‘Wise Children’ – The Old Vic – Saturday 20th October 2018

(Rated 4/5 ) 

Back at the transformed Old Vic for this thoroughly enjoyable stage adaptation by Emma Rice of Angela’s Carter’s novel about twin sisters Nora and Dora - conceived, and then growing up in a heady world of theatrical drama with song and dance, comedy, hints of tragedy, Shakespeare, a little Burlesque and a pantomime feel at times.  We first meet the twins on their 75^th birthday, in their caravan, where they receive an invite to their blood father’s 100^th birthday party. They in turn invite us to join them in the story of their family dynasty from 1920s on when said father, Melchior Hazard, made his name as a renowned Shakespearean actor. He created them with the help of a maid to the woman who becomes their carer, adopted Grandma Chance. The maid is abandoned by Melchior and the twins disowned by him. Step in his twin brother Peregrine who is sometimes present, sometimes absent, but always makes sure money is sent to support them. The twins are unable to resist their inherited calling earning their living as show-girls and joining their dysfunctional stage family.

The tone of this production is very light-hearted yet there are some very serious undercurrents only hinted at – incestuous abuse of one of the girls by Uncle Peregrine as well as grief and struggles for anything resembling healthy relationships. Blood is thinner than water in this herstory, with family and those who love and really care being biologically unrelated to you. For me the almost brushing over of the more poignant elements is disappointing – then again I guess humour so often covers the darkness of real lives for performers. Commonly the best comedians suffer with depression. My other disappointment was that the production had an amateur feel at times – more panto (not in a good way) and line fluffing, than professional performance.

Nora and Dora are variously played by puppets, Mirabelle Gremaud & Bettrys Jones, Omari Douglas & Melissa James, and Etta Murfitt & Gareth Snook. As you may be able to detect there’s a lovely mix of gender swapping in there with some mistaken identity possible also a la Shakespeare. All Noras and Doras are very good but Omari and Melissa especially so – the former a superb dancer with a beautiful singing voice. The sisters’ key love interest – ‘the blue-eyed boy’ – is played by very pretty, very female Patrycja Kujawska.

Sam Archer as young Peregrine is also a stunning performer. His older self - Mike Shepherd - fine but less of note as, for me, are the two Melchiors Ankur Bahl & Paul Hunter.

Katy Owen was a very shouty Grandma Chance reminding me of Catherine Tate’s Nan – funny yes but a little too much somehow.

For me this was very good but not great enough to highly recommend. Good for an entertaining couple of hours.

Wise Children – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018

‘King Lear’– Duke of York’s Theatre – Wednesday 3rd October 2018

(Rated 6/5 ) 

Having seen Derek Jacobi’s Lear at the very intimate Donmar – and again at the cinema for an NT Live – and kind of not wanting to think about aging so much right now – I wasn’t sure I wanted to do Lear again just yet. BUT it was billed as Ian McKellan’s Shakespeare on stage swan song, and my companion for this one was keen so off we went. I also wasn’t sure about being in the back row (the only two seats left when I booked!) – back row cinema is one thing but at the theatre can you even see the actors’ faces – and without that – what’s the point? How wrong could I be?! The Duke of York’s had been converted into an intimate space with the removal of seats down the middle and I wound up sitting right next to where actors made their exits and entrances along the gangway in between. I felt right in the action and could see into the room backstage in which actors were preparing before or resting after a stint on stage.

And then there’s that writer! However many times you have seen a Shakespeare play there is always more to get from it. Sir Ian giving us his Lear – and again of course there’s always something new a different actor can give to one of Shakespeare’s key roles. It’s so exciting to experience new insights illuminated before you. Ian is a natural – there’s kind of a calm and safety you feel watching him – he can do nothing else than deliver the goods. Incomparable yes but then we all are! He does reign effortlessly supreme though – switching from Lear’s strength of mind to the weakness of emotionally addled thinking with convincing ease.

