchant who is willing to stand surety for his friend Bassanio’s investment in a voyage that will bring him the funds to wed his true-love Portia. Perhaps a little confusingly, we had two actors playing Bassanio, Katie Overd and Brune Delecour, both secure in the part. In the later scenes of the play, Brune skilfully ran with the part while Katie competently took on the role of Tubal.
The merchants’ banker is Shylock, a complex character seething with resentment under a veneer of urbanity, and this was how Leo Buckley played him, confident, cool, businesslike: never far from his briefcase. The abridgement had lost some opportunities to show a more sympathetic human side of Shylock, such as his underlying love for Jessica his daughter (mirror of her late mother) in spite of his preoccupation with the missing jewels when she elopes with Lorenzo. Nevertheless, Leo did reveal Shylock’s innate humanity in the well-known “if you prick us, do we not bleed” speech, when we saw the suffering of the Jewish race peep out from the mannered banker.
Tilly Hollywood’s gentle Jessica and Scarlett Gladstone’s likeable Lorenzo were a made-for-each-other couple.
The yeoman stock of Belmont, convincingly played by Elise Gibson as Graziano, and Lizzie O’Reilly and Olivia Bedenko as “the two Salads”, were well complemented by servant classes in the form of Old Gobbo and his more upwardly mobile son, Launcelot Gobbo. Shakespeare allows some cruel humour from these two, when the son taunts the father who does not recognise him, on account of his “high gravel-blindness”. Cillian Frisby and Leah Ash stuck the balance on this humour just right.
Portia is of course pivotal to the story and is an iconic acting role for a young actress. Fiona Lock excelled in this part. Clearly an actress with insight and intelligence, she played the self assured Portia with a perfect mix of demureness and dynamism. Skilfully supported by Maddie Taylor as her lady’s maid Nerissa, Fiona accurately displayed the playful, mischievous Portia when receiving her three suitors and the steely, determined and focussed Portia when rescuing the favoured Bassanio from the Duke’s court and the machinations of Shylock.
The two unsuccessful suitors were Nils Collins as the Duke of Morocco and Darcey Fryer-Bovill as the Duke of Aragon. They must choose between three caskets that may, or may not, hide Portia’s likeness. Morocco chooses gold, Aragon chooses silver; both are thwarted, whereas Bassano’s later more modest choice of lead wins the girl. Both pulled the utmost from these parts, confidently caricaturing them unashamedly. Nils’ Morocco was foppish and foolish, Darcey’s Aragon arrogant and vain: delicious milking of both parts. Morocco acted as a stooge for Aragon’s subsequent appearance. Diminutive but assured, Darcey, six years’ old, knew how to play the audience for laughs and milked the part until double cream ran.
The court of law was presided over by the Duke, in Alex Wigington’s capable hands a stern and regal figure. When Portia arrives disguised as an advocate for Antonio, the whole cast notched up the tension. Fiona Lock’s dynamic acting style worked beautifully through the famous “the quality of mercy is not strain’d” speech, to the final conclusion that Shylock could have his pound of flesh on condition that he did not also take Antonio’s blood. The court scene was totally gripping, the audience in silence, until Shylock was about to cut the flesh from Antonio’s chest, when there was a palpable gasp from everyone.
The return to Belmont was romantic, soft candlelight on the water. Lighting designer Meg Hird had set the scene throughout, across a simple set of grey cubes in the draped black-box acting space, but here one could feel the ambience. The costumes (by director Emma-Louise Tinniswood and Sam Millard) were across a variety of periods, suggesting a continuing relevance of the play’s themes. Redemption and love win out against greed and arrogance. True loves are united: Portia and Bassanio, Jessica and Lorenzo, Nerissa and Gratiano. There however remains, unresolved, the plight of the hapless Shylock, alone without his daughter, having lost face, fortune and the faith of his forefathers.
Emma-Louise Tinniswood and her Step on Stage company have created a remarkable production that was utterly delightful to watch. I wish all Shakespeare productions were so enjoyable.
Thomas Forsythe
November 2016
Boots on the Ground
talk by General, The Lord Dannatt
at Duke Street, Richmond, 16th November
Review by Thomas Forsythe
We are privileged in Richmond, in Britain, and in the free world to be able to enjoy the wide sweep of the arts. That enjoyment is important in giving us an opportunity to contemplate the full meaning of the world and life in this world. However, we are only able to have the luxury of such contemplation in a world that is civilised, safe and secure. We would not be able to enjoy that civilised world and without its protectors, the military.
It was in this context that Arts Richmond, the umbrella organisation for the encouragement and support of the arts in Richmond-upon-Thames, invited Lord Richard Dannatt, Chief of the General Staff from 2006 to 2009 to talk about his latest book, Boots on the Ground.
Lord Dannatt in emphatic reply
Lord Dannatt epitomises that crucial element of the safety of society of which we should all be proud, whom we often laud, but seldom listen to: the soldier. Lord Dannatt knows the reality of being a soldier. When aged 22, he was awarded the Military Cross as platoon commander in Belfast, and has personally seen action in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He knows, to use his own words, “the sights, sounds and smells of the battlefield”. Lord Dannatt knows the reality of being a parent of a soldier. His own son has had long periods of active service in the Middle East. Lord Dannatt knows the reality of the lives of the soldiers who have been under his command.
