Review: Yank!

I was fortunate enough to be given tickets to Yank! by Time Out, so I got the chance to see a production I was unfamiliar with in a theatre I'd never been to before.

The Charing Cross Theatre say:

“Some stories didn’t make it into the history books”
Based on the Off-Broadway hit production, and transferring to London following a highly acclaimed run at the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester earlier this year, YANK! is a poignant love story based on the true, hidden history of gay soldiers during World War Two.
In 1943, young Mid-Westerner Stu is called up to serve in the forces and becomes a reporter for Yank Magazine, the journal ‘for and by the servicemen’. Following the men in Charlie Company, this acclaimed musical explores what it means to be a man and fall in love…

This is a really difficult production to attach a star rating to. There were moments in Yank! that were four or five stars, without question, however the 'modern' framing of the piece at the beginning and end - where it is revealed that the events portrayed are from a diary - is much weaker than the rest of the show and, in fact, a bit cringey.

If we ignore these moments of the play as a misstep, then there are plenty of positives to discuss. For a start, the song and dance numbers deserve a bigger stage and a bigger audience - they are up-lifting and fabulous. The music is excellent and the choreography, mostly a blend of tap and swing, is a real delight.
Furthermore, there is some excellent multi-roling from a phenomenally strong cast - again I couldn't believe this was staged in such a small venue - and the whole cast charmed and camped and raged in a series of beautifully sympathetic performances.

All things considered, I have to recommend Yank!. The closing moments - the modern framing - annoyed me hugely, but the rest of the piece is well worth your time. The general message, 'it's not doing it that's the crime... it's wanting it', is still shockingly relevant, and the manner of the story-telling is very easily bought-into. It's a good night out.

4/5: A slick and stylish musical number
Charing Cross Theatre
Until 19th August

Reviewing: The Ferryman

Jez Butterworth's most recent work, The Ferryman, became the fastest selling play in the Royal Court's history. His past success, and the renown of director Sam Mendes, meant that expectations were always going to be sky-high: the question is, does it live up to the hype?
The Royal Court tells us,

"Vanishing. It’s a powerful word, that. A powerful word.”
Northern Ireland, 1981. The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest.  A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor.

Now, in terms of plot, The Ferryman covers so much ground it's a miracle that it isn't a complete mess: instead, it's a stunning meeting of a stellar cast, a talented writer and a brilliant director, resulting in an incredible play.

All of the big themes are dealt with: love, loss, family, conflict, but they are woven together in a way that doesn't make the show seem overcrowded; Butterworth seems to have worked magic with his storytelling. The Carney family, headed by Paddy Considine's Quinn, are a vibrant, complex group of characters, each sympathetic in his or her own way, and watching them is a joy.

The naturalism of the Carney's kitchen at harvest offers insight into a world that is very similar to our own, but far enough away in time to seem dream-like. The brutal reality of the Troubles cuts through the rural idyll of the farm, and if you have any knowledge of the period, you know that the story could have no simple resolution. Others have pointed out how quickly the 3.5 hours flies by, and that is down to how compelling this story is, and how well it's performed.

Sam Mendes' direction is marvellous, and Nick Powell's music and sound design are subtle and create a sense of longing for a simpler time. Simply put, everything in this show works.

If you can get tickets for it, you really should. The Ferryman is unquestionably one of the best shows of the year.

5/5: Theatrical magic
Gielgud Theatre
Until January 2018

Review: Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour began life at the National Theatre, and is currently enjoying a West End transfer. Its life as a production has been very successful, but not entirely without controversy.
The NT describe it thusly:

From the creator of Billy Elliot (Lee Hall) comes the uplifting and moving story of six Catholic choir girls from Oban, let loose in Edinburgh for one day only.
Funny, heartbreaking and raucously rude, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour is adapted from Alan Warner’s brilliant novel about six young friends on the cusp of change and is directed by Royal Court Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone.
Featuring the songs of ELO, Our Ladies is a glorious anthem to friendship, youth and growing up disgracefully.
Prepare thyself for… really rude language, flashing lights, pyrotechnics, lots of sexual references, excessive drinking, and extensive use of the smoke machine.

A lot of people seem to have struggled getting beyond the lewdness on Our Ladies, but if all you do is get hung up about the swearing you have really missed the point.

The stories of the six schoolgirls, on their trip to Edinburgh, are poignant, and even though the characters are lairy, the way their story develops is really touching. If you walk out before the end, then you don't reach the points of resolution and the 'morning after' clarity of the play. And that would be your loss.

