Most weeks, I open the papers and if they review four plays, I might just see one. But not always. So no, I haven’t seen Oslo for instance. I keep up better on Shakespeare and early theatre because I go to the RSC and Globe a lot.
I start a document for ratings in January and juggle it vaguely during the year. It’s as subjective and capricious as all such lists are. Is #7 REALLY better than #8? Memory is never that strong on productions.
SHAKESPEARE AND EARLY THEATRE
Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Maria & Sir Toby Belch
Directed by Emma Rice
It had the advantage of being seen twice. The first time round, I gave it four stars, because while knocked out by performance and production, I felt it required some knowledge of the play, and my first test on Shakespeare is “Is it transparent if you haven’t studied the play?” However, there were four major Twelfth Night productions this year, and this was my favourite. Yes, it was “Twelfth Night- The Panto” in some respects, but on second viewing (at night rather than day) it earned a fifth star.
2) Julius Caesar – RSC
Directed by Angus Jackson
I’ve always really disliked this play, so a production that made sense of it and gripped me was a novelty. Three superb lead performances by Martin Hutson as Cassius, James Corrigan as Mark Antony and Alex Waldmaan as Brutus. No attempt to modernise, draw parallels. Lots of togas and armour, but it worked. Five stars.
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3) Dido Queen of Carthage Swan Theatre, RSC
Chipo Chung as Dido
My review was four star, after saying everything about it was five star, except Christopher Marlowe’s text (in comparison to Shakespeare), I said:
In the end though, it is early Marlowe, and the amount of monologue declaiming as well as the number of classical references mean it’s not in the first rank of Elizabethan plays … well, not quite. In the September 2017 comparison with Coriolanus playing next door, Dido is the clear winner.
4) Comus – by John Milton, Wanamaker Playhouse
Directed by Lucy Bailey
We saw it at the end of 2016, too late for last year. I gave it five stars, and so it should be in this year’s list.
If Emma Rice’s regime had all been like this with “modernization-lite” (rather than the plastic curtained proscenium transformation of Imogen with recorded music), I can think only the most pernickety might have complained. Comus was superb. Five stars.
5) Antony & Cleopatra RSC – Royal Shakespeare Theatre
Another four star review.
In the end, Josette Simon is easily the best Cleopatra we have seen, playing against a strong Mark Antony, Set design, lighting and Laura Mvula’s musical score are all five star BUT I can’t get over the length with such a high percentage of dull Roman machinations. Nor did they bring out the interpretations of Enobarbus, Octavius and Lepidus to suit my view.
6) Much Ado About Nothing – Shakespeare’s Globe
Directed by Matthew Dunster
I gave it four stars. We saw it early and it was off-pace, a sin for a comedy. Speaking to people who saw it later, they cured that lack of flow. Ultra high-concept and a major set … not really a Globe thing. However, in retrospect the colour, exuberance and sheer effrontery of placing it in the Mexican Civil War wins. I liked the Hollywood film crew replacing Dogberry & The Watch.
7) Twelfth Night – National Theatre
Directed by Simon Godwin
Olivia (Phoebe Fox) and Cesario (Tamara Lawrence)
I gave it four, The press lined up with three stars. Tamsin Greig as Malvolio, Oliver Chris as Orlando. Phoebe Fox a superb Olivia and Tamara Lawrence a great Viola. I suspect its critical rating dropped because SO much money was spent on it. Do you need a vintage sports car and a motor scooter, let alone a hot tub.
The gender switch didn’t alter the play. Malvolia’s pash for Olivia was played so well, it felt that was the way it was meant. Great actors, but production points did overwhelm at times, and the broad comedy of having a drag queen singing Hamlet’s To Be Or Not To Be soliloquy got the chuckles but the tender aspects of the play got swamped again and again by playing for effects. We’re usually the ones cheering when Shakespeare is played broadly, but here we felt a lack of flow and a lost dimension as a result. Yes, Malvolia splashing in the fountain was hilarious. Yes, Cesario being pulled into the hot tub was hilarious too, but something was lost. I didn’t feel the “Aah!” Factor when everyone got together at the end.
