Monday 24 September 2007

Awake and Sing! - TNT

Clifford Odet's 1935 portrayal of life in the Bronx during the Depression is movingly evoked in Michael Attenborough's finely acted revival. Though old-fashioned, this portrayal of three generations of lower middle class Americans is still quietly involving. Grandfather Jacob holds on to his Marxist ideals, while his daughter Bessie (the bossy matriarch, played by Stockard Channing) can't forgive her husband for being stuck in a dead-end job. As her thwarted son, Ben Turner rails passionately against the lousy salary which keeps him tied to her apron strings, while she tries to sabotage his relationship, and is frustrated by a society in which poverty threatens to destroy them all. No thrills, but a heartfelt portrayal of human nature under financial stress.
Almeida, Almeida St, N1 (020-7359 4404). Until October 20. £6-£29.50

Sunday 23 September 2007

A Disappearing Number - TNT

This is a story about passion, about the love of a man and a woman, about a friendship based on a mutual academic interest, and, above all, about the unexpected beauty of pure mathematics. An evening at the theatre which begins with a maths lecture may not sound very promising, but in the ingenious hands of Simon McBurney and his company, Complicite, it develops into something mesmerising, moving and profoundly beautiful. Interweaving a contemporary fictional love story (Saskia Reeves oozes intellectual enthusiasm as a dowdy academic who comes alive in front of a whiteboard and captivates an American-based futures dealer) with the First World War collaboration between the mainly self-taught Brahmin genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and Cambridge don G.H. Hardy, McBurney creates a high-tech, multilayered exploration of infinity, morality and cross-cultural connections. The result delights the eye, pleases the ear and stretches the expectations of conventional theatre. Not to be missed. Barbican, Silk St, EC2 (0845-120 7550). Until October 6. £10-£40

Monday 17 September 2007

All About My Mother - TNT

I'm not sure whether Aussie Samuel Adamson's enjoyable adaptation of Pedro Almodovar's multi-award winning 1999 film adds much to the vision of the original, but it copes well with the emotional story of Manuela, who when her teenage son is killed, goes in search of an unusual past and discovers an unexpected future. The tangled tale of maternal instinct, lesbian lovers, a pregnant HIV-positive nun and young lives cut short develops into an intriguing black comedy. Some performances are underpowered, but Diana Rigg's self-mocking actress Huma exudes vulnerability and authority. And Leslie Manville's bereaved Manuela holds her grief tightly to herself as she returns to Barcelona to rekindle a friendship with Mark Gatiss's Agrado (a Welsh-accented whore with boobs and a dick) and finally tracks down her estranged, similarly-endowed husband.
Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 (0870-060 6628). Until November 24. £28-£45
The Bacchae - TNT

From the moment Alan Cumming descends — head first and bare-buttocked — onto the stage, you know that David Greig's version for the National Theatre of Scotland is no slavish rendering of Euripides' classic tragic tale. Camp and flirtatious in his shiny gold outfit (a neat little waistcoat atop a kilt-style skirt) and with his hair in unruly curls, Cumming's androgynous Dionysus exacts a dreadful revenge on his royal relatives who refuse to believe that he is the son of Zeus, king of the gods. Surrounded by a gospel-style singing and dancing chorus of Maenads (all provocatively clad in scarlet) he tempts his repressed cousin Pentheus out of his suit and into a floor-length emerald gown to spy on their ecstatic rituals. The consequences are horrific. Brash and showy, there's nothing subtle about this pyrotechnic but accessible interpretation — until Paola Dionisotti's crazed Agave emerges from her Bacchanalian frenzy and realises, too late, the enormity of what she has done. Not for purists — but very entertaining.
Lyric Hammersmith, King St, Hammersmith, W6. (0870-0500 511). Until September 22. £13-£27

