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Theatre review: Imperium: Conspirator & Dictator

IMPERIUM: CONSPIRATOR and DICTATOR

Based on the Cicero novels by Robert Harris, adapted by Mike Poulton.

Royal Shakespeare Company, directed by RSC Artistic Director Greg Doran. First performed at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon in November 2017. Transferred to London from 14th June.

From Robert Harris’s acclaimed Cicero trilogy of books about politics, sex, murder and oratory – Ancient Rome in a nutshell – we get what is essentially a story told in six new plays across an entire day of theatregoing (or two nights) adapted by Mike Poulton (RSC: Wolf Hall; Bring Up the Bodies). It never feels like a slog though, as each part is split across three acts with two full intervals. That world of over two thousand years ago straddling the Tiber races through time towards us at lightning speed to the present day, with Poulton’s use of modern day vernacular, visual gags referring to Donald Trump and talk of the newly-conquered Britain being just outside Europe reminding us that in politics, nothing ever changes.

The books told the story of Marcus Tullius Cicero, Roman Senator, consul, Father of the Nation and orator, in volumes narrated by his slave and later freed secretary, Tiro. Olivier- and Tony Award-winner Richard McCabe (RSC: Associate Artist; School of Night; King John) leads the cast as Cicero. Tiro is retained in the stage production in this role, our go-between breaking the fourth wall with frequent comic asides. Joseph Kloska (RSC: Measure for Measure) portrays Tiro as earnest, intense and loyal in a finely-tuned performance, at Cicero’s side throughout his adult life.

Marcus Tullius Cicero (Richard McCabe) and Gaius Julius Caesar (Peter de Jersey) in Imperium: Dictator. Photo by Manuel Harlan © RSC
Marcus Tullius Cicero (Richard McCabe) and Gaius Julius Caesar (Peter de Jersey) in Imperium: Dictator. Photo by Manuel Harlan ©RSC

As the consummate politician and meddler, McCabe imbues Cicero with wit, ingenuity and a self-indulgent streak, but also shows his weaknesses, foibles and mistakes. Desire for a status symbol befitting the Father of the Nation, he buys a house from fellow Senator Crassus (David Nicolle) on the Palatine (from which we derive first the Italian, palazzo, then the English palace). Of course, he’s been played as part of a scheme to discredit him in the later trial of his consular colleague, Hybrida, played by Hywel Morgan (RSC: Queen Anne; The Alchemist).

Julius Caesar, played powerfully by Peter de Jersey, (RSC: Associate Artist; Hamlet; As You Like It) is shown as more rounded a character than usual. We see the uneasy friendship between him and Cicero, which ends when Caesar’s assassins dispatch the dictator, and Cicero denounces him to an uncomfortably sad Tiro – “We were his slaves!”. Before that, we see his return to Rome from conducting his Gallic wars, and his Triumph, where we first meet Octavian. Caesar’s nephew and posthumously adopted son, later to become the Emperor Augustus, is played by Oliver Johnstone (RSC: King Lear; Oppenheimer) with hints of ruthless determination that characterised his later rule. His right-hand man Agrippa, who in real life was later to be responsible for the repair of old aqueducts and a building programme of new ones to supply the expanding city, is a lot more blunt in his dealings with Cicero, mistrusting him.

A standout performance by Joe Dixon (RSC: Associate Artist; Boris Gudonov; The Orphan of Zhao) in the dual roles of Catiline and Marc Anthony ranges from hilarity to terror and anticipation at where he will take both roles.

Siobhán Redmond’s (RSC: Associate Artist; King John; Much Ado About Nothing) turn as Terentia, Cicero’s wife, is not blessed with a lot of stage time. As one of only four actresses in the cast, she probably has the most amongst them. She is variously deeply in love and exceptionally angry with Cicero, when he exiles himself to Brundisium after refusing Caesar’s perfection when the Republic falls for the first time. Terentia is left with his daughter Tullia (Jade Croot, an RSC veteran at age 19) pregnant with her sixth child and dangerously ill.

