Krapp's Last Tape

Written by Samuel Beckett

The Duchess Theatre, London (18/11/2010)

The story of an old man, alone and decrepit, bitter about but longing for his younger self by listening to the sound of his own voice. These are the bare essentials of Krapp's Last Tape. Painstakingly slow and strangely unsettling, the leading and only man onstage, Krapp (Michael Gambon) revisits his past by listening to his own taped diary entries.

The stage is virtually bare - just a desk with a single bulb above an old man's wiry haired head. Collapsed across the desk is Krapp. He remains there for so long that you begin to wonder whether the character is alive or dead. The silence is so unbearable you want to laugh. And this is how the first half of the play pans out. No speech, just Gambon as he moves about the stage as if witnessing it for the first time.

There are some hilarious moments with some bananas, as in a puerile and monkey-like manner, this old man finds some immature pleasure in the phallic fruit. Well.. don't we all! Gambon is magnificent in the role, creating incredible tension amidst the audience interspersed with moments of genuine laughter and others of something close to fear.

The performance is dark, with minimal light creating the sense of that inevitable darkness that will soon smother the ageing Krapp. The recordings of his younger self reveal someone more lively but almost equally troubled. As past and present play out in front of us, it's apparent that Krapp was doomed to become lost and alone. True to Beckett, you could say nothing happens in this short 45 minute performance. But you could also say that crammed into it, everything happens.

We hear a young man and see the old man that he has become and in that witness some 30 years of his life. And within that, we see the next 30 - his spools of tape evidently his last remaining comfort for a man stuck in routine, waiting for the lights to go out.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'Krapp's Last Tape'.

Local heroes of the community stage

Dad's Army
A stage production by Rye Players (15/07/10)
Rye Community Centre, Rye, East Sussex

Last week, Rye Players brought to life one of Britain's best loved comedies - Dad's Army. The company performed three episodes from the hit TV series, with all the well known characters present. There was a lot to live up to in recreating such a popular programme, but Rye Players did well, with many of the actors looking and performing like their cherished originals.

The first of the three episodes, 'The Deadly Attachment' was a chance to see the main characters at their best. Andy Godfrey stepped into his own as the authoritarian idiot, Captain Mainwaring, with Ian Saxton's charming Sergeant Wilson silently saving the day. Richard Whymark was also on form as the loveable Private Pike, getting many laughs throughout the evening.

One stand-out player was Aubrey Sinden as Lance Corporal Jones, who shone throughout the show as the enthusiastic war veteran. Sinden not only looked and sounded much like the character we all know, but he made Jones his own by delivering his lines with conviction and superb comic timing to create that bumbling bravery that the Lance Corporal is famous for. His performance was funny and charismatic and it was a joy to watch.

Peter Spencer also excelled as Private Frazer. Spencer's mannerisms captured the strangeness of the Scottish soldier, and even if you couldn't quite understand what he'd said those weird and wild eyes were enough to make you giggle!

The ladies had a chance to showcase their talent in the Players' second episode, 'Mum's Army'. They all performed well, but Amy Shortman was particularly delightful as Mrs Gray and the bolshy Mrs Fox was wonderfully played by Clare Murray.

Praise goes to all the actors and crew for creating a great evening of entertainment. Well done especially to director, Carol Prior, for managing to recreate the old favourites on a small community stage. Credit also goes to whoever made Wilson's horse, which very nearly stole the show!

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'Dad's Army'.
'Rye Observer' 23/07/10

It's the end of the world and it's great

A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky - Simon Stephens, David Eldridge and Robert Holman
Directed by Sean Holmes
Lyric Hammersmith, London (15/05/2010)

The Lyric Hammersmith's latest production is a unique collaboration of three successful modern playwrights. The voices of Simon Stephens, David Eldridge and Robert Holman blend wonderfully to create a simple, stylish and raw new play that looks at the impact of the end of the world on an increasingly disparate family. Fusing moments of chilling discomfort with heart-wrenching warmth, this albeit slightly odd production presents a refreshing display of optimism that is rarely seen on the modern stage.

First of all, I've often found 'end-of-the-world' stories a little bit disappointing. They either portray absolute mass human hysteria, sometimes pacified by a sort of alien intervention, or handle it in a comic 'and then I woke up and it was all a dream' kind of way. Well, this time it really does happen. A cosmic strip has been identified by physicists who have confirmed that the earth will be destroyed in three weeks time. The idea is simple, slightly beyond comprehension but believable and gives the playwrights enough time to really explore the effects of such a disaster.

The scene is modern England and five brothers ranging from grandad to schoolboy face the reality of the end of the world. But, the physics is not important, nor is the effect on the globe. Rightly, the focus is on the family and the five brothers. Fortunately the five actors playing the roles gave perfect performances. Harry McEntire as the young Philip was one of the best - his cheeky and optimistic character added a certain warmth to the otherwise darkly disturbed family. Another young actor, Rupert Simonian, was equally bright and compelling as another brother's grandson.