8) King Lear, Chichester Minerva Theatre
Directed by Jonathan Munby
Ian McKellan as King Lear was one of the hottest tickets of the year, given the intimate space of the Minerva Theatre.
Sir Ian McKellen gave a 5 star performance. It wasn’t a 5 star production for us though because if its imbalance.
9) A Midsummer Night’s Dream Young Vic
Directed by Joel Hill-Gibbons
I gave it four stars.
A circus ring full of mud. No props at all. No music, except a choral introduction from the whole cast (an effective Gaudea) then Bottom’s unaccompanied songs, and the Singing fairy. Little dance. No fairy attendants. Modern dress. The only bit of costume was what looked like some tights stuffed to form the Ass’s ears, plus a plastic dangling donkey penis. So this was the Dream stripped to its bare bones, but it proved that the elements still work. It is an unmagical, unmusical Dream, and it did focus on the darker side, but this play can take almost anything directors throw at it. We thoroughly enjoyed it, and various bits of new light were cast.
10) Winter’s Tale- Cheek by Jowl, Bath Theatre Royal
Directed by Declan Donnelan
Stripped down, minimal set, modern dress. I said:
It is highly original, memorable, and threw new light on many aspects of the play. Orlando James was a towering Leontes. In the end? A five star first half, a three star somewhat confused Bohemia. High concept ending. Unmissable.
MODERN THEATRE
A much larger field, and so many plays I didn’t see, but we did see Albion and I haven’t selected it. Seven out of my ten selections are freshly minted 2017 plays too.
1) The Ferryman by Jez Butterworth, Royal Court Theatre
Directed by Sam Mendes
What I said in my 5 star review:
Above all, The Ferryman is a story about the search for truth, the need to put the past to bed perhaps, but you can’t do that without acknowledging it. It also to mourn the fallen.This play is subtle, genuine, and hard-hitting material, and the best play I have seen in a very long time. Probably since Martin McDonagh’s The Hangmen … at the Royal Court, also with John Hodgkinson. And that was the best since Birthday which was at the Royal Court.
2) My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, adapted by April de Angelis, The Rose, Kingston
Directed by Melly Still
Niamh Cusack and Catherine McCormack star as Lenu and Lila
Parts 1 & 2, All day. Five hours. And no, I hadn’t read the books. I loved it. 5 stars. Innovative production, brilliantly scripted.
3) Girl From The North Country by Conor McPherson, Old Vic
Directed by Conor McPherson
I gave it five stars.
It’s pulling the five star reviews, even from Michael Billington, who awards that level very rarely. The music and singing is definitely at the top end of five star. The play nods towards classic American drama, definitely Wilder, a touch of Miller and O’Neill (Ah! Wilderness was 1933), with that McPherson narrative addition of strange things happening behind the woodshed. Domenic Cavendish in The Telegraph thought it derivative. Yes, it is a touch. But the style fits, as do the almost Edward Hopper flats representing the hotel interior, though later we get photographic Minnesota landscapes projected on the descending flats.
4) The Hypocrite, by Richard Bean, Hull Truck Company / RSC, Swan Theatre Stratford
Directed by Philip Breen
My sort of play. Five stars.
The style made me think of Mickey O’Donaghue’s (Whatever happened to him?) New Vic Company 25 years ago. It’s an old favourite that I’ve often mentioned as a reference in reviews. Mark Addy takes the role of Sir John Hotham and plays it in a particular style, much as Mickey O’Donaghue did, but Mark Addy is even more accomplished. It requires the ability to stand just a shade outside the role at times, making side references (Like Anlaby Road being in West Hull) as well as other modern asides, while also throwing everything into the part. It’s actually a “star comedian” role, with a touch of what Eric Morecambe or Frankie Howard did in pastiching plays. That is, you keep an edge of your personality as well as the role. Yes, there is an edge of “pantomime” lead in the interpretation, but all the better for it. It was a truly magnificent performance.
