THEGAYUK

Tag: Three Star Play Review

The latest Three Star Play Review from THEGAYUK.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Angel and Now We Are Pope, London Theatre, New Cross

    ★★★ | Angel and Now We Are Pope, London Theatre, New Cross

    Faith and desire clash in this premiere double-bill of one-man plays.
    In ‘Angel’, a priest devotes his life to God and fights daily against the temptations of the flesh. Now he must confront the man – or angel – or demon that haunts him.

    In ‘Now We Are Pope’, eccentric writer Frederick Rolfe rejoices in exile and the companionship of the gondoliers of Venice. Alone in his room he relives his most famous novel, Hadrian VII.

    The London Theatre is an intimate fringe venue, with the actors alarmingly close to the audience, inhabiting a small sparse set. Both actors, Christopher Peacock and Christopher Annus, give strong performances. ‘Angel’ was the more powerful of the two monologues with a strong sinister theme that packed a punch. ‘Now We Are Pope’, although intriguing, was at times rambling and hard to follow. Frederick Rolfe is definitely an intriguing character with eccentricity abounding and is certainly a character that is worth reading more about.

    The London Theatre is an interesting addition to the London Fringe Theatre scene. The double bill runs until the 23rd March 2014

    http://thelondontheatre.com

  • THEATRE REVIEW | A Hard Rain, Above The Stag

    ★★★ | A Hard Rain, Above The Stag

    Writers Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, well-known for their successful pantomimes at The Above The Stag Theatre, have for the first time turned their hands to drama, and this new play is the result.

    A Hard Rain is set in a gay bar in New York in the days running up to the Stonewall Riots. The gay bars and clubs are run by the Mafia, who pay off a corrupt police force, which, from time to time raid the bars anyway, just to show everyone who’s boss.

    This bar becomes the backdrop for the story of a disparate set of characters; the drag queen and former Vietnam soldier, Rub; the closeted mafia owner of the bar, Frank; the young single mother barmaid Angie; the kind-hearted young cop, Danny; Ruby’s young high-flying bank employee boyfriend Josh; and Jimmy, a streetwise teenager who turns tricks to make a living.

    I don’t know how the collaboration between Bradfield and Harper works, whether both writers contribute to each scene, or whether each writer takes a different scene in entirety. Either way, the various individual scenes are well realised and play out very well, with a good sprinkling of witty one-liners to relieve the often gloomy nature of the scenario. The problem for me is that the various scenes did not coalesce into a coherent whole. There didn’t seem to be any direction to the narrative, no sense of it driving forward to that historic moment of the Stonewall Riots. At 90 minutes, Act One just meandered along, whereas Act II seemed rushed, as if the writers suddenly realised they had a lot of loose ends to tie up, their final point rather clumsily made. The numerous scenes meant that there were a lot of scene changes, the sheer mechanics of which continuously held up the action, hardly helping the flow, and I did wonder if the scene changes could have been simplified in some way.

    Though I had reservations about the play itself, I had very few about the performances. Michael Edwards, in the central and extremely difficult role of Ruby, carefully revealed the vulnerability behind Ruby’s tough exterior. His performance was superbly seconded by a touchingly real and beautifully nuanced performance from Oliver Lynes as his boyfriend, Josh. Stephanie Willson was just perfect as the warm-hearted Angie, and James El-Sharawy a suitably cocky Jimmy, though we saw that underneath all the chutzpah, he was really just a nice kid who wanted to be liked. Neither Nigel Barber as Frank nor Rhys Jennings as Danny let the side down, though they both had less to work with, their characters less finely drawn.

     

    Ultimately, though, what sounded like a nice idea never quite came off.

     

    A Hard Rain plays at Above The Stag until March 30th.

     

    Visit: http://www.abovethestag.com

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Fat Man’s Wife

    ★★★★ | The Fat Man’s Wife

    It’s the early hours of New Year’s Day 1938 and Vera and Joe are just getting in from a New York society party. They’re still drinking, still niggling at each other and Joe is still hankering after some more partying and looking for a way to extricate himself and join the young actress he’s been having an affair with. Complications arise when Dennis, a naïve young playwright, arrives unexpectedly to make Vera an offer that could free her from her troubled marriage to ‘the fat man’.

