Does it have potential? – My thoughts on I Can’t Sing – The X Factor Musical

In late February 2014, one of the West End’s biggest and most prestigious theatres will welcome audiences to the new musical I Can’t Sing, based on ITV’s tabloid-grabbing talent show The X Factor. Written by Harry Hill and with music and lyrics by Steve Brown, I can say that the majority of comments expressed on this new musical have been that of a surprised and derogatory nature. But why? Is it that after the abysmal Viva Forever frequent theatregoers are sensing a repeat embarrassment of a formulaic musical that feeds media-crazed fans? Or could it be that the trash-o-meter is going off the scale just with the thought of the circus frenzy that takes over our televisions for four months of the year moving into esteemed theatreland?

One of the few things we know of I Can’t Sing is that it claims to go behind the scenes to reveal the real antics of The X Factor including the reason why Simon Cowell’s trousers are so high! So it seems to be taking a satirical root. One issue with that idea is that satire is supposed to be fairly current whereas The X Factor has surely peaked by now and most of the people who watch it see it as a guilty pleasure and are savvy to the fact that it is to be taken with a pinch (or perhaps a handful) of salt and that whatever success that comes from it could be down to money-throwing producers and delirious fans just as much as it’s got to do with an act’s talent. Therefore, even if the title ‘I Can’t Sing’ evokes humour through the format being about a lack of musical talent it still doesn’t quite strike as truth-telling enough as it could be. Perhaps it should be called You Know I Can’t Sing But This Isn’t Really About Singing But Is Cheap Entertainment That Increases Ratings, but I can’t imagine that it would catch on!

The other problem with a satirical take on The X Factor is that a question is being raised over who is the real butt of the joke. With The X Factor logo stamped all over it and Simon Cowell’s production company SyCo acting as co-producers, it makes you wonder how satirical I Can’t Sing can be. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how many jokes there are about the height of Simon Cowell’s trousers, because when those trousers have pockets stuffed with audience members’ cash, it begs the question of who’s really laughing.

Surely I should be giving a show that hasn’t even started previews yet a chance. A home-grown musical that brings with it the opportunity to entice audience members that don’t often go to the theatre should be welcomed and celebrated. However, if the format is as unoriginal and (dare I say it) low art as some audiences thought Viva Forever was then do we really want it? Are theatre box offices really crying out for TV executives to flood the West End with cruddy, end of the pier, sensationalised musicals? Or is the issue with recurrent theatregoers such as myself? Maybe there is a pompous feeling that the theatre is a club separate to the grubby, spectacular world of TV and that come February there will have to be a sign outside the Palladium asking customers to wipe their feet on the way in. I hope that’s not the case, but an interesting issue nonetheless.

At the moment, the saving grace to I Can’t Sing sounds like it could be Harry Hill. Despite being a household name and having a hit primetime ITV show, his comedy has remained successfully alternative. Therefore we can hope that by moving him from commercial television to commercial theatre he won’t lose any of his likable edginess or cheeky recklessness.

Director Sean Foley has had a hit in the past couple of years with Graham Linehan’s The Ladykillers but also a flop with the West End revival of Joe Orton’s What the Butler Saw last summer but I still suspect the production is in safe hands with him. Overall, with Kate Prince’s choreography and Es Devlin’s design and no doubt a dedicated cast and company, I Can’t Sing could well be a first class production but it would have to be a huge hit with critics, X Factor audiences and theatre fans for it to do extremely well in my eyes. To conclude, we’ll have to wait until 2014 to see how well it is executed (and there’s definitely a double meaning in that last word).

I Can’t Sing – The X Factor Musical starts preview from 27^th February 2014 at the London Palladium and preview tickets are on sale now.

Why the Tony Awards were so much better than the Oliviers

The above video shows a scene from Family Guy in which they parody a performance from the Tony Awards in which the ever-increasing number of performers sing ‘If more people join in, the song will get better’. They soon are walking in the aisles and chanting how their close proximity to the audience can trick people into thinking it makes for a better performance.

