All My Sons
by Arthur Miller
RTK at The Rose Theatre, Kingston until 19th November
Review by Mark Aspen
Perhaps amongst the strongest and most deep-rooted emotions are love and guilt. When they are pitched against each other, which will win? This is the question posed in All My Sons, the first successful Broadway play of Arthur Miller, probably the most accomplished of American playwrights.
At tonight’s Kingston opening of Miller’s masterpiece directed by Michael Rudman, the Rose Theatre company wove the play’s multi-stranded plots into a picture of a family torn by conflicting emotions.
Senator Harry Truman, who was to become US President as the Second World War drew to a close, chaired a committee during the 1940’s that investigated malpractice in US defence spending. The Truman Committee found the US economy was riddled “with war profiteering on a rampant scale”. This forms an opening premise to Miller’s play.
It is set in the mid-West one fine August day in 1946 in the garden of the home of Joe Keller, a successful businessman, an apparently honest and genial man in his sixties. But to paraphrase Truman’s well-known remark, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit”, Keller knows that it is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the blame. For the truth that gradually surfaces during the play is that he knowingly supplied defective cylinder heads to engines fitted in P 40 Warhawk military planes. When 21 planes crash with the loss of their crews, Keller lets his business partner, Steve Deever, take the rap.
As the play opens, Deever still languishes in gaol, shunned by all, including his own family.
Keller’s wife Kate cannot accept the death of her eldest son, Larry in another, seemingly unrelated, loss of a military plane. But on this day, Annie, the erstwhile fiancée of Larry is coming at the invitation of the younger son, Chris. Chris plans to propose marriage to her. However, Annie is Steve Deever’s daughter. Thus we have the fuel to the explosive atmosphere that permeates the play.
David Horovitch and Penny Downie as Joe and Kate Keller give towering performances of the two parents, both wrestling with internal conflict as they suppress unthinkable emotions: Kate that her beloved son might not be alive; Joe the guilt that he had not only betrayed his friend and partner, but was responsible for the deaths of so many brave men.
The action takes place on the verandah of the Keller home, in Michael Taylor’s set a grand weather-boarded house in the colonial style. Resplendently reaching up to the full height of the theatre, it was symbolic of the home that drew everyone together … and kept them in their own emotional rooms. The detail was painstaking, from roof fascia to wood-shed, to the thick verdant lawn. Under David Howe’s lighting one could feel the sultry heat of the continental summer. The symbolism extended to the young sycamore tree that had succumbed to the stormy wind of the previous night, not uprooted but snapped at its base. This was the tree that had been planted in memory of Larry, and thus fuelled the hopes of the superstitious Kate that his death had not happened and sought her to ask neighbour Frank Lubey (crisply played by William Meredith) to cast Larry’s horoscope to bolster her hope against hopes.
The scene is set for the symbolism of the house as Joe pretends to the local children that there is a gaol in basement of the house. One such child is Bert, a neighbour’s boy, who was played with openness and great confidence by ten-years old Sam Stewart, who fervently believes that here is a gaol there. As the play unfolds, we realise that this is simply the spiritual gaol for Joe’s guilt, where it is kept firmly locked away, unfed by his conscience.
Alex Waldmann’s energetic portrait of the younger son, Chris Keller, was a study in fidelity broken by events, as he finds that his nagging doubts were true. He is beautifully paired with Francesca Zoutewelle as Annie Deever, a fresh and sparkling picture of hope for the future. Annie has overcome her grief for Larry (in spite of Kate’s protestations to the contrary) and is able give expression to her deeply held feelings for Chris, his brother.
An evening out at a restaurant is planned, where Chris and Annie intend to announce their engagement. But then comes the news that Annie’s brother, George, is flying in from Cleveland to take Annie back home, for George has at last brought himself to visit their father in gaol, and now knows the truth.
The friction starts with the agitated entrance of Susie Bayliss, the wife of the doctor who lives next door. Alison Pargeter, in this role, was wonderfully accurate to the sentiments and style of the period. The grit falls into the engine oil, however, when George Deever arrives. Wild and agitated, Edward Harrison’s portrait of George, with haunted eyes and palpably repressed anger, said it all. But even George has his emotions torn, and Harrison showed us a man perplexed by the force of his own feelings.
At the climax of the play, when Chris turns on his own father, and Annie reveals what is effectively a suicide note from Larry, telling how he is about to crash his own plane to exonerate himself of his father’s actions, we have almost a Greek tragedy, sensitively acted by all the cast. Kate’s final acceptance of Larry’s death is depicted by Downie with searing poignancy.
