The Female of the Species - TNT
No wonder Germaine Greer was incensed by fellow Aussie Joanna Murray-Smith's portrayal of a fictional feminist writer, Margot Mason, held hostage (like Greer herself several years ago) by a disgruntled ex-student who believes Mason's writing has completely wrecked her life.
Anna Maxwell Martin's obsessive, gun-toting intruder and Margot's stressed-out housewife daughter are just two of the uninvited visitors who find their way to the academic's isolated country home and reveal the inconsistencies in her influential theorising.
Eileen Atkins is always watchable as the handcuffed author of The Cerebral Vagina, and the arrival of a bearded taxi driver adds a belated whiff of testosterone to this comic exposure of the post-feminist confusion of both sexes.
Vaudeville Theatre, WC2 (0870-040 0084). Until October 4. £27.50-£47.50
Sunday 27 July 2008
High School Musical - TNT
Arriving at the Apollo Hammersmith is rather like gate-crashing a pre-teen birthday party. The foyer is full of excited little girls waving cheerleader pompoms and ready to stay up way past their bedtime. They probably all know the story inside out, but that hardly matters - Disney's lively, cleaned-up derivative of "Grease" won't win any points for originality and the phenomenal success of the made-for-TV original is sure to guarantee an enthusiastic school holiday audience.
It's not just the plot that lacks novelty as new girl maths geek Gabriella and basketball star Troy navigate the pitfalls of continuing a holiday romance back at Albuquerque's East High, where the divide between Brainiacs and Jocks seems an insurmountable barrier. The choreography backs away from hints of freshness, too – when basketballs crash from the ceiling, the dance routine which incorporates them has barely started before it's over (surely young attention spans aren't quite that limited?)
But the colours are bright, the dialogue (though cheesily unsubtle) is delivered with the same gusto as the energetic dance numbers and I must admit to a soft spot for a couple of the minor characters - scurrying, apologetic Kelsi with her problematic new glasses and bitchy drama queen Sharpay's camp twin brother Ryan. The kids in the audience loved it with its "follow your dreams" message, but unencumbered adults would do better to head elsewhere in search of musical fulfilment.
Apollo, Hammersmith, Queen Caroline Street, W6 (0844-847 2397/0871-386 1122) Until August 31. £45-£10
Arriving at the Apollo Hammersmith is rather like gate-crashing a pre-teen birthday party. The foyer is full of excited little girls waving cheerleader pompoms and ready to stay up way past their bedtime. They probably all know the story inside out, but that hardly matters - Disney's lively, cleaned-up derivative of "Grease" won't win any points for originality and the phenomenal success of the made-for-TV original is sure to guarantee an enthusiastic school holiday audience.
It's not just the plot that lacks novelty as new girl maths geek Gabriella and basketball star Troy navigate the pitfalls of continuing a holiday romance back at Albuquerque's East High, where the divide between Brainiacs and Jocks seems an insurmountable barrier. The choreography backs away from hints of freshness, too – when basketballs crash from the ceiling, the dance routine which incorporates them has barely started before it's over (surely young attention spans aren't quite that limited?)
But the colours are bright, the dialogue (though cheesily unsubtle) is delivered with the same gusto as the energetic dance numbers and I must admit to a soft spot for a couple of the minor characters - scurrying, apologetic Kelsi with her problematic new glasses and bitchy drama queen Sharpay's camp twin brother Ryan. The kids in the audience loved it with its "follow your dreams" message, but unencumbered adults would do better to head elsewhere in search of musical fulfilment.
Apollo, Hammersmith, Queen Caroline Street, W6 (0844-847 2397/0871-386 1122) Until August 31. £45-£10
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - TNT
It's mostly fun, but to make sure you don't forget the heartbreak involved, there's a sprinkling of truly poignant episodes in this hour long show inspired by audience stories of breaking up and moving on. Most devastating of all is Claire Keelan as a young junkie about to turn hooker in a desperate effort to keep hold of her exploitative "boyfriend." Ralf Little is touching, too, as he delivers a sad little monologue counting down the seconds since the end of his relationship, and he's also suitably street in a witty rap number aimed at his two-timing girlfriend.