Of course, you can't review Our Ladies without discussing the music. The performances of both the actors and the band are phenomenal. Really, the singing is just incredible. I left the theatre uplifted: it it a thing of joy. I've never encountered a show that blends traditional choral pieces with ELO before... and probably never will again. The juxtaposition of the two means that when the choral music cuts through the rock, it is simply stunning.

I absolutely recommend Our Ladies, but if you're prudish about swearing, sex, or wild drunkenness, it's probably not the play for you.

4/5: Proud, loud, funny, but touching
Duke of York's Theatre
Until September

Review: Hir

Hir hadn't even been on my radar when a friend asked if I wanted to go and see it, so I agreed and it became one of the three productions I scheduled for this week.
So what is it?
The Bush Theatre say:

Isaac (Arthur Darvill) gets home from serving in the marines to find war has broken out back home. In a nondescript town somewhere in Central Valley – America, Isaac’s mom Paige (Ashley McGuire) is blowing up entrenched routines.
Fed up with domestic patriarchy, Paige has stopped washing, cleaning and caring for their ailing father, who recently suffered a stroke. She reigns supreme.
Ally to their mother’s new regime is Isaac’s sibling Max (Griffyn Gilligan). Only last time Isaac checked, Max was Maxine. Once the breadwinner, Isaac’s dad (Andy Williams) has toppled from the head of the household to the bottom of the pile – a make-upped puppet emasculated by Paige once and for all.
In a cheap house made of plywood and glue, notions of masculinity and femininity become weapons with which to defeat the old order. But in Taylor Mac’s sly, subversive comedy, annihilating the past doesn’t always free you from it.

Now, it's taken me about 24 hours to process exactly what I thought of Hir, and the conclusion I reached is that, whilst there are positives, the show as a whole is a bit of a mess.

The acting itself solid. No complaints there. All four members of the cast turn in decent performances. And the staging works well: the clear messy/anarchic and clean/ordered split between the two halves does what it needs to.

However, the script tries to cram in way too much. There are Important Themes flying about all over the place, meaning that none of them are properly dealt with. The trauma of a soldier returning from a war zone, a young person establishing hir gender identity, living with serious illness, and domestic abuse are all major issues that suffer for being rammed into a short play. Nothing is fully explored. Another huge detraction is the fact that the mental/physical health of the characters is often treated, at best, lightly or, at worst, as a joke: that did not sit well.

Hir could have been an amazing bit of theatre. Instead, a waspish script is held together by some sound acting. It isn't a write-off, but your time could be better spent elsewhere.

3/5: Solid performances despite a plotting mess
Bush Theatre
Until July 22

Reviewing: Ink

This week involved a jaunt to Angel to see Ink at the Almeida. A piece of new writing, looking at the re-forming of The Sun newspaper into the brash, loud format we know today, Ink is dark, funny, and a masterclass in the creative rewriting of politics.

The Almeida say:

Fleet Street. 1969. The Sun rises.

James Graham’s ruthless, red-topped new play leads with the birth of this country’s most influential newspaper – when a young and rebellious Rupert Murdoch asked the impossible and launched its first editor’s quest, against all odds, to give the people what they want.

I say: Go and see it.

James Graham's writing, Rupert Goold's direction, and a fabulous cast make this play unmissable, as far as I'm concerned. The set and sound design are also a delight. In fact, I left the theatre beaming.

Ink explores the ideas of 'news' and journalistic ethics through the story of The Sun's first editor Larry Lamb (Richard Coyle), and his moral testing at the the hands of Rupert Murdoch (Bertie Carvel). The dialogue between the two men is rapid-fire, sweary, and sharp, and the performances of Carvel and Coyle are perfectly balanced.

The makeshift look of the set creates a strange sympathy for the team behind The Sun, which is quite an achievement, given that I, and probably most of the audience, fall distinctly within The Guardian's natural readership. The situating of the newspaper's first staff as underdogs is a clever way into making you rethink an institution that irrevocably changed the landscape of British journalism, and not for the better. Graham's script is brilliantly challenging in this respect - it allows you to take nothing for granted.

I loved Ink enough to be trying to make time to see it again, and that rarely happens. If you can get to it, you really should.

5/5: Brash, painfully funny, and terribly relevant
The Almeida
Until 5th August

Review: Hamlet

The short version of this review runs:

This is the best version of Hamlet I have ever seen on a stage. Go and get tickets for it while you still can.

Now, if you feel so inclined, the more detailed version...
 
... Many previous reviewers have already commented on Andrew Scott's brilliance in the role of Hamlet, but it's fair praise: he is astonishing. His performance felt so light, so vital, that it could have been of a text written yesterday. Having seen Benedict Cumberbatch, Rory Kinnear and David Tennant in the role, I am still quite comfortable in saying this is the best iteration of Hamlet I have yet witnessed. Scott's version of the legendary character is both startlingly vulnerable and dangerously unpredictable.