Watching Neil Patrick Harris’ truly spectacular opening number to this year’s Tony Awards makes me wonder if there was a touch of self-consciousness and self-parody in the routine. I fear that non-theatre lovers will rate the performance as cheesy and self-indulgent without fully appreciating the underlying tone of the performers and audience together embracing the in-jokes and light self-mockery alongside the unapologetic showmanship of it all. The Barnum-like Patrick Harris led the routine which featured Mike Tyson, cast members from quite probably every Broadway musical and an incredible magic trick was a brilliant tribute to the past season.

Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots walked away with an impressive six awards including Best Musical, Best Choreographer and Best Actor in a leading role. Although it beat Matilda the Musical, they should also be proud of their five awards including Best Book, Best Design and Sound Design, Best Actor in a featured role and Special Achievement awards for the four Matildas. However, they didn’t do as well as perhaps expected and certainly didn’t match their record-breaking number of Oliviers.

For plays, the Chekhovian Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, by Christopher Durang and starring David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver, was awarded Best Play and the 50^th anniversary production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf won best revival along with Tracy Letts winning Best Actor. We also learnt that Nora Ephron’s Lucky Guy, which sees Tom Hanks (don’t forget to thank him!) making his Broadway debut, is not planning a West End run at the moment, even if it did win awards for Best Actor in a featured role for Courtney B Vance and best lighting design for a play. Other success stories of the night were The Trip to Bountiful, Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella and Pippin (Best Revival of a musical) including Sister Act’s Patina Miller winning Best Actress in a leading role in a musical for the latter.

The Tony Awards have more categories than the Olivier Awards in some aspects, which makes it fairer for the ‘Featured/ Supporting’ awards. But also where the Olivier Awards seem to go wrong is in its coverage. After all, I think that a Tony and an Olivier are equally prestigious but you wouldn’t think so when watching them. The pride and glamour on show at last night’s ceremony made this year’s Oliviers seem apologetic to be televised as if we had to be grateful for the little airtime that they received. And what about the content? No mash-up or tribute for London theatre. Instead we get the ubiquitous Sheridan Smith singing a song from a Broadway musical that hasn’t been seen in the West End since the early 1960s and which now almost always sounds dated. We may get performances from musicals but not quite to the same quality as some from the Tonys (although judging by the pretty poor offering of new musicals for this year’s London ceremony it might not be a bad idea to save some money in that area).

So, Society Of London Theatre, please take note to last night’s Tony Awards – it needs to be bigger and perhaps a giant replica Olivier will help!

Peter and Alice

Noël Coward Theatre

30^th March, 2013

This review was written for the theatre blog What's Peen Seen but the reviewer is also a guest-reviewer for us. Here is a longer version of the review:

Skyfall stars Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw reunite in Bond film screenplay writer John Logan’s new play about Alice Liddell Hargreaves and Peter Llewelyn Davies, the muses behind Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Following an imagined conversation the two might have had when meeting each other in the back of a bookshop in 1932, Peter and Alice marks the second play in the Michael Grandage Season.

Judi Dench says early on in the play ‘Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland in one room’ which not only sums up the play but is also telling of how these characters have led their lives being so closely linked to their literary alter-egos. The play is bookended (perhaps quite literally) with a bookshop design representing how their lives have been trapped in fiction, a metaphor brilliantly conveyed in Christopher Oram’s design.

The majority of the play, however, takes place when the bookshop disappears to reveal a toy theatre set where we see Llewelyn Davies and Liddell Hargreaves relive experiences pleasant and traumatic from their youth. I fully believed that Dench became an excited girl again only to fade when realising that she has to grow up, reflecting that marriage seemed like a “resignation to something so vast”. Both of them present the binary forces of longing to go back to childhood and all its simplicity as well as trying to escape from it. An interesting truth that Logan presents is how we long for adulthood when we’re children, but then complain of the brevity of childhood when the notion of growing up dawns upon us. But this isn’t a new idea and one that even reminds me of Matilda the musical.

