Semi-Annual Theatre Review: Part Three

Picking up where I left off...

A Midsummer Night's Dream at Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park
While we've seen some great Shakespeare during the RSC Complete Works Festival, this production was one of our favorite interpretations of the Bard in 2006. First, what better setting for an enchanted forest than a stage in a wooded area of a Royal Park? Second, it was cast so exceedingly well. Third, the play's design was beautiful and appropriate to the production's tone (Edwardian costumes for the humans, raggedy street urchin/punk for the fairies.) The three female leads: Sirine Saba, Summer Strallen, and Sheridan Smith - try saying those three times fast! - were excellent, adroit at physical comedy and pathos alike. A really lovely theatre experience, but then what isn't there to like about sipping Pimm's cups under a twilight sky while watching mortals (and fairies) make fools of themselves?

Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, starring Tom Conti
We primarily booked this to see Tom Conti perform on stage. And perform he does; while there are other cast members, this is essentially a one-man show. We didn't know who Jeffrey Bernard was going into the play, and we don't particularly care to know more about him after. Perhaps this would have resonated more with us if we had grown up with Bernard's writing. But seeing as this was basically two hours of Conti stumbling around as the perpetually vodka-soaked Bernard, and seeing as my husband and I lack the British fascination with people in possession of engorged livers, this fell flat on its face for us long before Conti took the first of many drunken pratfalls. Under the Black Flag will probably be the worst theatre experience of the 21st century for me and Jeffrey Bernard came nowhere near that nadir - but it certainly wasn't a high point, either.

Love's Labour's Lost, performed by Shakespeare Theater Company of Washington D.C. at the RSC
The RSC's Complete Works Festival is not limited to performances by the RSC; they invited companies from all over the world to perform their own interpretations. The Shakespeare Theater Company took on Love's Labour's Lost and gave it a 1960s spin, turning the princes seeking knowledge into Beatlesque rock stars seeking enlightment, and turning the Kingdom of Navarre into an Indian ashram. It worked amazingly well. This was a fun, bright, bold production, from the mod outfits to the Indian influenced set. When the princes delivered sonnets to their lady loves, they were in the form of rock songs and ballads instead of declaimed poetry, bringing the scene alive. The performances were terrific, especially Hank Stratton's Berowne and Amir Arison's King Ferdinand. For the women, Sabrina LeBeauf especially stood out among the Princess's ladies. She hasn't aged one day since The Cosby Show - and this was in the Swan Theatre, where we could see the actors up close. We loved this production for its energy and joie de vivre. (And for including the Frito-Lay bandito song, even if once more we found ourselves the only ones giggling at a US-centric joke. What can I saw, we're easy to please.)

The Taming of the Shrew at Open Air Theatre in Regent's Park
Sadly, magic didn't strike twice at the Open Air Theatre, despite this production having most of the same cast as A Midsummer's Night Dream. Perhaps if we had seen this production first, we would have liked it more - but the earlier play set very high expectations. Sirine Saba, who played such an elegant, imperious Titiana in Midsummer, was here merely grating and annoying. Yes, Katherina is a shrew, but we're still supposed to have empathy for her. Same for John Hodgkinson's Petruchio. He came off as a mean, cruel misogynist. One wished that the two would get lost and freeze to death on the way to Petruchio's home. The ending scene, where Kate docilely submits to Petruchio, felt creepy and disturbing, with zero sexual chemistry. And Sheridan Smith, so fabulous as Hermia, was a simpering and cloying Bianca. I can only blame the director, as the cast that gelled to perfection in Midsummer was sodden and unpalatable in this production. Not even the Pimm's cups could make me like like this version of Shrew.

Sunday in the Park with George, music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Another musical using video projection onto blank walls in lieu of stage sets (see: Woman in White). But unlike the earlier production, in which the projection WAS the raison d'etre for the show (or at least it felt that way), here the projection is used to highlight, emphasize and make witty asides. It helped to create an incredibly satisfying whole, instead of overwhelming all else. Of course, I vastly prefer Sondheim to Lloyd Webber so I may be biased...

King John, performed in repertory by the Royal Shakespeare Company
One of the best aspects of the RSC's Complete Works Festival is seeing Shakespeare plays that are rarely mentioned, much less performed. One of Will's early efforts, King John examines the monarch mostly known for being a thumb-sucking cowardly lion in Disney's version of Robin Hood. Oh, and for signing the Magna Carta, of course.

In this production, Richard McCabe as the titular king did seem to have drawn some inspiration from Disney; his John was a fractious, spoiled tyrant, at once imperious yet fearful. But for all that, it was a performance that demands your attention. While John was never a figure of admiration, you understood his motivations and empathized when his machinations involving his usurped nephew Arthur go awry. Tamsin Greig, whom I've only seen play comedic roles on television, was an intense, forbidding Constance, mourning her son and vowing revenge with an intensity that left goosebumps. And Joseph Millson stole the stage whenever he was on it as the Bastard. An involving production, one that I enjoyed very much.

Much Ado About Nothing, performed in repertory by the Royal Shakespeare Company
The last Shakespeare production of the year for us, and what a high note to end on! This production sparkled from start to finish. Tamsin Greig and Joseph Millson played Beatrice and Benedick, set against the backdrop of 1950s Cuba. One could feel the steamy summer Havana night despite it being mid-December London outside. The soldiers were government men, fresh from a rebel skirmish. Beatrice wore sharp-shouldered jackets and tight pencil skirts to match her tone and mood; the virginal Hero wore full skirts and bows in her ponytail. The music was salsa, the lighting moody and suggestive - a complete feast for the senses.

Greig and Millson sparked and sparkled; their chemistry was palpable. (I'd love to see them perform Kate and Petruchio...) The eavesdropping scenes, in which Benedick hears of Beatrice's supposed love and vice versa, were models of physical comedy. Millson got to pretend he was a bush, while Greig had an inspired routine with a Vespa scooter. Yet the drama was also there in full force. When Beatrice begs Benedick to kill Claudio, it is a cry from a vengeful, grieving heart.

I could have done without the over-the-top-and-way-into-the-heavens camp Dogberry, but overall this production hit very few jarring notes. And the end, reminding us that while all may be merry right now but that this life would soon be ending when Castro takes power, was food for thought.

The 39 Steps, based on the 1935 Hitchcock film
This was non-stop fun from start to finish. Four actors play over 100 roles as they re-enact the Hitchcock film, inventively using props to suggest a moving train, a chase over the moors, an escape through a back window from a crofter's cottage, and other film-only scenarios (or so one would have thought...) The acting was terrific, the mood and tone light, and it even snows inside the theatre. (Warning: if you are in the first three rows, as we were, you'll need to wash your hair when you get home.) Highly recommended, and still on in London!

And that draws a curtain over 2006. In 2007 we have Spamalot to look forward to (we saw it in New York, but with obstructed view seats - I'm looking forward to having a full view of stage) as well as, you guessed it, more Shakespeare (F. Murray Abraham in The Merchant of Venice and Ian McKellen in King Lear among the tickets).