However, this version of Hamlet isn't just the Andrew Scott show. No, the whole thing is a master-class in how to bring Shakespeare to a modern stage and make it feel relevant. Robert Icke's direction is inspired. The design, the staging, the lack of cuts that could have made it a shorter piece, the AV choices: everything works.
Particular design highlights included the use of news broadcasts, and introducing the ghost via CCTV, and the music direction - lots of Bob Dylan and some original Laura Marling - is properly spine-tingling.
The rest of the class stand up to Scott's brilliance, as well, and Juliet Stevenson's Gertrude takes Hamlet's mother in an unusually powerful direction. Her knowing death at the end was one of the striking-yet-subtle twists that made this production so incredible.

This proved to be a brave new Hamlet without a sacrifice of the original text. It made me excited about the theatre, and determined to try and rethink how to introduce Shakespeare to younger audiences (during working hours I'm an English teacher). 

If you can see it you must. It is a master-class in everything Shakespeare can be on a modern stage.

5/5: The flawless, classic, and contemporary Dane
Transferred to the Harold Pinter Theatre
Until 2nd September

Review: Woyzeck

So, my theatre production of the week was Woyzeck, currently running at the Old Vic.

They say:

The multi-award-winning Jack Thorne (This is England, Let The Right One In, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) breathes new life into Woyzeck, one of the most extraordinary plays ever written.
It’s 1980s Berlin. The Cold War rages and the world sits at a crossroads between Capitalism and Communism. On the border between East and West, a young soldier (John Boyega) and the love of his life are desperately trying to build a better future for their child.
But the cost of escaping poverty is high in this searing tale of the people society leaves behind.

And it was alright; Woyzeck, in this iteration, is at least okay, occasionally more than okay, often not.

Tom Scutt's set design is dynamic and exciting, whilst Isobel Waller-Bridge's music and Gareth Fry's sound design are in turns looming and magnificent. Further more, the first Act holds together beautifully, fulfilling some of the drive of Buchner's original play.

After the interval, however, things start to go awry.

When the plot gives way to Woyzeck's deteriorating mental state, John Boyega, who had hitherto been quite good in the role, over acts it terribly. There's a lot of writhing and gurning, which stereotypes mental illness in a way that is really quite problematic. It's like Jack Thorne and Joe Murphy felt it was necessary to signpost at every opportunity 'THIS MAN IS HAVING A BREAKDOWN!' when really a lot more subtlety would have served the piece better.

The performances of the rest of the cast - Ben Batt as 'Andrews' particularly - are more consistent, and I realise that in focusing on Boyega I'm buying into the 'big-stars-in-plays-in-London' vibe that is currently dictating the casting of a lot of major London productions.
In this vein, I am being critical. In the field of big-stars-in-plays-in-London Woyzeck is more engaging than Obsession (starring Jude Law) was at the Barbican, but it falls way short of Angels in America (starring, well, lots of people) at the National. Overall, then, Woyzeck manages to still be worth seeing.

It's not the best thing I've seen this year, but it's far from the worst. You probably wouldn't be disappointed if you saw it, and it's pacey enough to keep you on-board.

3/5: Worth a watch, though not a game-changer
The Old Vic
Until 24th June

Review: Common

Last night was the night for Common at the National Theatre.
They say:

An epic tale of England’s lost land.

Mary’s the best liar, rogue, thief and faker in this whole septic isle. And now she’s back.

As the factory smoke of the industrial revolution belches out from the cities, Mary is swept up in the battle for her former home. The common land, belonging to all, is disappearing.

... but I don't really know what to say about it.

I liked it less than Salome, for a start, because that at least was beautiful to look at: Common, was just a mess.

Once again, a production with a lot of potential was been let down by a shockingly poor script. The story was confused, the dialogue stilted and needlessly sweary, and this left me struggling to care about any of the characters.

Anne Marie Duff was very watchable, it's just a shame she only had DC Moore's script to work with. The language of the script itself was almost unbearably frustrating, because it could have been brilliant: the use of non-standard English and hyphenated coinages could have been a fascinating exploration of how meaning is made, but it fell well short of achieving such a lofty aim.

The pagan-inspired design of the villagers in costume could have been exploited more, and to great effect. It wasn't.
The whole piece felt too long and dull.

The music was great though.

It isn't very often I would tell you to avoid a production at the National, but I just can't recommend Common: your money would be better spent elsewhere.