The aforementioned Trumpian visual gags come in the form of Christopher Saul’s (RSC: King Lear; The Canterbury Tales) Pompey Magnus. With his hair adrift and his self-importance boundless, the reference to the US President fits very nicely. Professor Dame Mary Beard assures us that Pompey indeed had a quiff, so it’s also historically accurate as far as can be determined.

Those with truly expert knowledge of Ancient Rome will find things missing or simplified, as I suspect perhaps in the novels too. Marc Anthony’s marriage to one of Hybrida’s daughters, for example, long before Fulvia and Cleopatra. For almost all of such theatregoers, I believe this will not matter a jot. One is always so present in the drama, swept along by Tiro, that there is no time for fact checking before we move on.

The excellent cast includes Eloise Secker as Clodia and Fulvia; Nicholas Boulton as the augur Metellus Celer and Nicholas Armfield as Clodius. Alisha Williams plays roles including Caesar’s second and third wives Pompeia and Calpurnia.

There is beautiful, evocative and dramatic music – trumpets and drums – by Paul Englishby, movement direction is by Anna Morrissey, (watch for some powerful filmic fight scenes in Part Two with fight director Terry King) lighting is by Mark Henderson and the designer is Anthony Ward, who uses brown brick and grey block to give us the various senatorial meeting places, people’s houses and battlefields with the help of a giant orb above the stage by RSC Production Video.

Until 8th September, Gielgud Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. rsc.org.uk *****/*****

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Theatre review: Macbeth, Royal Shakespeare Company

I attended the press night of the RSC’s 2018 production of Macbeth but paid for my own ticket and lodgings.

Continuing my long-term project to see all of Shakespeare’s canon on stage, and a 2018 ambition to see more regional theatre, I left London for Stratford-upon-Avon. The last time I was here, making my radio documentary, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre was still undergoing reconstruction. So this was my first visit inside. The floorboards of the stage from the 1932 theatre have been salvaged and used around the outside of the auditorium in the rebuilt structure, a lovely touch. However, as Shakespeare wrote, the play’s the thing – and thats why I was here.

The cons – I was in an aisle seat to the extreme right of the thrust stage, which was mostly fine, except there were text projections above the stage which I couldn’t see. There was also a kind of mezzanine second stage á la the Globe Theatre I couldn’t see almost any of, but performers appeared there sometimes.

A digital clock at the mezzanine level began counting down after Macbeth kills Duncan, giving a helpful indicator of how long is left until the end of the play. However, in this action-light production, it felt a little like an (albeit fairly lenient) prison sentence marking the minutes until we were to be granted freedom. Get rid of it.

The three witches are played by three small girls clutching stuffed bears. Their key “boil boil” scene is moved to much later in the play than usual. I am not a Shakespeare scholar; I cannot wail feverishly about “the text” being butchered. But I noticed this change, and also that all the witch scenes were much shorter than those I have read in the First Folio, presumably to ease the load on the child actors. This does them a disservice, as the RSC should know from its productions of Les Misérables and Matilda the Musical that children acting can easily match adults in talent and stamina.

So to the adults. The famous Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Co-opted to describe the couple who cheated to game Who Wants to be a Millionaire? into giving them ill-gotten gains back in 2001 (a genius connection perhaps, but I’m seeing Quiz, James Graham’s exploration of the saga, next month). They were hardly on stage together and lacked chemistry when they were. It’s early in the run, perhaps, but I was disappointed. Christopher Eccleston is an emotion-driven, passionate actor – what made him such a good Doctor, and this is his Royal Shakespeare Company debut. Niamh Cusack I cannot particularly recall seeing in anything before, although I know the name. I didn’t feel that she was tormented much. Again, chemistry.

I must give a special mention to Ed Bennett as Macduff. Besuited, he was the spit of John Krasinski’s Jim from the U.S. version of The Office. He is a very low-key performer, his grief at the murder of his family palpable but still movingly understated, until the bubble bursts in the final scene, and he does for Macbeth. I saw him stand in for David Tennant in the title role of the RSC’s London run of Hamlet in 2008, and loved him. The last decade, in which he has worked consistently for the Company, have only improved his mastery of the craft. It was thoroughly enjoyable to see him again.

