After the excellent revival of Buried Child in 2016, it is heartening to see yet another Sam Shephard classic, True West, in the West End. This play, written in 1980, was apparently a box office failure when it debuted at the Public Theatre in New York. It only became a long running hit when staged with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise as warring brothers Lee and Austin. It is understandable as these two demanding roles need to be cast just right in this tricky work which veers wildly from kitchen sink realism to Beckettian absurdism. Johnny Flynn is perfectly comfortable in his role as the ne’re- do-well Lee, who, when he isn’t stealing TV’s from the neighbours is running dog fights to make a fast buck. At first glance Kit Harington, Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, may not seem ideal as the hardworking, studious screenwriter Austin. However, from the opening scene of this production he is virtually unrecognisable in his slicked back hair and aviator glasses, diligently typing away by candle light. I am happy to say both actors hold their own and have a fiery chemistry between them as well as great comic rapport.
Austin has come to stay in his mother’s house while she is in Alaska, needing some quiet time alone to work on his latest screenplay. The appearance of his beer swilling older brother Lee, whom he hasn’t seen in five years, is more an annoyance than a surprise, despite Lee’s frequent physical threats, which he seems to take in his stride. Not much ruffles Austin’s feathers until Lee walks in on an important meeting he has set up with Hollywood producer Saul Kimmer and proceeds to hijack it, arranging an early morning
golf game and pitching his own idea for a movie. Amazingly the producer likes Lee’s idea, a strange western, which Lee asks Austin to write up as an outline. Although Austin is initially happy to help, thinking Lee will finally stop burglarising the neighbourhood, he is furious when Saul says he prefers Lee’s idea, has sold it to a studio and secured a large advance.
By the second act, the tables have turned. The celebration champagne is gone and Austin is now blind drunk, swigging from a whiskey bottle. Lee works furiously at a typewriter that he pulls apart while trying to fix. He cannot put his words down and is getting increasingly frustrated. A hilarious scene in which Austin makes toast in a line-up of many toasters he has just stolen and then proceeds to butter each one, leads not into peace between the brothers but more competitive fighting which escalates in a nasty turn of events.
This play, like most of Shephard’s work, goes in unpredictable directions, keeping the audience constantly guessing. The play is almost over before Madeleine Potter makes an appearance as the mother, newly returned from her holiday to complete chaos.
There have been several productions of True West where the actors playing the brothers have alternated the roles during the run. Although that is not the case here, it is clear that they are meant to be two aspects of the same person, perhaps even of Shephard himself; the hard-working intellectual vying with the wild renegade who is prone to disappearing into the desert.
Kit Harington is a revelation as Austin, a role which was clearly a challenge as the character goes through drastic changes. He is a fine actor and deserves to take on more
great stage roles. Johnny Flynn has already made a name for himself in the West End in Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen, also directed by the talented Matthew Dunster, where he played another menacing trickster. Here he brilliantly inhabits Lee completely, bodily taking up space as he prowls about the house, looming intimidatingly over his brother and yet reigning in his volatility to manipulate and charm the Hollywood producer. Flynn, who also composed the music for this production and is a singer/songwriter, is clearly a force to be reckoned with. Donald Sage Mackay, an American actor who recently moved to the UK, is excellent as the amiable Saul as is Madeleine Potter who makes the most of a small but striking role as Mom. In her detached befuddlement and complete lack of caring for her grown children she makes it clear why her sons turned out as they did.
This exciting production runs only until 23 February so catch it while you can. It will probably sell out just on its star power to Game of Thrones fans but is an enervating evening at the theatre for admirers of this great American playwright.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda the Musical opened in the West End over seven years ago and is still going strong today. On the night I saw it at the Cambridge Theatre in London, there was a happy mixture of families, school groups, tourists and adults on their own who just enjoy a great musical. There is much in this show to appeal to people of all ages and despite the presence of so many children both on and off stage, it is a very dark tale indeed. Adapted from the book by Roald Dahl, who understood that children like scary fairy stories full of revenge and violence, the musical makes a bold statement about the strength and resilience of children. Matilda may be misunderstood and unloved by her family but still manages to triumph through sheer willpower.
