Peter Viney's Blog

Of course it isn’t an objective best. Five years ago this regular article was the best of around fifty productions. Covid changed that. We still have restricted which theatres we go to. I never did 2021.

London’s West End cramped uncomfortable stuffy theatres with totally inadequate toilets were eliminated from our lists. Too risky with Covid.

The Globe was dropped. Mainly because the quality of production had dropped so alarmingly since Michele Terry became Artistic Director with democratic director-less dire productions. We did book two- the acclaimed Much Ado About Nothing and Henry VIII, the only Shakespeare play I’ve never seen on stage, but we got Covid and had to cancel … they were very nice too on refunds. But our ten years as ‘Friends’ is over.

We remain OK with the National Theatre and The Bridge in London –  good space, plenty of air changes, plentiful loos so not cramped queueing areas.

Then the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC( had problems because The Swan Theatre was found to need extensive repairs, so cutting half their productions. The plan to cover every Shakespeare play over five years (they forgot both Pericles and Henry VIII inexplicably) had left them with the Henry VI trilogy rump and All’s Well That Ends Well. Just let’s say none of them are Hamlet..

We saw everything Chichester produced themselves. We are excited that Daniel Evans is moving from Chichester to the RSC, which should liven up the RSC. Hopefully Chichester will not follow London into bend-over-backwards PC productions after he’s gone.

I used to do ten Shakespeare and Contemporaries and ten others. We haven’t seen enough this year to do that. So I’ve selected ones that got 5 stars or 4 stars in my reviews, then I put however many I wanted in other categories.

SHAKESPEARE PRODUCTIONS

With my original ratings
There are  eight because we saw eight. My surprise is rating Henry VI- Wars of The Roses (i.e. some of Henry VI – Part II and all of Henry VI – Part III) top, as I dislike both plays.
Links are shown in blue.

Henry VI – Wars of The Roses (RSC) *****

Othello (Watermill) ****

Much Ado About Nothing (National Theatre) ****

Much Ado About Nothing (RSC) ****

The Tempest (Bath Ustinov Studio) ****

Richard III (RSC) ***

All’s Well That Ends Well (RSC, Stratford) ***

Henry VI- Rebellion (RSC) – ** (Karen) / ***(Peter)

PLAYS (non-Shakespeare)

I’m going soft. Too many five star reviews this year. I decided to roughly order them, then list all the five and four stay plays in my ratings.  Crazy For You, which we saw twice is unquestionably the best of the year. There are fourteen here.

Crazy For You (Chichester Festival) *****

Jack Absolute Flies Again (National Theatre Olivier) *****

Local Hero (Chichester Minerva) *****

Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads (Chichester Minerva) *****

The Southbury Child (Chichester Festival) *****

The Unfriend (Chichester Minerva) *****

Murder on The Orient Express (Chichester Festival) *****

The Doctor (Bath Theatre Royal) *****

Doubt – A Parable (Chichester Festival) *****

Blues For An Alabama Sky (National Lyttelton) ****

The Crucible (National Theatre – Olivier) ****

Jitney (Bath Theatre Royal) ****

Our Man in Havana (Watermill) *** / ****

PLUS

Uncle Vanya (Harold Pinter Theatre) – streamed *****

DIRECTOR

Emma Burns (Jack Absolute Flies Again)

Daniel Evans (Local Hero)

Joanna Bowman (Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads)

Susan Stroman (Crazy For You)

Jonathan Church (Murder on the Orient Express)

Nicholas Hytner (The Southbury Child)

Lia Williams (Doubt – A Parable )

Owen Horsley (Henry VI, War of The Roses)

Mark Gattis (The Unfriend)

Abigail Pickard Price (Our Man in Havana)

ACTRESS

Kerry Howard (Jack Absolute Flies Again)

Caroline Quentin (Jack Absolute Flies Again, Mrs Warren’s Profession)

Carly Andersen (Crazy For You)

Frances Barber (The Unfriend)

Kirsty Bushell (Richard III)

Lillie Flynn (Local Hero)

Katherine Parkinson (Much Ado About Nothing National Theatre)

Sian Reese-Williams (Sing Yer Heart Out)

Juliet Stevenson (The Doctor)

Erin Doherty (The Crucible)

Rosie Sheehy (All’s Well That Ends Well, Richard III )

ACTOR

Charlie Stemp (Crazy For You)

Gabriel Ebert (Local Hero)

Richard Riddell (Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads)

Alex Jennings (The Southbury Child)

Arthur Hughes (Richard III, Henry VI- Wars of The Roses)

Laurie Davidson (Jack Absolute Flies Again)

Giles Terara (Blues For An Alabama Sky)

Henry Goodman (Murder On The Orient Express)