The ending is truly sad: there is neatness in the way the theatre curtain of the toy theatre closed as the bookshop set came back down, perhaps as if drawing a close on the story of their lives.  There is sadness in Alice’s acknowledgment that no one will remember her in 100 years’ time but they will remember Alice in Wonderland and so the real Alice decides to take comfort in living as her. So even though this is impractical, she dies old and happy. Peter, on the other hand, admits ‘I’ve grown up’ away from Peter Pan. So he accepts reality, but others will always know him as the boy who never grew up as shown in the newspaper headlines ‘Peter Pan joins army, Peter Pan marries, Peter Pan opens publishing firm’. He can’t escape that image projected onto him by others and by JM Barrie and thus dies fairly young by jumping In front of a tube train – a striking end line delivered, perhaps cruelly, perhaps fittingly, by Olly Alexander who plays Peter Pan.

The acting by the whole cast is mesmerising but especially by the two leads. There is a moment when Dench bursts into tears when it’s revealed that her children have died in the war, but the play is made all the more moving by Adam Cook’s sound design which ensures that the cast’s echoes reflect echoes of the past.  

After seeing FindingNeverland at Leicester’s Curve last year, I realise the creators of the musical might have glossed over some of the painful realities that Llewelyn Davies later faced in his life. Growing up, the mundanities and responsibilities of adulthood and the idea of literature as a safe-haven all seem to be themes which are very much à la mode in theatre and all explored even further by Logan.

John Logan’s enjoyable play might be predictable and may not offer us anything new, but Grandage’s smooth direction and the superlative acting of Dench and Whishaw make this a highly-recommended piece of theatre. At the performance I attended, Dench seemed to be struggling with a cough but she excellently kept in character and accepted a drink of water from Whishaw’s cup at one moment, which exemplifies the closeness of these two professionals. To conclude, Peter and Alice is a brilliantly acted play that will put a smile on your face but which is also extremely touching.

Due to the huge amount of £10 seats on offer for this season, I imagine many theatregoers will be plucking for the balcony, which I fully recommend. The view is decent, the leg room is ample, and the seats are comfy and wide – certainly much more so than the Dress Circle for my experience of Gatz last year.

Peter and Alice runs at the Noël Coward Theatre until 1^st June, 2013

Quartermaine's Terms

Wyndham’s Theatre

25^th February, 2013

‘We see a character in a room: doors open, people enter and leave and, by a remorseless accumulation of incident, that character’s doom is sealed.’

Rowan Atkinson returns to the West End to St. John (say “Sin-jon”) Quartermaine after playing Fagin in Oliver! (2009) to do his first play since the 1980s. Richard Eyre’s revival production of Simon Gray’s play set in the staff room of an English school for foreigners in Cambridge in the 1960s is triumphant – I would totally recommend it.

I have so much to say about this play, so I’ll start with the title: although ‘Terms’ could refer to things being on Quartermaine’s Terms, this is ironic as he’s a very passive character. His passivity is exemplified in one character’s line of ‘St. John you have an amazing ability to let the world impinge on you’. Also, it wasn’t until I saw the play that I realised that ‘Terms’ refers to school terms which are the only markers for time in Gray’s play as Quartermaine lives an otherwise very uneventful life. As the person who seems happy babysitting for colleague’s children and doesn’t seem to mind when rejected by friends for the evening, he is the ‘perfect outsider’.

Eyre’s nuanced production begins with a sturdy white proscenium arch and a painted red, with black brushstrokes, curtain which perhaps hints at a modernising institution which still remains sturdy, thus indicating that faults lie elsewhere, namely in the individual characters themselves. Tim Hatley’s staff room design is impressively detailed even complete with false draw under the sink.

