Coriolanus - NT Live

Coriolanus

Last week I had my first National Theatre Live experience! As a Shakespeare fan, I had been desperate to get tickets for the Donmar Warehouse's production of Coriolanus starring Tom Hiddleston and Mark Gatiss and was unsuccessful in getting tickets each time they went on sale. The National Theatre Live event, screened live in cinemas across the world is a fantastic way for theatre fans to have another opportunity to purchase tickets and to be part of a large audience which stretches around the globe.



Mark Gatiss as Menenius

Coriolanus begins with riots in Rome as the citizens go hungry. They are particularly angry with Roman general Caius Martius who they blame the most. Caius Martius leaves to fight a Volscian army led by his enemy Aufiduis. After some brave fighting, he almost defeats Aufidius and is praised. He is given the title of Coriolanus and returns as a hero. His proud mother Volumnia pushes Coriolanus to run for consul and he initially does well winning the 'voices' of the citizens, but two tribunes Brutus and Sicinius scheme against him and he soon loses him temper and reveals his feelings about the people. Coriolanus is banished from Rome, leaving his mother and wife heartbroken. He finds Aufidius, who offers to team up with him to lead a new assault on Rome. Volumnia pleads with her son to see the errors of his ways with tragic consequences...



Tom Hiddleston as Caius Martius Coriolanus

This is a powerful production of one of Shakespeare's most political plays. The intimate Donmar Warehouse presents and intimate and intense stage, with a wall covered in graffiti, a ladder and chairs moved around by the cast the only set. The cast seat in the chairs for most of the performance, giving the feeling that Coriolanus is on trial throughout the whole play.

The title role is played by Tom Hiddleston, who brings confidence and physicality to the role as well as some pathos. You really do believe that he could be the best soldier in Rome. He doesn't go over the top with aggression as some actors could in this role and his quieter moments are the most effective. Unfortunately Coriolanus should do his talking on the battlefield rather than to the citizens of Rome and nobody can do sarcasm and biting wit like Hiddleston, which is most apparent in the 'winning voices' scene!

Mark Gatiss is fantastic as patrician Menenius adding some humour to the bleak proceedings. His line delivery is brilliant as he embodies everything he is saying and highlights Shakespeare's references to 'stomachs' and 'hearts'. I hope he appears on the West End stage again very soon.

Birgitte Hjort Sorensen as Virgilia

Debroah Findlay is stunning as Volumnia, a woman who pushes her son too far and only realises when it is too late. The scene when she pleading with her son to stop his assault on Rome is moving, powerful and gripping. Coriolanus' quiet realisation as his eyes fill with tears while she does not give up in expressing her views to him is a stunning scene.

Birgette Hjort Sorensen makes a dignified Virgilia as Coriolanus' wife. It is a shame that the play does not give her more lines, but her quiet role as a woman worried about her husband is played perfectly, with her never coming across as a victim.

Elliot Levey and Helen Schlesinger are excellent as the tribunes Brutus and Sicinia. They are a brilliant plot device by Shakespeare as the provide some comic relief as well as being instrumental in the downfall of Coriolanus.
The rest of the cast were faultless with a special mention to Rochenda Sandall, as the First Citizen who opens the play with an energy which never stops. Josie Rourke's direction is impressive, with a great understanding of the play. She also injects some much needed humour and the death scene is shocking and powerful, although the shower scene felt like it was added in for the army of Tom Hiddleston fans!

I would definitely attend a National Theatre Live event in the future, if I was unable to get tickets for the theatre. I was impressed to be handed a 'programme' as we entered the screening with information about the play, theatre and the cast and production team as well as future NT Live events. I found the pre-show film to be really interesting and it set the scene really well and there was also an interesting interval feature with Director Josie Rourke. It was odd to have an interval at the cinema though and have to queue to use the toilet! It really did feel like I was at a theatre rather than my local Odeon! It was also amusing to find the audience in my screening unsure of whether to applaud or not!

I would have loved to have seen this production of Coriolanus in the intimate setting of the Donmar Warehouse, but my local cinema was the next best thing!