In his 2010 autobiographical book, Leading from the Front, written when he was a defence advisor to David Cameron, he was controversial in his indictment of New Labour, and particularly of Gordon Brown, in its failure to fund and equip the armed forces for the war in the Middle East, and in the over-stretching of the military by simultaneous operation in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Boots on the Ground he develops a thesis that rather than military history following political history, military expediency is the driver of history. The book specifically considers the role of the military since the end of World War Two. He considered Palestine and India in the 1940’s, and Malaysia and Korea in 1950’s, with reference to the political impact versus the funding expended on defence, from 46.37% of GDP in 1943 to 11% during the Korean War. Following Duncan Sandys’ defence review in 1957, when many regiments of the British army were disbanded, the spending was cut to 8½%. In spite of the Falkland’s War, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to 9/11 defence spending has been slashed for 5% to 2½% of GDP. This was in spite of crucial military support in Northern Ireland, the Balkans and elsewhere. Since then there have been major engagements in the Middle East yet spending is now at an all-time low of 2%. Since World War Two, over 16,000 lives of British service men and women have been lost. It these days when there are so many violent threats from around the world, with the increasing involvement of Russia in world affairs, and especially in the destroyed country of Syria, with terrorism an increasing threat, and with the horror of the barbarous rise of Islamic State, Lord Dannatt argues in Boots on the Ground that this is woefully insufficient.
Away from the political field, Lord Dannatt’s concern for his soldiers, sailors and airmen is apparent in his support of charities such as Help for Heroes. He is a committed Christian and his faith has always informed his actions in his long career in the military. Lord Dannatt knows that for a soldier in the field, spiritual belief is heightened in the reality of life and death on the battlefield. In his support for others, Lord Dannatt can, however, underestimate his own role. Lord Dannatt’s name is on the cover of Boots on the Ground , but when you read the book, you may note that his name does not appear anywhere in the text. He writes modestly as an historian, not as a maker of history.
In the question and answer session, chaired by Air Vice-Marshal Graham Skinner, many robust and searching questions emerged. These ranged from should National Service, in the 1949-1963 style, be re-instituted (no, we could not afford it); how does one “win hearts and minds” (money, mercy, muscle); to is war with Russia in 2017 as possibility (Putin could be “the man who destroyed NATO”).
Air Vice-Marshal Skinner was the Commander-in-Chief of RAF Logistics Command and so many of Lord Dannatt’s concerns about equipping and moving the armed forces would have chimed strongly with him. He was “local boy” (and still is a governor of Hampton School, where he was educated), and our “home ground” audience warmed to his easy style, informative introduction and his skilful handling of many enthusiastic questioners.
In Lord Dannatt, we have a champion for that important balance between executive in government and the military. In his talk we clearly perceived that Lord Dannatt has not only the physical courage that goes with being a soldier, but the moral courage that goes with being a leader.
Thomas Forsythe
November 2016
Editor’s Note: This talk was one of an annual trilogy of talks in Arts Richmond’s Books for our Time series, which form the highlights of the annual Richmond upon Thames Literature Festival
Leaf Hound
The Eel Pie Club at The Cabbage Patch, Twickenham, Thursday 17th November
Review by Cliff Tapstand
Hard rock is back at the Cabbage Patch ! Leaf Hound are a rock band originally formed in the early 1970’s, with vocalist Peter French, and in 1971 produced an album, Growers of Mushroom, which Q Magazine identified as the most collectable rock album of all time. Sadly the band split up, and went their separate ways, with Peter joining Atomic Rooster.
Peter re-formed the band in 2004 and they have become regular performers at the Eel Pie. On Thursday 17th November their line-up was Peter on vocals, Luke Rayner on guitar, Pete Herbert on bass and Jim Rowland on drums. The band played hard rock at high tempo and high volume, and are just as entertaining to watch as they are to listen to. It is easy to believe that Peter is widely regarded as one of the best rock vocalists in the business.
Luke Rayner is a highly talented left handed guitarist who tackles the most intricate guitar breaks with a calmness that underlines the confidence he has in his own ability. Calmness, however, is a word that you could never use to describe a Pete Herbert performance. He is the consummate showman, and one that you cannot keep your eyes off. His acrobatic performance is amazing, taking up half the stage, often leaping four or five feet in the air, and never missing a beat. Completing the rhythm section is Jim Rowland, driving the beat onward with both subtlety and power. The overall result is a wall of sound enriched by Peter’s powerful vocals.
They performed tracks from Growers of Mushroom, including Freelance Fiend and Work My Body, and from their album Live in Japan, tracks including Barricades, Stop, Look and Listen and Evil.
The evening closed with a rousing singalong version of The Kinks’ All Day and All of the Night.
The Eel Pie Club is a resurrection of the legendary Eel Pie Island Music venue in the heart of Twickenham. Starting out as a Music Hall, it became a jazz club in the Mid 1950’s, and then became the south-west London’s answer to the explosion of rhythm ‘n’ blues music coming out of Liverpool, spear-headed by the Beatles.
Many, now famous bands and solo artists, started out on the island, including, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Rod Stewart, Long John Baldrey, and a band still playing at The Eel Pie Club, The Down Liners Sect.
Resurrected 16 years ago, and run by Gina Way and Warren Walters, the Club’s home is at the Cabbage Patch public house, Twickenham where rhythm ‘n’ blues and rock music can be heard live every other Thursday throughout the year.
Cliff Tapstand.
November 2016
Glorious!
by Peter Quilter
Q2 Players at The Alexandra Room, The Avenue, Kew until 26th November
Review by Mary Stoakes
Some new lighting and a very special set design with a multitude of floral arrangements transformed the somewhat unpromising surroundings of the Alexandra Hall in Kew into a New York Hotel suite, a pets’ cemetery and even Carnegie Hall for Q2’s production of Glorious.
Lavish costumes, gloriously in period, were from the collections of designers Junis Olmscheid and Susan Gerlach. The excellent hair styling and makeup were equally glorious and period-perfect: all down to the magical and very professional skills of Olmscheid, who also designed the set and arranged the props. The sound design and choice of music by Felicity Morgan was well judged with the interludes of ‘real’ singers contrasting well with Florence’s efforts. The synchronisation of the piano ‘accompaniment’ and the use of the gramophone were excellent. A word of appreciation must also be given to the programme designer and photographer for the striking and eye-catching cover.