There's a running gag in which, over decades, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's attempts to read his bedtime book are constantly thwarted by his partner's unstoppable interruptions, plus a farmer in love with his cow and a young woman (Michelle Terry) unceremoniously dumped by text after she's spent the half the evening, immaculately groomed, waiting for her louse of a date to turn up.
Five writers and director Anthea Williams have concocted an enjoyable mix of scenes, sketches and swift one-liners and come perilously close to convincing all those singletons out there that – even when they think they may have found Mr or Miss Right – the hunt just might not prove worth the effort.
Bush Theatre, Shepherds Bush Green, W12 (020-8743 5050). Until August 9. £13
It's mostly fun, but to make sure you don't forget the heartbreak involved, there's a sprinkling of truly poignant episodes in this hour long show inspired by audience stories of breaking up and moving on. Most devastating of all is Claire Keelan as a young junkie about to turn hooker in a desperate effort to keep hold of her exploitative "boyfriend." Ralf Little is touching, too, as he delivers a sad little monologue counting down the seconds since the end of his relationship, and he's also suitably street in a witty rap number aimed at his two-timing girlfriend.
There's a running gag in which, over decades, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith's attempts to read his bedtime book are constantly thwarted by his partner's unstoppable interruptions, plus a farmer in love with his cow and a young woman (Michelle Terry) unceremoniously dumped by text after she's spent the half the evening, immaculately groomed, waiting for her louse of a date to turn up.
Five writers and director Anthea Williams have concocted an enjoyable mix of scenes, sketches and swift one-liners and come perilously close to convincing all those singletons out there that – even when they think they may have found Mr or Miss Right – the hunt just might not prove worth the effort.
Bush Theatre, Shepherds Bush Green, W12 (020-8743 5050). Until August 9. £13
Monday 21 July 2008
Afterlife - TNT
When Michael Frayn is on form, his plays are hard to beat for intelligence and wit. But, every so often, he comes up with a clunker. Although the National's resources succeed in dressing up this homage to extravagant impresario Max Reinhardt (1873-1943), beneath its opulent, baroque surface (and despite a fine central performance from Roger Allam) it's hard to warm to the script's intellectual games.
Reinhardt wanted to break down the boundaries between life and art, and Frayn forces parallels between his situation as an Austrian Jew by integrating rhyming chunks of Everyman (the medieval morality play that he staged annually at Salzburg). But the production repeatedly hammers home the message without illuminating the characters and the result is dramatically underpowered.
Lyttelton at the National, South Bank, SE1 (020-7452 3000). Until August 30. £10-£14.
Hangover Square - TNT
Fidelis Morgan's adaptation does an excellent job of distilling the essence of Patrick Hamilton' s dark 1941 novel – and designer Alex Marker more than matches her vision with an extraordinarily atmospheric transformation of this tiny space. Rain trickles down a sloping glass roof, a streetlamp nuzzles against the audience seating, and empty bottles clutter the ledges of dingy saloon bar, cheap Brighton hotel and sleazy lodging house as George Harvey Bone listens to the voices in his head telling him to kill failed actress Netta Longdon.
Set in Earls Court just before the outbreak of war,Gemma Fairlie's excellent production conjures a seedy world of drifting pointlessness in which the obsessed Bone hovers, humiliated, on the edge of her boozy crowd, an object of scorn who's always left to pick up the tab.The device of splitting the role of Netta between two actresses emphasises the turmoil in Bone's troubled brain and Matthew Flynn plays him with the dazed, desperate look of the borderline alcoholic, unable to distinguish between reality and his unfulfilled desires.
Finborough, Finborough Road, SW10. (0844-847 1652). Until August 2. Tickets £13 (£9 Tuesdays).