Matilda is the black sheep of the Wormwood family, a highly intelligent girl who despite just starting school has already read Dostoevsky and Dickens. Her mother is far more interested in her competitive dancing partner Rudolpho than in her children. Mr Wormwood is busy scamming Russians in a faulty used car deal and wishes Matilda were more like her TV watching couch potato brother Michael, who can only speak in one word utterances. Matilda feels more at home in the library where she tells stories to the warm-hearted librarian, Mrs Phelps. As if her life couldn’t get any worse, her father enrols her in Crunchem Hall run by the fierce Miss Trunchbull who delights in calling children
maggots and hanging them by their ears. Her abusive behaviour is constant, yet little Matilda somehow keeps finding the courage to stand up to this harridan because her punishments “are not fair!”. It is Matilda’s sense of justice which leads her to rebel and discover within herself mysterious powers which bring about the evil Miss Trunchbull’s downfall.
Aside from Mrs Phelps, the only adult who believes in and appreciates Matilda is the lovely Miss Honey who, despite her kindness is too meek to be of much help. In this story, the children are the only ones brave enough to make a difference and kindness is not going to cut it with the likes of Miss Trunchbull.
Unlike more contemporary children’s authors, Roald Dahl didn’t bother to look for psychological reasons why people are horrible, they just are. The only way to defeat them is with a strong sense of morality and a lot of pluck. Dahl revelled in showing the wicked, silly and stupid getting their comeuppance and many of his tales are revenge stories. In Matilda the Musical the baddies, Mr and Mrs Wormwood and Miss Trunchbull are cruel yet ridiculous figures, wildly entertaining in their outrageousness. Matilda’s parents scream and shout at her because they don’t understand her intelligence and find it a bit scary. They are cartoon characters who are too self-involved to notice their younger child is exceptional, seeing instead a threat to everything they know and love. A metaphor for our times?
The book by Dennis Kelly is brilliantly funny, full of witty dialogue but enough pathos to bring tears to your eyes at the end. The changes to the original story, such as Matilda’s ability to make up involving stories which turn out to be true, work well for the stage. Tim Minchin’s music
and lyrics are all one would expect from this extraordinary comedian, full of surprising twists and turns. He has said Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes were a great influence on his own work so this project was a dream job for him. In the first number, Miracle, where each child sings about the love they receive from their overly doting parents “My mummy says I’m a miracle!” poor Matilda sings “My mum says I’m a good case for population control”. It was difficult to catch all the lyrics in the group numbers which is a good reason to buy a cast album.
The performances are first-rate. Haydn Tee is hilarious as Miss Trunchbull who seems to truly believe that all children are horrible creatures out to get her and make her life a misery. She is in many ways a panto villain, so will make children laugh as much as she frightens them. Holly Dale Spencer and Rob Compton as the Wormwoods were also very enjoyable. I especially liked the father’s ode to television, Telly, which opened the second act. Malinda Parris as Mrs Phelps and Gina Beck as Miss Honey lent the production much needed warmth and sweetness. In the performance I attended, Olivia Wells played Matilda with just the right amount of determination and spirit to make her a complex character. She is not the loveable angel of so many children’s stories but a wilful, clever child who gives almost as good as she gets. All of the children were exceptional performers, Sadie Victoria Lim as Lavender and Archie Lewis as Bruce Bogtrotter were stand outs.
This is a show which is perfect for the entire family and deserves to be seen several times. It is currently touring the world as well as the UK, so wherever you are you have no excuse to not catch Matilda the Musical.
