Waxing Lyrical
Mrs Langtry as Hester Grazebrook
by Oscar Wilde
Teddington Theatre Club, zoomed until 28th June, then on-line on YouTube
Review by Mark Aspen
If we were to present the review below at Mark Aspen Reviews as written by Oscar Wilde, you probably would smell a rat. Since Wilde died 120 years ago, at best we could present it as late copy, lost in the post probably.
Wilde wrote the piece in New York, where the famous beauty of the time, Jersey-born Lily Langtry, a favourite of the then Prince of Wales, had her American acting debut. It was 6th November 1882 and she played Hester Grazebrook in An Unequal Match by English biographer and critic Tom Taylor, who for a short while was editor of Punch. Most critics put in mixed reviews, but the public loved Lily Langtry, mainly for her exquisite looks rather than her acting skills it seems. A newspaper reported, “It is perhaps needless to add that the floral contributions between the acts were at once many and rich, one piece seven or eight feet in height, and surmounted by a dove, being so massive that it was wrecked in being hoisted to the stage and taken therefrom.” The report added dryly, “It was afterwards patched up and used in the drawing-room scene.” Read more…
Impossibility of Absolute Perfection
An Unequal Match
by Tom Taylor
Wallack’s Theatre, New York, until November 1882
Review by Oscar Wilde
Mrs. Langtry as Hester Grazebrook, first published in New York World, 7th November 7, 1882
It is only in the best Greek gems, on the silver coins of Syracuse, or among the marble figures of the Parthenon frieze, that one can find the ideal representation of the marvellous beauty of that face which laughed through the leaves last night as Hester Grazebrook.
Pure Greek it is, with the grave low forehead, the exquisitely arched brow; the noble chiselling of the mouth, shaped as if it were the mouthpiece of an instrument of music; the supreme and splendid curve of the cheek; the augustly pillared throat which bears it all: it is Greek, because the lines which compose it are so definite and so strong, and yet so exquisitely harmonised that the effect is one of simple loveliness purely: Greek, because its essence and its quality, as is the quality of music and of architecture, is that of beauty based on absolutely mathematical laws. Read more…
Arrested Development
De Profundis
by Oscar Wilde
Teddington Theatre Club, zoomed until 28th June, then on-line on YouTube.
Reviewed by Eleanor Lewis
De Profundis conjures up laundry for me. When I lived in Paris in the ‘80s I rented a 
room in an apartment close to the Eiffel Tower and on Thursdays while I did my laundry in the laundrette down one of the little streets off the main drag, I read Oscar Wilde. This was not really OK, I should obviously have been reading Baudelaire, but who’s perfect?
De Profundis is quite a read, particularly when you’re starting at 11:15 on Saturday night as part of TTC’s 25 hour Wilde Weekend and have only a five minute break to look forward to. Steve Taylor rose to the occasion though, performing acres of text straight to camera and channelling Wilde in way that managed to be both philosophical and quite bouncy. Read more…
Out of Darkness
An Ideal Husband
by Oscar Wilde
Teddington Theatre Club, zoomed until 28th June, then on-line on YouTube
Review by Heather Moulson
This production of Oscar Wilde’s dark play An Ideal Husband was part of the ambitious Wilde Weekend, put on by Teddington Theatre Club via Zoom. I was particularly drawn to this play, because despite its well-known title, it doesn’t have such a significant high profile as, for instance, The Importance of Being Earnest.
With four acts full of blackmail and political corruption, the play could have easily fallen into the trap of being dry and overlong. However, the strong performances and sharp direction brought it up with buoyancy. Read more…
Slavery Beaten by Kindness
The Star Child
by Oscar Wilde
Teddington Theatre Club, zoomed until 28th June, then on-line on YouTube.
Reviewed by Heather Moulson
As part of Teddington Theatre Club’s Wilde Weekend on Zoom, I was keen to watch and listen to the reading of The Star Child, one of Wilde’s lesser known children’s story, part of the anthology House of Pomegranates. It is one that is deceptively grim and moral, not to mention its child brutality and slavery, concluding with only a brief happy ending.
Caroline Ross and Enyd Galia took on this complex tale, and became an impressive team. Alternating with reading passages and supplying vital sound effects, this story came over as credible and smoothly produced. It was read at a good pace, and no trace of overlapping – the occupational hazard of Zoom. Read more…
Salacious Undertones Mined
Salome
by Oscar Wilde
Teddington Theatre Club, zoomed until 28th June, then on-line on YouTube.
Reviewed by Nick Swyft
Salome, the story of a man who is prepared to give anything to have his step-daughter dance for him is one that has inspired, and continues to inspire, artists throughout the centuries. And why not? It is a mine of those salacious undertones that we all love. Read more…
June Sans Tune
No Go Arias
Retrospective by Mark Aspen
Chilled champagne, evening sunshine, glamorously dressed ladies, gardens full of flowers and … the most superb opera. This is what June should be all about.
