Les Miserables - Barbican Theatre

There are several things that strike you when revisiting Les Miserables as part of its 25th Anniversary production but the overriding thought is how this show has not only finally come of age but is also intrinsically linked to age and ageing. How many of those who saw the original production in those early days identified with Marius and the rebel student now find themselves more attuned to the ageing Valjean?


The marvel of this brand new production, a lavish birthday present by producer Cameron Mackintosh, is that it builds on 25 years of tinkering to present a fresh and definitive version that should serve for another 25 years.

What is surprising on revisiting the show for the first time in a decade is how powerful the piece remains. Much of this power lies in the strength of the score, sounding stronger than ever in Christopher Jake’s new orchestrations. From blues to soaring ballad, the multi-layered themes build into an emotional powerhouse.

What also surprises is the continued emotional impact of Les Mis, defying even the most jaded audience member to keep a dry eye.

Although technically a touring production, this is no minor bus and truck tour. Much like his acclaimed touring restaging of Miss Saigon, Cameron Mackintosh has demonstrated once again his ability to free a musical from its original staging to create a work that stands on its own merits.

Casting also stands this production aside from your average touring show. Gareth Gates may be surprising casting in the role of Marius but on the whole holds his ground, although does struggle with some of the more powerful moments of the score. In these post Britian’s got a celebrity x factor talent show times it’s odd that we perhaps now compare a rendition of a musical show stopper to that on a certain tv talent show, and while Madalena Alberto tries to do something different with I dreamed a dream she seems to be in a completely different show to the rest of the cast. Rosalind James’s Eponine also seemed to think she was auditioning for Simon Cowell and co, adding unnecessary vocal gymnastics into an increased tempo On My Own.

Against these niggles however is a major casting success in John Owen Jones. His Valjean a vocal and emotional powerhouse, easily moving from the vocal chord tearing Bring Him Home to the emotional intensity of One Day More.

This seems to be a much more cinematically fluid production, perhaps deliberately so ahead of a much talked about film version. Freed from the constraints of the revolve of the original it makes for a much more flowing production although the acclaimed projected elements are not visible from the cheap seats.

Based on this showing Les Mis will surely be around to celebrate its 30th birthday and beyond

Teechers - Theatre Royal Bury St Emunds

School-days are supposedly the happiest days of our lives and, for those of us who left school far too many years ago to recall, still provide some vivid memories.


Despite changes in fashions and teaching practices, the same character traits still inhabit our classrooms. The bullies, the nerdy, the under-achievers, the ones lacking self confidence – and that’s just the staff.

Former teacher John Godber drew on his classroom experiences 23 years ago to write Teechers and now, nearly a quarter of a century on, is directing an updated touring production. Actually it needs little updating, as the raucous laughter of the cross generational audience shows, it doesn’t matter if you are still at school or left a ‘couple’ of years ago - the characters remain the same. Yes, Godber has added in some updated lines about special measures, sats and mobile phones but the crux of the production remains unaltered.

Three almost-school leavers perform a play they have devised themselves based not too loosely on their own school experience. Playing both staff and pupils, we see that, despite appearances, the two groups have more in common than they’d ever admit. Teechers, though, is also an examination of the power of drama to reach young audiences and it’s a two pronged approach. The three wayward pupils come to realise that drama is more than EastEnders and Hollyoaks and the accessible nature of this production hopefully will tempt a new audience that theatre is for them.

For Teechers to work well it needs a talented and versatile cast. Adults playing teenagers playing adults can easily turn into caricature but this touring cast is top-notch. Claire Eden, Zoë Lister and Peter McMillan make each of the multitude of characters they play fully rounded and believable, easily switching from pupil to teacher. Its fast-paced, manic fun but also packs an emotional punch.

It may be 23 years old but the final bell isn’t close to being run on this show yet.
 

Yes, Prime Minister - Gielgud

You’d have thought with public confidence in MPs at an all time low with tales of floating duck houses, employment of illegal immigrants and second home flipping, any comedy based on the political machine would seem tame in comparison.