Witness for the Prosecution was originally adapted by Agatha Christie in 1951 for the stage from a short story she had written in 1925 entitled Traitor Hands. Her producer, Peter Saunders, was so keen to see the story adapted that he wrote his own version which she rejected to write her own. Apparently, she was drawn to the challenge of keeping the suspense of a murder mystery going before a live audience in a theatre, rather than in a book which can be read at leisure. The play was a huge success and one can see why; it is enormous fun. This site-specific production, set in the Council Chamber of London County Hall, makes the courtroom scenes a more immersive experience, even using audience members as the jury.
Leonard Vole, a personable and handsome young man, has been accused of murdering Emily French, a middle aged wealthy woman he had recently befriended, making frequent visits to her Hampstead home. When he had heard about the murder, he went to the police station to see how he could help and is instead arrested a few days later as it transpires he is the sole heir of Emily French’s fortune. Leonard has faith in the justice system and in his barrister, Sir Wilfred Robarts, saying “You don’t get convicted for things you haven’t done, not in England.” He also is sure that his devoted wife, Romaine, will provide an alibi as he was with her when the murder supposedly took place.
Janet Mackenzie, the housekeeper to Miss French, paints quite a different picture of the unemployed Vole, as a conniving, gold- digging seducer who is indubitably a killer; she heard his voice at the time of the murder.
When Romaine arrives for an initial meeting with Robarts, she is smiling and cheerful, dressed in a black leather jacket and not at all the distraught wife. She states that she already has a husband. Leonard rescued her from the Russian zone in Germany for which she is grateful, but she is not married to him. She implies that Emily French was sexually attracted to Leonard and that he knew exactly what he was doing. Robarts is perplexed by this alluring and confident woman, worried that she does not have his client’s best interests at heart, as she undercuts everything that Leonard has said.
When Romaine does appear in court it is as a witness for the prosecution, testifying against Leonard, that he came home on the night of the murder with blood on his cuffs, saying “I killed her.” Robarts believes that Romaine, a professional actress, is lying and trying to set up Vole for some reason. Without revealing too much, it is safe to say, the plot thickens.
Despite actors having to lug furniture in and out for changes of scene, the chambers work remarkably well for the setting, making the atmosphere all the more real. There is also lovely work from sound designer Mic Pool who adds audience gasps and off stage footsteps as well as eerie music to remarkable effect. Although I usually feel sorry for actors whose only job is to stand around, the various police stationed around the court as well as the stenographer and clerks added to the court room experience.
Richard Clothier is excellent as Sir Wilfred, a good, solid lawyer who will go all out to defend a man he truly believes is innocent. Harry Reid portrays Leonard Vole as a likeable, naïve and charming man whose only fault is that his kindness gets him taken advantage of. He really brings home the very sinister side to the story, that one can be accused of a murder and have
no way of proving one’s innocence. Despite having little stage experience, Mr Reid has just the right combination of naturalness and size in his performance. Although a good part of the beginning is exposition as Leonard tells his long story, it kept me completely absorbed. Lucy Phelps as Romaine Vole has a difficult job as her character is very changeable. It must be obvious that Romaine is hiding something and yet it seems she gives the game away too quickly in her first scene. It may be suitable that her character is always theatrical but it also meant she was less believable when she testified.
Credit must go to director, Lucy Bailey, for keeping true to the spirit of Agatha Christie by imbuing the production with real energy and urgency while drawing us into this strange tale with its twists and turns, never forgetting the danger of the death penalty for a possibly innocent man. Christie is a master craftsman of the murder mystery but more than being a who dunnit, this play is a psychological drama about deceit and the very real fear that people are not who we think they are. Although Witness for the Prosecution is wildly entertaining it is also just the right amount disturbing, which makes it a timeless tale.
Image: Current cast in Witness for the Prosecution by Agatha Christie at London County Hall. Credit: Ellie Kurttz.