A weak spot in the play came with the strange mix of flashback and time travel that Philip seemed to undergo at times. It was unclear whether he was psychic, dreaming or just plain loopy but the weird addition of historic adultery amongst the family ancestors was disorientating to say the least. The outbursts of anger from the mother of the family played by Ann Mitchell also felt awkward and out of character.

That said, overall the play dealt with the family in a poignant and moving manner. And instead of an explosive end, the final scene was a more suitable sedate affair that nevertheless hit just as hard. The bare stage and raw performances showed the writers doing what they do best - A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky is about the words and the people, not the show.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'A Thousand Stars Explode in the Sky'.

Welcome to Your Nightmare

The Armature of the Absolute, The Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes

The Barbican Theatre 15/01/09

It was another one of those evenings. I hop on the train to London whilst my friends settle for the pub - again. So, making my way to the Barbican Theatre, homemade sandwich in hand (£3.99 for one in London - are they made of gold?), I prepare myself to soak up a bit of culture. However, on this particular trip, I didn’t feel like I acquired much culture at all, and I certainly wasn’t prepared for what I was about to see.

The Armature of the Absolute is a play depicting the life and works of Alfred Jarry, a French playwright from the late 19^th century. Don’t know Alfred Jarry? Well, he hated hierarchical society, rode bicycles more recklessly than your stupid younger brother and fuelled his body with arsenic - and when he ran out, he drank ink. In short, he was mad. He wrote a series of plays called The Ubu Plays, which caused outrage in the theatres of 1896 with some not so cleverly disguised swearwords.

Compared to the paintings of Salvador Dalí, this puppet performance can only be described as a living nightmare. If you don’t like puppets, then watching this would be like going to a puppet-only boarding school, then coming home one weekend to find that Pinocchio is your long lost brother and your mum’s making you share a room. The design of these puppets ranged from a baboon with teeth on its big, pink bum, a Mr Wobbly cross dinosaur on roller skates and a Pope-bashing Punch (from the Punch and Judy shows). They were grotesque, disturbing and watching them evoked a similar sentiment to that of watching The X Files as a 9-year old.

Perhaps you want to know exactly what this play was about - frankly, so do I. There was a sort of narrator, dressed like a puppet with a half masked face. However, with a heavy accent and a Stephen Hawking voice effect, understanding him was nigh impossible. Therefore, the play seemed to have no through line, no plot and seemingly the only beginnings and ends were life and death and then death as a metaphor for life and… oh, I lost track of all the skeletons, eggs and disturbing puppet-going-through-painful-child-birth scenes (by child I mean lizard/skeleton).

The show is part of the London Mime Festival and sold out in its short time at the Barbican, and despite my disgust I can see why. Whilst watching the performance, I was outraged, repulsed and little bit mentally scarred, but that’s what it was supposed to do. It was a recreation of the outrage Jarry originally caused his poor, unsuspecting, upper class French audience in 1896.

By the end of the show, some people sat and clapped uncomfortably, others sat in bitter defiance with their arms crossed, and some had already walked out. There were some that loved it (each to their own) and they clapped vigorously, but I was one of the uncomfortable ones. Still, as I walked back to the underground station pondering an angry ‘what were you thinking?’ letter to someone high up, I found myself needing to talk about what I’d seen. Not in an ‘I need therapy’ way (surprisingly) but I needed to complain about the defecation, the phallic imagery and the utterly disturbing nature of the piece. How could that show possibly belong in a theatre? But that’s just it, I suppose – why shouldn’t it?

This show broke every taboo in the book. With skilled puppetry, a completely baffling set of scenes and some chilling music, the Buchinger’s Boot Marionettes managed to create something unimaginable; not just the physical performance but the same, or at least similar, feeling felt by an audience of over one hundred years ago. It might not be my cup of tea, but these guys, despite the deep trauma they may have caused, do deserve some praise for a performance beyond even your wildest nightmares.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'The Armature of the Absolute'.

A Touching Tale of Trauma

Kindertransport - Diane Samuels

Performed by Progress Theatre in Reading (27/10/08)

For the first production I have seen by Progress Theatre, Kindertransport definitely formed a brilliant first impression of their work.  From the innovative set design to the stunningly convincing characters, I enjoyed every aspect of this performance.

Kindertransport tells the traumatic tale of Eva Schlesinger, evacuated from Germany just months before the outbreak of the Second World War.  As a Jewish girl in a Nazi stronghold, her parents send her to England to live a safer life away from her home.  Parallel to this is the story of Lil, Evelyn and Faith; three generations of women, who forty years or so after the war, are struggling with similar issues surrounding identity, love and loss.

However, the first thing that struck me about the theatre was how remarkably small it was.  It had a quaint appearance with a pleasant community feel, but a small space like that is bound to present difficulties.  It’s fair to say that the company did a good job of overcoming them in creating some challenging locations, and the simplistic set design combined with the action onstage did enough to create two very different yet connected worlds.