Alan Jay and Jonathan Lynn’s stage update of the classic TV series Yes, Prime Minsister, now transferred into the Gielgud following a sell-out run at Chichester, manages to not only play tribute to the original but also weave in enough references to the modern political landscape to make it fresh and relevant.

Prime Minister Jim Hacker is running a country in crisis, or is it Cabinet Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby running Prime Minister Hacker? The nation is broke, recovery slow, cuts are having to be made, arguments ensue with Europe and the BBC are being accused of political bias. No not an evening on Question Time but an evening's events at Chequers. Add in a delicate situation with a visiting dignitary and it’s not going to be a smooth evening. As a BBC Television crew arrive to film a live interview with the PM can Hacker keep it together?

It would be easy to fall into the trap of trying to recreate the televison series, immortalised by Paul Eddington, Nigel Hawthorne and Derek Fowlds but director (and co author) Jonathan Lynn have wisely avoided that snare. While there is an affectionate nod to the original, these characters inhabit their own world. Henry Goodman’s manipulative Sir Humphrey is as verbally dextrous as the character's previous occupier but in these times of cutbacks perhaps not so assured of his position. David Haig’s PM is also as superficially insecure as his television counterpart but, beneath the wobbles, lies an equally cunning mind, perhaps more of a match for Sir Humphrey this time round. Caught in the middle are Jonathan Slinger as put upon Principal Private Secretary Bernard Woolley and a new addition, Emily Joyce as Special Policy Advisor Claire Sutton. Another new addition to familiar characters is Tim Waller’s BBC presenter Simon Chester. A glorious amalgam of Robert Peston, Andrew Marr and Jeremy Vine with a hint of Paxman thrown in for good measure.

Jay and Lynn’s script is full of the classic lines fans have come to expect but will also appeal to a wider audience. There are moments when the humour becomes darker but there are enough references to the both the original and modern political landscape to please the purists.

Simon Higlett has created a visually impressive Chequers set for the action to play out on - all stone clad bay windows and oak panelling with some nice high tech touches. A James Bond–esque giant screen and automatic curtains and clever use of live video bring the action right up to date.

In many ways this is a highly traditional stage comedy but the witty topical script and spot on performances make this a delight. Yes, Prime Minister may have finished broadcasting 22 years ago but this assured production should keep PM Hacker in office for some time to come.
 

The Human Comedy - The Young Vic

After his huge hit with Hair, Galt McDermott turned his attention from the Vietnam war to the Second World War and a musical adaptation of William Saroyan’s novel The Human Comedy.


It was a flop on Broadway, closing within a couple of weeks in the 1980s. A brave choice then for the Young Vic to open its 40th birthday season, especially given the fact that a cast of 60 local community members join the principles in an epic staging.

It turns out to be an inspired choice, a sweeping Southern folk opera.

Set during the Second World War in a fictional Californian town, The Human Comedy looks at the impact of war on one family and the wider community. The impacts of war are a theme that McDermott looked at in the earlier Hair, but here it’s a much darker tone as the human cost takes its toll, seen through the eyes of a young boy who questions where his father, older brothers and the rest of the young men of the town have gone.

Though described as a musical the score is more operatic in tone. A Southern honky-tonk opera with echoes of Porgy & Bess and Carmen Jones mixes with jazz, blues and gospel. Some of William Dumaresq’s lyrics contain some of the worst entries from the rhyming dictionary but McDermott’s score genuinely moves and soars. Some moments are especially haunting, a series of apricot packing crates transformed into flag draped coffins, an older brother’s final letter to his younger brother and a gospel backed cascade of telegrams to the bereaved, all bring a lump to the throat.

Jon Bausor’s impressive design and Bruno Poet’s wonderfully sultry atmospheric lighting frame the piece perfectly allowing director John Fulljames to utilise this mammoth cast to great effect.

This is truly an ensemble piece and the spot on choral sound rivals that of any professional opera chorus. Among a universally strong cast highlights from the principal cast members are Helen Hobson’s stoical Ma, a rousing Brenda Edwards and a mature beyond his years performance from Theo Stevenson as the young son questioning the vanishing youth.

If some work can be done on some of the lyrics this production could rescue The Human Comedy to the operatic repertoire. With such a vivid sound, the Young Vic would be wise to get this cast into the recording studio now to capture a definitive production. A truly moving experience.