The Jungle, which has transferred from The Young Vic to the West End, immerses its London audience in the middle of the refugee encampment which was built up near Calais from 2015 to 2016. Playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson created the Good Chance Theatre in The Jungle in 2015, offering entertainment, music and workshops for the residents of the camp, which at its height numbered over 8,000. Rather than focusing on the activities on their theatre, the playwrights have written a fictionalised account of the founding of the camp by a few enterprising refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan, amongst other countries, and its demise a year later by French police with bulldozers. In between, a handful of well- meaning British people arrive, ranging from fresh out of Eton Sam to friendly alcoholic Boxer. The playwrights wisely do not centre the story on them but instead have Safi, a Syrian migrant and English literature major, act as narrator.
The Playhouse Theatre is completely transformed with audience members sitting on wooden benches (thankfully with throw cushions) around the action. On one side is Salar’s Afghan Café and the tables that some of the audience sit at double as walkways for the actors. Televisions dotted around the place play Bollywood Films. Delicious smells emanate from the kitchen, cast members offer round sweet chai and fresh bread. As the play begins, its starts at the end: the French authorities have ordered a “soft eviction” of the camp, saying the environment is unsafe. They have offered only 1500 homes around France, most of which will go to women and children. Meantime, a boy has been killed on the motorway, trying to get a “Good Chance” by smuggling himself into the UK in a lorry. The police arrive with tear gas and the makeshift city is destroyed.
The play then starts somewhere at the beginning, telling different story strands while still trying to move the whole cohesively forward as the refugees deal not only with their own dire situation but with the arrival of white British people who have decided to organise them. Young Sam plans to map out the city and build houses. Eighteen year old Beth starts a school and teaches English. Boxer is good at mending and building, while Paula looks after the children, many of whom are unaccompanied. It’s never clear exactly what Derek does other than bark orders and break up fights. Many of the young men are technically children but are looked after by the older men, such as fifteen year old Norullah, a cheerful trouble maker who works in Salar’s café and has become like a son to him. We hear the devastating story of Okot who escaped from Sudan only to be tortured in Libya as his captors demanded more money from his mother. Beth makes it her mission to help him get to the UK with the help of Kurdish smuggler Ali.
Crises small and large occur but, as Safi says, there is hope as well: the Muslims gather to pray together, no matter what their sect, Omid happily plays his guitar which he smuggled from Iran, everyone is learning English and every now and again there is good news from someone who has made it to the UK. Everyone has a mobile phone which they check constantly, searching for news from home and finding entertaining relief from their boredom of being in this limbo. We are reminded of how the British people can leave at any time when Sam suggests that he and Beth go to a hotel for night - just as friends of course – as they having been living in squalor for months and need a break. When Beth goes to rescue Okot from the police station, she takes both him and Safi to a hotel just to clean up the teenager who has been beaten by the police and needs a rest. It is illegal for refugees to be taken to a hotel as they have no passports, but Beth risks it anyway.
Although the play is happy to laugh at the sometimes misguided good intentions of the British, it is clear that they are there because their country is doing little for the refugees and they feel a need to help. Paula, most likely modelled on real life volunteer Liz Clegg, is the most effective in her clear intention to help the children. Sam takes on more than he can chew but although he comes from a privileged background, probably much like the Oxford educated playwrights, his heart is usually in the right place and he just wants to make a difference, as does Beth. The scene where she teaches the boys English by having them describe how they try to hide out in lorries is entertaining yet also drives home the point of how desperate and determined the migrants are.
There are outstanding performances that hold the play together and bring it authenticity. Chief among them is Ammar Haj Ahmad, a Syrian actor, who plays the kind hearted Safi. It is clear he will have a major career after this production and has already made a mark on the UK theatre scene. John Pfumojena, a Zimbabwean born actor, is brilliant as Okot. His monologue describing his perilous journey to
Calais through which he says he “died many times” is delivered absolutely straight which makes it all the more moving. Mr Pfumojena is also the musical director and composer for the production, clearly an artist to be reckoned with. British-Iranian actor Ben Turner is excellent as the fiery but warm hearted Salar as is Mohammad Amiri as his young cheeky assistant Norullah. There is a nice mixture of trained, highly experienced British actors playing the migrants with performers who are actual refugees, such as singer Mohamad Sarrar and Kung Fu master Yasin Moradi. Amongst the British characters, Rachel Redford as Beth and Jo McInnes as Paula stand out.
