Sandy Pritchard-Gordon

Sandy Pritchard-Gordon
Theatre Blog

Tuesday 21 February 2012

Travelling Light at The Lyttleton


I suppose disappointment with a production had to happen before long and such was the case with Travelling Light at The Lyttleton.  To my mind, the fault lies with the play itself, for although Act One is charming and entertaining, Act Two seems to lose its way.
The play by Nicholas Wright concerns Motl Mendl, who returns home to his remote village or Shtetl, after the death of his father, a Jewish photographer.  Whilst there he comes across his father’s 1896 Lumiere Brothers cinematograph and starts experimenting with the machine by filming life in the village.  Impressed with the youth’s talent, Jacob (a wealthy local timber merchant) becomes Motl’s backer.  Enter a pretty young girl assistant called Anna, add the stirring of the boy’s and Jacob’s heart strings and the scene is set for jealousy, a power struggle and the problems involved with making moving pictures on a budget.  Motl eventually tiring of these hindrances to making his beloved movies does a runner to Hollywood …. alone!  Anna, Motl’s muse and (it would seem) sexual plaything is abandoned.
May I mention a couple of niggles which start with the accent discrepencies between the older Motl, (now re-named Maurice Montgomery and played by Paul Jesson) and his younger version, the cold and rather usubtle, Damien Molony?  Can someone please explain to me why Motl has no accent at all and yet Maurice is full on Jewish in 1936?  In order to inform us (the audience) that he decided to embrace his Jewishness whilst in the US?  I don’t know, but it is irritating whatever the reason. Likewise, the usually wonderful Anthony Sher adopts a very over the top accent as Jacob.  Previous critics have likened his performance to an escapee from Fiddler on the Roof and I’m afraid I sadly have to agree.
The flickering black and white filmed sequences of the various villagers illuminated on the wall of the house are a charming and lovely touch, except that Maurice as the older and successful Hollywood film maker tends to be narrating at the same time, so the focus is lost.
For me the most believable character in a sea of Jewish stereotypes is Lauren O’Neil as Anna.  Her lovely face in close-up on the cinema screen is a perfect portrayal of a silent screen goddess and, although it stretches the imagination to believe that she should instinctively understand the process of cutting and editing film, it doesn’t really seem to matter.  What does is the schmaltzy scene in Act Two when Maurice discovers the identity of a young actor, Nate Dershowitz, also played by Damien Molony
I apologise if I’m sounding totally negative.  The play isn’t all doom and gloom and there are some clever and amusing touches, which is to be expected when Nicholas Hytner is directing.  I just feel that the amalgamation of film and theatre doesn’t quite work, with the filmed sequences upstaging the theatrical element at every turn.  I would prefer the play to be rooted in some kind of reality and have more dramatic depth.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

The Recruiting Officer at The Donmar


Unusually, the second theatre trip for 2012 was another Restoration Comedy, this time The Recuiting Officer at The Donmar.  The draw for me was Mackenzie Crook playing Sergeant Kite, as I loved his performance in Jerusalem.  He doesn’t disappoint this time around either and his comic timing and wonderful expressions are a joy to behold.  He is, in essence, unforgettable.  The play is centred around Captain Plume, expertly played by Tobias Menzies and Captain Brazen, brought to life by the wonderful but hardly recognisable Mark Gatiss, recruiting for the Army in Shrewsbury.  Plume’s Sergeant Kite lies, cheats and dresses as a fortune teller in order to enlist gullible men as soldiers.  Confusion abounds when women come into the equation – the womanising Plume is smitten with Silvia, perfectly played by Nancy Carroll, who disguises herself as a man in order to get recruited by him, Capt Brazen is led up the garden path by Silvia’s bitchy cousin Melinda, a wonderfully funny Rachael Stirling who is actually in love with Mr. Worthy, an excellent Nicholas Burns and Rose, Aimee-Ffion Edwards’s adorable country wench.
This is Josie Rourke’s first offering as Artistic Director of The Donmar and if it’s a sign of what’s to come, I feel very confident that all will be well.  The pace of the production is spot on and I loved various members of the cast performimg as a folk band, especially the reprise of Over the Hills and Far Away at the show’s end, as one by one the musicians put down their instruments and head off to war.
Full praise, too, to Lucy Osborne, the designer.  The glow from all the flickering candles is very atmospheric and sets the scene right from the off.
It seems wrong to only highlight certain performances as everyone in this new production of Farquar’s hilarious play deserves praise.  Tobias Menzies switches from rake to monogamous lover with consummate ease and, oh my, what a wink this officer has.  The poodle wigged Mark Gatiss flounces, winks and smiles in hilarious fashion, which should be too over the top to work but isn’t and does.  Rachael Stirling is brilliantly comedic and perfects a wonderful faux posh accent, making “air” come out as “ear” before enacting a couple of brilliant “slapstick” manoeuvres.
It’s rare to find all round perfection even on the perfect Donmar stage but it’s there for all to see in this Recruiting Officer.  Sign me up Sergeant Kite.

Friday 3 February 2012

She Stoops To Conquer at The Olivier


It had been a few weeks since the last theatre visit, so I was very much looking forward to returning to one of my favourite “spaces” The Olivier Theatre at The National to see She Stoops to Conquer.  If my first theatre trip of the year is to be a bench mark of what’s to come, whoopee, for Oliver Goldsmith’s comedy of confusion and mistaken identity was an absolute delight – the best medicine for a dose of winter blues.
The plot of this joyous Restoration Comedy centres around two young blades, Marlowe and Hastings, who are tricked into mistaking a country house, belonging to Mr. & Mrs. Hardcastle, for an inn.  Hardcastle has high hopes of a match between his daughter, Kate and Marlowe, but begins to doubt his choice when the young man treats him as the inn keeper and all hell breaks loose.
A truly wonderful cast, ably abetted by a stunning set courtesy of designer Mark Thompson and expert direction by Jamie Lloyd, ensure that this production, whilst true to its origins, is bang up to date.  I particularly loved the chorus of singing servants who tumble on between acts banging kitchen utensils.
Restoration Comedy is, to my mind, a difficult genre to get right; each character is exaggerated but must not  tip over into overacting.  Here it works to perfection, most notably by the wonderful Sophie Thompson playing Mrs. Hardcastle.  Her hilarious accents and wonderful gurning face are enough to ensure the audience is kept amused throughout and I mustn't forget the excellent bit of business involving a curtesy. 
She is not alone, however.  Harry Hadden-Paton as Marlow, who is a nervous gibbering wreck when speaking to women of his own class but a rampant letch in the company of serving wenches, is superb.  He switches with consummate ease;  the painfully shy, inhibited young man unable to even look at Kate Hardcastle, to the pawing, sexual stallion in the company of Kate playing a barmaid;  hilarious.  Plus his pairing with John Heffernan’s Hastings is a magical piece of casting, a double act par excellence.  I particularly enjoyed his ecstacic delight when thinking of wearing a white and gold coat.  Much has been said about the casting of ex Coronation Street actress, Katherine Kelly, as Kate Hardcastle.  Her return to the stage is a triumph, as she hits just the right note, not only when playing Kate as the spirited daughter sussing out her father’s choice of husband, but also when turning on the sexual charm whilst posing as a barmaid.  David Flynn’s Tony Lumpkin, Mr. Hardcastle’s stepson who sets up the whole plot, is also spot on, as is Steve Pemberton as Mr. Hardcastle himself.
This is yet another riotous evening at the theatre.  Long may it continue!