The Importance Of Being Earnest - New Wolsey Theatre

Some plays are forever linked to a certain performer; others remembered for an immortal line. The Importance of Being Earnest faces a double challenge, forever associated with Dame Edith Evans and her formidable delivery of the ‘A handbag?’ line. It features in the subconscious so much that it’s almost possible to hear an audience’s intake of breath in anticipation of the line being delivered.


It also puts a show under considerable pressure to do something different but the New Wolsey Theatre’s latest productions resists such temptation, delivering a highly traditional production. It looks stunning, a drawing room opens up to reveal a rose-strewn garden before transforming again into a panelled study. It’s a bygone world of impeccable manners, clipped vowels and cucumber sandwiches for afternoon tea.

Mistaken identities, forbidden love, heritage and duty all conspire to thwart the romantic intentions of two young couples in Wilde’s convoluted plot.

Director Ellie Jones extracts some delightful performances from her cast with Mark Edel-Hunt and Tom Davey sparring nicely as Algernon and Jack. Esther Ruth Elliott and Nelly Harker also work well together as Gwendolen and Cecily, revelling in their respective loves for two differing Earnests.

So all sounds good and the design, direction and acting are all indeed first class. So why a sense of reserve? There are occasions in theatre when, despite the quality of what’s on stage, something doesn’t quite gel and it’s often hard to define quite what that ‘something’ is.

Despite it being an entertaining evening, the nagging question remains; does this production actually shed any new light on the piece? It’s a difficult puzzle, the piece is so rooted in the period that you can’t readily transpose it to another era or setting, but does this shackle make it harder to see the play afresh? Does it actually matter, or should we just enjoy the fact that this is a well-staged revival of a classic. It certainly entertains its audience but for this critic at least the answer to that conundrum remains unanswered.

If That's All There Is - New Wolsey Studio, Ipswich

We’ve all been there, sitting at a wedding reception listening to a never ending speech thanking a cast of thousands. Market research supremo Frances is now going through just that inner hell, the problem being it’s her brand new husband making the speech. If That’s All There Is follows a surreal journey of the wedding preparation where we never quite know what is real and what is in the bride's or groom's vivid imagination.

We begin to wonder why Frances is actually marrying Daniel, an easy contender for most droning man of the year. Daniel, though, sees nothing wrong with bringing his PowerPoint obsession into his marriage, in fact, according to Daniel’s visit to a therapist, it is his wife to be that needs psychological help. In this surreal world, however, of course the therapist is as mad as the client. For anyone who has ever gone through the stress of wedding planning, the descent into near anarchy will be all too familiar.

Theatre company Inspector Sands mix comedy, physical theatre and witty dialogue to create a madcap world that is utterly engaging. This is one of those shows where it is hard to define exactly what it is that makes it work, or indeed what exactly the plot is. The piece works on multiple levels, each allowing the audience to make their own interpretation. It would be easy to dismiss this show as purely a whimsical piece of physical comedy but there is a much darker emotional heart beating here. There are some impressive visual moments but these serve to add to the emotional turmoil the couple face rather than detract.

Lucinka Eisler, Giulia Innocenti and Ben Lewis, give their characters a sense of realism amid the madcap and grip audience attention throughout. The show may be inspired by the Peggy Lee song of the same name but, in the end, the best advice must come from a lyric in the same song, If that's all there is, my friends, then let's keep dancing.

The Big Fellah - Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds

An unusual start but let me first declare a tinted view for this production. As someone who was injured in an IRA attack, any play that examines the Troubles was going to touch a raw nerve.

Richard Bean’s new play, The Big Fellah, spans nearly 40 years of the American-Irish relationship with the IRA - from Bloody Sunday through to 9/11.

Young New Yorker Michael is recruited into the IRA and what starts out as just fundraising for the cause soon takes on a darker turn. Fugitive Irishman Ruairi has a longer association with the organisation and, on the surface anyway, seems a more hardened fighter but, as the years pass, both men’s directions and allegiances change. Both live in fear and awe of chief fundraiser and cell leader Costello, 'The Big Fellah’.

