Macbeth – Greenwich Theatre

The production that is based on the line "If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well / It  were done quickly"?

Shakespeare's shortest tragedy is cut still further in this adaptation: a cast of six (five men and one woman) take on (nearly) all the roles. As they don't change costume, this is sometimes a case of speed over clarity, as when the King becomes one of the witches simply by not leaving the stage between scenes. For no very obvious reason, the set of actors playing the witches even changes between their first and second appearance.

You probably do need to be familiar with the play to work out who someone is supposed to be at any point – when the actor who played Banquo a minute ago is present as one of the other nobles at the dinner attended by Banquo's ghost, for example – and it also suffers in comparison with the Shakespeare's Globe production last year. Anyone who saw that won't have forgotten the Porter opening the gate.. he's one of the things that's gone here, his performance taken away in a different way.

But it moves along quickly and if not always too well, then effectively enough. The lighting and sound design works well with the simple set (sheets supported by wooden beams, with three slits for entrances and exits), plus the violence is shown effectively without needing to resort to splatter effects.

The audience I saw it with included two school parties. One section laughed at some inappropriate moments, but the applause at the end was thunderous.

3.5/5

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – Gielgud Theatre

Kneehigh, the company behind this production, go from the utterly wonderful (their adaptation of Angela Carter's seemingly unadaptable Nights at the Circus), to the popular (their adaptation of  Brief Encounter), to the brave but bad (Don John, the misguided updating and adaptation of Don Giovanni).

Fortunately, this is nearer the first. Unfortunately, it turns out to be far from another.

Umbrellas.. is, of course*, an adaptation of a French film, Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. Made in the 1960s, it won the Palme d'Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, and had five Academy Award nominations including Best Foreign Language Film, Best Song, Best Original Score, and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Phew. It's also deemed sufficiently famous to have a recreation of the umbrella shop in Disneyland Paris' Walt Disney Studios Park – one of very few non-Disney films referenced there.

OK, first the disclaimer – I saw this before the official opening. However, they still charged to get in and, from reading other reviews, nothing significant has changed in the production. The one problem on the night I saw it was some dodgy sound engineering, particularly towards the start. As that hasn't been mentioned by anyone else, I assume it's been sorted.

It starts with Meow Meow setting the scene and giving French lessons as a Maîtresse ('teacher, not mattress!') Now, my French is very, very bad (I failed my French O-level so badly that it's not even marked as a fail on my certificate) but even I found this funny. Some reviews have reckoned she's a new character, but given that she gets to be sexual with the hero, it's clear that she's the prostitute in the original, and is indeed 'something to lie on between you and the bed'.

All wonderful so far, and then we get to one of the points where you either love it or hate it. Like the original, this is operetta: everything is sung. This is not a problem in Don Giovanni, but Mozart barely stopped writing memorable tunes from about the time he started walking until his death. Here, there's one. Now, as mentioned, it was nominated for some serious awards, but the contrast with the rest of the score is striking. Fortunately the change from an full orchestra to a dozen or so musicians is an artistic success as well as financial necessity and the arrangements work very well.

Another big change is the visual look. The original which was one of those films where people talk of the colours glowing, making what we're told is the French equivalent of Hull look beautiful. Here the set is functional and occasionally fun, but it's more or less monochrome.

Fortunately, they haven't tampered significantly with the story which remains as powerful as ever – believable endings trump happy ones – and the rest of the cast carry it off, if not with the same style as Meow Meow.

So what we're left with is an excellent book, some good performances and one tune. Wicked has run for years on this formula (and survived dodgy sound engineering to boot), but on leaving the theatre, I said that I thought it will be nominated for at least one award, but won't be running this time next year.

At that point, it was due to close in October. Sadly, that date has been moved forward to May. It was never going to be everyone's cup of tea glass of wine, but 'ouch'. Surely this has a bigger market than that?

Good shows have closed too early before, but here I think the publicity reflects the show accurately (unlike, say, that for The Drowsy Chaperone) and while they've been mixed (just see the comments to one blog that correctly points out this is a Marmite show: you'll love it or hate it), many reviews have been the sort producers happily quote in full.

Is it 'cos ils sont français?

* As they say when they've had to look it up to make sure 🙂

4/5

Magick and Mayhem – Jermyn Street Theatre

I noticed this being advertised after seeing The Sideshow of Wonders (cv), and was wondering about whether to see it, especially after the huge disappointment of Dial L... I'm glad I did.

First up at this performance was George Parker from Amsterdam doing some close up magic and enjoying the 'wa-huh?!?' looks on the faces of the two volunteers sitting next to him. I was in the front row, almost as close, and his opening cut/rejoined rope work was perfect. I could just spot what was really happening to the 'lucky' card in one card routine in particular, but it was still very good.