Although the play is not completely a comedy, fans of Rowan Atkinson won’t be disappointed, particularly as we get to see the inner depths and sad realities of this bumbling, optimistic character. Quartermaine’s high-pitched laugh and subtle head movements are enough to earn him a laugh. There is a moment in act two, scene two when Derek looks up to the top of the theatre and reflects ‘Love. Love.’ which is followed by Atkinson looking up as if confused by what Derek was doing. Similarly when Derek remarks about Daphne’s legs, Quartermaine confuses them with Derek’s legs, the laugh coming from a mere turn of the head. Atkinson’s comic genius is demonstrated throughout, but what is great about his performance is that he plays Quartermaine with utter truth. In fact, despite being sat in the upper circle, being able to see into Atkinson’s eyes meant that I truly believed his character and the sheer despair of it – strangely, it was a character that I many people can relate.

But this is certainly not a one-man show and I think it’s testament to Gray’s writing that I can still remember most of the characters’ names, all of whom change distinctly throughout the four year timespan. Louise Ford’s Anita gets pregnant twice, Conleth Hill’s Henry loses his wife Susan, Felicity Montagu’s Melanie becomes noticeably happier (indicated by the way she dresses) after her mother dies, and we see Malcolm Sinclair’s Eddie visibly age and lose his work partner Thomas, with whom there are hints of a homosexual relationship (although I didn’t fully infer that). We see Matthew Cottle’s Mark go through drastic changes with his facial hair along with his relationship and progress of his novel and we see Will Keen’s Derek (who is the new teacher who gets called Dennis and is clearly far superior to Quartermaine) learn his pupil’s names and go from desperately breaking down to being happy in his new relationship as well as go through several mysterious injuries. In the first scene of the second act, he shouts at the incompetent Quartermaine because he might be losing his job, and it is interesting that his back was to the audience for most of it until he softly says that he’s not begrudged which is when he turns back to the front. Atkinson’s reaction to this is stunning; he is left quivering by the end of the outburst.

The one character who doesn’t change throughout the play is Quartermaine. He is a constant sitting in the same chair, wearing the same suit. That is until the last scene when we see the staff (mostly reluctantly) gathered for drinks in the staff room with Quartermaine dolled up in a tuxedo, once again showing that he doesn’t have much to grasp onto in his life. His optimism is ultimately tragic as he is finally told that he won’t be needed any more, thus leaving for a very poignant moment.

Gray’s play asks questions, namely what happens to characters both on and offstage (see Mark Lawson’s article regarding offstage characters), but mainly we are wondering what happens to Quartermaine. He is essentially someone who is seen often reaching out for a friend but often turned down. There is a hilarious moment when a disrupted Melanie shoos off Quartermaine who is wittering on, tapping the table at which she’s trying to read. He keeps getting turned away, and we genuinely feel for him that when he does get many invitations, he ends up spending the evening somewhere he doesn’t want to be, being the selfless man he is.

I did wonder whether Eyre was supplying his audience with some theatre in-jokes. ‘Don’t bump into the furniture’ is a line often mocked as something a good actor manifests, but it was interesting how some of the characters either did or came close to bumping into the furniture at times, with Henry actually stepping into a bin at one point.

Each act (and indeed the whole play) is framed by Quartermaine sitting in his chair, but with Quartermaine quietly devastated by the news at the end his hand was quite visibly shaking as he said his final lines followed by the lights dimming.

‘We see a character in a room: doors open, people enter and leave and, by a remorseless accumulation of incident, that character’s doom is sealed.’

I think it is unfortunate for the production that it hasn’t been nominated for any Olivier Awards. Even if not for the acting, I think that Richard Eyre’s production is deserving of Best Revival. I enjoy the theatre and I might give five stars away too easily, but this production of Quartermaine’s Terms deserves it and it will remain one of my theatrical highlights of the year. With some powerful moments and extremely nuanced performances, it is – as Quartermaine would say – ‘terrific’.