This comedy relates the history of American socialite, thwarted opera singer and heiress, Florence Foster Jenkins, ‘the worst soprano in the world’. She was famed for her flamboyant costumes and extravagant settings for her recitals which she began after the death of her father left her with sufficient money to fund her ambitions. Her voice was consistently flat and had what one critic at the time described as a sliding scale of intonation. For whatever reason, she became a cult figure in New York in the 1920s, ‘30s and ‘40s and audiences flocked to see her performances. She died suddenly in New York a few days after she had given her most famous recital at Carnegie Hall when she was in her 70s.
Felicity Morgan was well cast as Florence, although perhaps a little young for the part as the action takes place towards the end of her career. It is very difficult for a good singer such as Felicity to sing badly but she succeeded hilariously in bringing Florence and her ‘art’ to the audience. Particularly successful was a Spanish flower song, in which she danced, sang and distributed a basketful of blooms to the audience. Her final Mozart aria was a triumph of poor singing when, dressed somewhat improbably as an angel, she attempted the top fs in the Queen of the Night’s outpouring together with some very well timed gestures. Felicity sustained her American accent well throughout and believably succeeded in portraying the charm, determination, self-delusion and self-confidence of the character.
Photograph by Connor Ballard-Pateman
Making his English debut in this production, Ian Kinane played the part of her last, long suffering accompanist. Shy and horrified at first, he subsequently comes to support and indeed love her and his feelings were movingly expressed in his final monologue. With lovely character development shown throughout the action and some excellent mime at the piano, Ian promises to be great addition to Q2’s team.
The pace at the beginning of the first act could have been sharper and the performers could have reached out more to the audience, who failed to respond to many of the jokes in the witty script. One recognises that the background and characters have to be established but this opening was overly static. However it was enlivened by the presence of the incomprehensible and truculent Mexican maid (Lillian Hull). Few of the audience were able to comment on the quality of her Spanish but it sounded extremely impressive and her acting provided some fine comic moments in both acts.
In the supporting roles, Dominic Parford played the part of the out of work English actor who was Florence’s lover and companion confidently with just the right amount of rakishness and cynicism. Both Laurie Coombs, as Florence’s fussy, dog-loving and caring friend Dorothy, and Fran Billington (Mrs Verrinder-Gedge, one of her sternest and most vocal critics), could been more amusing if they had played their parts more broadly as American ladies of a certain age and social standing. Both came across as quintessentially English, any traces of an American accent disappeared after a few lines and a potentially rich vein of satire and caricature was unexploited.
The director, designer, cast and crew must be congratulated in putting on so successfully this unusual and demanding play, which was thoroughly enjoyed by an appreciative audience.
Mary Stoakes
November 2016
The Magic Flute
by W.A. Mozart
Richmond Opera at the Normansfield Theatre, Teddington. Until 20th November
Review by Mark Aspen
Silk and satin, cotton and rags, colour, lights, action! So much was put into Richmond Opera’s recent inclusive production of The Magic Flute in Teddington’s opulent museum-piece small theatre at Normansfield.
This singspiel is always presented as a multi-layered extravaganza that is all things to all people. Mozart himself conducted the first performance of what was to be his last opera, just over two months before his death. His main librettist (and producer and designer) Emanuel Schikaneder, who even built the Freihaus Theater auf der Wieden where The Magic Flute was premiered in the suburbs of Vienna, played the part of Papagano. Instead of an Italian language opera seria for the aristocrats, The Magic Flute was intended to be a German-language fun piece for the community. Thus with Richmond Opera’s production.
Musical director, Lindsay Bramley conducted her enthusiastic 25 piece orchestra with a dynamism that was at one whimsical and folksy but melodic and soaringly beautiful: the music that is Mozart at his playful best.
Schikaneder’s serpent that insinuated its way through the auditorium at the end of the overture was a colourful four-child-power Chinese dragon. Our fearfully fainting hero, Tamino, is soon recued by Three Ladies, tunefully sung and vigorously acted by Jane Anghelatos, Ursula Block, and Kate Cleeland, who, we soon see, so much have the hots for him that they argue who is to leave and report back to the boss, The Queen of the Night, on their find.
Tamino, their prize, is an Egyptian prince travelling afar to find his love. The ladies have just the person in mind, Pamina, the daughter of the Queen, who is imprisoned by Sarastro, the High Priest of the Temple of Isis and Osiris. Tamino, perhaps rashly, swears to free her.
The Queen of Night is an iconic role and everyone waits for her famous virtuoso arias. Sue Corrigan was regal and full of malevolent power in this role, and sang impressively, effortlessly hitting those infamous top-Fs. Equally impressive was Tony Moss’s Sarastro. Moss has a commanding stage presence, a rich bass voice, and looked resplendent in his golden robes. These contrasted brilliantly with the Queen’s midnight blue, thanks to an imaginative costume design by Kate Cleeland (although I was a little doubtful about some of the footwear.)
Andrew Evans, as Tamino, had a splendid tenor voice, resonant at the lower end of his register, and bright at the higher end. Tamino’s determination and impetuosity was not very obvious, however, and he could have been more fired-up when he eventually meets with Pamina, although his duet with Andrienne Walters as Pamina, when they sing that “the law of God is love for man and wife” was very appealing. Walters has a lovely soprano voice and, in her aria when she is perplexed that Tamino cannot speak to her, her delivery of the phrasing expressing her pain was beautifully aching.
