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Theatrical Outings
We've had a wide range of theatre experiences this week.
On Wednesday we saw Ibsen's _Ghosts_ starring Anthony Andrews (familiar from
"Brideshead Revisited" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel") and Francesca Annis
(best known among my friends for playing Lady Jessica in David Lynch's
_Dune_, but also the star of many BBC productions). They were both very
good and the production overall was fine. Ibsen's always so bleak that it's
hard work for the audience. One of the actors was quite mis-cast and while
I feel bad for the actor--it's not her fault--it did skew a few scenes quite
badly. Having just been in Norway, the setting of the play, added depth to
the whole experience.
On Thursday we went to the Donmar Warehouse--renowned for their excellent
productions--to see _Tales from Hollywood_ by Christopher Hampton. The
story of German emigre writers in Hollywood during the 40's, it is
structured so that the main character is essentially telling stories for two
hours about his life and his friends, with some of the scenes he describes
actually happening. If that role were not played extremely well, the play
could easily be boring, but Ben Daniels (a long lost cousin, Glen?) did a
stupendous job with it and we were all eating out of his hand. Richard
Johnson as Heinrich Mann was also excellent, but so terribly sad as he
describes the hardships of escaping over the Pyrenees from France and the
sorrow of not being able to save his ex-wife and daughter, and then says "I
know what you're thinking...why are we so lucky?" Another interesting
aspect of the show was the use of Bertold Brecht as a character, who brings
the Brechtian alienation onstage with him...he walks into a moody club to
meet the main character and all the worklights come on, he storms into
another scene and unfurls a banner announcing the title of the scene. We
were very impressed with the production.
On Saturday we had dinner with Leah and Barbara (at Ten Ten Tei, a sushi
place conveniently located for Picadilly, with okay food--I would try other
places in the area before going back) and then saw a production one critic
accurately described as "life-threateningly funny." If you've never seen
_Noises Off!_ and you have the opportunity, go. I usually have very low
tolerance for farce, but somehow this one is just beautiful and kept me in
stitches throughout. At one point I was laughing so hard I was pounding on
Jason's chest! The only "name" in the production is Lynn Redgrave, in the
role Carole Burnett played in the movie, I'm told. The rest of the cast
were all just wonderful, deeply sunk in their shallow characters and with a
level of physical comedy I have never seen equalled.
Well, gotta run! We're going to a birthday party for Barbara in a few hours
and I'm trying to get the house clean before my parents' arrival on
Tuesday.
On Wednesday we saw Ibsen's _Ghosts_ starring Anthony Andrews (familiar from
"Brideshead Revisited" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel") and Francesca Annis
(best known among my friends for playing Lady Jessica in David Lynch's
_Dune_, but also the star of many BBC productions). They were both very
good and the production overall was fine. Ibsen's always so bleak that it's
hard work for the audience. One of the actors was quite mis-cast and while
I feel bad for the actor--it's not her fault--it did skew a few scenes quite
badly. Having just been in Norway, the setting of the play, added depth to
the whole experience.
On Thursday we went to the Donmar Warehouse--renowned for their excellent
productions--to see _Tales from Hollywood_ by Christopher Hampton. The
story of German emigre writers in Hollywood during the 40's, it is
structured so that the main character is essentially telling stories for two
hours about his life and his friends, with some of the scenes he describes
actually happening. If that role were not played extremely well, the play
could easily be boring, but Ben Daniels (a long lost cousin, Glen?) did a
stupendous job with it and we were all eating out of his hand. Richard
Johnson as Heinrich Mann was also excellent, but so terribly sad as he
describes the hardships of escaping over the Pyrenees from France and the
sorrow of not being able to save his ex-wife and daughter, and then says "I
know what you're thinking...why are we so lucky?" Another interesting
aspect of the show was the use of Bertold Brecht as a character, who brings
the Brechtian alienation onstage with him...he walks into a moody club to
meet the main character and all the worklights come on, he storms into
another scene and unfurls a banner announcing the title of the scene. We
were very impressed with the production.
On Saturday we had dinner with Leah and Barbara (at Ten Ten Tei, a sushi
place conveniently located for Picadilly, with okay food--I would try other
places in the area before going back) and then saw a production one critic
accurately described as "life-threateningly funny." If you've never seen
_Noises Off!_ and you have the opportunity, go. I usually have very low
tolerance for farce, but somehow this one is just beautiful and kept me in
stitches throughout. At one point I was laughing so hard I was pounding on
Jason's chest! The only "name" in the production is Lynn Redgrave, in the
role Carole Burnett played in the movie, I'm told. The rest of the cast
were all just wonderful, deeply sunk in their shallow characters and with a
level of physical comedy I have never seen equalled.
Well, gotta run! We're going to a birthday party for Barbara in a few hours
and I'm trying to get the house clean before my parents' arrival on
Tuesday.