Look, overall, I wouldn’t rush to see this production. It’s coming to the Barbican in October and it will be likely fairly well received. It seems it is better than the National’s current production lead by Rory Kinnear and Ann-Marie Duff, which apparently relies on gore and an odd staging to draw the audience. So it’s up to you.

Macbeth by William Shakespeare, director Polly Findlay, is at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until September, and then at the Barbican Theatre, London, from October until January 2019. *** / *****

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Theatre review: Hamlet, Harold Pinter Theatre

HAMLET at the Harold Pinter Theatre
Produced by the Almeida Theatre, dir. Robert Icke.

This production was hugely disappointing to me. I am no particular Andrew Scott fan or Shakespeare scholar (other reviews have mentioned the cutting and rearranging of the text) but I know enough. I’ve seen Hamlet on stage before; the London transfer of the RSC’s 2008 production. David Tennant was off on the night I saw the show, ably understudied by Edward Bennett, but the formidable cast also featured Patrick Stewart, Oliver Ford Davies and Mariah Gale. Perhaps any production would not live up to the standards set by that one, but I hoped the Almeida might try.

Andrew Scott as Hamlet. © Manuel Harlan
Andrew Scott as Hamlet. Production shot © Manuel Harlan

Angus Wright as Claudius is shockingly underpowered. He doesn’t seem to act but recite his lines in his own rich voice. This aside, it was not kingly. He did not look regal, the usurper. He looked like he was emceeing a trade conference. Sitting as I was in the balcony, there were times when I could see no more than a collection of bald heads milling around on stage. But the director’s occasional use of live camera work beamed to screens at my eye level meant I did see some of the performance rather up close, and my criticism remains. Juliet Stevenson was perhaps the standout in this unhappy mix of thesps. I was very excited to see Jessica Brown Findlay, having failed to catch her in the Almeida’s Chekhov season last year but having enjoyed her turn in Black Mirror. Clearly she can act. Here she was woefully underused. Ophelia’a descent in to madness was conveyed simply by putting her in a wheelchair. Key lines were not spoken – excluded rather than forgotten, I would say. The cast did not seem to be miced, meaning that up in the balcony, even in the deathly silence of a rapt audience, we struggled to hear large portions of the play. Andrew Scott becoming alternatively hysterical and fiercely angry also led to a deterioration in what we could actually understand of his performance. He keeps his own Irish accent which only serves to mark him out from the rest of the cast with their RSC and RP voices. It is an absurd amalgamation.

We sat through almost two hours of this before, during the performance of “The Mousetrap”, a stage manager appeared calling for a break due to technical difficulties. This man was an actor, and this ruse in fact led to the first interval. To maintain this illusion of a “show stop” the director opted to keep the house lights down through the entire 15-20 minutes. Particularly upstairs in the balcony, I feel this was dangerous and artistic licence too far. I shall be speaking to Westminster Council to confirm the theatre has permission for this semi-blackout, but speaking personally I didn’t feel safe, especially with people’s bags and coats packed along the floor of the narrow aisles.

Not thirty minutes later we were out for another “pause”, only to return for another hour of boredom. The fencing scenes were pathetically done. Loud music blared out over a key scene here, removing the need for the actors to do anything behind mouth their dialogue. It was overall a terrible production. If you thought the RSC’s avant-garde stuff in the 70s was bad, stay well away from the Harold Pinter until September.

1/5 for Juliet Stevenson. Maybe it will get some people in to theatre who otherwise wouldn’t go.

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Theatre review: Daddy Long Legs

Note: the production is the second in the St. James Theatre’s opening season and opened last night, October 31st. I attended a special preview performance yesterday afternoon.

