Kate Fleetwood

The Great Catch-Up Post of 2017

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The list of plays I have seen but not blogged about has been growing. And growing. And growing. And now, I am going to draw a line under it. Here is an update with capsule reviews from the past umpteen months, with apologies and definite plans to do better going forward. Probably.

  • Bug (Soho) – James Norton and Kate Fleetwood were mesmerising in this production of Tracy Letts’s play, where Fleetwood heartbreakingly comes to believe in Norton’s delusions. A very uncomfortable theatre in just about every respect, however.
  • Romeo and Juliet (WE) – Lily James was beautiful, flighty and young, as Juliet, and I was thoroughly convinced that she was in love with Richard Madden’s articulate and passionate Romeo. However, I didn’t necessarily believe the reverse, as the chemistry simply wasn’t there on his side. The production was delightful, however, filled with Italian sunshine and gorgeous costumes.
  • My Mother Said I Never Should (St James’s) – Having never previously seen Maureen Lipman on stage, I was very much looking forward to her performance. I was not disappointed. This exploration of the lives of three generations of Northern working class women was beautifully acted and well staged.
  • Threepenny Opera (NT) – Any production involving Rory Kinnear can’t be all bad. But this was decidedly odd, with his intelligent thug a foil for Rosalie Craig’s cunning good girl. Perhaps it’s Brecht’s fault, but this was a puzzling evening.
  • The Deep Blue Sea (NT) – Helen McCrory’s amazing performance in this Rattigan revival cannot be praised enough. Her transparent, intelligent face reflected complete understanding of her situation, longing, infatuation, and utter despair. Strangely uplifting.
  • Breakfast at Tiffany’s (WE) – Dire. Pixie Lott can sing a little, but can’t act for toffee. The worst accents I have ever heard on a London stage. Didn’t return after the interval.
  • The Spoils (WE) – Jesse Eisenberg’s play was, as the kids say, aight. It struck me as being of a very millennial sensibility, with immature young men and the sighing young women who take care of them. Fairly well acted, with particular praise for Katie Brayben, whose New Jersey accent was subtle and excellent.
  • Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (WE) – Much more effective on the stage than on the page. Excellent acting (Noma Dumezweni, Jamie Parker and Paul Thornley all did a great job as the core trio, as did Sam Clemmett as Albus and Anthony Boyle as Scorpius) and some of the simplest and yet most effective stagecraft I have ever seen made these plays an absolute joy to behold.
  • Richard III (Almeida) – I have been enjoying Ralph Fiennes’ frequent appearances on the London stage of late, but this was absolutely the most effective. I saw echoes of his Amon Goeth and his Lord Voldemort in one of the finest Richard IIIs I have ever seen.
  • Aladdin (WE) – Quite the slickest and Disneyest production I have ever seen in the West End. Still trying to figure out how they managed the flying carpet.
  • Groundhog Day (Old Vic) – I enjoyed this thoroughly and Andy Karl did an excellent job of making me forget about Bill Murray (the only exception being the “I am a God” line, but he’s not superhuman). A delightful adaptation.
  • Guys and Dolls WE) – It was the same production as previously reviewed, but minus Jamie Parker and with the addition of Rebel Wilson as Miss Adelaide. She did a lovely job, charming and with unexpected vulnerability.
  • Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (NT) – I’m not sure exactly why it’s shocking that teenage girls like to drink, smoke and have sex, but they did so loudly, enthusiastically and Scottishly in this energetic production.
  • The Libertine (WE) – I am still not sure why they revived this play. Dominic Cooper was somewhat one note, and the play itself was dull. I was bored stiff.
  • King Lear (Old Vic) – Glenda Jackson made an absolutely stonking return to the stage. She was in clear, stunning voice and brought pathos I had never seen before. A triumph.
  • Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (B’way) – It turns out that when you take the “war” out of War and Peace, what you’re left with is really rather trite. Josh Groban and Denée Benton were terrific, however.
  • School of Rock (WE) – A light as air musical providing a delightful evening of escapism. The children were absolutely terrific.
  • Nice Fish (WE) – Mark Rylance is incapable of giving a bad performance, but this was a trifle. An enjoyable, disposable evening.
  • Come From Away (Toronto) – I adored it from start to finish. A fabulous ensemble cast, tight production and a story (stranded passengers taken in by a small town in Newfoundland after 9/11) to make you believe in humanity again. Needed now more than ever.
  • Rent (WE) – It has held up well generally, but I felt so OLD. One for the young people, I think.
  • Dreamgirls (WE) – A slick, enjoyable production. Amber Riley sang beautifully.
  • Art (Old Vic) – I certainly didn’t think the play was a masterpiece (it hasn’t aged all that well) but Rufus Sewell, Paul Ritter and Tim Key were fantastic and had amazing chemistry.
  • The Tempest (RSC Stratford) – Simon Russell Beale was his usual marvellous self. The production was innovative in the best way, and the projections were stunning.
  • Amadeus (NT) – An intense evening, somewhat over-acted. As ever, the music was the best part.
  • Hedda Gabler (NT) – Ruth Wilson was head and shoulders above the rest of the cast. I’m not fond of modern Heddas (I want to say “get a job”) but she was excellent.
  • Sex with Strangers (Hampstead) – The play was middling, but Theo James was really rather good (and very handsome). Emilia Fox was inexplicably bad, with a very poor American accent.
  • Much Ado About Nothing (RSC London) – Charming WWI-era production, with top-notch acting and gorgeous sets.
  • Jonas Kaufmann (Barbican) – Not in absolutely top voice, but his technique and feeling made up for it.
  • Twelfth Night (NT) – Gloriously sharp gender-fluid production. Tamsin Greig was a joy to watch.