Quartermaine’s Terms run at the Wyndham’s Theatre until 13^th April, 2013.

The Mousetrap

NO SPOILERS

St. Martin’s Theatre

26^th February, 2013

I saw performance number 25,114 of The Mousetrap in London, and although it has now played 60 years in the West End, I don’t know what the secret is to its longevity and I question what it is still doing in the West End.

Agatha Christie essentially gives us a murder mystery but as with most Christie mysteries, there’s a twist and things aren’t as simple as first thought. I don’t think I’m giving anything away by saying this as we are surely used to this with crime drama by now and after seeing the touring production of Spider’s Web a few years ago, I was expecting it to be not so straightforward a Who-Dunnit? At the end of the play, a cast member steps forward and tells us that now we know the ending, not to divulge the secret of The Mousetrap to anyone else, so I won’t ruin the ending for you, but I didn’t find it that engaging as I have almost forgot the specificities of it!

One of the main reasons I go to the theatre is to see performances, as one of my main interests is acting, however it is fair to say that it is the story that drives the play forward. The performances appeared to be a bit caricature but nicely move the plot along but didn’t quite do enough to cover up any signs that Geoff Bullen’s production is a little creaky.

The opening music is nicely puzzling and is fitting for a murder mystery and the Three Blind Mice (the original title to the radio play) tune evoked a sense of childhood games which nicely reflects the idea of the play being a game – something to solve. This compounds with the title The Mousetrap conjuring images of board games and such like.

Cleverly, the play keeps you guessing who the murderer might be and there are many signs, clues and red herrings along the way – even in the programme’s cast list! Many of the characters wear similar hats, coats and scarves and there’s a long-running joke of seeing characters going off through one exit and then coming on fairly quickly by another door as if the whole room was a set! This could be a nice theatrical in-joke alluding to there being no rooms offstage but it also means that the murder could be possibly done by anyone of them as it is so easy to get from one place to another in the house.

There are some nice links with Hamlet (which contains the play The Mousetrap) in the form of repeating one’s actions to try and catch-out the murderer but I feel that other comparisons to Shakespeare are limited. The very ending sees someone rush onstage with a burnt meal declaring “I think it’s done!” which, although could be a nice theatrical, self-conscious ending, seemed bit cheesy.

I feel that the real mystery of The Mousetrap is how it’s been running for so long. Not to sound cruel, but it seems a piece of pure entertainment and might have done even in its hey-day. Nothing wrong with that, although when there are so many brilliant plays in the West End at the moment such as The Audience, Quartermaine’s Terms, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Old Times, Peter and Alice, etc., it seems a shame for people to be flocking to it on its UK Tour excited to see something which sounds excellent because it’s been running for over 60 years. If you don’t see many plays I wouldn’t recommend this one as there are far many more superior ones out there. In terms of long-running plays, I totally recommend Stephen Mallatratt’s The Woman in Black (also touring this year) based on Susan Hill’s novel.

As for The Mousetrap, I realise Christie’s writing is popular and it is undoubtedly clever as well as fairly enjoyable and, considering it was a Tuesday matinee, the auditorium was fairly full, but I think there are better things to see. The seats in the Upper Circle were comfortable although fairly old-fashioned and I paid full-price for my ticket (around £16?) although I could have moved forward I suppose.

I perhaps feel that I’m being generous with my three stars but it is a triumph for anything to run for this long and the production company does do a lot for young people in the theatre and I certainly would recommend that you see it for the experience of it.

Interestingly, I saw The Mousetrap on the same day as The Audience, so it’s great to have gone from one institution to another (in the form of HM The Queen) and in terms of theatrical institutions (The Mousetrap/ Agatha Christie to Dame Helen Mirren) and from the world’s longest running play to one of the world’s newest plays in one day.

The Mousetrap is playing at St. Martin’s Theatre in London’s West End and is also on tour throughout the UK.