5) Yerma by Simon Stone, after Lorca, Young Vic Theatre
Directed by Simon Stone
As Billie Piper took a universal standing ovation, I was pleased to see the other five cast members at the side clapping her just as enthusiastically. 5 stars.
6) Romantics Anonymous by Emma Rice, Wanamaker Playhouse at The Globe
Directed by Emma Rice
Five stars
It’s running until 20th January so there’s plenty of time to catch it. Try! Yes, it’s a light evening’s entertainment, but as good as light entertainment in musical form gets.
7) Tristan & Yseult, Carl Goose & Anna Maria Murphy, Shakespeare’s Globe
Adapted and directed by Emma Rice
Emma Rice’s flagship production dates back to 2003, when she played the role of Whitehands herself, and had its major revival from 2013 to 2015. Tristan & Yseultis said to be one reason why Emma Rice got the job of artistic director at The Globe, so they shouldn’t have been surprised by electric instruments, recorded music, modern dress and cross-dressed characters, though only two women in the cast is a long way from her much trumpeted aim for 50:50 gender mix on stage. Kneehigh theatre worked collaboratively with blurred lines between writers, adaptor, director and actors. It’s a definitive five star production. It’s finished at The Globe, this was the last day, but continues to tour. Massive applause, three curtain calls.
8) The Norman Conquests (Trilogy), Chichester Festival Theatre
Directed by Blanche McIntyre
Overall? The consensus is four stars. I’d agree on individual plays, but the cumulative effect of the three together deserves an extra star.
Chichester’s “three in a day” Autumn extravaganza is another winner. Fabulous production of Ayckboun’s best plays. My review also covers the renowned and star-studdedcast TV version from 1977, and I concluded that this 2017 cast was better in every role.
9) Vice Versa, by Phil Porter, Royal Shakespeare Company, Swan Theatre
Directed by Janice Honeyman
I had to get to 9th position before my reviews drop below 5 stars for modern plays. Though this is a piece inspired by Plautus’s The Boastful Soldier and served s a comic counterpart to the heavy Roman Season by the RSC in the main theatre.
I would say that Phil Porter captures the spirit of Plautus perfectly for a modern audience. If you did an original Plautus straight, you’d have to add the missing music and dance back in. You’d need to commission a new literal translation first, then depart from it to create a new script. For certain, contemporary references would have been added to fit the week the Romans were seeing a play. Vice Versa does all that. The only reduction from a full marks review is that necessarily the true shock of unexpected comedy isn’t there. The jokes are predictable, but that’s true of pantomime. It’s a bit like Christmas cracker jokes … foreigners can’t grasp that the appeal of them is the groan of recognition. We love that. Fabulous cast. Flat out ensemble playing. Four stars (plus a bit, but not quite five)
10) Quiz, by James Graham, Chichester Minerva Theatre
Directed by Daniel Evans
Mild argument over whether this or Boudica at The Globe. I went for Quiz, my companion for Boudica.
Every actor plays multiple roles, switching seamlessly at high speed. Spot on direction (except for that extra stair – watch from the top row!), spot on lighting. Keir Charles gives us every one of Chris Tarrant’s mannerisms writ large, which is very funny (if you’ve ever see the show). Earlier, he does Des O’Connor, Bruce Forsyth and Leslie Crowther well … but Tarrant is the one he really nails perfectly. I loved the play.
BEST ACTOR
1) Michael Hugo- Around The World in 80 Days, New Vic on tour
The physicality, comedy, acrobatics, circus … an all-round performance that holds this revised touring production together,
2) David Troughton, Titus Andronicus, , RSC
Troughton’s great 5 star performance was undermined by some plain daft comedy direction in the second part.
3) Marc Antolin (Twelfth Night, Romantics Anonymous)
4) David Haig — Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Racing Demon, by David Hare
Scene from Racing Demon, Bath Theatre Royal
5) Martin Hutson, Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus
Both in RSC’s Roman Season, Cassius then Saturninus. Yes, two from Titus Andronicus which makes it so weird that the director screwed it up with extraneous daft bits. This is from Julius Caesar.