Much of the fun in The Magic Flute comes from the bird-catcher, Papagano, whom we first see after the slaying of the monstrous dragon. Papagano takes the credit for the salvation of Tamino when he revives the prince, a whopper for which the Three Ladies padlock his mouth. However, this does not stop him humming his way into their quintet which finishes with Tamino being given the eponymous flute and Papagano a set of bells to help them find their respective loves. Unfortunately they must carry out various labours … the source of a lot of the fun. Baritone, Luke Reader, in suitably ornithological costume, was an enjoyable and entertaining Papagano, and his easy energy made a very likable and sympathetic character. Singing that he all he needs is a loving maiden or little woman for his wife, he remembers the bells. These summon an old woman, but he says the right things, and she transmogrifies into his true love, Papagena. Soprano, Christine Dencer was captivating in this role, lithe and gamine, with a bell-like voice, she enchanted the audience almost as much as she enchanted Papagano. The well-known “papa-papa” duet was huge fun.
The all people to whom The Magic Flute has become all things, have over time included historians (The Queen = Maria Theresa, Tamino the people of Austria), mathematicians (Golden Ratios and Fibonacci Series in the music) and Freemasons, whose rituals appear in various guises in the opera. Certainly Tamino and Papagano both have to go through initiation ceremonies and various ritualistic tasks before obtaining their goals (notably their respective wives). In fact, under the fun in this singspiel are hidden many dark themes, including complex confabulations of good and evil (which is which, The Queen or Sarastro?). The ritual makers included The Speaker (dignified Peter Brown, who has a satisfyingly robust bass voice); the would-be rapist, Monostratus who should represent evil (Steve Harrison, in this role, was regretfully ineffectual and largely inaudible); and the three spirits. Helena Carlin, Elizabeth Prabhakar, and Catherine McManus, kooky rather than spooky spirits, made a delightful diversion from the darker moments of the plot.
The set and lighting design (Lyn Keay and Simon Pike respectfully) particularly came to the fore in the ritual scenes, making full use of LED-lit slit-drape, follow spots and colour changers, all non-intrusive additions to the splendour of the Normansfield setting.
The children who we initially saw as the dragon’s feet, and made a later appearance as fidgeting asteroids in attendance to the starry Queen of the Night, rather pulled the focus in the final scenes. They should have represented the ideal Papa’ family but their lack of control would have been a contraceptive to any potential parents. Nevertheless, the finale was a joyous paean to the power of love and wisdom to which singers and the magnificent orchestra gave their all.
Richmond Opera gave its infectious enthusiasm to the heterogeneity of this Pandora’s box of an piece, with its multiple roots in fairy tale, pantomime, Masonic shenanigans, humour and musical legerdemain: all the fun of the fair that is The Magic Flute.
Mark Aspen
November 2016
The Script Room
triple bill
Optik Theatre at Whitton Library, Nelson Rd. 17th November
Review by Ed Harris
The Script Room is an exciting new venture utilising some good space at Whitton Library as a platform for new writing. In association with Richmond upon Thames Library Service and Friends of Whitton Library, Optik Theatre’s professional actors launched the project with dramatised readings of two new scripts written by local authors, as well as a hundred-year-old script revived for the first time since the 1930’s, thrown in for good measure.
In a triple bill that included great comedy, romantic intrigue and powerful historical drama, the first performance was Yellow Roses, a one-act play by Ken Mason that wove a dream-like story of two women from Richmond; one from Richmond in Surrey and the other from Richmond in Yorkshire, who each receive a mysterious invitation to meet in a London café and each carrying a yellow rose. In eventually discovering that their respective husbands are uncomfortably similar, it’s only after a series of clues present themselves that their uneasy plight begins to make some sense: a newspaper clipping, a key to a box and a connection to Richmond, Virginia, and all is revealed. Or is it?
Deborah Kearne and Maggie Saunders, who majestically managed to make the scripts they were holding vanish, re-emerged after a short break as the two outrageous characters in an hilarious rendering of Allotments, a comic masterpiece written in 1918 by a pioneer of women’s writing, Gertrude Jennings. In a side-splitting take on sharing, stealing and conflict among the cabbages, it is near impossible to convey the sheer professionalism of these actors with just a day’s rehearsal to nail the riotous timing of the lines and complexity of the moves required to do the justice to the piece they so adeptly managed.
Similarly, On Dark Water by Margaret Thomas, saw Jerome Ngonadi brilliantly convey the plight of a Virginian slave turned soldier who comes to the strange world that is 18th century London to prepare for his cherished ambition to meet with the King. In this he is aided and hindered by Archie O’Reilly, a street-wise waterman, heartily played by Alec Bennie as to the precepts of a man about town in Georgian England. If this was a rehearsed reading, then the mind truly boggles as to the capabilities of these talented actors.
As a debut piece for Optik Theatre, the Script Room event was of a similarly high standard and with the significant audience number appearing to have thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Editor’s Note:
The next Script Room event is part of the Richmond Music and Drama Festival on Thursday 23rd March at 7pm, where this lively partnership looks to stage more original and unperformed scripts. These can either be one-act plays or extracts from full length theatre scripts in any style and on any theme, but should have full live production potential and not require a large cast. Writers should contact Optik Theatre Director, Barry Edwards, for more information: mail@barryedwards.net
The Distance
by Deborah Bruce
Wild Duck Theatre at Old Sorting Office Arts Centre, Barnes until 19th November
Review by Thomas Forsythe
Would you die for your children, or are you dying to be away from them? For most parents the answer to this question lies somewhere towards the middle of this wide spectrum. In Derborah Bruce’s tightly-knit play, now running at the Old Sorting Office theatre, the very nature of parenthood is unpicked and the strands re-ravelled.