Monday 10 September 2007

Grease - TNT

Like a pushy acquaintance determined to be your best friend, this revival of the US high school musical romance never lets up. Loud, brash and lacking in charm, it gets by on the familiarity of the tunes and box office returns guaranteed by the fact Sandy and Danny were selected by viewers of TV show Grease is the Word. But I'd have liked it a lot more if the director had assaulted the senses a lot less. Neither of the leads exude charisma: Danny Bayne swivels his hips and can dance, while Susan McFadden (sister of Westlife's Brian) looks suitably innocent in her '50s skirts. But both are limited in their acting ability and so the highlights of the evening are Richard Hardwick's Roger, Sean Mulligan's Kenickie and (looking far too old to play a teenager) Jayde Westaby's bad girl Rizzo who displays some genuine emotion.
Piccadilly Theatre, Denman St, W1 (0844-412 6666). Booking until June 14. £20-£55
Lone Star & PVT Wars - TNT

This double bill of James McLure's one act plays dates back to 1979 and the immediate post-Vietnam era, but almost 30 years later, it still provides an entertainingly comic evening whilst highlighting the effect the experience of war can have on those who went away to fight. In Lone Star, ex-EastEnder Shane Richie plays Roy, a loud-mouth Vietnam veteran who, now he's back home in small town Texas, can't face the reality of what his life has become. James Jagger (son of Mick) gives a creditable performance as his nerdy hate-object Cletis, but best of all is William Meredith's literal-minded Ray who repeatedly punctures older brother Roy's misplaced, beer-fuelled bravado.Set in a military hospital, PVT Wars is a loosely structured sequence of interludes in which Richie's compulsively flashing Silvio over-compensates for the fact that enemy shrapnel blew away his balls and addled his brain. Jagger Jr. reappears as a snooty NY mother's boy with a urine bag, who still can't quite comprehend why the army accepted him, and Meredith's uneducated Gately adds what seems to be the calm voice of reason as he tries, against the odds, to repair a broken radio and heal his own injuries. It's predominantly very funny but, underneath the humour, the damage done — both physically and psychologically — is only too apparent.
Kings Head Theatre, Upper St, N1 (020-7226 1916). Until September 23. Tues-Thurs £15, £12.50 concs; Fri-Sun £17.50, £15 concs

Monday 3 September 2007

Take Flight - TNT

Unlike its protagonists, this pleasant, sometimes poignant, sometimes funny American musical only occasionally soars, but it taxis along entertainingly as the lives of four pioneers in the field of aviation are observed by the more obscure Otto Lilienthal, who himself died in 1896 in a failed attempt to become airborne. The determined experimentation of the dry, wry besuited Wright brothers a few years later is interspersed with the exploits of loner Charles Lindbergh and the record-breaking achievements of his contemporary Amelia Earhart. Sensibly opting for a simple but effective staging in this intimate space, director Sam Buntrock conjures the excitement of defying gravity by focussing as much on the personalities of these early aviators as on their feats of flying.
Menier Chocolate Factory. Southwark St, SE1 (020-7907 7060). Until September 22, £24 or £10 Saturday matinees
Satisfaction - TNT

Say goodbye to the dull English summer with a couple of hours of classically inspired dance set to a selection of recorded Rolling Stones hits from the '60s and '70s. Under My Thumb (the opening number of former ballet dancer Peter Schaufuss's production) is a bit of a mess, but things soon look up as his choreography — ballet-based but drawing on styles as international as his cast — succumbs to the power of the music. A cheeky dancer struts his stuff, Jagger-style, in skin-tight red pants in Red Rooster — but even a few decades ago Mick couldn't have kept up with the muscled quartet performing Time is On My Side. Some of the choreography is clunky and the interpretations over-obvious. And just why this self-styled "dancical" takes its name from a number which barely makes an appearance remains something of a mystery. Ballet aficionados may baulk, but from the slow, controlled sensuality in a solo interpretation of Play With Fire to the feisty female foursome in Paint it Black and the fragmenting , stomping conga of Mona, Schaufuss manages, for the most part, to tell the mini-stories of the 20-plus songs he's chosen.
Apollo, Shaftesbury Ave, W1 (0870-890 1101). Until September 5