It is an emotive subject and one that some will find uncomfortable viewing. Bean’s script attempts to show the dark humour that counterpoints the extreme violence but it’s an uneasy balancing act. The writing doesn’t pull any punches as it examines American support for the IRA and that changing relationship as events play out on the wider global stage. While The Big Fellah works as a spark to stimulate thought on why some Americans supported the IRA,there is perhaps a more interesting story here in a sequel. The play ends on September 11 2001, an event that saw American financial support for the IRA evaporate practically overnight and perhaps this emergence from naievty is where a more interesting story lies.

There are some memorable performances here, though; David Ricardo-Pearce and Rory Keenan’s young American and Irish recruits work well together as they face the torment of being torn between conscience and cause. Claire Rafferty is equally engaging in her brief appearance as an informant who's quickly dispatched "to Mexico". At the centre of the piece, though, is a steely determined performance from Finbar Lynch as The Big Fellah himself. Quietly underplayed but with great intensity.

Out of Joint have tackled the subject of terrorism before in their powerful Talking With Terrorists but, while that play looked at the reasons why people turn to extreme measures, The Big Fellah leaves more questions unanswered. It’s a powerful piece and one that will provoke strong emotions from its audience. Just because a subject is painful and emotive doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be told, on the contrary one of the joys of theatre is its ability to inform, educate and stimulate debate. The Big Fellah certainly provokes thought and debate but there is a stronger story here not wholly served by this production.
 

Time to hug a blogger?

Time to hug a blogger?


It has been an interesting couple of weeks for theatre bloggers. A few months ago, spurred on by some healthy debate about regional arts coverage, the Guardian Stage blog started an equally vigorous discussion on the rise of regional theatre bloggers. In a shameless piece of name dropping, I am more than happy to let slip that my modest blog was included in this piece but, aside from welcome publicity, it did stir up some thoughts about how bloggers fit into the arts publicity machine in this digital age.

The consensus then was that this is a growing trend that benefits the wider arts world.

The same publication sparked renewed debate a couple of weeks ago with a blog entitled 'can you trust unpaid theatre critics' The author’s crux was who regulates bloggers or other unpaid critics and how to ensure they are qualified.

Now I happily put my qualifications on my blog but I raised the point that paid does not necessarily equate to qualified. In these times of drastically reduced newsrooms, just because a journalist is paid does not mean that they have any background in arts coverage. They may be covering a production between articles on football and the local flower show. I, along with many others, questioned what actually qualifies a critic? I don't claim to write perfect prose and I'm sure many can point out spelling and grammatical errors. What I do offer, along with my fellow bloggers, is a passion for the arts and a desire to promote a huge spectrum of work.

Further fuel was added to the fire on Friday with the publication of the Royal Opera House’s heavy-handed approach to a blogger over the use of production shots. Now I’m not going to venture into the legalities of either sides’ actions but the threatening, and badly spelled, approach by the legal team at Covent Garden caused a very public backlash against the organisation. Within the space of a couple of hours, the blogging community had spread details of the behaviour of the ROH forcing a public apology from their Head of Corporate Communications.

What these debates all have in common is that, for some areas of the arts. it’s a case of playing catch up with the growing social media arena. Today Corinne Furness has written an eloquent blog on the subject, echoing many of the points made here. I join Corinne’s call for two-way dialogue between arts organisations and bloggers. We are all working to the same aim, to highlight and promote our vital and vibrant arts scene. There are tough times ahead with the oncoming battle for arts funding and key to this battle will be educating the wider public on the huge amount of work out there.

Perhaps it’s time for venues, producers, artists, traditional media and the blogging world to work together to show what is at risk should arts funding be drastically cut. Rather than fighting each other, let's embrace the digital age and encourage more people to join the blog revolution and share what they like and dislike about the arts – there’s no more valuable customer insight into what audiences want than to listen to them.

The Remains Of The Day - Union Theatre

While for a time musical theatre went through the ‘bigger is better’ phase, recent productions have shown that small can be equally beautiful. Playing at the tiny Union Theatre in Southwark, The Remains of The Day turns out to be a charming musical piece.


Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of English country house repressed emotions, immortalised in the classic Merchant Ivory film, seems at first glance an unlikely choice for a musical adaptation with the musical form seemingly at odds with the subject matter. It was then with some apprehension that the first trip to the Union Theatre was made. Thankfully The Remains Of The Day turns out to be a revelation, a moving and evocative chamber musical.

At its heart this is a story of unrequited love and stifled emotional yearning under the formality of service as Lord Darlington’s longstanding butler, Stevens, begins to realise that housekeeper Miss Kenton is perhaps more than just a colleague.

There are also darker undercurrents at work in this story of light and shade, with questions of duty over family, country over morals, and the rise of Fascism all playing their divisive role.

Central to the success of this show are two remarkably strong performances by Lucy Bradshaw and Stephen Rashbrook as Kenton and Stevens, both giving wonderfully restrained deliveriers, hinting at the bottled-up emotions simmering just below the surface. When both meet many years later to finally admit to the feelings that have long been hidden, it is a scene of incredibly intensity.

This is more than a two person show, however, and the whole company work well together to convey the period atmosphere.

Alex Loveless’ score proves to be a delight, managing to convey period atmosphere without resorting to musical cliché. While covering a wide spectrum from dance numbers to musical comedy, it is perhaps in the haunting and wistful ballads that the score most succeeds. The hymn-like Now As Evening Falls, Miss Kenton’s distraught The Way That Once We Were, and the gut-renching duet by two expelled Jewish servants - Close Your Eyes - especially stand out.

This is by no means a perfect musical and some revisions are needed if this show is to fully succeed. While the majority of the musical numbers work, some of the darker numbers regarding his Lordship's sympathies need more attention. Director Chris Loveless might also look at some scene transitions that at times seem abrupt and rushed. Omar F. Okai’s choreography, while exuberantly performed by the company on the tiny stage, never seems fully integrated into the show.

Overall, however, The Remains Of The Day is an accomplished work, complimenting both book and film. With a few minor revisions this show should be assured of a successful future but while a larger stage would obviously benefit the show, care needs to be taken not to lose its intimate charm.
 

The Mill - New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich

It’s a brave move to stage a piece of aerial circus work outside in September. A last minute change, from the New Wolsey Theatre stage to outside on their terrace, adds an element of risk to Ockham’s Razor’s The Mill. This being a show you wouldn't want to perform in the wind or rain, seeing performers precariously perched on ropes and a giant hamster wheel suspended high above the stage.


An unseen taskmaster issues instructions to five workers who push, pull and rotate various ropes, pulleys and wheels to complete their task. When the machine breaks down the five are forced to come up with a new system to complete the work. The actual plot, however, is secondary to the impressive skill of the five aerialists.

It’s a world of constant motion that sees the performers climbing up ropes and spinning the giant wheel in a ballet of perfect unison. Ropes connected to the wheels via a series of pulleys make the five work as one unit. If one piece of the chain fails all fail. Even in moments when technical hitches, such as a tangled rope, delay the action, the cast adapt seamlessly.

There are hints of Stalinist regimes or even Victorian treadmills here but there is also humour in the piece with some lovely observed moments of comedy. These small moments of clowning a perfect balance for the large scale set pieces. Director Toby Sedgwick wisely lets the action take centre stage without sacrificing structure.

Performers Alex Harvey, Tina Koch, Charlotte Mooney, Steve Ryan and Stefano Di Renzo work as a true ensemble, trusting each other with split-second timing in this shining example of how physical theatre can deliver a story strong in both drama and visuals.

The move to an alfresco setting does create some issues; sound has to battle with the noise of passing traffic. While the outdoor floodlighting does add a stark mood to the piece, a more sculptural take from traditional stage lighting would have enhanced the scenic aspect. These are minor niggles however and shouldn't detract from the impressive skill on display here. This inventive company is one to watch in the future.
 

Lip Service Best Bits - New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich

Comedy partnerships that last a quarter of a century are few and far between but, for Sue Ryding and Maggie Fox, their comedic duo Lip Service is still going strong after 25 years.