Sinead Cusack as Kent was brilliant! Such an inspired novelty for Kent to be a woman - who then disguises herself as a man ;). Her devotion to and yet challenge of Lear was empowering.

Lloyd Hutchinson was a good fool though for me not outstanding. To my memory the fool usually makes more impact in this play but I wonder if his part was cut somewhat or my memory is misguiding me ;)

Danny Webb provided an excellent Gloucester. Goodness though that eye scene with Kirsty Bushell’s Regan screaming with ecstasy as she pranced around him. There was a nervy, almost annoying, craziness about her - then again maybe a very good choice – after all she isn’t played to be liked. Claire Price’s Goneril was calculating – a very cool performance.

Luke Thompson’s Edgar was my companion’s eye candy! He did look very nice with little to cover his modesty and the journey of his character I find so moving – saving his father Gloucester in more ways than one - from his dastardly bastard brother Edmund – James Corrigan – who played his part with humour.

Anita-Joy Uwajeh was a lovely powerfully sensitive Cordelia. As many know it is her ‘Nothing’ with her father’s ‘Nothing will come of nothing, speak again’ response, when she is asked what she has to say about her feelings for him, which catalyse the main drama of the play. I was struck in watching this performance by how that interaction occurs and from then on Cordelia appears very little. We get more of the son-father interaction between Edgar and Gloucester and I feel Shakespeare missed a trick there! Goodness, am I really saying that?! Criticising the master haha! Then again I am a daughter and not a son. As it is the other two sisters do feature large in this play. Maybe the good don’t need to say much or do much to have great impact. In fact ‘nothing’ needs to be said and just being there is all that needs to be done J

This is a suitably impressive production of a profound play, directed by Jonathan Munby.

And at his solo curtain call Sir Ian stood with a gentle smile looking around taking us all in. Such impact in just being – his quiet presence speaking volumes - saying nothing.

King Lear – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018

‘The Woods’ – Jerwood Theatre Upstairs – Saturday 22nd September 2018

(Rated 3.5/5 ) 

I have been to the Royal Court before but never to the extraordinarily intimate space of the ‘Jerwood Theatre Upstairs’. The audience waited up to maybe 10 minutes beforehand on a staircase and a tiny corridor, before the usher took down the barrier to another few staircases heading upwards and into… The Woods! The floor of the stage covered in wood-shavings and small sticks of wood, with a little hut-like structure in the middle.

‘If you go down to the woods today, you’re in for a big surprise…’ because you are one of just a relatively tiny number of audience members – far more up close and personal with the actors than even at the Donmar – and you get to choose your seat. Slightly amusingly my friend chose where she thought we’d be less in the action sitting by a tree, but it wound up being the focus of much of the action and exits and entrances ;)

Yep I admit I was drawn to this one for Lesley Sharp, who played ‘Woman’. She did not remotely disappoint – exceptional performance of what was clearly some sort of psychological trauma/mental health issue with a performance involving several different accents and suffering painful depths of emotion. Yes that part was clear. What was not clear was why and what was the reality of her situation. Having deliberately wanted to avoid any spoilers I did not read much at all about this play and afterwards felt pretty stupid for not getting it. I suppose you could argue you can chose to get whatever you want from it. But I have my mother’s tendency to want to understand – not just what is going on but ‘what they are trying to tell us’ as she would have said. Robert Alan Evans’s script is jam packed with impressive metaphors and little snippets of scenes, interrupted by complete darkness – allowing the actors to move to the next one. But it is so nebulous that you don’t ‘get it’ til very close to the end - if at all. However, that said, it is arguably therefore very clever - perhaps ‘too clever’ hence turning some members of its audience off – because that is exactly the main problem with its subject matter – that of depression! It has no clarity and the sufferer drowns in clouds of non-feeling or confused feelings so that reality and fantasy become blurred. I realise as I write this I’m kind of arguing with my own opinion on this piece! I left the theatre feeling annoyed by my lack of comprehension, but having slept on it – and cheated by finding out what others made of what in the heck ;) was going on - I find it impressive. More on that in a little while…