The play was given its first two outings in collaboration between the Orange Tree and the Crucible theatres (Paul Miller’s two in-the-round spaces) in 2014 and 2015. Now it has been brought back to Richmond by Wild Duck Theatre, a brand-new company, the brain-child of well-known local director Susan Conte. As a dark drama sprinkled with light humour, The Distance is very much a style in which Conte excels.
Three ex-student flatmates, now thirty-something yummy mummies, meet in Kate’s house in trendy Brighton, daughter tucked in bed. Bea is definitely dying to be away from her children, about 10,600 miles away in fact, for she has left them in Melbourne, Australia. The third friend, Alex, is anxious, for although her teenage son is only in London, 50 miles away, it is the summer of 2011, and there is rioting on the streets!
The Distance asks, even if the distance is 11,600 miles or 50 miles, can you leave motherhood behind. Bea can. Alex can’t. Kate has definite views.
Bea (Charlotte Skinner), Alex (Tarryn Meaker) and Kate (Elizabeth Ollier) Photograph by Marc Pearce
Actually, Kate has definite views about everything, and definitely knows that that should be everybody else’s views too. For Kate, motherhood reigns supreme and forthwith she has booked air ticket to take her and Bea straight back to Melbourne to claim custody of Bea’s children. Elizabeth Ollier played the hyperactive hyper-pushy Kate with taut precision which put over the character’s acerbic edginess and frayed nerves. In the hands of a less skilful actress, this could have been all zingy and twangy, but Ollier showed us another side of Kate. Her clinging anxiety about motherhood arose from Kate’s difficulties in conceiving Iris, her much wanted child, after eight years of IVF treatment.
The pivotal character is Bea. Is she Euripides’ Medea cutting up her children to spite her husband or Ibsen’s Nora, walking out to a life of freedom? Bea is unsure of her own motives, guilty to feel so released from her family, but surely determined not to go back. One wonders why then does she take her frangible feelings to her flaky friends, knowing that there is not a hope in hell they will bridge the canyon of her ethical dilemma. Does she strike out for personal freedom or uphold the social conventions of maternal instinct … a sort of nurture versus nature self argument? Charlotte Skinner as Bea came across as a character in conflict, mild and soft, preoccupied and passive on one hand, but steely sure and doggedly determined on the other: a well-studied and nicely drawn depiction.
Dippy hippy Alex, three children, three fathers, provided the light relief. She sets out to be a referee, something she is not cut out to be, between the views of Bea and Kate, but eventually dives out for “a spliff in the summer house”. Tarryn Meaker was great in this part, giving the audience the wild nervous energy that the part demanded. Alex, however, is constantly distracted by the news of the London riots and is desperately trying to contact her teenage son, Liam, who is somewhere in the increasingly threatening metropolis.
It is not clear what Bruce, as author, is trying to achieve dramatically from the backdrop of the riots. Does the news of the spread civil unrest in London justly reflect the escalating tensions in this house in Brighton? Does the burgeoning violence of the great unwashed in the Great Wen intrude on the tribulations of these well-heeled suburbanites? Or is it simply a device to bring the teenager into the plot?
If it were the last, then we should give thanks, clumsy as the device is, for the character of Liam is finely written by Bruce and outstandingly acted by young actor Ben Dimmock. Liam has eventually been fetched from London by Kate’s long suffering husband, Dewi, and is been disturbed by Bea at 2:30 in the morning, when in the typical teenage position of being asleep on the sofa, hidden head to toe by a giant duvet. Bea has come into the living room to get a better signal to her laptop. She is trying to convince herself that she doesn’t even want to Skype her children in Aus. When Liam awakes to discover this, he is aghast, and we discover that he is one of the few characters who talks adult sense, albeit in his gauche teenage way. Dimmock brilliant acted the awkward but tech-savvy Liam, his general unease, his embarrassment at being treated as a man by Bea, his concealed pleasure in recounting his Outward Bound course, and his ability to give untutored advice. Dimmock was a picture of hair-ruffling, ill at ease, troubled Liam, the teenager at his most philosophical.
Bruce may be a feminist writer, and you could arguably say that of Ibsen or even Euripides, but it is the adult male characters who bring relevant perspective and gentle humour to a drama which is otherwise tightly focused on the fragility of female friendships and their veracity. Dewi and Vinnie, husband and brother-in-law to Kate, are down-to-earth brothers from the Welsh valleys. Dewi, an ex-pop musician, is now as gentrified as his house, which out-of-work Vinnie is helping to improve in lieu of rent. (The summerhouse, or is it Dewi’s recording studio, is his handiwork.)
Chris Mounsey, who is well versed in cut-glass characters, was not an obvious casting choice for the blokey Vinnie, but had him to a tee, giving a very sympathetic take on a character reviled by the snobbish Kate. Mounsey accurately depicted the way that Vinnie’s take-it-on-the-chin laid back attitude was eroded by Katie’s acid remarks until he heatedly pours out his scorn for her.
Dewi is the put-upon husband, who one feels is the bedrock of this household. Gradually, however, when we find that Kate has thwarted his attempts to have access to his daughter from a previous relationship, we feel greatly for him, as we learn, with some sympathy, the origins of Kate’s overweening impulse for control. Phil Lee Thomas, as Dewi, gave a secure, fluent and very natural performance that said all about his character. On the opening night, when there was some indication of first-night nerves until the cast (very rapidly) got into their stride, Thomas seemed to be a steadying influence.
The play was parenthesised by establishing scenes in which we learn of Bea’s life with Simon, her Australian husband, including their chance (and highly risky) first meeting sharing an hotel room in Kuala Lumpur. Andrew Williams, in the role of Simon, tended to under-project and to throw away lines, some of which were crucial at the beginning of the play and weakened its opening.