Lip Service Best Bits, a celebration of some of their finest shows is the theatrical equivalent of a TV clip show, quickfire and varied. For those new to Lip Service, it may be confusing but, for the devoted fans - and there were many of those in the audience - it’s a warm homage to some of the quickest wits currently on stage.

The success of Lip Service is their ability to take familiar genres and give them their own, slightly eccentric, comic twist. Arthurian legend, the Brontes, Hammer Horror, Sherlock Holmes, and Richard and Judy are all fair game for some affectionate leg pulling.

It’s often in the small detail that the true comedic gold is mined and there are some beautifully observed moments here; a mini Wuthering Heights, a running joke about the missing Bronte sister and, of course, dancing daffodils.

The fragmented nature of this highlights format could prove difficult in scene transition but Lip Service make good use of video to give a taster of their back catalogue. A simple revolving set also provides plenty of comic potential. Ryding and Fox revel in their over the top characters and their 25 year experience of comic timing shows.

Some pieces work better than others in this format; excerpts from the Bronte-inspired Withering Looks and the Sherlock Holmes spoof Move Over Moriarty work better than  the short scene from Very Little Women. A show such as this is, by it's very nature, reflective but would benefit from more narrative to tell this history of the duo and the background to the shows.
The format of the show results in some scenes being mere tasters and can leave a sense of frustration of not seeing the full piece, but this is unavoidable in a show such as this. Given their large back catalogue of work it must be difficult to know what to include and what to leave out.

Based on this showing, Lip Service show no signs of flagging and, even after 25 years, are still able to reduce an audience to helpless laughter. On a cold grey September Tuesday evening, you can’t get a better compliment than that.
 

The Two Of Us - Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds

As the recent productions of Spring Storm and Beyond The Horizon show, first works by well known authors often give a fascinating insight into how a writers own distinctive voices developed. The Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds production of Michael Frayn’s first published play, The Two Of Us, also shows a writer finding his voice for the stage, but unlike Williams or O’Neill we are given four plays for the price of one. In many ways it is the theatrical equivalent of a restaurants tasting menu, four courses catering for a variety of tastes.

As the title suggests, these are two hander’s, each looking at a different couple; a young married couple with their firstborn; a morning after the party encounter; the couple who have drifted apart and the couple trying to cope with the dinner party from hell.Some of these playlets are more successful than others, or perhaps have aged better.

Silver and Black which sees a young couple return to their Venetian honeymoon hotel, but this time with their small baby, has some witty one-liners that we would expect from Frayn but never reaches a satisfactory climax. The second piece, The New Quixote, is more successful. Here we get offered an insight into the morning after the night before, when an older woman wakes up to find the young man she met at a party the night before moving in. Here we get to see the exploration of the bizarre twists people get themselves into that Frayn has become synonymous with. Rounding up the first act is another less successful offering, Mr Foot, in which a long suffering wife fails to get through to her uncommunicative husband.

It is however the second act that redeems the evening. The Theatre Royal has in a way secured a World Premiere here. When originally staged in 1970 political correctness was a different beast than it is today and the title of the fourth play is perhaps not acceptable for modern audiences. Michael Frayn has amended the script slightly for the Theatre Royal and given it a new title Gnomes. Canny audiences may be able to guess what the original title was! Here we see the Fryan we have come to know. A couple host the dinner party from hell, trying to keep various groups of guests from discovering the other guests are at the dinner party. It is classic farce fare and one that Fryan pulls off with aplom. Two actors play multiple characters in a symphony of soup, doors and bicycle clips. The format may remind audiences of his later Noises Off, a play that was inspired by this piece when the author realised that the action backstage was more exciting than that onstage.

Abigail Anderson’s production sticks firmly to the 1970s with a simple but adaptable set, ideal for touring to the small communities the show will be visiting over the next couple of months. Alys Torrance and Simon Nock have great fun playing the multitude of characters that Fryan has created, especially in the final piece.

This is a piece worth sticking with, the first act may not show the writer at his best and on its own would be questionable as to the merit of revival but the second act Gnomes validates the evening as an examination of the development of a writer. This production will be touring to halls across East Anglia until October and is sure to brighten up a chill autumn evening.