2/5: A mess of untapped potential
National Theatre
Until 5th August

Review: Angels in America

This year, the National Theatre are staging a revival of Tony Kushner's two-part epic Angels in America. At just shy of eight hours long, it's difficult, if not 'impossible' to put on, so it is a rare treat to be able to see it in its entirety.
The National say:

America in the mid-1980s. In the midst of the AIDS crisis and a conservative Reagan administration, New Yorkers grapple with life and death, love and sex, heaven and hell.

And?

I have never seen anything like it.

Angels in America, especially watched in one day as a double bill, is a huge theatrical feat. The cast are unreal - Andrew Garfield, Denise Gough, Nathan Lane, James McArdle, Russell Tovey, et al - the stage design works on an epic scale, and Kushner's writing is incredible.

There are a lot of things one could choose to talk about with Angels in America, so I'm going to try to limit myself to mentioning a few highlights:

1. Andrew Garfield was a revelation: I have only previously seen him in bit parts and Spiderman, so the fact that he can really, really act, came as a shock. A pleasant one.
2. The wings of the Angel, which were created by a combination of physical choreography and puppetry, were a delightful bit of design/movement work.
3. Kushner's writing of convoluted, rambling monologues is masterful. The characters of Roy (Nathan Lane) and Louis (James McArdle) get very different speeches, but the delivery of Kushner's words by the respective actors was edge-of-seat brilliant.
4. Ian MacNeil's design work and Paule Constable's lighting designs were on a scale wholly appropriate to the magnitude of the text. When the National go all out at set design, they go all out at set design.

Really, I could go on and on.

I cannot recommend Angels in America highly enough. Especially if you can see the double bill. It is unlikely you'll ever get to see the like of this again, so do what you need to do to get a ticket!

5/5: A once-in-a-generation spectacle
The National Theatre
Until 19th August

Review: Life of Galileo

There have been a few revivals of Brecht's work over the past few months - not least The Threepenny Opera at the National Theatre, and The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui at the Donmar - and now it's the Young Vic's turn: they're mounting a loud, proud retelling of The Life of Galileo.

They say:

BAFTA Award-winning film director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride and Prejudice) returns to the Young Vic after his celebrated production of A Season in the Congo.
Brendan Cowell plays Galileo following his acclaimed performance in Yerma. Galileo makes an explosive discovery about the universe with his new invention – the telescope.
Performed in-the-round on a stunning set designed by Lizzie Clachan (Yerma, A Season in the Congo), the show features original music by The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands and projections by 59 Productions (Feast, War Horse).

Now, great CVs for the creative team do not necessarily equal a great production (see Salome as case in point). In this case, however, everything about Life of Galileo turned out glorious, from the performances to the music to the design to the projections of the cosmos.

Brendan Cowell, particularly, is a bold, mercurial Galileo, and watching him, you can't help but think they could power the whole theatre with his energy. The re-imagined Young Vic space gives him a huge arena in which to play out Galileo's ideas, and Brecht's politics, and the music direction gives everything a quick pulse.

Above the stage is a curved dome, used as a screen for projections of the universe.
It's a bit mad, in a beautiful way, but whilst the visuals are captivating, they aren't the only quirk of design used to keep things interesting in the ostensibly blank stage space. Retractable steps, re-purposed props, and the cast working in and out of the floor-seated audience means that the production is visually dynamic.

The only place the relentless pace stuttered was towards the end, where some of the monologuing seemed to drag a bit as the politics Brecht originally explored now seem dated. This is a minor drawback, however, and the fact remains that this is a fabulous production, and well worth your time.

Definitely one to catch.

4/5: Big, brash, bold and beautiful
The Young Vic
Until July 1st

Review: Salome

Well. Salome then. The National Theatre tell us it is:

The tale retold.

The story has been told before, but never like this.

An occupied desert nation. A radical from the wilderness on hunger strike. A girl whose mysterious dance will change the course of the world.

Now, where to start.

This production frustrated me to a pretty extreme degree, but let's deal with the positives first.

Firstly, the acting was brilliant: Isabella Nefar, as Salome so-called, is mesmerising as the still, calm centre of the storm. In fact, the whole cast are strong, and under movement director Ami Shulman's use of slow, dream-like choreography, they seem like a giant, classical artwork come to life.

Secondly, there is the ethereal music. Yasmin Levy and Lubana al Quntar as the 'Women of Song' lend their phenomenal vocals to the whole show. Their contributions are both technically astounding and utterly beautiful.