The main event is Jay Fortune and his somewhat warped sense of humour. Again, I can see how he does some of it – if you start with five things to choose from and a volunteer to assist, it does not matter who picks two of them for the other to pick which one to take away, you'll always get the final card you want provided you pick on the last round – but not all. (I wonder if he has fifty two old packs of cards under the table for one…) In any case, the presentation is very good if you can take jokes about death and abuse.

An excellent end to a mixed evening.

4/5

Dial L for Latch-Key – Etcetera Theatre

The worst professional production I've seen was of a play called On the Playing Fields of Her Rejection at the Drill Hall early in 1996. The flyer was fabulous, promising mix of lesbianism, astronomy and gardening. The reality was tedious, biting the carpet bad. At one point, the play featured a solar eclipse and, when the stage lights went out, there was nervous applause from those who thought that, at last, it was over. No, and there was no interval for people to leave during either. So they were openly leaving in the middle of scenes. Come the real end, I remember at least some of the cast looking suitably embarrassed. (Amusingly, the director still has it as a proud point on her CV, even if it is noticeable she doesn't appear to have ever directed anything else.)

Why do much on that play? Because this one is not much better. Again, the publicity was great:

We tried to dial M for Murder. But instead, we accidentally dialed L for Latch-Key…
A plotting husband who strongly resembles Ray Milland…
A framed wife as eleganced out as Grace Kelly…
An Inspector straight out of Monty Python…
Hitchcock would be spinning in his grave, if he weren’t suiting up for his cameo.

The idea of spoofing Hitchcock's films is great. (See Mel Brook's film High Anxiety, for example.) But here what is supposed to be a mash-up of his greatest hits is merely messy. Film titles clunk when dropped and, a couple of sniggers aside, it's simply not funny. In the penultimate words of the piece, "it's just stupid". It's also very short at just over half an hour. Normally that's a bad thing, especially at the price, but here it's more of a relief.

1/5

The Side Show of Wonders – Jermyn Street Theatre

Richard Leigh runs a series of magic shows here, this one is a family show during the February school half-term holidays.

It starts before the advertised time with a warm up of side show games, balloon modelling etc. All good fun and the children in the audience were joining in happily.

The show itself is based around fairground attractions and for its audience works very well. You have probably seen most of the things before, but probably not so close up (it's a small space) or presented with so much genuine enjoyment – they were delighted when four of the children wanted to pay a pound to see the Man Eating Chicken!

Some of the tricks went slightly wrong (the bottom blade on the guillotine showed when lifting up the blade after the demo run – think of a vegetable beginning with C 🙂 – and the blind was thrown a little too high for the transformation trick) but it really does not matter: everyone enjoyed themselves.

Apparently, it will be back during at least some other school holidays. Recommended.

4/5

Company – Southwark Playhouse

Ah, the real Sondheim. For my money, this is one of his five best musicals, and thus better than anything most composers will ever do.

I've seen two professional productions before. The first was the Donmar Warehouse's excellent 1995 revival, starring Adrian Lester. The second was two years ago in the tiny Union Theatre, also excellent. So this one had something to live up to.

The setting is minimalist and it's not clear when its set. Bobby has a Mac laptop and an iPhone (including snorting off it at one point) and the music on the radio or at the disco is modern, but the camera used in one scene is a 1970s/80s 35mm one and the costumes – bearing in mind that I think that, with clothes, fashion is something that happens to someone else – look to be from the same period.

Despite the programme apparently claiming 'present day', I'm guessing it's still supposed to be the earlier period, because there is a scene where one character smokes – indoors! – despite being banned in New York clubs since 2003. I had forgotten that bit, but there was a warning on the auditorium door about this. I groaned to myself, then sat as low down as possible. Fortunately, the character's partner failed to get their lighter to work! Yes! It even works better that way in terms of the scene: he's failing to provide what she wants and she's too drunk to do it herself. Make this an official change to the piece!

Two problems do remain. All of Bobby's girlfriends are noticeably not as good singing as the wives he is friends with, but again, you can say this enhances the piece. One of those showing them how it should be done is Siobhan McCarthy's Joanne (albeit the youngest Joanne I've seen outside student productions) who I saw last year in a fringe revival of the tragically badly promoted Drowsy Chaperone.

The second will be cured if and when this gets a transfer. For some reason, despite this being a small space, everyone is miked. Sometimes, as with Bobby, this is stupidly apparent visually – it looks like he's got a pendant on his forehead! Similarly, you hear the band over a speaker system. But combine the sound design with the 'underneath the arches' shape of the space, and it sounds painful at times, especially with loud or high pitched sounds. I don't know if the sound balance should be better or if the whole thing is just a bad decision, but in a different space, it will sound better.

Apart from that, it's wonderful from beginning to end. Not necessarily better than the other two productions, but still one to be highly recommended.

5/5

Thank you, Young Vic

I knew I had a busy schedule booked this week, but it was less than an hour ago that I realized I had double booked this afternoon.

Despite being less than the 24 hours notice officially needed to swap tickets, it was no problem.