Old Times

Harold Pinter Theatre

27^th February, 2013 with Kristin Scott-Thomas as Kate and Lia Williams as Anna

29^th March, 2013 with Kristin Scott-Thomas as Anna and Lia Williams as Kate

Pinter was often guarded about the meaning of his plays and Ian Rickson’s production of Old Times, currently playing at the newly-named Harold Pinter Theatre, remains a mystery to me. Superficially, the play is set in a farmhouse and sees married couple Deeley and Kate and Kate’s former best and only friend Anna coming to visit. By the end of the play, questions are raised over whether Anna is really there or if both Kate and Anna are dead and whether Deeley has just been working through his memories. In the second act, Anna tells Deeley “No two women are the same”. His reply of “That’s true enough” is indicative of one of the interesting things about this production which is that the two female leads alternate roles every four performance, with the casting being decided on Thursday evening by the flip of a coin. Alternating roles was notably done by Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller in Danny Boyle’s National Theatre production of Frankenstein, however, that was criticised by some as being a mere marketing coup. With Old Times, however, it is meant to be a way of unlocking the play.

I take it as a coincidence that before my first viewing of this play someone walked past me wearing a perfume that brought back memories of one of my first West End theatre trips back in 2006, but the concept of evoking memories and remembering things differently to reality is certainly a main interest in this play. Rufus Sewell brilliantly plays Deeley with great wit and often a sardonic tone, with the sheer number of questions he asks at the start exemplifying how the play could be interpreted as Deeley working though memories in a therapeutic way. There’s a moment in act one where he’s at the front of the stage looking uncomfortable whereas Anna is telling Kate at the back ‘You weren’t dead. Ever. In any way’ when he erupts with ‘Stop that!’ as if disturbed by the past or maybe even confronted with present realities.

Scott Thomas and Williams excel in both roles. I seem to remember Scott Thomas’ Kate being more teary and staring more (like a sphinx, as some critics have commented), whereas Williams brought out an anger and silent resentment in Kate which built nicely until the play’s climax when I remember her being much angrier than Scott Thomas’ portrayal of her. It is Kate’s pauses, almost plain-ness that means we can easily remember Anna more – and maybe even that Deeley remembers her more. For Anna is sexy with her blonde hair and blue blouse and skirt, this sexiness certainly being brought out with Scott Thomas’ portrayal by her delivering her lines with more of a dry humour and having more sexual tension with Deeley, created at one moment by her standing either side of his leg. In Michael Billington’s words:

She blazes: when she stretches back on a bed, Sewell hovers over her as if magnetised. She slinks as she rolls up a sleeve or smooths her shirtwaister over her thighs. She seizes on the humour and makes it dance.

Williams’ Anna, on the other hand, I seem to remember being a bit gladder to be there, perhaps less secure and more excitable. For instance, there’s an enjoyable moment early on when Deeley and Anna sing segments of songs to Kate and whereas Scott-Thomas’ Anna seemed more witty, Williams’ Anna seemed to get lost in the moment more. I could indeed be remembering this wrong as it is over a month since I saw it for the first time and I think there’s another over-riding factor that affected my interpretation of the play.

My problem with the production is that I’m not sure whether it is the two actresses’ different interpretations on the roles that changed the way I saw the play or the fact that my first viewing was of a Wednesday matinee and my second of a Friday evening’s performance. Indeed, there were more laughs in the latter one but maybe that was from Scott Thomas’ performance of Anna and Williams’ performance of Kate being funnier. Either way, I’m glad I saw it twice, simply for the stunning acting of the cast.