This play has a ‘big bad wolf’ – very characterfully played by Tom Mothersdale – who presents himself to Woman torturing her in a number of guises – a wolf in sheep’s and many others’ clothings! Woman tries to run and hide from him whilst being drawn to some of his challenges for her. There’s attraction and repulsion going on. Meanwhile she tries to save a boy – Finn Bennett – whom she found in the woods after a storm. Desperately she tries to keep him safe and warm… but he is always cold…

One thing I did feel I ‘got’ was that Woman had been abused in some way – one scene at least hints at this with indications that she was sexually abused in a playground by Kid – Charles Furness – and his friends. Of course she was also apparently abused by Wolf and his wonderfully whacky roles. (Can’t resist also pointing out how similar Wolf’s tracksuit is to Uma Thurman’s character’s in ‘Kill Bill’ – he is also on a destructive mission.) So my sense is Woman – as a result – is suffering from split personality or multiple personality disorder.

Lesley magnificent. Tom a very able antagonist. Production and space superb. Accomplished direction by Lucy Morrison. Script very good but not great… though I’m changing my mind as I write this lol!

P.S. Okay spoiler alert coming up… please avoid the next/final sentence in smaller, lighter-coloured font, and some rows below, if you want to remain as confused as I was and see I you are cleverer than me by going to watch and sussing out…

Woman is in fact suffering from post-partem depression.

The Woods – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018

‘A Monster Calls’ – The Old Vic – Tuesday 7th August 2018

(Rated 5/5 ) 

This is a beautiful profoundly moving story of a 13-year old boy facing his mother’s illness. It was written for children and has so many messages for kids yet speaks to adults too. The key characters in this play are the boy Conor, his mother and a yew tree outside their home. At the same time every night the boy has nightmares of ‘darkness and wind and screaming’ and the tree calls to him telling him stories teaching him about the ways of people and how things are not necessarily back and white. Who is good and who is bad? What is right and wrong? And then the ‘monster tree’ asks him to tell his own story and ultimately show his truth rather than the façade he presents to the world.

This production immediately reminded me of ‘Curious Incident…’ in the way it is presented by an ensemble cast each taking on different characters from seats either side of the stage and interacting with the young boy in the middle. And the use of ropes to create the tree and other elements is so impressive. Coordination is key!

The story was the idea of Siobhan Dowd who was terminally ill with cancer and died before she could complete the novel. Patrick Ness completed it after being invited to do so by the illustrator of the story. At The Old Vic it was directed by Sally Cookson. Conor is played superbly by Matthew Tennyson with Marianne Oldham as ‘Mum’ and the tree monster a very powerful portrayal by Stuart Goodwin. The ensemble cast are all excellent seamlessly working together creating flow and mesmerising drama.

You feel as though you have been in a dream of fairy tales yet creating a stark reality of morals and emotional truths. Such a tremendous way to deal with probably the most difficult situation any child – of whatever age! - may have to face.

I highly recommend.

A Monster Calls – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018

‘Brief Encounter’ – Empire Cinema Haymarket – Saturday 21st July 2018

(Rated 8/5 ) 