There are encore screenings of Coriolanus in cinemas across the UK on Thu 13 February - see here for more information http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/ntlout5-Coriolanus

Watch the trailer for Coriolanus below:

The Cripple of Inishmaan review

The Michael Grandage season at the Noel Coward Theatre is proving to be in demand from theatre audiences and a great success with rave reviews of all three plays so far. With the very best production teams and cast members performing in such a beautiful theatre, I was lucky to be able to purchase £10 tickets for Peter and Alice starring Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw (my review here) and the third play in the season – The Cripple of Inishmaan.

 

The Cripple of Inishmaan has received an enormous amount of press as it stars Daniel Radcliffe, once again out of his comfort zone portraying a ‘cripple’ called Billy – an orphan, obsessed with reading and watching cows and living in an Irish village full of colourful characters. Although Radcliffe has been receiving all the headlines, this is very much an ensemble piece, with a fantastic Irish cast all providing plenty of laughs.

 

The village is used to lots of big new stories being spread around the inhabitants by notorious gossip Johnniepateenmike, such as a cat attacking a goose and eggs being broken, but one day an American film crew arrives to make a film on a nearby island and Billy persuades a local sailor to take him across so that he can possibly be an extra. Much to the whole village’s surprise, Billy is taken off to America for a screen test which could change his life forever...

 

The Cripple of Inishmaan is an hilarious, clever play. There are lots of red-herrings as the audience tries to find out the truth about both Billy’s trip to America and ultimately about his parent’s mysterious and tragic deaths. Although darkly funny and politically incorrect, with some amusing stereotypes and use of language, there are some really heart-warming and poignant moments.

 

The whole cast cannot be faulted. I particularly enjoyed performances by Sarah Greene and Conor MacNeill as quarrelling siblings Helen and Bartley, obsessed with throwing eggs and eating imported American sweets respectively. Laughs also come from Billy's two 'aunts' who have adopted them as their own to live in their shop which just seems to stock tins of peas and one of whom has a penchant for talking to stones when she is worried. But the play belongs to Daniel Radcliffe as he shuffles around the stage with an impressive Irish accent. This is a very committed and impressive performance – just halfway through the first act, I completely forgot that this is the child actor we watched grow up as Harry Potter for over 10 years. He has matured into a brave, risk-taking and very accomplished actor and he very much deserves his solo bow at the end of the performance, even though he looked embarrassed at being singled out from his extremely talented cast members.

 

I would really recommend catching this wonderful play before it closes at the end of August – a fantastic set, wonderful cast, big laughs and a lot of heart – what more can you ask from a West End production?!

 

The trailer for The Cripple Of Inishmaan is below and tickets can be purchased from www.michaelgrandagecompany.com

 

 

 

 

Peter and Alice review

The Michael Grandage season at The Noel Coward Theatre is without doubt THE theatre highlight of the year, with five plays running over the course of a year featuring top-class writers, directors and actors including world-class names such as Dame Judi Dench, Daniel Radcliffe and Jude Law.

I was lucky enough to catch the eagerly anticipated Peter and Alice last week and it was a wonderful theatre experience. To be honest it initially caught my eye as I wanted to experience seeing one of my favourite actors, Judi Dench, live on stage and with a large amount of £10 tickets available for each performance, this is an opportunity that cannot be turned down! There is also a definite 'Skyfall' theme as the play also stars Ben Whishaw (Q in the latest Bond film) and is written by the film's screenwriter John Logan.

“Of course that’s how it begins: a harmless fairy tale to pass the hours”

Peter and Alice tells of the real-life meeting between Alice Liddell Hargreaves, the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland now in her 80s and publisher Peter Llewelyn Davies, a young man who Peter Pan was written for. Logan has researched their tragic adult lives and imagined what these two immortal characters may have spoken to each other about.

As soon as Ben Whishaw enters the stage, an almost hunched over figure, lighting up a cigarette, he has the audience's attention. This is obviously a man with an aura of sadness about him. Judi Dench's enters confidently, full of plenty of put-downs making the audience roar with laughter. Although the first exchange between the two characters is amusing, I'm not sure if the production team expected such outbursts from the audience. The set design is stunning, with the opening scene in a beautiful, if dilapidated bookshop.