Eva’s world is one of sadness and fear, but the director did manage to balance the tone of the performance to uplift the audience from time to time.  The actress playing Lil (Liz Carroll) often brought us some light relief with her quirky British humour.  The only male in the cast, Steve Webb, who performed five roles, also delivered cheeky comedy to a good reception; a deep contrast to his more fearful characters, the Nazi official and the Ratcatcher, with which he showed great diversity as an actor.

One scene that particularly affected me in a more tragic way was one in which Eva (Sadie James) leaves her mother (Laura Lewis) when she departs on the train to England.  Director Lesley McEwan’s decision to stage Helga, Eva’s mother, behind the child meant that the audience could see her hauntingly grievous expressions.  The silent mouthing of the words, “I love you”, accompanied with chilling slow motion waves effectively created that horrible moment when a mother is separated from her child.

Sadie’s performance is also worth particular praise.  Not only did the young actress have to learn her lines, but some of them were in German, and she had never learnt the language prior to the production.  Sadie also made the development in her character extremely clear; from the young, confused German girl, to the more mature Eva, losing her staccato English for a more natural Manchester accent.

Yet, it goes without saying that all the actors showed tremendous talent, and it was clear that a lot of hard work and effort had gone into making this performance a success – it was not in vain.  Even when the unexpected sound effect of nearby fireworks repeatedly interrupted the show, the actors continued without faltering.  It was definitely a successful tribute to the real ‘Kinder’ transported to England before the war, on whose experiences this play is based.  Finally, if future productions continue to be of this standard, then I will certainly support Progress Theatre for some time to come.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of "Kindertransport".

The Shakespeare Experience

Thursday 26th July 2007 - a nice day for a picnic or a nice night for an open-air performance. Well, alright it wasn't nice. In fact it was terrible. Nevertheless, at around 6:30pm I ventured out into the p*****g rain with my family to support the locals at a National Trust theatre event - a production of The Taming of the Shrew. Despite the weather, the performance was very impressive and the actors clearly ignored the showers and continued to give it their all.

This one of Shakespeare's earlier plays, is a comedy filled with confusions, satire and a good ol' fashioned dig at women! The Taming of the Shrew, however, is not all that it suggests. There is a shrew (Katherine), the tamer of that shrew (Petruchio of Verona) but there are also many other characters, as themselves and sometimes in disguise. The story starts with two sisters, Katherine and Bianca, Bianca whom has many suitors but who is also denied marriage by her father until Katherine is married before her. Katherine, as her notorious title suggests, is a bit crabby and tends to just throw a wobbly whenever she's confronted by a male. Thus, it seems Bianca has no hope. The story progresses into a twisted tale that I shall not go into for your own sake - we'll be here forever.

I was very impressed with the actress playing Katherine; she was a strong performer, cleverly focusing on her facial expression and posture to create the perfect miserable cow. She had scowling down a tee and a heavy stomp - all she needed was a pair of big, black boots and a 'Nirvana' hoody and she might have looked like a proper teenager. Unfortunately, the actress playing Bianca was slightly weaker, so she didn't match up to her fellow actress. Yet, I think I can say she was sufficiently girly enough to match her girly part; perhaps being a weaker actress played to her strength as that character.

The most outstanding performances for me personally, however, were the performances by the Tailor and Petruchio of Verona. The Tailor, although only a minor part, perfected his character to what I imagine to be his own interpretation of the man. He was a hunched over, elderly man, complete with a funny little voice and a comical stutter. He may have only had a few lines, but he certainly got the audience's attention with his excellent stage presence, and I couldn't help but give a little giggle or two. Otherwise, I always remember to respect my elders.

Petruchio of Verona on the other hand, was a much bolder character, but with an equally brilliant stage presence. He kept up his husky voice, nearly always shouting to emphasise his authority and strength of character. He used his props well (hitting his female servant in the face with a fake ham - I think it was an accident...) and wore the clothes of a madman like he was born in them. It may be fair to say he was the most convincing character of them all. Except perhaps the minstrel, who managed to sit on the same upside-down pot for the duration of the play. If it were me, I would have at least protested to get a proper chair, after all, there is no such thing as a small part, only small actors. And he wasn't that small.

Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable night. I am being very positive, probably because my most vivid memory of the night was my uncontrollable laughter at the cold wet faces of poor English folk in rain macs. Particularly my father's, whose most enjoyable part was probably the battenberg we'd brought for our picnic; he's not really into Shakespeare, he's a Sheridan man. Likes the tights. But, my hat's off to all the actors for continuing so bravely throughout several downpours and the impressive performances of nearly all of the actors. The comedy was there, the farce was certainly there, and there was even a boy wearing hair gel, which I'm sure Shakespeare would've disapproved of - the rain soon sorted that.

So, many thanks to the National Trust for providing such a treat, and there could still be more to come from them - we might win some gardening advice on the raffle.

Please comment if you have anything to add to this review of 'The Taming of the Shrew'.