There were slight blocking differences in the two performances. I remember Williams’ Anna falling on the floor towards the end, leaving her vulnerable, whereas Scott Thomas didn’t do that. Indeed, her Anna did seem a much stronger woman, interestingly similar to Williams’ Kate being much stronger as well. Also, the positioning at the opening of the play was mirrored with Scott Thomas’ Kate on the Stage Left sofa and Williams’ Anna Stage Right of the window, and then this being swapped for the other casting arrangement. It is also interesting how the three characters seemed to work themselves around the chairs of the set, with them likely being in three different positions at some point, perhaps hinting at how Deeley (who is often sat in the centre) was working through and around certain thoughts. Furthermore, (as I recall from the second viewing) considering Kate seems like the odd one out throughout most of the play, it is touching that Deeley moves away from Anna to go towards Kate at the end, before kissing her thigh and then making his way to his armchair before the final tableau, which is itself marked by a rise and fall of sudden light.

Hildegard Bechtler’s simple design is beautifully dark and enigmatic, with the main ‘natural’ light coming from a wide window at the back, but the room is still dark enough for the need for lights. The red (indicating a more private feel) bedroom of the second act took me as odd as some of the curtains and sideboards seemed painted on, perhaps alluding to how some things aren’t as real as they seem. I also enjoyed the subtle lighting changes of Peter Mumford’s design.

For the my first time seeing the play, I paid £10 for a front row (centre) day seat for the Wednesday matinee and for the second time, I bought my ticket when booking first opened last September (?) for £20 due to an admin error which let me buy a student ticket in the stalls for this price. The error was later changed but I didn’t have to pay any extra.

The play was 80 minutes long with no interval.

On Tuesday 26^th March, it was announced that Old Times is up for Best Revival at the Olivier Awards, whereas Kristin Scott Thomas has been nominated for Best Actress. I take it this is for both her portrayals of Kate and Anna. Sadly, it seems that Lia Williams has been snubbed from this category. Maybe Scott Thomas is the one audiences wanted to see more, and I preferred her portrayal of the more arresting character of Anna, but Williams gives matchable performances, with her Kate perhaps outshining her co-star’s. Especially as Cumberbatch and Lee Miller were nominated and won together at last year’s ceremony, it seems ridiculous that Lia Williams (and indeed Rufus Sewell) haven’t got nods in the acting categories.

Old Times plays at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 6^th April, 2013.

The Olivier Awards 2013 are on the 28^th April at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

The Audience

Gielgud, London

26^th February, 2013

Please note that I saw The Audience during previews when the production was still going through rehearsals. This review certainly contains spoilers.

Peter Morgan recently admitted in an interview with The Telegraph that he was worried that audiences might just see his new play as a series of impressions as there’s no single story. Admittedly, The Audience could’ve easily been criticised as a piece of commercial theatre that lures audience members to the performances of a myriad of Prime Ministers and Helen Mirren as the Queen, the role which won her the Academy Award for best actress for The Queen in 2006 (for which Peter Morgan wrote the screenplay). What manifests though is a theatrical masterclass in acting, play writing and directing in what is surely one of the highlights of theatre in 2013.

The Audience, which explores the Queen’s relationship with most of her 12 Prime Ministers throughout her reign seeing Mirren go through a series of quick changes, is a play of binaries. First of all, there’s the difference between fact that the play is based on and the fiction of the imagined conversations of which the play consists, but we also see the contrast of private conversations being made public in a theatre as well as the binary of HM and the PM sitting across from each other in one room. Furthermore, there’s also the difference between Elizabeth as a young girl (excellently portrayed by Bebe Cave at my performance) and Elizabeth II as the head of state with duty and responsibility upon her. Onstage, they are portrayed by two different actors (Cave and Mirren) which fittingly reflects how a person’s identity can be two-fold when they are restrained by duty, beautifully performed in a poignant moment which reminded me of The Duchess of Malfi.

The title refers to the audience between the Queen and the Prime Minister but it also alludes to the theatre audience and with such a theatrical title there are plenty of other moments where The Audience is self-conscious as a piece of theatre. For instance, when walking into the auditorium, we see a completely bare black stage. The play then opens with the Queen’s Equerry walking on stage and directly addressing the audience to tell us the protocol of every Tuesday when the meeting takes place in audience room, which soon appears behind him.