DADDY LONG LEGS is, in one word, a charming musical. A two-hander, the show is carried equally by both players, though Megan McGinnis as Jerusha Abbott is certainly dominant to her anonymous benefactor “Daddy Long Legs” – Jervis Pendleton, played by Robert Adelman Hancock. Paul Gordon’s music seems familiar – not in the plagiarism sense, I should say – but that it is almost never intrusive to the story, it complements it; there are no song and dance numbers here. It is often catchy and yet in the background. We are taken out of the story only twice: in the interval and at the curtain (though there is none) call.

Set just after the turn of the last century, the convincing performances allow us the privilege of being in the moment with the characters. We never once feel superior to Jerusha’s innocence and naivety in the world she discovers, from our own knowledge of everything before and indeed since that time. The story is heartbreakingly sad, clever, amusing and beautiful all at once.

Robert Adelman Hancock and Megan McGinnis in a scene from Daddy Long Legs
Robert Adelman Hancock and Megan McGinnis in a scene from Daddy Long Legs. Photo: Rubicon Theatre Company/St. James Theatre

David Farley’s single set, a floor area containing books and a set of trunks, and an upper deck with a library and office desk is functional – costume changes are carried out without fuss with items being taken and put back in the trunks, for example – and with no scene changes, remains much the same throughout the story. As both characters are always on stage, the set is usually divided with Paul Toben’s lighting separating the two locations. The use of projection to show the dates and locations of Jerusha’s letters at the top of the wood panelling is clever and reminds me of a similar technique Sam Mendes used in his production of RICHARD III last year. Being in a handwritten style, it is unobtrusive, unlike Mendes’s bold use of lettering to characterise scenes.

The lack of any break between scenes allows the story to flow much more readily, perhaps truer to the diary format of the Jean Webster novel that John Caird’s book is adapted from. An idea that would seem to drag on paper – two actors reading letters aloud – works perfectly on the stage and never does slow down. Certain songs, or letters I should say, for these make up the bulk of the lyrics – are sung in counterpoint, or with Jervis harmonising or echoing what Jerusha has written to him. As he reads her letters to Daddy Long Legs and Jervis – who of course are one and the same – the two will sing alternate words, sentences, sometimes overlapping but never confusing. It’s very cohesive, tight, and well-rehearsed. These actors clearly know the material well, having been in the original production in 2009, and it shows.

DADDY LONG LEGS is produced by St. James Theatre Productions and the Rubicon Theatre Company (Michael Jackowitz). Megan McGinnis and Robert Adelman Hancock are directed by John Caird (LES MISÉRABLES, CHILDREN OF EDEN) and music is by Paul Gordon (JANE EYRE), with lighting by Paul Toben, set and costumes by David Farley and book by John Caird. 31st October – 8th December 2012 at the St. James Theatre, London. You can book tickets online.

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Social Media call for Much Ado About Nothing

Update, October 2017: due to a five year agreement between the RSC and Equity expiring, I have had to remove the video of the Q&A session.

For a while now, I have had a half-baked ambition to see all of Shakespeare’s plays performed live on stage; the medium they were created for. This is not some kind of challenge to be rushed through, but something to be enjoyed and appreciated at my leisure. I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar in August 2012 and documented that here on my website. The RSC’s London season continued at the Nöel Coward Theatre with Much Ado About Nothing, again transferring from Stratford. I was reading about the play and discovered a page on the website advertising what the RSC described as a “social media call”. It’s been two years since I graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism, and I haven’t worked in the industry since. I thought attending might be a good way to combine these two ideas, as friends and colleagues often ask why they haven’t yet heard or seen me on BBC News, or doing anything related to my degree. Well one – it’s tough and competitive out there, as is the jobs market. Two, that’s not something I’m entirely certain I’d enjoy. I thought I would try this though, as I’ve said. I let the RSC know I was interested in attending, and they confirmed my place.

At the theatre, we were given the opportunity to watch the actors and crew rehearsing before they were ready for us. We then watched a full dress run of act two, scene three, which includes Balthasar’s song “Sigh No More”, and Benedick’s soliliquoy. We were encouraged to take photos and video during this time, which I did, although I didn’t have a camera so had to use my iPhone. Most of the photos and videos are disappointing and can’t properly capture the vibrancy of the lighting design, nor the impressive set, complete with full-size tree, but I shall include some anyway.

Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
Madhav Sharma (Leonato), Paul Bhattacharjee (Benedick) and Shiv Grewal (Don Pedro)

What I did see of the show – I was unable to attend the evening performance I was invited to – was stunning. It is so easy for Shakespeare to be used as the height of drama, with wannabe Oliviers or Kenneth Branaghs giving their best RADA-taught performances. The RSC isn’t like that, and I liked the subtlety of what I saw, despite the scene being high-energy in parts, and even including singing and dancing. It was naturalistic Shakespeare and characters not only acted but re-acted to what was happening in the scene. Every performance the audience should feel as if the lines are being spoken for the first time, thought up in the brains of those on stage, not 500-year-old sentences. This production achieved that effortlessly.

Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3 - Anjana Vasan and newcomer Raj Bajaj
Anjana Vasan (Maid) and newcomer Raj Bajaj (Balthasar)


Once the scene had been performed, there was a question and answer session. The scene had taken longer than anticipated, meaning there was less time for the Q&A, and I didn’t get to ask any of my questions. Some similar ones were asked by others, however.

The actors and director Iqbal Khan were knowledgeable about what they were doing, and insightful in to the relevance of Shakespeare in 2012, following on from this year’s World Shakespeare Festival. One person attending the social media call asked the group about their experiences with “traditional Shakespeare” – making the unfortunate supposition that Shakespeare should be performed by white English actors. The late Paul Bhattacharjee, playing Benedick, was the first to respond in a video I’m no longer able to show here, but here’s a quote:

“You used the word tradition – you should be really aware of what you’re talking about, because there is a level of education in India that far exceeds our expectations… Why it’s such an easy fit is because [for example] Much Ado is a family tale. Now if there’s anything that we grow up with in India it’s great big epic family stories… I would say this is tradition”

Overall, I was very glad I had the opportunity to attend the social media call. It was only the second occasion I had been able to work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and I am grateful for both of those times.

Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3
Much Ado About Nothing, Act 2, Scene 3 - Newcomer Raj Bajaj sings Balthasar's song Sigh No More
Newcomer Raj Bajaj (Balthasar) performs Sigh No More
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Les Misérables celebrates 25th birthday

Article first published as Les Misérables celebrates 25th birthday on Technorati.

The West End and former Broadway musical Les Misérables celebrated its twenty-fifth birthday yesterday.

The world’s longest-running musical opened on October 8th, 1985 at London’s Barbican Centre. Critics were vocal but the public quickly took Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil’s adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel to their hearts. Advance bookings soared and Miz, as it’s affectionately shortened to, transferred to the West End’s Palace Theatre in December that year. Nearly two decades later in 2004, it moved to a new home at the Queen’s Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, where it is still running.

Last night members of the original London cast sat down for a private get-together with the people behind the show, including original directors John Caird and Sir Trevor Nunn. But the anniversary was far from forgotten.

Last Sunday two concerts took place at the o2 Arena, the former Millenniun Dome. Performers from the current cast at the Queen’s and the Anniversary Cast, which recently finished up its tour by coming home to the Barbican, joined together with members of the original London cast to form a stunning one-off ensemble and choir, including Les Mis alumni Lea Salonga, Peter Polycarpou and the current Éponine at the Queen’s, Samantha Barks.

Although the tour is over, a production with its brand-new orchestrations is scheduled to open in Madrid in November. Producer Cameron Mackintosh recently revived the long-running rumours about a film version of the musical, saying he had signed a contract. The speculation continues, then, one day more.

Image by user jaumemeneses on Flickr, used under a CC-BY-SA license.

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A finished documentary

After seven months, my radio documentary is finished. It’s finished to the standards required originally, but not quite to my satisfaction. It’s currently fifteen minutes long, but I have some great unused material which I’d love to include.

My plan is to work on an extended version of the documentary, containing more raw audio than the current programme. I’ll upload it here when complete.