Fanshen - TNT
Full marks to the enterprising Theatredelicatessen for securing a temporary home at a central London location just a stone's throw from Oxford Circus.The building is scheduled for redevelopment and (although a smart commissionaire is still in situ in the entrance lobby) the space in which this slice of Chinese history unfolds has, appropriately, already been stripped to the floorboards. The audience sits on bare wooden benches, or hard sackcloth covered seats to watch the peasants of Long Bow village deal with the changes brought about by the overthrow of the feudal system and its replacement by what was intended to be a communist utopia.
David Hare's 1975 Brechtian style docu-drama, interesting though it is, proves pretty heavy-going as it demonstrates how the less attractive aspects of human nature (greed, corruption, the desire for vengeance) undermine the idealism behind this period of land reform from 1945 – 1949.It's all very earnest and very worthy and the cast are obviously committed. But although Hare opens a window on another culture, it proves hard to engage with so many briefly sketched characters, so many community meetings and so little actual drama.
295 Regent Street, London W1. (07708 740913). Until August 3. Tickets £12 (£10 concessions).
Thursday 17 July 2008
HARPER REGAN - This is London
In an already fragile situation, the imminent death of a parent sends 41 year old middleclass Harper right off the rails in Simon Stephens' episodic new play. In a series of often slightly bizarre encounters, it follows her as, without a word, she walks out on her family and disappears back to her Manchester roots to visit, too late, her dying father.
There's a fascinating, emotionally disjointed quality to the distinct scenes which, physically, merge fluidly into one another as Hildegard Bechtler's economical but atmospheric set glides and rotates to create yet another anonymous environment – the Uxbridge office where her disconcertingly weird boss refuses to give her compassionate leave because the timing isn't onvenient; the canal bridge on which she engages a bemused young student in conversation; a vast two-storey hotel room where she arranges to meet Brian Capron's gentlemanly stranger in search of no-strings extra-marital sex.
There's a fascinating, emotionally disjointed quality to the distinct scenes which, physically, merge fluidly into one another as Hildegard Bechtler's economical but atmospheric set glides and rotates to create yet another anonymous environment – the Uxbridge office where her disconcertingly weird boss refuses to give her compassionate leave because the timing isn't onvenient; the canal bridge on which she engages a bemused young student in conversation; a vast two-storey hotel room where she arranges to meet Brian Capron's gentlemanly stranger in search of no-strings extra-marital sex.
In the pivotal role of Harper, Lesley Sharp gives a riveting performance of desperation and troubled vulnerability as she confronts her estranged mother (Susan Brown), then imparts the truths she herself hadn't wanted to hear to her own teenage daughter (excellent Jessica Raine). And, as Harper's personal odyssey draws to an end and the strains her husband's actions have put on the whole family are acknowledged, Marianne Elliott's sympathetic, well-acted production finally suggests that her journey has, perhaps, brought them all to a more comfortable place of acceptance and a workable future.
Cottesloe Theatre.
Louise Kingsley
Cottesloe Theatre.
Louise Kingsley
Sunday 13 July 2008
The Revenger's Tragedy - TNT
Melly Still's visually arresting, modern dress revival of Thomas Middleton's Jacobean tragi-comedy begins with an orgy and ends with a bloodbath. The revolving labyrinthine design and eclectic music portray a decadent Italian court, rife with corruption and lechery, where brother betrays stepbrother, bastard son gets it together with his father's new wife, and a mother is prepared to prostitute her virtuous daughter when substantial riches are on offer.
Elliot Cowan's louche Lussurioso follows in the rampant footsteps of his ducal father (Ken Bones) and, at the centre of a convoluted but clear plot, Rory Kinnear's Vindice (in disguise to avenge the murder of his betrothed and armed with her poisoned skull) rises to the challenge of being hired to kill himself.