Thank you.

I will now stop moaning about the year I paid to be a member of the Young Vic's 'Friends' scheme and never had a thing from them the entire year..

Drive Ride Walk – Greenwich Theatre

A 'world premiere', but it doesn't feel quite finished yet. The piece has its origin in two songs at one of the Bridewell's experimental slots. It's been expanded into a 55 minute piece here, but there's scope for more.

The theme is journeys in London. One person has just passed their driving test, another cycles, and a third commutes by tube, walks, and also falls over. Around that, the main cast of nine sing a variety of songs, usually a cappella, sometimes backed by a young (college?) choir, or a double bass and… erm, I can't remember what the other instrument is.

I also can't remember any of the tunes: this is Sondheim-light, with an ensemble doing lyric-based stuff. What's missing is a book substantially longer than the sentence above. There's a bit more, but not enough.

But while it's happening, it's good stuff, particularly the 'Don't you cut me up' song from the young drivers. I was fearing they'd end up hitting the cyclist (how to put people off cycling) but it doesn't happen and she sings happily about some of the joys of cycling in London.

Overall, I'm glad I've seen it, but I was also glad I got the ticket for half price on lastminute.com.

After the week at Greenwich Theatre, it goes on a short London tour.

3/5

My Trip Down the Pink Carpet – Apollo Theatre

I need to confess to never having heard of Leslie Jordan, the author and star of this autobiographical one-man show, before today. Half the audience knew him through a role on Will and Grace (it's a American TV 'situation comedy', m'lud) for which he won an 'Emmy' award.

The story is how he ended up being able to make a joke about taking the Emmy statuette to bed, "the first woman I've ever slept with", on live TV despite starting out loathing his homosexuality. It's also indirectly the story of how the audience – a list of names in the front row is dropped – applauds him for doing so, as does the audience here, in contrast to the homophobia of years ago.

In wondering whether or not to see it, I came across a review that wondered how many of the audience would have heard of some of the names that get dropped, like Faye Dunaway and Cloris Leachman. Erm, the main target audience, people for whom Sylvester's Do You Wanna Funk means something, will know them, even if they prefer Dunaway in Mommie Dearest to, say, Bonnie and Clyde.

As well as the showbiz gossip, he covers his childhood in Missionary Ridge, Tennessee (which I had heard of – it was the site of a battle in the American Civil War) where his father died when Jordan was aged eleven, through numerous crushes on other boys, to his decision to go to the only local gay bar.. with a little help.

He also covers his drinking (he credits the experience of being in a rehab group with a hundred straight men as teaching him how to be a man), drug use ("look, a pill on the floor, take it!") and promiscuity (his accountant said he knew when Jordan was working because all the street hustlers had new trainers). One noticeable omission is any mention of HIV and Aids. For someone who arrived in Los Angeles in 1982 and spent years partying on the gay scene, it is not possible for HIV not to have had a major impact on his life.

After writing this, I had the thought that it reminds me of an extended version of the scenes in La Cage Aux Folles (the original French film version, of course) where the effeminate Albin is attempting to 'butch up' to pass as heterosexual, but ends up a star as what he really is.

It's a good mix. I laughed a lot, and the night ended up with a standing ovation from a large portion of the audience. You probably know whether or not you'll enjoy it from the subject matter alone.

4/5

The Overcoat – Brockley Jack Studio

Despite living two minutes away for over a decade, it was only late last year that I first went to the Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, blush. This was the second visit. The run had sold out, so an extra performance was added on the last day…

The Nikolai Gogol short story The Overcoat is adapted from is a classic of Russian literature. Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, an aging clerk copying endless documents in some St Petersburg government department, is bullied because of his threadbare coat. The tailor refuses to patch it again so, with the help of a bonus, a brand new coat is ordered. When he's dressed in the replacement, everyone treats Akaky very differently.. until it is stolen after a party for him (or was the party for the coat?) leading to his death.

Chris Bearne as the hero does both the bullied and newly confident Akaky very well within the limitations of the production, but those are substantial. A story about the way people are judged by their possessions and their jobs has stayed relevant for over a century, but this is largely missed, with too much of it set 'pre coat'. It does feel nicely Russian though.

Akaky's return as a ghost is also miswritten. The original story ends with the ghost visiting, and terrifying, a high ranking official who had refused to help recover the coat (and also had enjoyed terrifying the office Akaky worked in). The ghost leaves with the official's coat and is never seen again. Instead a second ghost starts haunting the city, looking like one of the people who had stolen Akaky's coat.

Here, Akaky's ghost turns up, smokes – productions should post 'contains smoking' warnings, especially in small spaces like this – and makes the lights go out. The end. Hmmm. Given the pace of the script, it was more of a relief than a fright.

Another oddity is that it was advertised as being 75 minutes long, but despite starting eight minutes late, it still finished 'on time'. Did something get cut? If so, it was the wrong bits.

2/5