Thirdly, the design work is also amongst the best I've ever seen. Susan Hilferty, along with lighting designer Tim Lutkin, have created a setting so beautiful it makes the play worth seeing, despite the work's major drawback (which I will come to in a moment). Falling curtains of sand, billowing cloths, props that are used and re-purposed all give the production a properly epic and classical feel (anachronistic weaponry aside). It is a stunning sight.

However, the script.

The script was diabolical. I seriously do not think I've ever seen dialogue that poor in a major production ever. It was just dire. I felt sorry for the actors, who were doing an amazing job with what they had but were playing to a half-empty auditorium. It was embarrassing for everyone involved; I'm not sure how the script passed any kind of quality control. Yaël Farber directs well, but if I were unaware of her previous successes, I would question whether she should be trusted with the writing bit too. As things stand, I think this just has to be written off as a lesson learnt. Hopefully.

Salome is worth seeing for the design, and for the truly haunting music, but the scripting makes it painful. Go to it prepared, but do go to it.

3/5: Could have been perfect. Wasn't.
National Theatre
Until 15th July

Review: Obsession

Tonight's theatre offering was Obsession, directed by Ivo van Hove, and staring Jude Law, at the Barbican. They say:

Jude Law plays the magnetically handsome, down-at-heel Gino in a new stage adaptation of Visconti’s penetrating social drama directed by Ivo van Hove.Drifter Gino, powerful and graceful as a puma, encounters Giuseppe and his much younger, trapped wife Hanna (played by Halina Reijn) at their roadside restaurant and petrol station. He and Hanna are so irresistibly attracted to one another they begin an affair while plotting to murder her husband. But the crime does not unite them in this chilling story where passion can lead only to destruction.
Visconti’s first feature film Obsession (1943) gave rise to Italian neorealism, a cinematic movement highlighting the struggles of ordinary people in a time of upheaval. As Van Hove’s fourth Visconti production, it features a company of Dutch and British actors led by Law, whose charismatic stage and screen performances have established him as one of the foremost actors of his generation.

When you look at the setting, you know it's Van Hove right away: a beautiful, stripped back space that will, you suspect, get more messy as the play progresses.

That is pretty much a metaphor for the whole production, really.

Obsession could have been brilliant, but the pieces don't fit together. Even Jude Law and Halina Reijn's chemistry couldn't carry the mismatched space/music/dialogue, which is a shame because they're really good. The moment of intimacy they share near the beginning is one of the most erotic things I've ever seen in a theatrical production... but then we are left to observe a series of discontinuous vignettes that don't hold together as a whole.
There's the representation of a car that is lifted up and down, spraying oil on the actors. The thing with the accordion. The bit at the end with the seascape, which is beautiful, but totally out of keeping with everything else that happens. The random nudity. The treadmill. You find yourself wondering how a director who, when on form, is so utterly brilliant could also throw these things together and call it a play.

On the whole, Obsession isn't a complete disaster, it's just frustrating. It's kind of worth seeing for Law and Reijn, but there are better things on in London right now. If you have spare time and money I can half-heartedly recommend it, but beyond Law and Reijn's performances, there are a lot of things amiss.

3/5: Moments of beauty caught up in a bit of a mess
The Barbican
Until 20th May

Review: The Treatment

The Almeida's current show is a revival of Martin Crimp's The Treatment, directed by Lyndsey Turner. In short, it goes something like:

New York. A film studio.  A young woman has an urgent story to tell.
But here, people are products, movies are money and sex sells. And the rights to your life can be a dangerous commodity to exploit.

In the viewing, what the The Treatment is, is a brilliantly dark bit of theatre. It explores ideas of stories, authenticity, and ownership, in a manner that is both morally ambiguous and uncomfortably funny. The treatment, as it were, of Anne, who is played brilliantly by Aisling Loftus, is brutally unsympathetic, and as a result it is no surprise when her reality reasserts itself over the film producers who have hitherto tried to exploit her.
The performances are great, particularly Loftus - who is absolutely beguiling as central character Anne - and disintegrating power couple Jennifer (Indira Varma) and Andrew (Julian Ovenden). There is also a great use of a large cast walking in and around the scenes, giving the action a kind of 'behind-the-scenes' feel, entirely appropriate to the subject matter.
The design is striking as well, with sparse sets and bold colours framing the action with a noir-ish vibe, though there are moments when the scene changes jar the pacing a bit, which prevents the show hitting perfection.
Overall, however, The Treatment is a great bit of theatre.
Highly Recommended!

4/5: A darkly funny downward spiral
The Almeida
Until 10th June

Review: Travesties

Last night offered an absolute theatrical treat: Tom Stoppard's Travesties, currently showing at the Apollo Theatre, Soho; I enjoyed every minute of it.