Olivier at the National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 (020-7452 3000; www.nationaltheatre.org.uk). Until August 28. £10-£30 (part of the Travelex £10 season)
Melly Still's visually arresting, modern dress revival of Thomas Middleton's Jacobean tragi-comedy begins with an orgy and ends with a bloodbath. The revolving labyrinthine design and eclectic music portray a decadent Italian court, rife with corruption and lechery, where brother betrays stepbrother, bastard son gets it together with his father's new wife, and a mother is prepared to prostitute her virtuous daughter when substantial riches are on offer.
Elliot Cowan's louche Lussurioso follows in the rampant footsteps of his ducal father (Ken Bones) and, at the centre of a convoluted but clear plot, Rory Kinnear's Vindice (in disguise to avenge the murder of his betrothed and armed with her poisoned skull) rises to the challenge of being hired to kill himself.
Olivier at the National Theatre, South Bank, SE1 (020-7452 3000; www.nationaltheatre.org.uk). Until August 28. £10-£30 (part of the Travelex £10 season)
The Rake's Progress - TNT
I'm a huge fan of the multi-talented French Canadian director Robert Lepage, but (as with his muddy production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the National several years back) his brilliant creativity seems constrained whenit comes to working within the confines imposed by someone else's structure.
Based on Hogarth's series of paintings depicting the downfall of a weak-willed hedonist, Stravinsky's 1951 opera boasts a libretto co-written by the poet W.A. Auden and his lover Chester Kallman. Lepage has abandonedthe original 18th century setting and turned Tom Rakewell into a good-for-nothing spendthrift from Texas. Tempted by Nick Shadow (who emerges, slicked with oil, from his subterranean lair) Rakewell deserts the girl he supposedly loves for the glitzy fame and surface glitter that Tinseltown has to offer.
From brothel, to marriage to a bearded (and very hairy-legged) lady, to ruin and insanity, Rakewell's fate is shown (somewhat statically) on sets inspired by scenes from such mid-20th century movies as Sunset Boulevard and Giant. There are glimpses of Lepage's visual flair and imagination at work, but too often the results are disappointingly disjointed. Still, bass-baritone John Relyea makes a devilishly demonic Shadow, and (with Thomas Ades conducting) soprano Sally Matthews' rejected Anne is deeply moving as she sets out in search of her worthless beloved.
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, WC2 (020-7304 4000). In rep until July 18. Tickets £139- £6
I'm a huge fan of the multi-talented French Canadian director Robert Lepage, but (as with his muddy production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the National several years back) his brilliant creativity seems constrained whenit comes to working within the confines imposed by someone else's structure.
Based on Hogarth's series of paintings depicting the downfall of a weak-willed hedonist, Stravinsky's 1951 opera boasts a libretto co-written by the poet W.A. Auden and his lover Chester Kallman. Lepage has abandonedthe original 18th century setting and turned Tom Rakewell into a good-for-nothing spendthrift from Texas. Tempted by Nick Shadow (who emerges, slicked with oil, from his subterranean lair) Rakewell deserts the girl he supposedly loves for the glitzy fame and surface glitter that Tinseltown has to offer.
From brothel, to marriage to a bearded (and very hairy-legged) lady, to ruin and insanity, Rakewell's fate is shown (somewhat statically) on sets inspired by scenes from such mid-20th century movies as Sunset Boulevard and Giant. There are glimpses of Lepage's visual flair and imagination at work, but too often the results are disappointingly disjointed. Still, bass-baritone John Relyea makes a devilishly demonic Shadow, and (with Thomas Ades conducting) soprano Sally Matthews' rejected Anne is deeply moving as she sets out in search of her worthless beloved.
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, WC2 (020-7304 4000). In rep until July 18. Tickets £139- £6
In My Name - TNT
In what appears to be the immediate aftermath of the July 7th bombings, supermarket shelf stacker Grim is completely unconcerned about the chaos outside the messy flat he shares with new flatmate Egg. He's far morebothered about the aimless state of his life – and by Egg's edgy behaviour.