Reece Shearsmith (The Unfriend)

Sam Spruell (Doubt – A Parable )

Oliver Alvin Wilson (Henry VI, RSC)

Brendan Cowell (The Crucible)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Helena Wilson (Jack Absolute- Julia)

Rachael Ofori ((The Southbury Child))

Sarah Twomey ((The Southbury Child))

SUPPORTING ACTOR

Tom Edden (Crazy For You)

James Corrigan (Jack Absolute Flies Again)

Michael Hodgson (Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads)

Michael Simkins (The Unfriend)

Bruce Alexander (All’s Well That Ends Well, RSC)

STAGE DESIGN

Jack Absolute Flies Again (Mark Thomson)

Crazy For You (Beowulf Borritt)

The Narcissist, Chichester (Jasmine Swan)

“So 5 star design, direction, production, and in most parts, acting, of a lesser 2 star script. All in all, the critical consensus of three stars is right. If I weren’t so into stage design and lighting, it would be less.”

Sing Yer Heart Out For The Lads(Joanna Scotcher)

Much Ado About Nothing NT (Anna Fleische)

Murder On The Orient Express (Robert Jones)

Jitney, Bath Theatre Royal, (Alex Lowde)

Much Ado About Nothing RSC (Jemima Robinson)

Our Man in Havana, Watermill (Kat Heath)

A tiny theatre proves yet again how effectively they can use the available space.

(The Crucible) (Ed Devlin)

Spectacular, but unnecessary. Looks great but a typical National Theatre ‘We got loads of money’ touch.

COSTUME

Melissa Simon-Hartman (Much Ado About Nothing RSC)

MUSIC

Mark Knopfler (Local Hero)

THEATRE OF THE YEAR

Chichester Festival Theatre & its smaller Minerva Theatre, by a mile. They are directly opposite each other.

Large car park right outside, reasonably priced. Pleasant walk into the town centre.

THEATRE RESTAURANT

It’s so much more relaxing to eat in the theatre restaurant and stroll into the play with no hurry. They don’t all have them, but then The Bridge Theatre is directly next door to The Ivy, Tower Bridge so almost counts.

Our all time favourite is The Swan at The Globe in London – fabulous view, great service and food. We’ve eaten there without going to The Globe too. I met a friend there for lunch and they let us stay chatting all afternoon. However, we didn’t do The Globe this year because of Covid.

Chichester blotted its copybook three times. It can be great, but first we had a meal in the a la carte upstairs, where the sharing platter was around half of what it used to be and looked well-worn. So back to the set meal downstairs. Great starter (end of last year). Served in 5 minutes. Then we sat there for 50 minutes waiting for the main course. I asked three times over twenty minutes and was told it was on its way. Finally they said they had troubles with the computer system and it would be ready in 15 minutes. I said I didn’t want a meal served at 2.15 for a 2.30 play. I paid for the starter (I took off the gratuity) left and we bought a sandwich over the road at the main theatre coffee bar. An aberration? It happens.

Then this year, same again. Instant service for the starter. Then we waited 40 minutes. I noted our server looking at us then fiddling with the computer several times. I asked to see the manager and explained we were leaving. She said we could have our main course free (when they started it.) I said, no, I didn’t want to eat then sit straight down for a two hour play. Then she explained they had a party of twelve at one table and it threw the kitchen. She got an earful. I explained that we ran a Hotel & Catering Course for ELT annually. She had a four item menu. The starters and desserts were cold and by their instant arrival, pre-prepared. Dealing with a four item menu which you run for several months, is REALLY easy for a kitchen. Then I said that her communication skills were poor. Never tell a customer about YOUR problem (a large table). Then we left. I was appalled they accepted the money for the Starters. That should have been free as an apology. I also told her that as the Ivy was about to open in Chichester, they really needed to sharpen up their act. Also the Harbour Hotel, 400 metres away, does an excellent pre-theatre meal. We have not gone back and won’t. It’s a shame. Our favourite theatre needs a new catering contract.

The National? ‘The House Restaurant’ is very good.

What used to be The Tapas menu in the Terrace Restaurant has changed much for the worse. It’s now run by ‘Bob’s Lobster’ and it was crap. I got a bad skin irritation – I’m allergic to shellfish. I hadn’t ordered shellfish and told them I was allergic when they asked. It turned out that when the hives started coming up on my arms before we finished eating that they used the same oil for fish and shellfish. Nul pointes.

SO, on to this year and the ever reliable (well 90% reliable – never order coffee at the end) Rooftop Restaurant at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Also great views. Excellent service AND they remember us and welcome us back, which means staff stay, which means happy staff.

So THEATRE RESTAURANT of THE YEAR- RSC ROOFTOP, STRATFORD-ON-AVON