    This absolute gem of a one-act play was only discovered in the papers of Tennessee Williams in 2000 and has never been performed in the U.K. before now. This is a rare opportunity to see a long hidden masterpiece. It has all the hallmarks of William’s work (the troubled marriage, the tortured souls and the heavy liquor consumption) as well as his lyrical yet tight dialogue. Surprisingly, it remains resonant today, with its themes of being trapped in a relationship that has changed out of all recognition since its rosy beginning.

    The three-person cast are all excellent without a weak link and with a particularly powerful performance from Emma Taylor as Vera. She captures a range of emotional nuances whilst slinking about the stage in her peignoir and negligee, like a caged beast, finally beaten down by captivity but with her eye on the gaps in the bars.

    The theatre itself is stunning in a beautiful location in Little Venice, just near to Warwick Avenue tube station. The only down side to the play being performed in such a beautiful old pub theatre, is the limitations this throws up. The seating was arranged in such a way that the audience felt a little obtrusive at times, but this is only a minor niggle. The actors managers to combat this finely and made the piece wholly believable.

    I’d heartily recommend this to any Tennessee Williams fans but also to anyone who isn’t yet a fan, this is great one act play that is as good an introduction as anything.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Gay Naked Play, Above The Stag

    ★★★ | The Gay Naked Play, Above The Stag

    Dan (Alexander Hulme) is director of the Integrity Players, a small off off Broadway group of players dedicated to “great art”. The company also consists of his loving (and very pregnant) wife Amanda (Stacy Sobieski) and their friend and leading actor Harold (Lucas Livesey). They have lofty ambitions and a staunch refusal to compromise , but they have one problem. Tiny audiences. And when their sole and major backer, who just happens to be Amanda’s Machiavellian mother Imelda (Ellen Verenieks) withdraws her support, they have an even greater problem. No money. What are they going to do?

    Enter Eddie Rossini (Christopher Woodley) and his two cronies, T.Scott (Robert Hannouch) and Edonis (Toby Joyce). Eddie proposes a trashy homoerotic stage version of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of Christ” starring porn star Kit Swagger (Matthew Ferdenzi). It’s a sure fire commercial hit, but will the Integrity Players give in to financial pressure and in so doing lose their integrity? I’m not going to give the game away, but I think we can all guess the answer to that one.

    Adam Bell’s play is a witty and often hilarious comment on the eternal conundrum of artistic compromise; popularity versus art. The writing itself is often really clever, abounding in quips and one-liners that wouldn’t have been out of place in an episode of “Will and Grace”.

    My problem was more with the execution. Director Andrew Beckett has allowed too much of the play to be played on one level, with actors shamelessly mugging and playing too many of their lines out front. The often hilarious antics of T.Scott and Edonis would have benefited from a greater contrast with their boss, Rossini, but he too was encouraged to overplay much of the comedy, which resulted in a lack of contrast. Surely underplaying the role would have made it even funnier. It’s a shame, because the play is a lot of fun, and I feel sure that this cast had it in them to deliver a much more multi-faceted performance.

    That said, the audience on opening night enjoyed themselves enormously, and nobody was complaining about Matthew Ferdenzi getting his kit off more than once. Maybe it will settle down a bit in the next few performances.

    The Gay Naked Play is on at Above The Stags until 16th Feb 2014

  • THEATRE REVIEW | From Morning To Midnight

    ★★★ | From Morning To Midnight

    “For those who like that sort of thing, that is the sort of thing they like.” I felt rather like Miss Jean Brodie after seeing From Morning to Midnight at the Lyttleton Theatre last night. Evidently there were plenty around me who liked the play rather more than I did. Well, to be honest, I didn’t like it at all.

    Admittedly we were not seeing it under the best of circumstances. Adam Godley, who was playing the central character of the Clerk had been taken ill, and his role was taken by understudy Jack Tarlton. Under the circumstances, Tarlton did a sterling job, but nobody can deny the debilitating effect of having to go on with an understudy so early in the run, and before the production had had a chance to settle down. One applauds Tarlton’s achievement, whilst duly noting that the balance of the whole can’t help but have been upset.

    From Morning to Midnight is a German expressionist play, written in 1912 by Georg Kaiser, and initially banned for its portrayal of the Kaiser. The action unfolds over a single day, on which the clerk breaks with normality, absconds from the bank he works in with 60,000 marks and goes in search of something to make life worth living. The loosely linked scenes are given titles: Machine, Bourgeoisie, Epiphany, Family, Society, Sex and Salvation, but, unsurprisingly, his search is fruitless.