Although there's some snappy dialogue, the construction of Steven Hevey's 90 minute transfer from the Old Red Lion is ropey. After an unnecessary interval, what begins as a rather laboured comedy (with a lot of chat aboutnon-functioning mobile phones and childish board games) escalates into intense, small-scale violence. All the same, the lack of morality and muddled sense of identity of young Brits comes powerfully across, thanks in no small part to a couple of knockout performances – from Kevin Watt as disturbed ex-soldier Egg who can't forget what he's seen and done whilst purportedly serving his country, and from Ray Panthaki's fast-talking, coke-snorting Royal whose streetwise bravado crumbles into snivelling terror.
But, poignantly, the unforgettable moment of the evening came when Panthaki stilled the first night applause to dedicate the performance to his girlfriend's brother – 16-year-old Ben Kinsella who had been pointlessly knifed to death just days before.
Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1 (0870-060 6632). Until July 19. Tickets £22.50 (£15.00 on Monday).
In what appears to be the immediate aftermath of the July 7th bombings, supermarket shelf stacker Grim is completely unconcerned about the chaos outside the messy flat he shares with new flatmate Egg. He's far morebothered about the aimless state of his life – and by Egg's edgy behaviour.
Although there's some snappy dialogue, the construction of Steven Hevey's 90 minute transfer from the Old Red Lion is ropey. After an unnecessary interval, what begins as a rather laboured comedy (with a lot of chat aboutnon-functioning mobile phones and childish board games) escalates into intense, small-scale violence. All the same, the lack of morality and muddled sense of identity of young Brits comes powerfully across, thanks in no small part to a couple of knockout performances – from Kevin Watt as disturbed ex-soldier Egg who can't forget what he's seen and done whilst purportedly serving his country, and from Ray Panthaki's fast-talking, coke-snorting Royal whose streetwise bravado crumbles into snivelling terror.
But, poignantly, the unforgettable moment of the evening came when Panthaki stilled the first night applause to dedicate the performance to his girlfriend's brother – 16-year-old Ben Kinsella who had been pointlessly knifed to death just days before.
Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1 (0870-060 6632). Until July 19. Tickets £22.50 (£15.00 on Monday).
Sunday 6 July 2008
Black Watch - TNT
After almost two years, Gregory Burke's 2006 Edinburgh Festival hit for the National Theatre of Scotland has finally made it to London and into a transformed Barbican theatre. This brilliant fusion of music, movement, video and expletive-spattered dialogue — much of it gleaned from Fifeshire squaddies who served in Iraq — is angry yet beautiful, its characters at times inarticulate yet always powerfully eloquent.
In a superbly choreographed sequence, director John Tiffany deftly recreates three centuries of this proud Scottish regiment's history. But Burke also vividly portrays the gibing camaraderie that pervades the dangerous tedium of anticipating the next mortar attack, and the emotional damage done to the highly drilled young soldiers fortunate enough to return from peacekeeping in "the triangle of death".
Barbican, Silk St, EC2 (020-7638 8891). Until July 26. £25
After almost two years, Gregory Burke's 2006 Edinburgh Festival hit for the National Theatre of Scotland has finally made it to London and into a transformed Barbican theatre. This brilliant fusion of music, movement, video and expletive-spattered dialogue — much of it gleaned from Fifeshire squaddies who served in Iraq — is angry yet beautiful, its characters at times inarticulate yet always powerfully eloquent.
In a superbly choreographed sequence, director John Tiffany deftly recreates three centuries of this proud Scottish regiment's history. But Burke also vividly portrays the gibing camaraderie that pervades the dangerous tedium of anticipating the next mortar attack, and the emotional damage done to the highly drilled young soldiers fortunate enough to return from peacekeeping in "the triangle of death".
Barbican, Silk St, EC2 (020-7638 8891). Until July 26. £25
On The Rocks - TNT
Amy Rosenthal has obviously done her research into the time that D.H. Lawrence and his German wife Frieda spent living in an isolated Cornish village during the First Wold War. Her comic new play reveals not only their turbulent domesticity but also their relationship with the close literary friends — New Zealand born short storywriter Katherine Mansfield and her future husband, critic and editor John Middleton Murry — whom Lawrence persuaded to rent the cottage next door in an attempt to fulfil his vision of a communal utopia of artists.