If I have one criticism it is that the play tries to do too much and may have benefited from telling the story from one person’s point of view. Although we do have sympathetic Safi at the centre, there is always lots of activity going on, actors running around and shouting in an attempt to depict the chaotic atmosphere of the camp, but it is sometimes too much. It seems petty to find fault when the creative team, directors Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin, along with the playwrights and the designer, Miriam Buether, have worked hard to recreate the experience of The Jungle to share with the world.
This is an important play which poses questions with no easy answers. Did the British volunteers help or make a situation worse? When refugees could have claimed asylum in mainland Europe, was it right to encourage them to risk their lives trying to get to the UK? The camp has now been destroyed but migrants still gather in the thousands in Calais, trying to cross to England. Although there is not much hope at the end of this play, the playwrights are still running their Good Chance Theatre for refugees in France. And hopefully audience members will feel moved after the performance to make a difference in their own way to help the refugee crisis by volunteering or donating.
For classical music lovers it doesn’t get much better than the BBC Promenade Concerts, affectionately known as the Proms. A British national treasure since Victorian times, this world’s greatest festival of classical music roars into London’s Royal Albert Hall mid July, setting off 90 concerts and two months of non- stop musical feasting.
The original Proms’ promise, to create a joyous celebration of music and reach the widest possible audience, means there are plenty of affordable options, including half- price for under 18s and 1300 ‘promming’ (standing) tickets for every Prom at £6.
Each Prom Season gets bigger and more imaginative. This year welcomes a gobsmacking choice of orchestras, choirs and premier musicians from around the globe. There are 90 artist debuts and 42 world premieres, intimate late night Proms, lunchtime Proms, Prom ‘Extras’ and loads of free concerts and events for families.
As well as the usual generous helpings of Beethoven, Bach and Mozart, amongst this year’s delights are a Tango Prom, Havana meets Kingston Prom, Folk Music Prom and a jazzy evening with multi-instrumentalist sensation Jacob Collier. Reach-outs to other venues include Proms at Lincoln’s Drill Hall and Gilbert and Sullivan staged in the beautifully restored Victorian Theatre at Alexandra Palace in north London.
The Proms love anniversaries and 2018 is no exception. This year’s Proms feature works by 24 women composers to honour the 100th anniversary of Women’s Right to Vote. Debussy and Lili Boulanger will be honoured on the centenary of their deaths.
The Proms offer a massive grand salute to American composer, conductor and musical personality, Leonard Bernstein, who would have been 100 this year, including celebratory performances of West Side Story and On the Town. As a child growing up in 1960s America, this writer vividly recalls the joy of watching Bernstein’s groundbreaking Young People’s Concerts on national television. Several Proms will introduce new audiences to music as a tribute to Bernstein, the inspirational educationalist.
As ever, the season culminates in that beloved ritual known as the Last Night of the Proms. Last Night festivities, complete with traditional fancy dress, party poppers, balloons and flag-waving sing-a-longs to ‘Rule, Britannia!’ and ‘Land of Hope and Glory,’ are always sold out. That’s where Proms in the Park come in, created in 1996 so that the overwhelming numbers of Last Night fans won’t miss out on the fun. In addition to the Royal Albert Hall finale, audiences can choose from four open air spectacles nationwide. Park Proms in Belfast, Glasgow, Swansea and London’s Hyde Park bring the four UK nations together in song and spirit with the help of tirelessly enthusiastic compere Michael Ball and live big screen linkups.
Hyde Park’s stellar headliners will be Gladys Knight, Josh Groban, Matt Goss and Joseph Calleja. For the grand finale, Prom audiences join celebrities, choirs and fireworks as Prommers across the land sing, wave Union Jacks, pop poppers and let go of all that British reserve for another year.