As Alice and Peter relive their childhoods, scenes from their past as well as familiar images from Wonderland and Neverland are revealed. This makes a magical, beautiful and poignant sight. These are stories which every child must be aware of, but the sadness out of which they are born makes these two stories of innocence and wonder very thought-provoking.

Alice and Peter are joined in their thoughts by the authors of their tales, Lewis Carroll and J.M Barrie as well as the young versions of their characters with both Alice and Peter Pan making surprising and beautiful entrances.

Judi Dench really is a wonderful actress. She begins the play as an elderly woman, moving cautiously across the stage and as she delves into her past, she skips and dances around the stage, with her face looking like a young, cheeky girl. She plays well to all of the audience knowing exactly how to make sure that even the balcony where we were sitting can see all of her facial expressions. Ben Whishaw puts in a heart-breaking performance, but sometimes it was a struggle to see his face as he played his character as a thoughtful, almost introverted man, looking downwards a lot of the time.

This is a beautiful, enchanting and moving play which I would thoroughly recommend seeing. I can't wait to see Daniel Radcliffe in The Cripple of Inishmaan in July!

Peter and Alice runs until 1st June - there are tickets available from 10.30am each day and queues for return tickets (the day we went the queue was massive!)

Find out about the rest of the Michael Grandage season at www.michaelgrandagecompany.com

Watch the trailer for Peter and Alice here:

War Horse

I finally got to see War Horse in the West End a couple of weeks ago after five years of waiting! Up until recently, the only tickets I have been able to find have been ridiculously expensive and we were able to find a bargain for tickets in the circle right at the very side of the stage. This meant that we did miss out on most of the clever projection and some of the great use of staging, but no matter where you sit, you can't help but get caught up in the emotion of the performance.

I love the Michael Morpurgo book, it is such a beautiful, but terrifying and incredibly sad story. It tells the story of a teenage boy called Albert, who is given the task of looking after a young horse he calls Joey, after his drunk father buys him at a fair for all the wrong reasons. Albert and Joey form an unbreakable bond, until the day that Albert's father sells the horse to go off to war. Joey begins a frightening journey to France and ends up on the front line for both Britain and Germany. Wherever he goes, he forms friendships and in some situations peace. Meanwhile, an underage Albert signs up and goes to France himself in the attempt to track down Joey.

The stage play stays very true to the book and there are some truly heartbreaking moments. It begins with a beautiful scene of a young Joey galloping around. The puppeteers are amazing, there are times when you do believe the horses to be real, with flicking of the ears and kicks of the hind legs bringing these characters to life. There are some terrible scenes during the conflict, with both horses and men being killed viciously. For a play that is aimed at a young audience and schools, there is some traumatic imagery, with young men hobbling around with limbs missing, faces disfigured and horses being put out of their pain. I would warn that this may be distressing, but then it is part of our history and a something that everyone should know and think about.

There is some light relief with a cheeky goose living on the farm who bangs in to doors and hisses at and attacks various characters, getting a huge cheer at the bows at the end. There are also some humorous one-liners - when Albert is getting a lot of stick for talking non-stop about his horse on the front line, he retorts while looking at a picture of his friend's girlfriend 'Well at least Joey is supposed to look like a horse...'

I was surprised at how large the cast was and there are also several songs to help tell the story. This is a stunning and poignant piece of theatre and while I would not necessarily say that I enjoyed it or would want to see it again as I did find it very upsetting, I would recommend that everyone go to see this amazing play.

You can buy tickets for War Horse here www.warhorseonstage.com/tickets/london or from ticket outlets throughout Covent Garden / Leicester Square. We managed to get ours for £12.00.

My review for the book is here

Horrible Histories Live on Stage

I was a huge fan of Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories books when I was a child – a great way to learn about history in a gory, gruesome way you will never forget! The recent television series’ have made the brand more popular than ever and the live shows sell-out all over the country. I was very excited to have the latest live tour – Terrible Tudors and Vile Victorians – booked in at my theatre and was intrigued to see how the live action and 3D Bogglevision would work together.