The performances are all superb, but there are some which stand out more than others. Mirren is onstage nearly for the whole play aging and de-aging not only with quick costume and wig changes but also in stance, voice and attitude. She brilliantly captures both a sense of truth and humour in the monarch which ensures she doesn’t just portray a symbol. Paul Ritter’s understated performance as John Major shows us insight into the private life of a Prime Minister especially when he tears up in the first scene after revealing how he didn’t have many prospects. John McCabe also gives a comic and popular performance as the ‘humble northerner’ Harold Wilson. He is astounded by the grandeur of Buckingham Palace, asks for photos with Her Majesty and backs out of the room bowing after his first sitting with her, his down-to-earth nature understandably making him her favourite Prime Minister. And Haydn Gwynne gives a brilliantly powerful performance of a powerful woman as her extremely accurate Margaret Thatcher. Her scene is bookended with ‘Your Majesty’ and a curtsey, her voice instantly recognisable as the woman who appears distant and cold with the Queen. The way they sit, they’re legs pointing away from each other, provides a mirror image, suggesting that they’re perhaps both too alike in some ways to get along. Before she rushes onto the stage Mirren delivers a line with the word ‘she’ which prompts us to realise that it’s Thatcher who intimidates all of the Palace’s staff.

The day I saw the play, it was announced that Robert Hardy had withdrawn from the production due to an injury and will be replaced by Edward Fox. However, at the start of Tuesday evening’s performance, director Stephen Daldry came onto the stage to announce that the company wish Hardy well and that his understudy David Peart will play both James Callaghan and Winston Churchill. He seemed to be line perfect on the night and greatly conveyed a man who was firmly settled down in his job and set in his ways in a mourning Queen’s first audience meeting.

Peter Morgan’s play is extremely clever and well-structured. Act one is framed by John Major’s scenes with the latter one seeing Mirren perform with an extremely convincing cold. However, it’s also a scene which is referred to at the start of act one, exemplifying how the play isn’t linear or chronological.  The second act is framed with scenes containing Harold Wilson, the first of which sees a nice change of scenery being set in a rainy Balmoral after the Queen has walked her two corgis (which are later seen again on stage at the end of the play). The end of the play also sees the Queen state how ultimately it’s the Prime Ministers who are the more important ones and that she has gone “down the line”. The word ‘line’ not only reflects how the PMs are all standing in a line behind her but also echoes back to a line at the end of act one when an angry Queen (after arguing about the decommissioning of Britannia to John Major and how she has spent her life committing herself to this country) insists that “the line must be drawn somewhere”.

Some of the quick changes are done onstage hidden behind a group of dressers that stand around Her Majesty’s desk and you don’t even notice that they’re happening at times. Paul Englishby’s music is wonderful as is a visually impressive scene in act two in which the Queen is having a photo shoot behind a gauze. Peter Morgan said that his priority was to give his audience a good night out and this is certainly what the audience is given, particularly in the David Cameron scene which has been kept up to date with satirical touches such as the Queen’s iPhone going off with a Gangnam Style ringtone, the Queen mocking her amount of security, a jibe at the apparent state of the coalition and a punchy side remark about the Queen not being able to retire or abdicate – ‘like the Pope’.

I have plenty more to say about The Audience but ultimately it is a play about what it means to be British and about the British constitution, but with a stellar cast and a brilliant script and creative team, this is an extremely entertaining production which is not to be missed.

For The Audience, I queued for over two and a quarter hours in the cold to get a front row centre day seat for £10 and it was completely worth it. A worthy standing ovation was given at the end and the cast seemed quite surprised when the curtain came up for an extra time.

The Audience is playing at the Gielgud Theatre, London until 15^th June and is being broadcast live as part of NT Live to cinemas around the UK on the 13^th June as well as to cinemas around the world at a later date.