Its blurb describes it thus:

Tom Stoppard’s dazzling comedy of art, love and revolution features James Joyce, Tristan Tzara and Lenin as remembered - and misremembered - by Henry Carr, a minor British diplomat in Zurich 1917.

When Gwendolen and Cecily wander in from The Importance of Being Earnest, Henry’s mind wanders too. He knows he was Algernon in a production in Zurich. But who was the other one?

Stoppard's play was written in 1974, but feels like it could have been produced in the last couple of years. Under Patrick Marber's direction, the work is pyrotechnic, with Tom Hollander and Freddie Fox leading a fantastic cast. The two hours thirty fly by as the improbable connections between a series of historical figures are remembered and misremembered by Hollander's character, Carr. The play with language and pace is a joy to witness, and, as has been my experience watching some of Stoppard's other work, when you understand the more intellectual references, you feel properly clever.

It's not all laughs though. The pathos we feel observing Carr's deterioration is real, and Lenin's journey to power holds some uncomfortable resonances for today. There are also some serious arguments made about the nature of art, which do not sound as if they were articulated in the 70s.

Travesties has been pretty much universally well received during this revival, and that must at least partly be due to its freshness and liveliness as a production. Another major draw is its charm. And then there is its well-groomed style. And, of course, the performances. I would struggle to isolate one single thing that made me enjoy this production so much: it's just so good. Everything about it.

If you can catch it before the end of the run, you definitely should.

5/5: Hysterically clever and rightfully proud of it
Apollo Theatre, Soho
Until 29th April

Review: Consent

Last night I was fortunate enough to be offered tickets to see Nina Raine's Consent, currently showing at the Dorfman Theatre at the National, so I must start this review with a thank you to the NT's wonderful Secondary and FE Education team.

Of Consent, the NT say:

Why is Justice blind? Is she impartial? Or is she blinkered?

Friends take opposing briefs in a rape case. The key witness is a woman whose life seems a world away from theirs. At home, their own lives begin to unravel as every version of the truth is challenged.

Consent, Nina Raine’s powerful, painful, funny play sifts the evidence from every side and puts justice herself in the dock.

Consent is Nina Raine's fourth play, her previous - Rabbit, Tribes, and Tiger Country - all having been well received. Her latest work, which takes a rape case as a starting point for an exploration of the relationships between a ground of friends, is no exception to her run of great writing.

The use of the rape case, and the persuasive strategies of lawyers, as a framing device takes the notion of manipulating the feelings of a jury, then replays the process through manipulating the audience into feeling sympathy and then loathing for each of the characters in turn whilst they toy with one another's' emotions. Raine's writing is excellent in this respect as she is able to contrast the reductionist guilty/not guilty dualism of the courtroom, with the complexities of real life situations: in Consent, no one is innocent, but everyone deserves sympathy.

The dialogue is phenomenally well written, and the humour is sharp, relatable, and, occasionally, very dark. The performances of the cast of seven - Priyanga Burford, Pip Carter, Ben Chaplin, Heather Craney, Daisy Haggard, Adam James, and Anna Maxwell Martin - are solid, and you really do find yourself sympathising with, then hating different characters as the scenes progress.

The set design is neat but sparse, yet does a surprisingly good job of communicating the world in which the characters live. The sound design is less successful, as some of the transitions feel a bit jarring.

My main issue with the play, however, is the fact that the pacing dips in places, and some of the scene changes are a little awkward, but these are hopefully things which will be ironed out as the run goes on.

I would definitely recommend Consent to you, even if the white, privileged, middle-class world isn't something you find you can relate to, as the play is an absolute masterclass in character development and the writing of dialogue. I found myself applauding Raine as much as the actors on the stage.

4/5: Funny but complex: laugh out loud, then go away thinking

The Dorfman Theatre @ The National Theatre

Until 17th May

Review: Blasted

Styx Theatre is a small North London venue, new to me, and, it turns out, a cool and quirky little space. They are currently running a 90s Season, so I finally had the opportunity to see Sarah Kane's Blasted on stage.