6) Paddy Considine, as Quinn, The Ferryman
7) Mark Addy – The Hypocrite by Richard Bean
Mark Addy
8) David Tennant, Don Juan in Soho by Patrick Marber,
9) John Hollingworth, The Norman Conquests
Better than our No 2 in this slot was in the 1977 production in the same role!
The play rests on the credibility of his character, Charles Ingram
BEST ACTRESS
1) Niamh Cusack & Catherine McCormack (jointly) – My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
2) Shirley Henderson – Girl From The North Country
3) Josette Simone – Antony & Cleopatra
4) Billie Piper- Yerma by Simon Stone
5) Sarah Hadland – Norman Conquests
It was great that she resisted all temptation to “do Penelope Keith” as in the original and TV version and made the part her own. Natural comic ability too.
6) Sophia Nomvete – Vice Versa, RSC Swan Theatre, Stratford
Pictured with Felix Hayes. She had the rare comic ability to do that Frankie Howard lead role and hold everything together.
7 Victoria Hamilton – Albion, by Mike Bartlett, Almeida
Several people picked this as Best of The Year. I don’t rate the play that high, but the lead was truly excellent.
8) Eve Best – A Woman of No Importance, Oscar Wilde, Classic Spring
9) Katie Leung – Snow in Midsummer, RSC Swan Theatre, Stratford
An unexpected delight- it was the fifth in an offer on booking five plays too. The text had some issues, but Katie Leung was tremendous.
10) Phoebe Fox – Olivia 12th Night, RSC
In spite of having Tamsin Greig as Malvolio, I think Olivia tends to be the more interesting part.
Phoebe Fox is a young, pretty, sparky Olivia, full of verve, and ticks Peter Hall’s second box (don’t play Olivia too old). Mark Rylance knows a lead role when he sees one, and he’s played Olivia twice. This is the third time I’ve come out thinking Olivia both the best role AND the best performance of the night. Against great accomplished comic actors playing Malvolia, Orsino, Sir Andrew and Feste, that is some achievement.
SUPPORT ACTOR
1 Adrian Scarborough- Don Juan in Soho by Patrick Marber, Wyndhams
David Tennant was such a convincing Don Juan, likeable even at his most loathsome, and Scarborough such a fine sidekick. Adrian Scarborough, last seen by us as the Fool to Simon Russell-Beale’s King Lear, could corner the market in comedy sidekicks. The two have chemistry, and in the script, there is no reward for Stan’s loyalty. DJ is as incapable of reciprocating Stan’s loyal friendship as he is paying his salary.
2) John Hodgkinson The Ferryman + Twelfth Night RSC
Englishman Tom Kettle in The Ferryman and Sir Toby Belch in Christopher Luscombe’s Twelfth Night. I’d chosen him on The Ferryman way back.
3) Stuart Graham The Ferryman
Another one, same play. He played Muldoon the IRA Man and scared me even in the back stalls.
4) Danny Lee Wynter – Forty Years On, Alan Bennett, Chichester
As Mr Tempest. We liked the play far more than most reviews.
All the faculty were brilliant. When the play opens, and the headmaster was waffling on, it felt exactly like our school assemblies. Mr Franklin (Deputy Head) and Mr Tempest (young, dramatic) were seated and never stopped scanning the boys and us with eagle eyes. At our school, it was the same. We’d go back to class for registration, and our form master would fly into a rage because he’d spotted someone “not praying” or picking their noses in assembly … just as Alan Bennett’s script. Danny Lee Wynter did such a wonderful pompous, but very theatrical young master as Mr Tempest.
5. Oliver Chris – Young Marx by Richard Bean & Clive Coleman, Bridge Theatre + Twelfth Night National Theatre
Orlando in Twelfth Night
Arguably, no probably, Engels is the co-lead role in Young Marx. However, i’d put Oliver Chris down as Orlando in Twelfth Night months before, which is mainly why he’s here.