For Joe, equally devastating is the culminated effect of the rejection by his son Chris, the realisation that his son Larry took Joe’s guilt on himself, and Joe’s final acceptance of his culpability in the death of the twenty-one air crews, who were “all my sons”. He returns to the house and shoots himself. Horovitch’s expositon of this moment was a piece of terrifically powerful theatre.
There was just one niggling drawback. From the side of the apron stage, it was sometimes difficult to accurately hear all of the actors. Maybe on opening night they had not settled to the idiosyncrasies of the Rose Theatre acoustics, or could it be that many actors today have become so used to television acting that they forget the big requirements of the stage?
Nevertheless, the pain of the huge emotional journeys that are taken by all the characters in the course of the play was acted with such aching precision that this is a play not to be missed.
Faith, hope and love … the greatest of the three is love. But, for the Keller family, guilt wins even over love.
Mark Aspen
October 2016
The Mikado
by WS Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan
Hounslow Light Opera Company
at Hampton Hill Theatre until 29th October 2016
Review by Georgia Renwick
Johanna Chambers as Yum Yum and Kurt Walton as Nanki Poo
Hounslow Light Opera Company has justly earned itself a loyal following in the South West London theatre community, for consistently energetic and enjoyable performances. HLOC’s 2003 production of The Mikado marked the company’s 100th anniversary and thirteen years later, the infectious smiles and delirious applause in the house tonight left in little doubt that this is a very welcome return of the G&S classic.
As one of the most widely performed musical theatre pieces in history, it takes an inspired team to create a production that stands out against the melee. Helen Smith, reprising her role as director from 2003 (this is the fifth Mikado she has been involved with in total), has gathered a cast with both vocal and comic talents, and added some delightful touches all of her own to create a thoroughly enjoyable and memorable production.
The key to the popularity and endurance of The Mikado is found in its delightful sending up of British Victorian society and its institutions. By setting The Mikado in his own fantasy version of Japan, which resembles the country in virtually no aspect but for the aesthetic, Gilbert could disguise his social and political satire as Japanese, satisfying the censors and delighting his audiences.
The first satirical fiction of the piece serves as a key plot point; Japan has never to this day had a law against flirting, but it is for this crime that Ko-Ko is condemned to death. Ko-Ko, played with an ‘artful-dodger-esque’ cheekiness and glee by Tony Cotterill, has however recently been promoted to the role of Lord High Executioner. It is an operatic tradition that Ko-Ko’s “little list” of whom he would rather were on the block in his stead grows each time. This hilarious rendition sees Facebook, rappers, and a host of political figures (hint: two rhyme with ‘Barrage’ and ‘Thump’) who’ll “none of ‘em be missed” end up on the list.
Unfortunately for Ko-Ko, the Mikado (superbly realised by Clare Henderson Roe as a bloodthirsty bureaucrat in boots and a swishing kimono, a perfect casting choice) won’t be satisfied until there is an execution ‘within a month’. Seeing as he cannot cut his own head off (at least, he reasons, it would be “an extremely difficult, not to say dangerous, thing to attempt”) he must find a substitute to avoid his own demise. Enter Nanki-Poo (Kurt Walton), a wandering minstrel with a secret identity, who resolves to kill himself after finding the women he loves, Yum-Yum (Johanna Chambers), is to be married to Ko-Ko, her guardian, that very day. Walton makes for an endearing and earnest young tenor to Chambers’ beautiful soprano. Chambers’ vocal abilities command the stage, which coupled with her natural movement and comic timing make for a captivating and playful performance of this central romance. Could Nanki-Poo be the substitute Ko-Ko is looking for? Unbeknown to Ko-Ko, Nanki-Poo is the runaway son of the Mikado, betrothed to Katisha (Elizabeth Chambers) and she’s on her way to find him …
As the trickery and deception mount, hilarity ensues, and the supporting cast bring each moment of it out with aplomb. Paul Huggins’ rendition of Pooh-Bah, whose stack of business cards denotes him an authority on pretty much every aspect of government, is a cartoonish caricature of sneering imperialism. Although he lifts himself above all others with his long list of titles, he must grudgingly rely on those beneath him to save his neck from the block. Patrick Hooper’s comic timing as Pish-Tush (the only member of the cast to be reviving his role from the HLOC’s 2003 production) also triggered ripples of laughter, supported by the energetic male chorus.