While he and Tracy-Ann Oberman's earthy, red-stockinged Frieda fight violently (then patch things up with equal vigour in the bedroom and on the kitchen floor), their companions are painted in much more subdued colours. Mansfield, her voice tight and unhappy in Charlotte Emmerson's performance, is on the verge of depression and unable to write. And Nick Caldecott's fastidious Murry is far too inhibited to abandon himself to any sort of fleshly contact — let alone the near-naked wrestling bout which Ed Stoppard's passionate, insulting, control freak Lawrence forces on him.
But, after what the programme reveals to be an incredibly long gestation period, it's a shame that Rosenthal hasn't quite managed to distil all that information into something tighter, funnier and consistently more involving than Clare Lizzimore's production proves to be.
Hampstead, Eton Ave, NW3 (020-7722 9301). Until July 26. £23-£14 (£11 for under 26s)
Amy Rosenthal has obviously done her research into the time that D.H. Lawrence and his German wife Frieda spent living in an isolated Cornish village during the First Wold War. Her comic new play reveals not only their turbulent domesticity but also their relationship with the close literary friends — New Zealand born short storywriter Katherine Mansfield and her future husband, critic and editor John Middleton Murry — whom Lawrence persuaded to rent the cottage next door in an attempt to fulfil his vision of a communal utopia of artists.
While he and Tracy-Ann Oberman's earthy, red-stockinged Frieda fight violently (then patch things up with equal vigour in the bedroom and on the kitchen floor), their companions are painted in much more subdued colours. Mansfield, her voice tight and unhappy in Charlotte Emmerson's performance, is on the verge of depression and unable to write. And Nick Caldecott's fastidious Murry is far too inhibited to abandon himself to any sort of fleshly contact — let alone the near-naked wrestling bout which Ed Stoppard's passionate, insulting, control freak Lawrence forces on him.
But, after what the programme reveals to be an incredibly long gestation period, it's a shame that Rosenthal hasn't quite managed to distil all that information into something tighter, funnier and consistently more involving than Clare Lizzimore's production proves to be.
Hampstead, Eton Ave, NW3 (020-7722 9301). Until July 26. £23-£14 (£11 for under 26s)
Grand Slam - TNT
Timed to coincide with the opening of Wimbledon, theatre critic Lloyd Evans' functional new comedy brings a neurotically superstitious female tennis player and a rough East End bodyguard into a game, set and match situation. At the age of 29, unseeded, Monaco-based British Madeleine has finally scraped into the tournament on a wild card. She's rented a house in Wimbledon, along with the temporary services of minder Cedric. He turns out to be a bouncer with a criminal record; she (less credibly) has a trainer who's only contactable by phone, survives on a dolphin's diet, and surreptitiously helps herself to Cedric's unhealthy fags, booze and hamburgers in spite of what's at stake.
Constructed in a series of short (but not always sharp) scenes, the exchanges between them have something of the rhythm of a tennis match, each one vying for the upper hand as, against the odds, she gets closer and closer to the final. But although Rachel Pickup's rich, ritual obsessed Madeleine and Sam Spruell's law-bending Cedric do what they can to keep the ball in the air, this old-fashioned two-hander won't win any trophies.
Kings Head Theatre, Upper Street, NI (0870-890 0149). Until July 26. £20- £25 (concessions available)
Timed to coincide with the opening of Wimbledon, theatre critic Lloyd Evans' functional new comedy brings a neurotically superstitious female tennis player and a rough East End bodyguard into a game, set and match situation. At the age of 29, unseeded, Monaco-based British Madeleine has finally scraped into the tournament on a wild card. She's rented a house in Wimbledon, along with the temporary services of minder Cedric. He turns out to be a bouncer with a criminal record; she (less credibly) has a trainer who's only contactable by phone, survives on a dolphin's diet, and surreptitiously helps herself to Cedric's unhealthy fags, booze and hamburgers in spite of what's at stake.