This is a beautifully free totally inspired re-imagining by Emma Rice of Noel Coward’s ‘Brief Encounter’. It expertly combines cinema and theatre and all around and in between using actors going from one to the other through screen/cloth curtains and other media such a puppetry to represent children and dogs together with a set which – incorporating just little changes – can easily be imagined as the railway café, a living-room, outside settings and in fact anywhere you like. I went with fairly low expectation – following the recommendation of a friend expecting to enjoy it but not that I’d be absolutely wowed. As you sit in the cinema, but knowing you will be getting a theatrical performance (I know), the cast wander around and greet you J As a musical group – troupe even - they travel round the cinema auditorium  singing and playing numbers which transport you back to 1938. (Later members of the cast use the two middle front row seats when going to the cinema in the show.) Dean Nolan – built like a cuddly bear – requests you to turn off the devices ‘that make noises and light up your faces’ – just before the start of the actual show. And then the film begins in black & white on screen whilst also performing in colour on stage. Genius! And remarkable in its simplicity. As I mentioned a similar idea was used in Chess but in a far more sophisticated and showy way. I am reliably informed the Cornwall-based Kneehigh theatre company came up with this first. And I already love them! Another reason to visit Cornwall again - though they do tour the country. In this production we are presented with the agonisingly heart-wrenching roller-coaster romance of that brief encounter between Laura Jesson (Isabel Pollen) and Alec Harvey (Jim Sturgeon) in the midst of slapstick comedy and movement – dance and the songs/poems of Noel Coward. Everybody is excellent. The stillness – as all around her there is chaos – of Laura/Isobel with her emotional experiences etched on her face – is one of the most moving journeys I have witnessed – superb emotional expression. I was very impressed by Jos Slovick’s singing and playing of various instruments including double-bass and ukulele – in addition to acting and dancing – hugely talented young man! And Beverly Rudd is a phenomenon!! In this – as do many of the other cast – she plays 3 very different characterful characters with high energy, great gusto and such fun! Her main role is Beryl the railway café waitress. Lucy Thackeray – as Myrtle Bagot, the railway café owner with her burberry buns ;) - is also a scream and with Dean Nolan gives us hilarious comedy romance/dance performances. It’s a stark contrast to the main drama but enhances rather than detracts from it, making it all the more poignant. I can’t remember if I have seen the original film – aside from snippets of it – we all know the story though as it is so iconic. For me this brings out the depth of the life messages to greater effect than I recall seeing in the original, but then again maybe that is because I – and the way we humans can creatively express ourselves – have developed. I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by saying the central romance has a very short time-span and they have to go through the pain of physical separation. However the love endures and the experience changes them forever – brings them both out of themselves to – ok cliché here – encourage them to realise their full potentials. What are relationships for after all but to help us grow and learn from each other? Sure at times it may not feel like a positive growth but it is always a learning experience. So though the separation of our ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as Myrtle calls them – is painful – there is hope. And we do also have the hope of the more enduring physical togetherness in relationships of the supporting characters – Myrtle may no longer be ‘no good at love’ and Beryl and usher Stanley (Jos)’s young liaison is charming. Gosh I feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I write this. Yep this old classic has such emotional depth and power. And this production is exceptionally good all round entertainment. The cinema we were in used to be a theatre. Oh and the programme for this production is the nicest ever – packed with lovely pictures and info and only one advert ;)

Brief Encounter – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018

‘The Bridge’ – shown on BBC TV

(Rated 10/5 ) 

I have to write something about this outstanding series but not quite sure what will come out. I am being careful not to include any spoilers or at the very least any that would detract from the incredible experience of watching this. It is also a part-review focused pretty much solely on the aspect that caught my attention – the personal and psychological stories of the key detective characters. As it’s a TV crime drama series and you can of course get it on DVD and see over and over, it’s not as though - with this one – I need to permanently record the experience in case I forget how it felt like I have felt the need to do with theatre productions. Yet then again I am sure it will feel different the next time I watch. Certainly seeing the final episode ever for the first time I was absolutely on the edge of my seat and couldn’t eat or drink! Totally gripped and frightened for Saga and Henrik – not sure I have ever been made to care so much for two characters. And that’s the incredible story-creation and writing – Hans Rosenfeldt – and superb skill of Sofia Helin and Thure Lindhardt in performance and expression of their character’s emotional development following huge traumas. Saga and Henrik are the most extraordinary couple. Absolute genius in putting these two together with their conflicting issues and struggles both craving love and healing but fighting their own demons, which draw them together while repelling them.