Blasted originally opened at the Royal Court Theatre in 1995, directed by James Macdonald. The story plays out in a room in a hotel in Leeds where Ian, a racist, misogynistic journalist, first attempts to seduce, and then later rapes, Cate, a young woman. The fairly naturalistic opening quickly gives way to a representation of a city at war, where a soldier appears in the room and describes the terrible things he has witnessed and done. The final section deals in scenes of rape, cannibalism, and other forms of savagery. All told, the play is brutal.
The version playing at Styx is stripped down, and some interesting directorial choices give rise to a lot of questions about what is stageable, what is acceptable, and what you can pare away from Kane's work without it losing its impact. The end result is a fantastic rendering of Kane's earliest play, and some of the non-naturalistic choices actually heighten the wrongness of the work, rather than shy away from it.
The stage is black, with minimal setting and use of props. For some of the earlier graphic scenes, the stage directions describing the action are projected on the wall instead of the actors performing the acts themselves. At first I wasn't sure if this was an act of cowardice, but as the play gets more graphic, and moments like Ian's rape are staged, what we actually see realised is a series of contrasts and disquieting tensions. Everything is unnatural, yet plausible in the context of war: you might be disgusted by the soldier, but his story is not necessarily surprising.
The themes of conflict and the extremities of violence have taken on a new significance in this era of war and human displacement. As a consequence, Blasted seems to act as a warning of what happens when humanity is stripped away: it is sadly a play of startling relevance for our contemporary moment.

Recommended, though not if you are easily offended.

4/5: Still shocking, still painful, still human
Styx Theatre
Until 11th March

Review: Ugly Lies the Bone

Written by Lindsey Ferrentino and directed by Indhu Rubasingham, Ugly Lies the Bone is currently running on the Lyttelton stage of the National Theatre. They say:

After three tours in Afghanistan, Jess finally returns to Florida. In a small town on the Space Coast, as the final shuttle is about to launch, Jess must confront her scars – and a home that may have changed even more than her.

Experimenting with a pioneering virtual reality therapy, she builds a breathtaking new world where she can escape her pain. There, she begins to restore her relationships, her life and, slowly, herself.

 Now, there are a lot of interesting ideas at work in the play, but overall, nothing is satisfactorily developed. The dramatic use of video projection could have been a powerful way of expressing the virtual world being trialled by Jess (Kate Fleetwood), but some of the design work incorporated by it is, frankly, a bit naff. Meanwhile, the sliding, minimalist set worked quite well, but was nothing revolutionary. 

Acting-wise, Fleetwood is good, and Ralph Little and Kris Marshall's characters are well performed and pleasingly developed, however, the introduction of Jess's mother towards the end of the play is at best trite, and at worst downright tacky.

I think, more than anything, I was frustrated with Ugly Lies the Bone. It had the potential to be exciting and original, it just doesn't quite make it. It's not dreadful, but it is too much of a near miss for me.

3/5: Interesting ideas, average execution

Lyttelton Theatre:

National Theatre.

London

Until 6th June

Review: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead

Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead last graced The Old Vic's stage 50 years ago. This time around Daniel Radcliffe (Rosencrantz) and Joshua McGuire (Guildenstern) take to the stage with David Haig and a beautiful cast of royals and misfits.

The Old Vic say:

Half a century after its premiere on The Old Vic stage, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, the play that made a young Tom Stoppard’s name overnight, returns to The Old Vic in its 50th anniversary celebratory production directed by David Leveaux.
Against the backdrop of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, this mind-bending situation comedy sees two hapless minor characters, Rosencrantz (Daniel Radcliffe) and Guildenstern (Joshua McGuire), take centre stage with David Haig as The Player. Increasingly out of their depth, the young double act stumble their way in and out of the action of this iconic drama. In a literary hall of mirrors, Stoppard’s brilliantly funny, existential labyrinth sees us witness the ultimate identity crisis.

Directed by David Leveaux, and set in the wings of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead is a clever, witty play, and I enjoyed it a lot. It is unashamedly intellectual in its humour, at a time when so much cultural output is simply aimed at the lowest common denominator. Though I'm not such a culture snob that I would dismiss light entertainment out of hand, it feels good to be able to watch something with a bit more challenge to it.

Radcliffe and McGuire do a stellar job of portraying Stoppard's balance between humour and his exploration of human transience: there are moments of real poignancy as well as points of unapologetic postmodernism. Haig's role as resident deviant is also seedy and well played, providing a knowing commentary on the unfolding events.

The design work - part renaissance, part anachronism - is pleasing too, as is the musical direction. The aesthetics suggest a faded glory around the edges of Hamlet, whilst the meander of the characters gives a life to the incidental details that provide the framework for theatre's big stories. As well as asking 'what ifs' and 'who are wes' Rosencrantz & Guildenstern offers a window on two souls, broken free from their original scripting and trying to find a place for themselves in a wider world: it is sad and beautiful.

I would strongly recommend the Old Vic's production of Stoppard's classic, but not if you want something mindless. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead requires a bit of thinking, but you are rewarded with a narrative that stays with your for days, asking questions, making you remember, giving you space to think.