Constructed in a series of short (but not always sharp) scenes, the exchanges between them have something of the rhythm of a tennis match, each one vying for the upper hand as, against the odds, she gets closer and closer to the final. But although Rachel Pickup's rich, ritual obsessed Madeleine and Sam Spruell's law-bending Cedric do what they can to keep the ball in the air, this old-fashioned two-hander won't win any trophies.
Kings Head Theatre, Upper Street, NI (0870-890 0149). Until July 26. £20- £25 (concessions available)
Thursday 3 July 2008
THE CHALK GARDEN Donmar Theatre - This is London
Though probably best known for her children's novel ‘National Velvet,’ Enid Bagnold also turned her hand to writing plays and had a significant success with this quirky upper middleclass comedy which premiered in New York in 1955 before opening in London the following year. Michael Grandage's delightful revival brings out all the charm of Bagnold's idiosyncratic, aphoristic style whilst refusing to shy away from the darker side of her characters' behaviour.
Apparently inspired by her own experiences when interviewing potential nannies, this wittily written account of an unconventional and dysfunctional household definitely has its serious side. Just like the flowers which refuse to grow in the infertile chalk of Mrs. St. Maugham's Sussex garden, her 16 year old granddaughter Laurel (who hasn't seen her mother for years since she remarried) cannot flourish in an emotionally sterile environment where her closest friend is the highly strung manservant Maitland, a conscientious objector who served five years in prison.
Penelope Wilton is enigmatically controlled as the mysterious, greenfingered Miss Madrigal with a questionable past. Hired (without references but with considerable horticultural knowledge) as companion to Felicity Jones' precociously curious Laurel, she manages not only to curb her young charge's tendency to elaborate the truth and play (literally) with fire, but also to coax the garden into life – despite the contradictory orders of the ancient butler who lies, unseen and dying, a relic in an upstairs bedroom.
But the star of this highly enjoyable evening is Margaret Tyzack's bitchy, manipulative but ultimately lonely grandmother. Tyzack revels in her eccentricities and (despite her sharp tongue and scathing attitude towards her own daughter) makes it impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for this unconventional old dowager with her emotionally barren existence.
Louise Kingsley
Though probably best known for her children's novel ‘National Velvet,’ Enid Bagnold also turned her hand to writing plays and had a significant success with this quirky upper middleclass comedy which premiered in New York in 1955 before opening in London the following year. Michael Grandage's delightful revival brings out all the charm of Bagnold's idiosyncratic, aphoristic style whilst refusing to shy away from the darker side of her characters' behaviour.
Apparently inspired by her own experiences when interviewing potential nannies, this wittily written account of an unconventional and dysfunctional household definitely has its serious side. Just like the flowers which refuse to grow in the infertile chalk of Mrs. St. Maugham's Sussex garden, her 16 year old granddaughter Laurel (who hasn't seen her mother for years since she remarried) cannot flourish in an emotionally sterile environment where her closest friend is the highly strung manservant Maitland, a conscientious objector who served five years in prison.
Penelope Wilton is enigmatically controlled as the mysterious, greenfingered Miss Madrigal with a questionable past. Hired (without references but with considerable horticultural knowledge) as companion to Felicity Jones' precociously curious Laurel, she manages not only to curb her young charge's tendency to elaborate the truth and play (literally) with fire, but also to coax the garden into life – despite the contradictory orders of the ancient butler who lies, unseen and dying, a relic in an upstairs bedroom.
But the star of this highly enjoyable evening is Margaret Tyzack's bitchy, manipulative but ultimately lonely grandmother. Tyzack revels in her eccentricities and (despite her sharp tongue and scathing attitude towards her own daughter) makes it impossible not to feel a twinge of sympathy for this unconventional old dowager with her emotionally barren existence.
Louise Kingsley
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