Kate describes her home as full of “tot and tat” and “grubby”, but her expectations must have been very high, for it looked pretty smart to me, even for Barnes. It was crisply lit by Martin Walton. The audible setting of techno-sounds was in the hands of stalwart, Martin Pope, and there was very appropriate original music by the incomparable James Bedrock. The new very smart fixed configuration at OSO of raked seating and proscenium did compromise Susan Conte’s wonted fluid style, but spilling the action beyond the fourth wall was probably best avoided. However, The Distance was well suited to the intimacy of the OSO and was very well received by full houses.
This was a very polished production, nicely balanced, with nothing overstated (the various Welsh and Australian accents just lightly touched) which formed a well crafted inaugural production as Susan Conte’s Wild Duck Theatre took to the wing.
The Distance is a parable about the values of modern society, a study of anxiety and guilt, of the authenticity of friendship, and the contrarian wisdom of youth. Nevertheless, its overarching theme is of the nature of motherhood, of fatherhood, and their mutual roles.
Are you dying to be away from your children … or are they dying to be away from you?
Thomas Forsythe
November 2016
The Merchant of Venice
by William Shakespeare
Richmond Shakespeare Society at the Mary Wallace Theatre, Twickenham, 5th to 12th November
Review by Mary Stoakes
This play with its overt racism, casual mockery of the disabled Old Gobbo and the subservient position of women (and many men) affords uncomfortable reactions from 21st century audiences. It must be remembered that these views were seen as the norm and were a fertile source of entertainment, and indeed comedy, in Shakespeare’s time.
Modern audiences and directors tend to interpret this play with attitudes formed by hindsight, but perhaps it should be seen as a commentary on its time rather than as a vehicle for us to express our 21st century sensibilities. We are today appalled by the barbarities in Titus Andronicus but this doesn’t prevent it being staged. Likewise the Merchant of Venice, one of the pillars of Eng. Lit., should also be performed despite its anti-Semitic base – even it only serves to remind us of how much more enlightened we in the West have become.
In the sixteenth century, Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta was hugely popular and is often credited with inspiring his rival Shakespeare to write The Merchant of Venice in which the prevailing attitudes and social practices of religion, both Jewish and Christian, and the time-honoured themes of jealousy, revenge, love, loyalty, family and possession are presented .
The production at the Mary Wallace Theatre in November was updated by director John Gilbert to a period just before World War One. This time shift, whilst pointing up continued anti- Semitism throughout the centuries (and giving the opportunity for some lovely costumes), added little to the narrative. As a sometime historian, I might add that women’s suffrage at this time was not an issue in Italy, although some very basic feminist rights had been debated since Shakespeare’s day. However the settings themselves were delightful; with large gilt frames surrounding some of the action in Belmont and a wonderful representation of Venice itself in the scenic painting by Junis Olmscheid. The aforementioned costumes, hair styling and makeup were excellent.
Photograph by John Gilbert
Whilst applauding the wish to bring something new to well-known and familiar characters, this traditionalist feels that this should be rooted, at least remotely, in the text. In this production there seemed to be little justification for some of the characterisation – Lorenzo a drunk who was allowed to mangle On such a night (?); the Prince of Aragon, a proud early 20th century Spanish Grandee, depicted as a cockney vulgarian (?); melancholic, cynical and world-weary Antonio as a tetchy and irritable man reduced to a trembling wreck in the trial scene (? ) (albeit with some excellent physical acting from Simon Bartlett).
This production was something of a ‘sandwich’ with a substantial, meaty and satisfying filling (the trial scene) between two slightly stodgy outer layers! The casket scenes were lacking in tension and, even though the outcome is familiar to most people, the atmosphere of suspense, mystery and indeed comedy which the action should generate was missing. Some commentators have described these first scenes as a ‘rom com’ but there was little chemistry between the various pairs of lovers who appeared to be only perfunctorily interested in one another. Perhaps brighter stage lighting could have emphasised the lighter nature of some of the action and placed it more securely in sunny Italy. That said, the night-time elopement scene was appropriately lit and directed with Jessica (Jacinta Collins) leaping from the balcony into a human ‘gondola’ below.
Shylock is both the villain and the hero of this play: a vengeful man demanding the literal and bloody fulfillment of a bargain and then there is the human being who suffers the loss of his daughter, his property, the ring which he has given his late wife and, most importantly to him, the slights against his religion.
A mesmerising and utterly believable performance from Craig Cameron-Fisher as Shylock dominated the action and engaged both his fellow actors and the audience alike. All the emotions, hatred, greed, sentimentality, paternal love, pride, the desire for revenge and finally humiliation were vividly and credibly brought to life.
John Mortley as Launcelot Gobbo was another breath of fresh air in a rather slow first act. Making Shakespeare’s ‘comedy’ episodes amusing for modern audiences is not easy but John’s quick-fire delivery of this ‘banter’, together with the performance of Dave King as his bewildered father, was spot on.
After the interval we returned to a different production – gone was the stolidity of the first acts, the acting and the direction were tauter and more intense. All the actors, especially Bassanio (Scott Tilley), added a new and exciting dimension to their performances and at last appeared fully committed to the drama.
Portia (Dionne King), after an efficient but rather low key performance in the first act, blossomed when transformed into the lawyer Balthasar from Padua and made telling use of Shakespeare’s words especially in her delivery of The quality of Mercy speech. It is a challenge for any actor to bring something different and more meaningful to these famous lines but Dionne succeeded. Again, all Shylock’ s motives, revenge, religious fanaticism, pride and lack of magnanimity, were magnificently and variously articulated by Craig Cameron- Fisher, his emotions following the ebb and flow of the trial and even still somehow engaging our sympathy at its conclusion, when finally humiliated in court.