Never mind if you can’t make it to the Last Night in person— you can join the party via giant video screens around the country or sing along by telly, tablet, smartphone, laptop or radio, thanks to the BBC.
Further information:
BBC Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, 13 July-8 September 2018
After the excellent revival of Buried Child in 2016, it is heartening to see yet another Sam Shephard classic, True West, in the West End. This play, written in 1980, was apparently a box office failure when it debuted at the Public Theatre in New York. It only became a long running hit when staged with John Malkovich and Gary Sinise as warring brothers Lee and Austin. It is understandable as these two demanding roles need to be cast just right in this tricky work which veers wildly from kitchen sink realism to Beckettian absurdism. Johnny Flynn is perfectly comfortable in his role as the ne’re- do-well Lee, who, when he isn’t stealing TV’s from the neighbours is running dog fights to make a fast buck. At first glance Kit Harington, Jon Snow from Game of Thrones, may not seem ideal as the hardworking, studious screenwriter Austin. However, from the opening scene of this production he is virtually unrecognisable in his slicked back hair and aviator glasses, diligently typing away by candle light. I am happy to say both actors hold their own and have a fiery chemistry between them as well as great comic rapport.
This play, like most of Shephard’s work, goes in unpredictable directions, keeping the audience constantly guessing. The play is almost over before Madeleine Potter makes an appearance as the mother, newly returned from her holiday to complete chaos.
There have been several productions of True West where the actors playing the brothers have alternated the roles during the run. Although that is not the case here, it is clear that they are meant to be two aspects of the same person, perhaps even of Shephard himself; the hard-working intellectual vying with the wild renegade who is prone to disappearing into the desert.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda the Musical opened in the West End over seven years ago and is still going strong today. On the night I saw it at the Cambridge Theatre in London, there was a happy mixture of families, school groups, tourists and adults on their own who just enjoy a great musical. There is much in this show to appeal to people of all ages and despite the presence of so many children both on and off stage, it is a very dark tale indeed. Adapted from the book by Roald Dahl, who understood that children like scary fairy stories full of revenge and violence, the musical makes a bold statement about the strength and resilience of children. Matilda may be misunderstood and unloved by her family but still manages to triumph through sheer willpower.
Witness for the Prosecution was originally adapted by Agatha Christie in 1951 for the stage from a short story she had written in 1925 entitled Traitor Hands. Her producer, Peter Saunders, was so keen to see the story adapted that he wrote his own version which she rejected to write her own. Apparently, she was drawn to the challenge of keeping the suspense of a murder mystery going before a live audience in a theatre, rather than in a book which can be read at leisure. The play was a huge success and one can see why; it is enormous fun. This site-specific production, set in the Council Chamber of London County Hall, makes the courtroom scenes a more immersive experience, even using audience members as the jury.
The Jungle, which has transferred from The Young Vic to the West End, immerses its London audience in the middle of the refugee encampment which was built up near Calais from 2015 to 2016. Playwrights Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson created the Good Chance Theatre in The Jungle in 2015, offering entertainment, music and workshops for the residents of the camp, which at its height numbered over 8,000. Rather than focusing on the activities on their theatre, the playwrights have written a fictionalised account of the founding of the camp by a few enterprising refugees from Afghanistan, Syria and Sudan, amongst other countries, and its demise a year later by French police with bulldozers. In between, a handful of well- meaning British people arrive, ranging from fresh out of Eton Sam to friendly alcoholic Boxer. The playwrights wisely do not centre the story on them but instead have Safi, a Syrian migrant and English literature major, act as narrator.
For classical music lovers it doesn’t get much better than the BBC Promenade Concerts, affectionately known as the Proms. A British national treasure since Victorian times, this world’s greatest festival of classical music roars into London’s Royal Albert Hall mid July, setting off 90 concerts and two months of non- stop musical feasting.
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