The Titipu Academy for Young Ladies was delightfully realised on stage by ten lovely ladies, some of whom the programme notes, were delighted to be welcomed back as “Alumni”. Pitti-Sing’s (Lindsey Anne Cumming) and Peep-Bo’s (Philippa Mukherjee) eyes burst with girlish enthusiasm in the enchanting “Three Little Maids from School”, and indeed the whole chorus moves beautifully together on stage, the costume design (managed by Veronica Martin) coming into its own in these scenes with brightly coloured kimonos swishing this way and that. The fan dance in Act 2 is truly mesmerising. Elizabeth Chambers’ rendition of contralto Katisha is another standout performance. Here, perhaps the costume and make-up could have been more exaggerated to really bring out the comedy of Katisha’s advanced years, her performance actually drew a great deal sympathy from myself personally.
Lingering beneath the many laughs, The Mikado offers some piercing insights into our state’s bureaucracy. In its title character, the “virtuous women”, despite her unflinching, business-like treatment of the torture and death of her subjects, we can see a clear hypocrisy. We might ask ourselves to what extent our politics has changed in 130 years.
Meanwhile, down in the orchestra pit, history is being made by musical director (and sole instrumentalist) Lee Dewsnap. Faced with the choice of one or two instrumentalists… or a whole orchestra performed by one player, Helen and the company took a risk and set Lee to the task of arranging the original score for the Yamaha EL-900 Electric Organ, and then playing it live. Hundreds of hours and dozens of instruments later, it is a risk that I personally believe paid off. As far as we (and Lee) know, his accomplishment of arranging and performing a G&S score in this progressive way is a feat never seen live before, and one that made this production of the world-famous Mikado not only memorable and enjoyable, but truly unique.
The Producers
BROS Theatre Company
Hampton Hill Theatre
17-22nd October 2016
Review by Mary Stoakes
‘Sheer, utter, unadulterated joy!’ was the verdict of the Daily Express when this show was produced professionally in 2004. The same could be said about the 2016 BROS production at the Hampton Hill Theatre, which would not be out of place on the West End stage.
Mel Brookes is quoted as saying when his initial film was criticised for being vulgar – My film rises below vulgarity! This BROS production was full of gleeful disrespect and political incorrectness, which delighted this reviewer and the majority of the packed house.
What did grandfather put in his pocket when he went to the theatre? Was it a pocket watch, perhaps, but one with an inaudible tick; maybe a tiny notebook, in case something occurred to him in the interval; a handkerchief to stifle a sniffle, silk as it is so much quieter? Read more…
The Importance of Being Ernest
by Oscar Wilde
SMDG
Hampton Hill Theatre until 15th October
Review by Thomas Forsythe.
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing”. So says Hon. Gwendolen Fairfax, the worldly and wily heroine of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Ernest. In the grave matter of mounting a production of a play, one might ask which is the most important to achieve.
SMDG’s current production at Hampton Hill certainly has plenty of style, but also puts across the ambiguities of Victorian society where how one does something is more important than why one does it.
Conspiracy
by Loring Mandel
OHADS
Hampton Hill Theatre until 8th October
Review by Thomas Forsythe
In his famous Blut und Eisen speech, Otto von Bismark said “The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood.” In Conspiracy we see speeches quashed and majority decisions overturned in a manner whose ruthlessness stepped up the portent of Bismark’s adage. The great question of 20th January 1942 considered at the Wannsee Conference resulted in the “final solution” that was to come to be known as the holocaust.
The River
by Jez Butterworth
OHADS ;Hampton Hill Theatre Studio
Review by Mark Aspen
Izaak Walton meets Sigmund Freud in OHADS’ recent production of Jez Butterworth’s The River, a gem of such compact complexity Read more…
Family Circles
by Alan Ayckbourn
Hampton Hill Theatre
OHADS
Review by Mark Aspen
In the way that mothers always accurately distil wisdom, my mother used to say, “If … is a little word with a very big meaning”. Read more…
The God of Carnage
by Yasmina Reza
OHADS
Hampton Hill Playhouse Studio
Review by Mark Aspen
“Puking seems to have perked you up”. This memorable line from one of the characters in Yasmina Reza’s The God of Carnage can be seen as a metaphor for the cathartic effect of this, one of her best plays. Read more…
Riders to the Sea
by John Millington Synge
COG Artspace
Fractured Lines
Review by Mark Aspen
To distil Achill and Arran, all those misty windswept islands in Ireland’s far west, and to concentrate that spirit into a small theatre above a pub in Hoxton is a remarkable feat. But this is just what Fractured Lines, a thrusting new stage company, has done in its current production of Synge’s fateful tragedy, Riders to the Sea, running until the end of November at COG ARTSpace. Read more…