Yes, yes, we all know it rains, dilutes the champagne, hides the sun, drenches the ladies and crushes the flowers, but this is all the fun of the fair when it comes to the English penchant for creating theatre under the most unlikely circumstances.
This time last year Mark Aspen Reviews sent its incisive opera critic, Suzanne Frost, a lady whose skills were honed in the (indoor) opera houses of Germany out to the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre to risk the English summer. To our relief, “the weather gods were on our side”, in Suzanne’s own words, and soon she was entranced by the “very special magic” of the open air. Read more…
Silver Lining
Sunshine After Rain
Richmond Shakespeare Society, on line from 19th June
Review by Alex Tustain
Theatres may be dark but you cannot keep creative people locked down and in, and it was a delight, and a beacon of hope for beleaguered theatre, to see the Sunshine After Rain project by Richmond Shakespeare Society opening last week. This was the first evening in a series of three. Producer Harry Medawar put out a call for monologues or other pieces (mainly poetry) to be written and read by members to celebrate the long summer solstice. He had so much response he has created two further evenings on 3rd and 17th July.
Monologues are the key to the new theatre production and to what can be done with Zoom, or other similar platforms. Actors can create their own ‘sets’, find something akin to costumes from forgotten wardrobes, and perform from their own living room. And it has the potential to be very effective, thought provoking and intimate theatre. Some are more skilled at using the camera and the space, but this will come, considering very few of us had ever even have heard of Zoom a few long months ago.
Lockdown Limbo
Clapping for the Kids!
Dramacube Productions was due to open on Thursday 19th March with its production of the musical Annie Jnr with a cast of a hundred children, when the full impact of coronavirus struck. The principal of the stage school shares his thoughts.
A Reflection by Steve Leslie
It was around 8.30pm on Wednesday 18th March when we received the news that Hampton Hill Theatre was to close with immediate effect.
Our four brilliant young casts had all participated in successful Technical and Dress rehearsals for Annie Jr that week and we were ready to open the following night but now we faced a scenario we could not have foreseen just a few weeks earlier. For safety reasons the show must not go on!
It was painful enough having to leave behind our wonderful set and all those amazing costumes which our creative team had worked so hard on but the hardest part, of course, was breaking the news to the one-hundred young actors who were set to perform that week.
Hampton Hill Theatre in isolation
I sat alone that night in an empty auditorium and tried to craft some words of optimism as I composed an email to the parents of our young performers. Their show was over. The show that they’d worked so hard for was not to be. There were tears of course as news filtered out to students, but above all else there was understanding and a sense of resilience. We will get this show back on, whatever it takes.
Our students had shown such maturity, throughout the rehearsal period, in dealing with the growing concerns of Covid-19, always behaving impeccably in complying with the additional hand-washing measures we’d put in place. They continued to work hard, completely unphased by the growing panic surrounding the global pandemic and I’d like to pay tribute to them all for their sense of optimism and spirit which has helped us to keep going. We clapped for carers, but we also clapped for all the amazing children who’ve dealt with such a challenging situation so well.
Wizard of Oz, December 2019
Bouncing back has been tough but our on-line weekly workshops have been a pleasure to run and we’ve discovered new and innovative ways of engaging with our four casts. Who could have imagined playing drama games on Zoom? Every week students have brought new ideas and so much creativity to each session and we’ve seen monologues, artwork and even songs performed over the past few months.
We’ve made a commitment to get the show back on as soon as we can but in the meantime how do we move forward?
As a team we’ve had numerous discussions about new ways of working and ideas such as radio plays, podcast series and even creating videos have all been discussed. However, there is an overwhelming sense among all of our teachers that we just want to get back into the room and work with our students in person.
Annie Jnr , December 2017
Undoubtedly, we have now entered a different time and there will be much uncertainty over the next couple of years but we have to find new ways of working which provide both continuity and flexibility, allowing for our students to come together in a safe space and be creative.
Although plans have not be finalized yet, we are working towards a new start in September and will be consulting with parents over the next few weeks to find the best solution for everyone.
With theatre under threat, as it has never been before, we have to push forward and be ready to start again as soon as we can. Positivity is key and I sincerely hope that we’ll see all providers of youth activities take the same approach. We must try, as best we can, to give young people a platform to thrive, and when the stage-doors re-open, PERFORM!
Steve Leslie, June 2020
Photography by Bomi Cooper
Caliban’s Lament
by Anne Warrington
He sat there amidst
torn sheets of paper
staring at the tyrant’s staff broken un
evenly into pieces.
This solitary island was once more his
disturbed only
by bird song,
crickets chirruping in
tall grasses swaying in the wind,
crystal clear rivulets rippling through lush vegetation,
calm seas whose waves
gently lapped on golden beaches.
Why wasn’t he happy? Read more…
