ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

Shakespeare's Globe

18.05.2014

A first look at the Globe's new Antony and Cleopatra.

Is this to be the season of the censer? Clouds of incense to mask the bloody excesses of Titus, and they're blowing again now in Ancient Egypt – two bronze bowls suspended from the heavens, with oriental carpets up there too.

A lively, noisy melting-pot dance before the show proper starts, so no jig at the end, though at the second preview there was a bouquet from the yard for Cleo, which doesn't happen very often in the Wooden O. The set, designed by Colin Richmond, hides the frons scenae behind a red wooden structure not unlike the NT's striking Shed just along the river. There's a splendid war-torn map of the region, too. The actors wear Jacobean costume, which is both original practice and meaningful: these politicians are as devious as those Tudor plotters in the RSC's Wolf Hall. Egypt does get some local colour, with a fetching riding outfit for the Queen as she goes to war.

Eve Best plays Cleopatra as a very English, no-nonsense woman, touch of hippy, touch of La Redgrave. Lots of flirting with the groundlings as well as with her eunuch [Obioma Ugoala], but some stunning stillness towards the end – Withered is the Garland of the War. And, in death, she sits upright in mummified majesty on her splendid winged throne.

Jolyon Coy and Clive Wood are the boy Caesar and the dying lion, with Phil Daniels a dry, intriguing Enobarbus, delivering his “barge” speech with relish and a hint of cynicism. Strong martial presence from Philip Correia's Pompey, abseiling down the red wooden wall.

Jonathan Munby's pacy production - “I will to Egypt” says Antony, and instantly it's all around him – does have some lazy moments [the Egyptian bacchanal an excuse for a hackneyed drinking scene] but much to enjoy: the flag fighting, the messenger scene, the aerial ballet, Cleopatra joining the line of sad captains, Antony walking past as Enobarbus calls on him as he dies.

Not nearly so much blood as in Titus of course, though those groundling bringing in hot dogs after the interval might have been disturbed by the sight of Jonathan Bonnici's soothsayer examining some very gory entrails ...

THINGS TO COME - BENVENUTO CELLINI

Benvenuto Cellini ENO production

English National Opera are keen to be inclusive, with musical theatre and a café promised for the future. Mike Leigh and a children's opera too.

We've already had Damon Albarn [back in 2012], and now, next month, we've got another Terry Gilliam to look forward to. Best remembered for his work on Monty Python, and for directing the visually stunning Brazil, Gilliam will be directing Berlioz's first opera, Benvenuto Cellini, with Ed Gardner in the pit. They first worked together on the same composer's Damnation of Faust – not really an opera, some might say – critically acclaimed in 2011.

We're promised stunning visual and musical set pieces such as the Mardi Gras carnival, the opera is based on the autobiography of celebrated 16th-century goldsmith and maverick sculptor Benvenuto Cellini. The ENO cast includes rising tenor Michael Spyres in the title role, soprano Corinne  Winters   as Cellini's lover, Teresa, and ENO favourite Willard White – whom I last saw as Britten's Bottom - as Pope Clement VII.

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING

SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING

Made in Colchester at the Mercury Theatre

15.05.2014

for The Public Reviews

Sara Perks' splendid design instantly conjures up a grim world of postwar austerity, the grim industrial Nottingham where Sillitoe set his state-of-the-nation novel.

The steel girders frame sliding doors and screens; before the action, six silhouettes come to life in a clever pastiche of movie titles. The visuals say Sixties, the soundtrack, though, is a lively mix of genres – Lovin' You, Lightning Ball, Rhythm Stick ...

Amanda Whittington's adaptation, first seen in 2006, is punchy and fast-paced. The utility furniture is pushed swiftly around to create the pub or the shopfloor at Raleigh's, as well as more intimate, but no more joyful, domestic settings. The fluent staging is enormously enhanced by the presence of the “Community Chorus”, local volunteer background actors who people the factory and the Goose Fair.

Against this sombre backdrop struts the cock of the walk, a fifty-bob suit under his overalls, that seminal angry young man Arthur Seaton. A self-styled communist, amoral, male chauvinist, he rages against the system, but is always out for what he can get – more pay, more beer, more sex - always ego-centric: even when helping a paralytic Irishman he can't resist recalling his own misfortunes. But he's by no means shallow – one prophetic political rant has tremendous resonance sixty years on ...

He's given a mesmerising performance here by Patrick Knowles; supremely confident but immature and restless underneath it all. Hard to empathise with him – he often eschews naturalistic speech patterns, setting him apart from the other, more predictable characters – but impossible not to feel some sympathy when, after a final soliloquy he decides to try wedded bliss instead of domestic violence. The luckiest bastard in the world ?

The two married women he seduces – under the noses of their husbands – are Gina Isaac as Brenda and Hester Arden as her sister Winnie. The bright, bubbly girl who might just be Seaton's salvation is Elizabeth Twells' Doreen. Ian Kirkby gives a nicely touching performance as the cuckold workmate Jack, and Mercury favourite Tim Treslove puts in overtime as half a dozen others, included that hilarious drunken Mick and Robboe the Rate Checker.