With the return to Belmont, the pace again dropped and the sense of happiness, peace and completion as expressed in the text was missing. Much of the lyrical verse was poorly delivered, adding nothing to the creation of atmosphere. The business of Portia’s and her maid’s rings and Jessica’s inheritance was sorted with only Nerissa (Madeleine Gordon – an excellent portrayal of Balthasar’s clerk – and Gratiano – a lively performance from Tom Shore) showing any sense of true involvement or excitement .
This was an interesting interpretation of what is now one of Shakespeare’s most controversial ‘comedies’, delightful to look at and compelling in parts with one exceptional performance, but somewhat uneven in characterisation and interpretation.
Mary Stoakes
November 2016
Madama Butterfly
by Giacomo Puccini
Ormond Opera at Richmond Unitarian Church. 12th and 13th November
Review by Mark Aspen
In the week of the US elections, when both of the major Presidential candidates have showed their disregard for how the rest of the world thinks, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly could not be more pertinent. If Puccini and his librettists (Illica and Giacosa) had not hitherto seemed prescient in choosing Nagasaki as their Japanese setting, now there can be no doubt.
The clash of cultures, shown through the personalities of Pinkerton and Butterfly, and its achingly tragic result, was scrutinised with scrupulous precision in director Mark Burns’ brilliant gem of a chamber opera. By concentrating the setting of the opera into the small space in Richmond’s Unitarian Church, the intimacy and intensity of the piece was brought to the fore.
Photograph by Michael John White Photography.
The crispness of minimalist cream and black design of set and costumes (by Andy and Valerie Stevens) and stripped-back music score, which had been skilfully transposed for a single piano, focussed the production on the singing and acting, and the company excelled on both these fronts. Although Madama Butterfly was originally set in the today of its first performance (in its inaugural form) in 1904, the costumes of Ormond Opera production suggested an immediate post-World War II period, which worked well with the plot. Incidentally, there were nice details in the costume. Pinkerton’s chinos and blazer with the “AL” pocket badge: a minute or two to work out: yes, he is Lt. B.F. Pinkerton of the USS Abraham Lincoln. (But why was he wearing a wedding ring, which rather prejudices the plot, while Sharpless’ designer stubble seemed a bit anachronistic?) Simon Pike’s lighting had to compete with daylight during the earlier part of the matinee performance, but this served to enhance the atmospheric effect, as Nagasaki’s night-long vigil during act two began in Richmond’s twilight.
Daniel Joy’s Pinkerton was portrayed as a cynical and insensitive manipulator. When he takes the lease on his new house on the hill above Nagasaki, he observes that it is for 999 years, but with one month’s notice of termination: just like his contracted marriage to Butterfly, it is “elastico”. When he first meets Butterfly, Joy shows a fleeting moment of genuine tenderness before looking her lustfully up and down; and when she reveals her age “quindici anni”, Pinkerton’s motives are clearly very doubtful indeed. Joy’s studied acting was complemented by his strong fluent tenor voice, which was clearly delivered.
Caroline Carragher was an absorbing Suzuki, Butterfly’s maid, deeply empathetic in the role. Her creamy mezzo presentation was an absolute joy to hear, and her reflection of Butterfly’s pain was full of pathos. In Carragher’s hands, we felt Suzuki’s sense of dread that she knew where it all would end. That foreboding is shared by Sharpless, the US Consul at Nagasaki, played with great insight by Samuel Pantcheff, a sumptuous baritone, with an air of circumspectual discomfort. Together Carragher and Pantcheff exuded such a sense of dreadful inevitability and their characters’ powerlessness at Butterfly’s blind emotions, that when her grand moment of misplaced hope comes, with the arrival of Pinkerton’s ship, we understand with them that “the joyous song will end with a sob” and Sharpless, totally deflated, can only utter, “Quala pieta!”.
The marriage had been arranged by Goro, securely sung and acted by Jonathon Cooke. The pragmatic Goro suggests that another match, one with Prince Yamadori, would lead to a better future. Cooke, unusually for this role, hints that Goro really does have Butterfly’s welfare at heart and comes across far more sympathetically than he is generally played, even to the extent that, when Butterfly turns on him for his insinuations of infidelity, we almost feel sympathy for Goro. Louis Hurst made an impressive Yamadori, his rich baritone voice and rugged looks making a regal and dignified figure.
Butterfly’s uncle, the Bonze, is the only one of the Japanese characters who unambiguously makes his contra views known. Tony Baker’s Bonze was patriarchal and powerful. His purposeful entry at the wedding reception crying “rinnegato!”, makes it clear that he condemns the way she has been seduced from their culture and has renounced her religion.
Cio-cio-san, Madama Butterfly, is perhaps opera’s quintessential betrayed victim. She is innocent of her own innocence and hopeful against hope. Rosalind O’Dowd, in the title role, gave a searing portrayal of a young girl, her utter faith in love as a concept and unfailing but fatefully misplaced faith in Pinkerton, well depicting her adamant belief in happy endings.
O’Dowd’s beautiful soprano ariettas in act one prepared the audience for the “biggy” at the beginning of act two, the famous aria “Un bel dì vedremo”, Puccini’s masterpiece, exquisitely painful in its beauty, which was deeply affecting. It was impossible not to shed tears for Butterfly’s hopes, as we know they will be cruelly shattered. An equally touching aria was her final words to her child, Pinkerton’s son, Dolore (‘Grief’, whom she planned to rename ‘Joy’ on his father’s return), “Tu, tu, piccolo Iddio …”.
Joshua Clayton made a patiently angelic Dolore, dressed ironically in white US sailor suit and, when we first see him, hiding symbolically behind a model sailing ship. His future had already been mapped out for him, in callous disregard of butterfly, by Pinkerton, who when he makes his long-awaited return, he is not alone. He is with an American wife, Kate, played by mezzo Tanya Hurst as palpably uncomfortable at being sucked into her new husband’s indiscretions.