    This is the theatre of ideas. None of the characters have names and all, even the clerk himself, are no more than ciphers, representatives of types; an Italian lady, a bank manager a society gent, mother, wife, daughter etc. Even the clerk is not a fully developed character, more of a catalyst for the events that unfold.

    Production values, as so often at the National are consistently high, with ingenious sets by Soutra Gilmour. Director Melly Still has a firm grasp of her material, helped by some wonderful choreography from movement director Al Nedjari, but I remained uninterested and uninvolved. No doubt others will enjoy it more than I did.

    From Morning To Midnight plays at the Lyttleton Theatre until January 26th 2014

    http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Passing By, Tristan Bates Theatre

    ★★★ | Passing By, Tristan Bates Theatre

    ‘Passing By’ is an early work from award winning playwright Martin Sherman (Bent, Mrs Henderson Presents) that was first produced in New York in 1974. In terms of theatrical history, this play was hugely significant.

    Rather than being a play about homosexuality itself, where gay people were portrayed only as being tortured and struggling with life, this play is a romantic comedy where the characters just happen to be gay men. This was ground breaking stuff for the era it was written in.

    Toby (Rik Makarem) is a hypochondriac artist about to leave New York for a sabbatical in France and Simon (James Cartwright) is a diver, visiting New York to apply for a job as a sports reporter. The pair meet up, sleep together and then experience a bout of acute hepatitis which brings them together in spite of their differences in temperament.

    It’s a sweet play and is touching in parts but for me, the humour felt a little dated at times with a sit-com feel to it and some of the comedic moments seemed to fall slightly flat with the audience. The staging was superb with a clever set which captured the early 1970’s period well and made good use of the intimate space of the Tristan Bates Theatre but at times the acting felt almost too exaggerated for such a small space with slap-stick humour which again failed to fully deliver.

    Overall, I’d say this is a play which is worth seeing as a diversionary period piece and as an example of an early work from a fantastic pioneering playwright who has contributed a huge amount to modern theatre.

    You can catch ‘Passing By’ at the Tristan Bates Theatre until the 30th of November 2013

    Buy tickets here: http://www.tristanbatestheatre.co.uk/passing_by.asp

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Jack Steele & Family

    ★★★ | Jack Steele & Family

    A proud, Northern family man celebrates his 70th birthday surrounded by his family in the converted steel mill where he used to work, but as the night unfolds, so does the fabric of his family in this modern take on the kitchen sink dramas of the 1960’s.

    Jack Steele arrives at his old place of employment which evokes memories of friends, his pride and dedication in his work and his deceased wife. His son, Nick is a university lecturer who has a difficult and tempestuous relationship with his brother, Chris, a successful property developer who has left Sheffield and shows no affection for the city that made him. Nick is the straight-laced son who has always acted as the rock for the family, whereas Chris is more self-serving and much less reliable. The relationship between Nick and Chris is soured further by Nick’s wife, Louise, who made an irreversible decision when she was misdiagnosed with a terminal illness.

    The grandchildren also have problems and pressures of their own and the cracks in the family start to show as the evening unfolds and the prodigal son returns. Torn between the loyalty to his family members, trying to deny the fact that he favours one son over the other and struggling to find where he belongs both in his family and his community, Jack’s northern pride and confused emotions come to the surface in this bitter sweet story.

    The stage was beautifully constructed, with corrugated iron sheets and huge forged crane hooks hanging from the ceiling. The set, coupled with a very well lit stage, flooded with oranges and reds, provided an authentic and engaging atmosphere. The costumes were simple and functional and the static layout of the stage was suited to the production. The show was not technically dazzling, but it was never meant to be and the draw here is the drama unfolding on stage as opposed to it being a visual spectacle.

    Fine Time Fontaye turned in the best performance of the evening as the titular Jack Steele, showing an old man who becomes overwhelmed by his feelings, which overflow his stiff upper lip and Yorkshire dignity. Good support was provided by Robert Angell as Nick Steele, Susan Cookson as Louise Steele and Ian Reddington as Chris Steele. The remainder of the cast was made up of drama students from Sheffield Hallam University who deserve credit for their involvement. Some of them showed particular promise, especially Sam Parkinson, who looked very comfortable and natural on stage.