Tony Casement's energetic direction is often surreal, using the doorways as lightboxes to frame a little scene, a few figures. The factory floor and the funfair, when the balloon bursts, are both beautifully done, with a balletic quality to the movement. And the sordid visit from Aunt Ada, terminating Brenda's pregnancy with a steaming, scalding bath and Mother's Ruin, is superbly staged: the red slip, the screen, and Arthur's anxious cigarette smouldering in the shadows.

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews

CALAMITY JANE

CALAMITY JANE

Trinity Methodist Drama at the Civic Theatre

17.05.2014

A good old-fashioned musical given a good old-fashioned production by the Trinity team.

Eric Smart's polished production took us effortlessly from the Golden Garter to the Bijou dressing room to the cabin to the Colonel's ball. A big, bright chorus made the most of their numbers: the Black Hills of Dakota particularly effective, with capes and ringlets, wagons and lanterns making their way through the Civic stalls.

Some good principals, too. Especially successful at “carrying beyond the footlights” were David Slater [straight from the Steam Packet to Deadwood] in the Howard Keel role of Wild Bill Hickok, Charlotte Reid as Katie Brown, the mousy dresser who steps into the star's shoes [her first, hesitant, Keep It Under Your Hat was wonderfully awful], Patrick Willis's lively lieutenant and of course Corrina Wilson as Calam, a trigger-happy gamine with a gruff voice who finds her feminine side just in time to join Bill in belting out the show's Big Number.

It's show of two stages: the first coach, conjured up from an upright piano, a whip and a pair of parasols. And the second, real stagecoach wheeled on for the triple wedding – the third couple being the hapless Francis Fryer [Mark Clements] and Kate Harrison's Susan, whose uncle is Deadwood's hassled impresario [David Ehren].

The choreographer for this production was Julie Slater [impressive CanCan girls] and Gerald Hindes and his pit orchestra gave an excellent account of Sammy Fain's score.

production photography by Val Scott

THE GONDOLIERS

THE GONDOLIERS

Opera della Luna at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

09.05.2014

for The Public Reviews

The Venetian Initiative sees Opera della Luna, that iconoclastic, hugely entertaining pocket opera company, taking the Gilbert and Sullivan gospel into the community. In its most ambitious venture yet, with Arts Council funding, they are recruiting a team of young music-theatre performers for each venue, opening in Ipswich before moving up for a week in the Lowry, Salford.

They've chosen The Gondoliers, the last of the Savoy Opera successes, richly scored, with a clever blend of satire and Latin charm.

Perversely, perhaps because this is basically the production Jeff Clarke did for Buxton a couple of years ago, they've chosen to play it relatively straight. None of their usual spin, no googlies, little of their traditional invention born of necessity.

Money has been well spent. We are greeted with a familiar Venetian skyline, gondolas in front, lovely flown pieces of architectural detail, and a stage filled with those “roses white and roses red” which will spell out not only the names of favourite gondoliers, but, cheekily, AMORE, OMG and more. And for Act Two, after a protracted interval, a gloriously baroque Barataria, gilded mouldings and a magnificent throne, which swivels to reveal the Inquisitor's torture chamber for the dénouement.

The frocks are fabulous, too – the Duchess's generous gown, needing a divan all to itself, traditional garb for the nobs, but a more modern look for the contadine: flowery prints with matching galoshes [Venice being wet underfoot, presumably].

The opening sequence is splendid, with the gondoliers in sexy dark glasses given some impressively macho dance moves.

Elsewhere the inspiration is uneven: the jointly ruling monarchs – sharing the role and the regalia – were a tad dull in their “pleasures of a king” number, but the rhythmic boot blacking and spud bashing works wonderfully for Take A Pair Of Sparkling Eyes. Good use is made of freeze motion moments.

It is a great cast: Greg Castiglioni as Luiz, the rightful king, and Victoria Joyce in fine voice as his Casilda. Stephen Brown and Robert Gildon make likeable republican royalty, with Maria Jones and Lynsey Docherty strongly characterized as their feisty rustic wives.

Traditional G&S performances from Kristin Finnigan as an imposing Duchess [her big number a highlight] and Carl Sanderson as a very British hidalgo. Opera della Luna favourite Ian Belsey does not disappoint as Don Alhambra, the dialogue and the vocals richly relished, wearing the kind of character slap you don't see so often nowadays.

The locally sourced chorus fill the stage nicely, and are given dance routines and individual characters to work with.

Perhaps not “travelling with a full band”, but an excellent palm court pit ensemble, with director Jeff Clarke at the piano as usual.

On opening night there were one of two glitches and uncertainties, and the lighting was patchy. It's a big production for Opera della Luna, and will bed in nicely at the Lowry, I'm sure.

Musical theatre has an enthusiastic following amongst young people. Fuddy-duddy G&S less so. This laudable initiative aims to redress the balance. But I still can't help thinking that a less straightforward treatment, perhaps along the lines of their catwalk Mikado, might be a more accessible way into the Savoy canon.

photograph from the Buxton production

this piece first appeared on The Public Reviews