6) James Corrigan,. Coriolanus, RSC, Antony & Cleopatra RSC, Julius Caesar, RSC
Tullus Aufidius in Coriolanus
Aufidius, Volscian leader in Coriolanus, Agrippa in Antony & Cleopatra , Mark Antony in Julius Caesar. So basically a “Rome Season rep award” though Mark Antony would have to be cast as a lead role.
7) Anthony Calf – Racing Demon, by David Hare, Bath
Anthony Calf’s sleek and smart Bishop of Southwark is a great performance. He is managerial, dictatorial, conservative. He gets angrier and angrier during the robing scene (just as in Life of Galileo a few weeks ago at the Young Vic!) I was fascinated … because on the surface, this guy is an utter bastard … BUT … I had sympathy. There ARE incompetent, ineffectual professionals, be they teachers, doctors, nurses, or lawyers. I’ve met examples of all four.
8) Abraham Popoola, Boudica by Tristan Bernays, Globe
King Badvoc is played by Abraham Popoola who is one of the theatrical finds of the year. He can act, and has a wonderful voice, but more so, he is a giant of a man which gives him huge stage presence. One day he’ll be a fabulous Macbeth … you need a mighty warrior for me. He looks like one.
9) Graham Butler- Sweet Bird of Youth, by Tennessee Williams, Chichester
Then we get Tom Jnr (Graham Butler) the furious, weasely brother of Heavenly confronting Chance. Butler gives us flat out anger. Superb performance.
10) Philip Bretherton, Before The Party by Rodney Ackland, Salisbury
Aubrey, the dad
Philip Bretherton plays dad, Aubrey Skinner. He plays it large and close to farce with big expressions and reactions, but that felt right, and was extremely funny.
SUPPORT ACTRESS
1 Carly Bawden Twelfth Night, The Globe + lead in Romantics Anonymous by Emma Rice
I could have put her in the Top 10 lead actresses too, but she was so far the best Maria in Twelfth Night, that she gets top “support” slot.
2) Amber James as Charmian, Antony & Cleopatra, Anna, Dido, Queen of Carthage
Amber James, right (with Chipo Chung as Dido)
Anna, the Queen’s sister (Dido, Queen of Carthage), is in love with the rejected King Iarbas, and is a strong character, replacing Cleopatra’s gentlewomen. Amber James plays Anna, and played Charmian in Antony & Cleopatra at the RSC this season, so she’s in an uncannily similar role.≥ Amber James is Anna (the second time this year I thought she deserves “best support actress.”) I’m still trying to puzzle how her luxurious curly hair was ripped to reveal a bleeding scalp at the end. Daniel York is Iarbus.
3) Suzanne Burden – Herodias in Salomé, RSC
Marvellous background acting, notably Suzanne Burden as Herodias radiating her contempt of Herod and her displeasure, especially wonderful while consuming a bowl of grapes.
4) Ria Zmitrowicz Plastic, by Mrius von Mayenburg Bath Ustinov Theatre
Ria Zmitrowicz as Jessica, the Young “Estie” cleaner, was outstandingly good. Her deadpan “I don’t imagine anything while I’m working” was so English too, as were her short, laconic replies … she was just “not involved” in Ulricke and Michael’s angst.
5) Amanda Root Racing Demon by David Hare, Bath
Amanda Root’s stage time is small, as Heather, Lionel’s wife, but has enormous impact and poignancy. She is the dutiful vicar’s wife, but when she has a stroke, it takes Lionel (in the next room) 30 minutes to notice. When she is first home from hospital, and disoriented, Lionel is more interested in playing chess with Frances (and trying to stroke her cheek) than he is in sitting with Heather. Frances has to tell him what to do. Lionel is as useless as a husband and father as he is as a priest … we learn his 19 year old daughter has gone, leaving no address. The most poignant scene, a masterclass in acting from David Haig and Amanda Root, comes at the end. Lionel has lost his job and with it the house. He has said (ineffectually) “Do you want to go to bed?” “No,” is all she replies. He gives Heather a present, a slim book on gardening, her only love. Then announces that they’ll have to live in a flat. Without a garden.