Season1 (and ongoing into 2) puts Saga together with Martin – Kim Bodnia – a family man with imperfections and something on the side – but whose arguably ‘normal’ conventional life-style was a huge contrast to Saga’s single life and autistic-like behaviour patterns. He is Danish and she Swedish and a double murder which a combination of two bodies placed together in the middle of ‘The Bridge’ between Denmark and Sweden starts the crime drama element. Though that aspect of things is excellent in itself, the main interest for me – as I said above - was always the personal lives of the detectives and their interactions. I found the same with ‘Lewis’ and Hathaway in a much more subtle British way of course. Scandi-Noir drama is so gritty – of course initially brought to our attention by ‘The Killing’ with Sarah Lund – Sofie Gabol – and that jumper ;). She was fascinating in herself but with Saga it is as though we step up several gears with a phenomenal conception and her psychological journey is the most interesting I feel I have ever witnessed - in drama anyway. However her story starts relatively gently if you like. And we learn about her idiosyncrasies through Martin picking up on them – in the main humour is involved. Saga’s own special methods work well in detection – asking many questions, being obsessive about solving the puzzle – though her directness upsets many, especially the loved ones of murder victims being told insensitively about their demise. She does not understand small talk – mind you neither do I ;) – and seems to feel no emotion. Sofia’s embodiment of her is a masterclass in acting for sure. As Kim commented you feel the emotion just beneath the surface but using body language and an invisible veil of Sofia’s own facial creation nothing is apparently there. Saga struggles in relationships and especially living with anyone. She has OCD. She assesses right and wrong with head and not heart. She and cuddly Martin develop a lovely friendship yet ultimately when Martin falls foul of the law, it is Saga who has him convicted. (I know a spoiler but for the sake of making this review a little more comprehensible ;))

There is no coming back from that in Season 3 so Martin is gone and a couple more Danish detectives ‘suffer’ Saga and we wonder if she can work with anyone again til along comes Henrik. His story is as strange as hers in a several contrasting ways yet beautifully structured such as to bring us personal roller-coaster drama between them to the absolute max! I thought the first two seasons were excellent and with Martin gone, worried it would dip, but my goodness it stepped up even more gears, and in ways I relish. The traumas, the psychology, the ‘disorders’, the contributing backstories are riveting. Is Saga ‘just’ a classic case of Asperger’s or did her behaviours manifest from deep wounds in childhood? And in asking that question how much of anyone’s apparent ‘disorder’ is nature or nurture? My favourite scene is Saga telling a psychotherapist why she thinks she has PTSD. But I’m leaping ahead to season 4. In season 3 we initially feel Henrik is unsympathetic til his backstory is gradually revealed. This becomes critical to the ongoing interactions and adds a case to be solved. Henrisk and Saga seem to use each other at first but it is mutually beneficial and a relationship – with their issues – which they can both handle. Yet will emotions develop – and if so what then?! Can there be a happy ever after with them saving each other? And what even would that mean? Probably not any conventional contentment but in a way this series beautifully brings into focus unusual ways of being and how people manage that. Far more realistic in my view than the stock relationships and standard ways of them going wrong we get shown time after time in dramas. Ironically I relate to the former better myself and perhaps that is in part why I relish it. I relate to and feel for Saga more than many characters I have observed – is that because I have a disorder myself? – I don’t think so – I think she is super-real in her abnormalities which help all we ‘abnormal’ unconventional types connect with her J After all who is normal anyway?!

Yes The Bridge is excellent crime drama, but for me is it also the most fascinating study in human psychology and ways of relating.