The chorus, a fifteen-strong ensemble from a number of local choirs, coloured in a musical backdrop that underpinned the production with a warm enthusiasm and accurate and spirited singing as Japanese family and townsfolk, as US sailors, and as subtle commentators on the action. Their presence was, I felt, a little too understated. This understatement did, however, work in the humming chorus which opens the warm twilight of the night long vigil while Butterfly awaits Pinkerton on his ship’s return. Madama Butterfly is nowadays usually performed as three separate acts, but Ormond Opera had boldly decided to link the final two acts into the opera’s original configuration of its 1904 La Scala premiere. Butterfly, Suzuki, and Dolore kneel in a tableau peering through imaginary holes that they have pierced in the shoji that forms the stage’s “fourth wall”. The “waiting music”, during the period of the vigil, when eventually they all fall asleep one by one, did however seem rather prolonged, as the single piano does not offer the broad musical canvas of a full orchestra, and tended to lose the emotional momentum of the plot. Nevertheless, the energetic and well-figured playing of Jakob Rothoff was delightful and Musical Director, Michael Thrift’s vision for the piece inspired.
The emotion roller-coaster that is Madama Butterfly in the skilful hands of the Ormond Opera was a bijoux production of a well-loved opera that deserves a wider audience.
While the world waits “until the robins find their nests” next spring and the US boat comes in, we can wait in hope sure that its commander will be more sensitive than the fictional Lt. Pinkerton to the cultures on other shores.
Mark Aspen
November 2016
Titanic the Musical
by Maury Yeston
Youth Action Theatre
at Hampton Hill Theatre 9th to 12th November 2016
Review by Georgia Renwick
As I approached the Hampton Hill Theatre last night, I was steeling myself for the second major human drama of the day so far. Unlike the unpredictable conclusion of an election day, Titanic at least has a dependably disastrous ending, which offered some small comfort. Perhaps it will be cathartic, I consoled myself, to experience the 1514 deaths at close hand. What I was not expecting was to leave feeling hopeful, uplifted even, by a musical I thought would only sink my spirits. The efforts of the 30+ strong ensemble (all of them 16-26) and 25 strong creative team (many of whom also young people) in bringing this unusual musical to life, are clear in every aspect of the production from the well-considered casting to the creative choreography. The effect is remarkably polished and professional, and yet there is real beauty in this YAT production in the rawness, emotion and power of their young and largely untrained voices, a quality that Broadway would have polished away.
The ‘disaster musical’ is certainly not something you might expect to take off, yet despite the odds, its debut on Broadway won 3 Tony awards, however Titanic has had only had short runs and never experienced West End success here in the UK. This YAT production, performed with special permission from Tams-Witmark, is a re-working of the ‘chamber-ensemble’ version first staged at Southwark Playhouse in 2013 (revived in a short run at the Charing Cross Theatre earlier this year). Directors Sarah Dowd and Elizabeth Lattimore felt that this version focused more heavily on the “heart of the story”, the lives of the passengers and the bonds between them – and what lives they were!
Those concerned with historical accuracy can be satisfied that Jack and Rose are nowhere to be seen, along with that infamous floating door (from Cameron’s 1997 film version) instead, each character is based on a real-life passenger or crew member. It is a far more touching and less melodramatic or cliché rendition of the tragedy, and one that allows us to honour the dead by learning something of their lives. The character of 2nd Class passenger Alice Beane, played with glee and guts by Cath Bryant, introduces us to all the richest people of the with the excitement and cattiness of a modern day ‘Daily Mail Online’ devotee. Whether or not Alice continually snuck up to the first-class deck to “dance with millionaires”, however, is perhaps more down to artistic licence. YAT have also evidently done some further research in their character building, and bios of some of the real passengers are projected onto the stage prior to curtain up, a thoughtful historical touch.
Another surprise, that is especially pertinent in light of the recent election, is the political nature of the narrative. It is not purely a tragic tale, and tackles issues of class, industrialisation, immigration. It is also not afraid to point the finger of blame at those who may have been responsible. “[The passengers] are in God’s hands”, the Captain (played with maturity and emotional depth by Benedict Lejac) declares solemnly as they prepare to evacuate, but it is his Stoker (brought to life by the stirring, arresting voice of Liam Hurley) who reminds him the fate of his passengers is in their own hands, first and second class are “closer to the lifeboats, aren’t they?” and consequently, they are the ones who will survive.
The structure of the play creates tensions between the classes on the ship, who are divided up by thoughtful staging so that they are often looking at each other from decks above or below but seldom interact; the ship itself and the lighting of it with a ghostly blue glow are evocative and well considered. The class tension is broken by the ensemble pieces. Where the cast joins in unison and the music swells, their voices threaten to burst the walls of the theatre with their sheer power, melt hearts and jerk tears with their spirit and soul. The unity of the diverse communities brought together by their dreams of a better future in America (Bobby Doherty notably shines here with her soul-searching performance of a young Irish women Kate McGowan in ‘Lady’s Maid’) is devastatingly poignant knowing that they will perish, and especially so considering the current immigration ‘crisis’ closer to home.
Titanic is not a musical about sinking, drowning, dying but about dreaming, believing and striving for more. It is about searching for what truly makes us happy, and our debt as a community to those around us. The Captain “holds [the passengers] souls in the palm of his hand” but in placing others selfish interests above his responsibility, lets them go. Isidor Straus and his wife Ida (played with touching sincerity by Matt Nicholas and Freddie Haberfellner) would rather face death together than live apart. There is something to be learned from each of the stories on the Titanic, beautifully realised by the cast of YAT, and something to lift even the most down-hearted of spirits, warm the coldest of souls.
Georgia Renwick
November 2016
Mark Aspen 