Medea (Almeida)

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Medea is one of those plays that I generally enjoy seeing, as despite its goriness, it is an opportunity for our greatest actresses to show us the full range of their skills. Helen McCrory’s astonishing performance of a couple of years ago will have a long life in my memory. I have always enjoyed Kate Fleetwood’s performances (most recently in a very different role in High Society) so it was with a pleasant sense of anticipation that I set off for  Islington.

The Almeida’s Greeks season has been, to my mind, an unqualified success. Oresteia was stunning and Bakkhai pleasantly memorable (although there was far too much of the chorus). This version of Medea was the most radically changed from the original of all of the Greeks season plays. I enjoyed it and thought it enormously effective, but I do not anticipate a long life for this, as it is vividly and determinedly tied to life in London circa 2015.

Fleetwood’s Medea is an immediately recognisable North London type: beautiful, not in the first flush of youth and very conscious of that fact, and deeply despairing of where her life and energy have gone. Jason (a diffident and frustrated Jason Salinger) has left her for a younger, richer woman, and this is destroying her. She is reevaluating her life and her decision to have children, as many women do (but of course never admit it). She focuses, increasingly, on that part of her children that comes from Jason, and the love and hate for him are transferred to the children in the end. This, again, seemed very realistic to me. It is only natural to respond most strongly to the elements in your children that come from yourself, and to react negatively to those elements that come from your partner and which you don’t particularly like.

This soul-searching is reinforced well by the chorus, transformed into a group of North London yummy mummies, who make it clear that Medea’s questioning does not fit in with the herd. This again rings very true, as I understand that those who have children are often shocked by the conformity required at the school gate. If one doesn’t fit in, life becomes very difficult. Michele Austin added a welcome dose of reality as the Brazilian cleaner who doesn’t have the luxury of ennui enjoyed by the North London privileged brigade. It was interesting to make Richard Cant’s Aegeus a gay man contemplating having children with his partner via surrogate, but it did not add much to the play beyond expanding the discussion of parenthood and felt rather detached and academic.

Andy de la Tour’s outstanding performance as Creon was anything but dry and academic. He now controls Medea’s finances, her lifeline to the outside world. In one devastating scene, he lays bare all of the insecurities that many 40-something women feel, from the loss of their looks to becoming invisible to more intimate physical changes. It was like having one’s soul exposed to the world by a particularly vicious London taxi driver. Rachel Cusk has outdone herself with this play, navel-gazing though it may appear.

Fleetwood’s performance is, of course, outstanding. You truly felt her love, her rage and her anguish. I have never felt such lack of sympathy for Jason, and I have never felt the inevitability of the end of the play more strongly. I am still not sure whether it was a truly extraordinary version of the play or it only seemed extraordinary because it was set so close to my own milieu, but it was, undeniably, gripping and beautifully acted. Closing soon, but highly recommended.

Catch-up Post: Musicals

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Since I’ve been gone for so long, I thought I would publish a catch-up post with a few words about each of the productions I’ve seen over the past year. That way, I will have caught up and not feel so guilty! I’ve seen a lot, just haven’t reported it here.

Bend it like Beckham (WE): The football loses its power in the transition to the stage, but this is an utterly charming ode to multicultural London and the power of female friendship.

Memphis (WE): Beverley Knight is amazing as always, but dodgy American accents and a slightly odd book made this one nice to see, rather than must-see.

Gypsy (WE): Imelda Staunton is an absolute revelation and surely a lock for the Olivier. A triumph and a delight.

Fiddler on the Roof (Grange Park): Bryn Terfel is, shall we say, not a natural choice for the role of Tevye, but his singing was exquisite and his acting gaining in subtlety. So glad I caught this one.

High Society (Old Vic): Now THAT’s how you do a fluffy musical. Enjoyable from beginning to end, with beautiful staging using very little; a scene where the staff set out lights around the “pool” was extraordinarily beautiful.  Kate Fleetwood a delight as usual.

Sweeney Todd (ENO): Emma Thompson had a surprisingly good singing voice, but her frankly cartoonish acting choices did not impress me (I am aware I am in the minority on this one). Similarly, Bryn Terfel’s singing was stunning but his acting lacking here. Memories of the fantastic Imelda Staunton/Michael Ball production were too strong for me.

Cats (WE): I wanted to see it because I had never seen it on stage and loved the soundtrack when I was growing up. I was impressed by Nicole Scherzinger, to whom I had never given much thought. Other than that, it was utterly silly and best left to children.

Sunny Afternoon (WE): I was not expecting much from this (never thought much about the Kinks before) but the songs were strong and the book matched them. A very British musical, and an unexpected pleasure.

Beautiful (WE): Katie Brayben was wonderful as Carole King. It was probably impossible to mess this one up, given Carole King’s superlative back catalogue, but it was a lovely and moving musical.

Made in Dagenham (WE): Gemma Arterton was charming, but there was very little “there” there. A slight concoction, and I’m not surprised it closed relatively early.

From Here to Eternity (WE): A talented cast and a strong story and they made this mediocrity? The book was all right but the songs were forgettable. I was pleased to see Darius from Pop Idol, though.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (WE): This was a silly musical that relied entirely on charm. Robert Lindsay was charming enough, but I was not part of the target demographic. The target audience lapped it up but it left me a trifle cold. The presence of the always wonderful Samantha Bond saved it for me.

The Scottsboro Boys (WE from Young Vic): I bought tickets to this at least three times, and something always prevented me from going. Finally, I made it and I’m so glad I did. Funny, moving and ultimately enraging, it was a triumph.

Porgy and Bess (Open Air): A beautiful production that worked well in the Open  Air format. Gorgeous singing and impeccable acting made for a delightful afternoon.

Next up: the epic plays catch-up post.