The Bridge – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018

‘Chess’ – London Coliseum – Wednesday 16th May 2018

(Rated 8/5 ) 

I have a tendency to see productions I love more than once but not usually with 32 years in between performances and nor when I can hardly remember a thing about them aside from the obvious aspects – like the fact the BBs of ABBA composed the music in collaboration with Tim Rice on lyrics and that some of those songs burn into your ‘memory’ (musical-associated pun maybe intended) with enduring neural connections. I do remember the first of many times I saw ‘Les Mis’ but that had a personal association of going with my parents to the then new Barbican Centre. I could cheat and look up where ‘Chess’ was on but that wouldn’t be ‘playing the game’. And my goodness that is such a huge part of this show which I certainly never appreciated in full 32 years ago. ‘Chess’ was inspired by the political game of the time – the Cold War – and as Tim Rice comments here we are again very unfortunately – in a political conflict involving the same state players Russia and the USA and others. Then there’s the game of chess itself of course. But the layer deeper than that – which I suppose I was too young at the time to fully comprehend was the psychological and emotional games between the players/characters and that on so many levels with intriguing enticing complexity. And in addition the depth of life journey exploration in the songs. I am sure this is true of other musicals – in fact ‘Les Mis’ and Blood Brothers are great examples too - but I feel I’ve only just fully taken in how much any individual song written expertly – and in this case with simple poignancy in the words – can say all you need to know about any single character.

And on that note we are welcomed to the show with the best smile ever by The Arbiter (Cedric Neal) – I absolutely loved him from the moment he opened his mouth – and for me the ‘The Arbiter’s Song’ so expressive of character and delivered to perfection. Just while I am on welcomes the staff of the Colisium were so warm and helpful too – I felt really looked after. But back to individual characters and their theme songs, the power of ‘Pity the Child’ and backstory for Freddie Trumper (Tim Howar) is extraordinary. I can’t believe I’d forgotten it from the original. For his character his showy self-obsessed charismatic entrance and ‘One Night in Bangkok’ are more likely to come to mind. Now with counselling experience and the way that childhood loss/abuse/neglect explains the character’s behaviour and craving for attention and fame – being lost without it – your initial dislike of Trumper (yes I know!) immediately turns to empathy. What a song! The American was very raspy rocky in style which was a great contrast to Michael Ball’s (as the Russian Anatoly Sergievky) more theatrical operatic style. I probably don’t need to say how impressive he was – gorgeous voice. Nobody lets the side down at all. Alexandra Burke (as Anatoly’s wife Swetlana) really is so talented and – though you might think just another X-factor winner – she has an outstanding voice. Cassidy Janson as Florence Vassy was new to me – excellent – and so emotionally expressive – she lived Florence’s emotions in voice and facial expression. As did I. ‘I Know Him So Well’ is arguably the most famous song from Chess – originally performed by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson – in this production it moved me to tears. In fact I spent the entire time holding back tears and almost unable to contain my feelings! These days I do more enjoy plays than musicals but in saying that I feel I’ve dismissed the power of music to wrench at your heartstrings both with joy and sadness and all in between. My favourite performance – though not favourite song as such – was ‘A Model of Decorum and Tranquility’ for the skill it requires in harmony, timing and above all argumentative drama – performed by Cedric, Michael, Cassidy and Phillip Browne as the scary deep-voiced Molokov. Wow just wow!

It’s a long show – almost 3 hours – yet unusually for me right now I felt no pain at all! Maybe the seats at the Coliseum are really comfy or I was so engrossed that pain faded away.

This 21^st century production of the 20^th century original was truly amazing with the clever use of current media such that it was both a stage and screen piece. On the screens characters on different parts of the stage could be presented side by side – perhaps to best effect in ‘I Know Him So Well’. It also allowed us in the cheaper seats (!) to see close-ups of the performers’ faces. And the protagonists’ chess battle going on whilst we see images of the cold war battles on screen in stark accompaniment - in addition to Cedric Neal – yes my favourite – telling us the story of chess.

It has been criticised for lack of story. Who needs story when you have such clever symbolism and communication between different aspects of conflict and game-playing on so many levels and symbiosis of music, psychology and lyrics communicating such depth of drama.

Oh and to add to all that you have the excellent ENO playing the score. And dashing dancing!

I recommend John Snelson’s article in the program ‘Not The Game, But The People’ and of course the two Bs are Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. Scandinavians certainly do rock!

A truly remarkable multi-media and multi-style entertainment experience.

Chess – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2018