 As we were waiting in the auditorium for the show to begin, there is a screen displaying the logo and a creepy soundtrack of drips, creaks and bangs before the cast make their entrance. The Terrible Tudors sees a band of players led by Dr Dee telling the more sinister stories of the Tudors, with a teacher – Miss Tree – filling in with the facts. The cast are full of energy and enthusiasm and clearly enjoying their roles which include pretending to be sick an awful lot! The children in the audience were loving the gory tales and joining in with lots of audience participation. The cast made the most of their Richard III sketch, just days after the skeleton in a Leicester car park was confirmed as the lost monarch’s body (‘Let’s bury him in a car park. Nobody will ever find him there!’) Most of the first act was of course dedicated to the most famous Tudor of all – Henry VIII and his six wives. We learn about this infamous king in a series of politically incorrect songs – ‘Henry VII was a big fat man, ate all he could from the frying pan’ was a chorus which was stuck in my head for days after! The famous ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died…’ rhyme is also given musical treatment as an easy way to remember the fate of his wives. Henry’s romance with Anne Boleyn is portrayed in more detail with the King singing One Direction’s What Makes You Beautiful to woo her, before finally deciding on Greensleeves much to the delight of the children in the audience! The children also have the chance to be the jury on some sinister court cases, helping to decide whether the defendants should have a gory punishment – each one was found guilty as a result of our blood-thirsty audience!


Henry VII woos Anne Boleyn

During the interval, we are given the task of finding 3D ‘boggle goggles’ in the theatre to be ready for the 3D heavy second half. Be prepared to have a variety of objects racing towards you, from stones and bugs to the blood of poor Mary Queen of Scots during her unfortunate execution (this story truly is horrible).  The depiction of the Spanish Armada is particularly clever, with the feeling that we are on a rocking boat, while cannon balls and splintered wood come hurtling at us. The 3D genuinely made me duck and blink and the children in the audience reacted with equal screaming and laughing. These shows are a great way for children to remember important parts of history and learn in a fun way. The stories in the show will definitely be repeated at home and to friends and the adults watching had a great time too. Go see it!
Horrible Histories Live On Stage trailer:

 

You can find a list of tour dates here

Twelfth Night at The Globe

Twelfth Night is no doubt one of the theatre highlights of 2012. I love to see shows at The Globe (as a ‘groundling’ no less!) and the chance to see an authentic male-only production with such a talented cast was one I could not miss at just £5 for a ticket. Twelfth Night sees the return of one of the greatest living stage actors, Mark Rylance, once more in the role of Olivia. He is joined by household names Stephen Fry as Malvolio and Roger Lloyd-Pack (Trigger from Only Fools And Horses!) as Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

The play begins with a young lady called Viola being washed up to shore as a result of a shipwreck. She has become stranded from her twin brother Sebastian and disguises herself has a young man named Cesario and finds shelter at the house of Duke Orsino. The Duke is in love with an eccentric, wealthy woman called Olivia whose father has recently died and she has promised not to marry for seven years. Orsino requests Cesario to to visit Olivia to pass on his request of marriage, but Olivia instead falls for Cesario / Viola believing her to be a man. Meanwhile, Olivia's Uncle Sir Toby Belch and his friend Sir Andrew Aguecheek, plot their revenge on Olivia's pompous steward Malvolio by making him believe that she is in love with him.

What follows is a chaotic story of romance, mistaken identity and naughty tricks. The cast are all clearly having a ball, playing up to the audiences laughter. One of the funniest scenes includes Belch, Aguecheek and Feste spying on Malvolio, hideen in a hedge. The male-only cast adds extra humour to the play and is of course how it would have been performed in Shakespeare’s day. It is easy to see how the brother and sister can be mistaken for each other by fellow characters with their pale make-up and wigs – at times it took me a couple of seconds to work out which one was entering the stage.

Being a groundling is great fun, as you are so close to the action and it is a great authentic experience, but with Shakespeare’s long plays it can be a trial to keep on enjoying the show while standing and not be counting down the scenes in the second act. Next time I may upgrade to a more comfortable sounding wooden bench!

The Globe’s season is completely sold-out with some tickets being available for purchase on the day if you’re lucky. Twelfth Night is then transferring to the warmer Apollo for the winter, so I highly recommend trying to get tickets for those performances!

For more informationon Twelth Night see www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/on-stage/twelfth-night-2012