4/5: Clever and well played
The Old Vic
London
Until Sat 29 Apr 2017

Review: Richard III

Schaubühne Berlin's double bill of Richard III and Beware of Pity (with Complicite) have been taking the Barbican by storm this month. I was fortunate enough to catch Richard III in person, and will be following up with the recording of Beware of Pity.
Of Richard III, the Barbican's website informs us that:

Resplendent in evening dress, showered in glitter, the victorious Yorks celebrate. Damaged and disfigured, Richard finds no peace among this elite to whom he has never fully belonged. Murdering his way to the throne, exposing conflict and mistrust in his wake, the outsider makes us complicit, addressing us directly to reveal his manipulative plans.

Of course, as ever, the blurb does not come within a mile of describing what occurs on stage. And in Schaubühne Berlin's version of Shakespeare's historic tragedy, 'what occurs on stage' encompasses quite a number of things.

The stage and lighting design, courtesy of Jan Pappelbaum and Erich Schneider, are edgy and stripped down. With the single set virtually unchanged throughout the play, a lot of the setting is done through the lighting design, which encompasses projection and a live camera feed, to great effect.
Similarly, Nils Ostendorf's music is striking, and the presence of a live drummer creates a raucous
sound scape that reflects the events of the play spiralling out of control. All of the details add up to a scenario that gains such momentum it cannot help but end in a crash.


Directed by Thomas Ostermeier, this version of the Shakespeare classic is riotous, unapologetic, and a bit mad. Lars Eidinger as the titular anti-hero is an immense presence, and he doesn't so much as perform the role as totally own it. Eidinger is by turns carnivalesque, then sinister, then outraged that anyone would accuse him of all of the things he's actually guilty of: he is a Richard who pursues villainy, rather than creeps to it.
Some have argued that Ostermeier, in giving free reign to Eidinger's colossal personality, has made Richard III a character study, tearing away the play's inherent politics. I would disagree. We live in a world where successful politicians are colossal personalities, and we offer deference to the leaders who shout the loudest. As a result, Eidinger's grotesque rendering of the role maps onto the hinterland between celebrity and political cultures.

Schaubühne Berlin have provided us with a Richard III for our age: political power wielded for personal profit, a divided country, at war with herself. It never ceases to amaze me how well Shakespeare's stories have lasted, and how, in the re-telling, they still hold warnings for us now.

5/5: Brilliant, vital madness
The Barbican
Ended 19th February

Review: Sex with Strangers

I'll be honest with you right from the off, I didn't like Sex with Strangers. However, I am going to have a go at reviewing it as objectively as I can, because it did have some redeeming features.

The Hampstead Theatre inform us that,

Olivia, an attractive and talented but underappreciated mid-career writer, is unexpectedly trapped overnight in a secluded, snowed-in B&B with Ethan, an equally attractive and wildly successful young blogger. 
Her latest novel is an unsung masterpiece; his blog is being made into a movie. She prefers books; he prefers eBooks. She is anonymous; he has half a million Twitter followers. But opposites soon attract – passionately – as each realise they want more of what the other has. But the closer they get, the more they must confront the murky side of ambition, success and Wi-Fi…

Now, as the description points out, the attractive novelist and the attractive blogger are indeed trapped in a B&B. They become involved and, over the course of the play, become less attractive personalities with every passing second.

Peter Dubois does a reasonable job of directing Laura Eason's work, but there are moments where things seem forced and awkward, for example as the couple are about to have sex, the gauze lowers in front of them, and there's a cut to blackout, every time. Every. Time. After a while this is clunky, and the momentum is lost. It feels like Eason was writing the kind of character development that is deployed on screen rather than stage - something that can be shown through a montage of time passing. It doesn't work in a play.
The characters are also remarkably unsympathetic, as we see the pull of performative identities and the lure of money cause them both to sacrifice what they hold dear. By the end I just didn't care what happened to them. On saying this, though, there were some subtleties in the character development that were well executed from the writing, I just disliked the characters so much that I was too busy being annoyed to appreciate them.

There are other positives, however. Emilia Fox and Theo James put in strong performances; despite the fact that James seems to have been cast because he looks good with his shirt off, he is particularly convincing as one of a certain breed of social media star. Also, at some points, the dialogue between the two characters is punchy and naturalistic, but not enough to win me over. Oh, and the set design is lovely.

Some people seem to have enjoyed the play. I'm not one of them. Go and see it if you will, but you might find yourself, head in hands, laughing at the number of times Theo James' character has undressed, or irritated by the fact you are stuck watching two characters you don't really care for

3/5 (begrudgingly): Pretty but disappointing
Hampstead Theatre
Until 4th March