6) Jenny Galloway as The Matron, Forty Years On by Alan Bennett, Chichester
We once lived next door to a public school matron, and when it was the holidays, she would invite us in for sherry. Jenny Galloway was perfect.
7) Anne Reid – A Woman of No Importance, Classic Spring
The songs were sentimental music hall: A Boy’s Best Friend is His Mother, Father’s A Drunkard and Mother is Dead and The Gypsy’s Warning. Anne Reid acted out the sentimentality and the clear lyrics drew a lot of laughs. Criticized elsewhere, I can’t see why. Charming and funny and apposite. Anne Reid’s warm portrait of Lady Hunstanton is the centre around which the whole play revolves.
8) Lauryn Redding, Twelfth Night, The Watermill, Newbury
The outstanding role was Lauryn Redding as Sir Toby Belch. Forget whether she was male or female: she played it as the Ringmaster. The Master of Ceremonies. The link. This is a part that so often falls into dull “stage drunk” with dreadful lines, yet it was the choice role of the theatrical stars of the 1940s and 1950s. Lauryn Redding recaptures that with a relaxed take, heavy on audience interaction. Usually Sir Toby’s lines fall flat next to Sir Andrew Aguecheek, but here they both worked. Both Sir Andrew (Mike Slader) and Orsino (Jamie Satterthwaite) are tall and thin, which was visually interesting. A very funny Sir Andrew. And she plays double bass.
9) Lucy Ellison in The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Brecht, Donmar Warehouse
Lucy Ellinson plays Giri, the Goering character as a man, and is physically as far from fat Hermann the German as you can get. But she had that constant mocking, manipulative role, and was the chief “audience worker” too, a role she takes easily.
10) Alexandra Gilbraith as Laurence, The Lie by Florian Zeller. Menier Chocolate Factory
Laurence (Alexandra Gilbraith) & Paul (Alexander Hanson)
SET DESIGN
Soutra Gilmour – Twelfth Night, National Theatre,/ My Brilliant Friend Parts 1 & 2,
Twelfth Night, National Theatre,
My Brilliant Friend Parts 1 & 2, The Rose Kingston
Both plays had flexible, mobile designs. She also did the dire Romeo & Juliet at The Globe, but two out of three isn’t bad.
RUNNER-UP
Easily the best looking set was by Simon Higlett for Twelfth Night, RSC 2017 it was incredibly detailed and beautiful BUT the set changes slowed the action badly.
Twelfth Night, RSC 2017
COSTUME DESIGN
Ti Green / Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe
DIRECTOR
Emma Rice – Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s Globe, Tristan & Yseulde, Romantics Anonymous
THREE plays that made my ratings? There can’t be any question.
THEATRE OF THE YEAR
1)The Swan at the RSC. Everything was superb. Not a dull moment, in fact better than the main theatre next door.
2) The Globe had some of the very best moments (Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing, Boudica, Tristan & Ysolde) and also some of the worst (Romeo & Juliet, King Lear). Artistic director Emma Rice for three 5 star reviews from me.
3) The Young Vic with such varied stagings of Yerma, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Life of Galileo is a contender.
THEN …
I think the Royal Shakespeare Theatre was in error in putting everything into the Rome Season. Not my favourite plays at all, though all had were brilliantly done.
Not Chichester, the winner of the last few years. They had moments … particularly The Norman Conquests trilogy, Forty Years On and Quiz. The “big” musical was Fiddler On The Roof and was highly-acclaimed. I just hate the music so intensely I couldn’t face going. The other musical Caroline or Change got great reviews, but we disliked it.
Bath’s summer season had only one play we wanted to book.
For physical surroundings and comfort however, the perennial winners, Chichester Festival Theatre and Salisbury Playhouse are joined by the newcomer, The Bridge.