    This original play, which I was fortunate enough to see at its premiere, was enjoyable and the characters were not only well written, especially the male leads, but were easily recognisable from the viewer’s own family, friends and colleagues. The play was a joint venture between Sheffield Theatres and Sheffield Hallam University and was littered with local references and a story, which went to the heart of the city. That said, whilst some of the local references may be missed by those who are not familiar with the area, the story has enough universal themes to negate the need for an in-depth knowledge of the city.

    This was, in many ways, local theatre as it should be; namely written, produced and performed by talent from the city where the story is set and the show itself is performed in. But aside from the fact that, like Jack Steele, this reviewer has a deep-rooted love for his hometown, it is not just a show for Sheffield people.

    Jack Steele and Family is currently showing at The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield until the 20th July 2013.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | The Kite Runner, Nottingham Playhouse

    ★★★ | The Kite Runner

    Set against the complex backdrop of a 1970s Afghanistan in upheaval and later 1980’s Los Angeles, the story – narrated by an adult Amir who jumps in and out of the action – is of two young boys Amir and Hassan whose friendship is complicated by racial inequality and servitude.

    The boys are united through kite running competitions but a nasty incident and an act of cowardice tear the two apart.

    Wide in scope, heavy in emotion: The Kite Runner’s story is where its strengths lie but with Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling book and the film already available is this the best medium for it? The Kite Runner suffers in translation from text to stage due to its reliance on narration. The story is arguably too unwieldy to be dealt with in any other way but this is a story of human relationships and powerful emotions and too often I wanted to be shown instead of told. As a result the stage regularly appeared empty, lacking dynamism and I felt distanced from a story that had the potential to wrestle me to the ground.

    Credit to Ben Turner though, who was present on stage through the whole piece, switching as he does between the narrative voice and on-stage persona of Amir. Sadly though, I was never blown away; his American accent jarred and when playing the younger Amir I felt he went too young for the role, verging on childish caricature. Turner performed competently but never quite gripped. The supporting cast impressed though, including Farshid Rokey playing the childhood friend Hassan. Rokey again played it too young but was more convincing and I believed his unwavering loyalty. Emilio Doorgasingh as the father doesn’t quite fit the role of domineering patriarch in stature and voice but I felt his conflicted emotions and his frustration and he won my affection. Special mention goes to the on stage percussion – a nice touch that added a layer of energy to the performance and it seemed to me that as the curtain fell it was the percussionist that enjoyed the loudest applause.

    Simple but effective set design – minimal props and projection – allowed for quick and efficient set changes that let the story flow. The animated hand drawings of childhood and misshapen comic book skyline of Los Angeles added a sense of magic and warmth to what was often a heavy story.

    If this is the Playhouse’s centre-piece for the coming season then ultimately I was a little disappointed. It didn’t drag but it didn’t grab. Its strength is in its source material and this was source material I was familiar with; on stage I was hoping for something a little different, a little more dynamic.

    The Kite Runner is on until the 18th of May.

    Book here:http://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/whats-on/drama/the-kite-runner

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Children Of The Sun

    ★★★ | Children Of The Sun

    A Maxim Gorky classic play, adapted by Andrew Upton, is a deep and philosophically driven piece set during a cholera epidemic, which works on many significant levels.

    On the surface its comedic approach could be mistaken as a light hearted play, but below the surface lies a distinct feeling of danger – a narrative of fear which is explored through many conversations.

    Protasov is longing to find the answer to all of life’s mysteries through scientific experimentation and research. He believes that the quest of life will be answered through science so he becomes immersed in his own ignorance; failing to acknowledge the significance of what is happening around him.

    There is a superb collective of talent in this adaptation, with strong gestural performances and moments of intensity which breaks up the performance, constantly focussing it back to the deeper questions.

    The stage set is the perfect backbone to the story, with a commendable attention to detail and realistic nature which helps one to engage on an additional level. Indeed the National Theatre is one of my all time favourite destinations, with its strong Brutalist architecture just asking for performance and drama. This is exactly what is delivered with ‘Children of the Sun’. A though-provoking and engaging play, highly recommended.

    Treat yourself to some theatre this month at the National Theatre. Tickets range from £12-34 and Children of the Sun is on until Sunday 14th July 2013.

    www.nationaltheatre.org.uk