Gatz

TNT

Never quite got round to reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel The Great Gatsby? Well the appropriately named American company, Elevator Repair Service, will do it for you as part of the London International Festival of Theatre, LIFT.

What begins with a frustrated office worker (Scott Shepherd) with a frozen computer turns into a word for word enactment of the classic novel when he picks up a tattered paperback and gets sucked into the hedonistic world of the enigmatic Gatsby.

It’s all rather light-hearted at first, with his colleagues’ day to day routines jokily mirroring the text, but as the story unfolds and Shepherd becomes progressively more involved with the darkening tale that Midwesterner Nick has to tell, his co-workers become almost completely merged with the characters of the book – his beautiful, wealthy relative, Daisy Buchanan (Lucy Taylor), her swaggering, adulterous husband Tom (Robert Cucuzza), his mistress Myrtle, and, of course, the reinvented Jay Gatsby himself (inscrutable Jim Fletcher), Nick’s Long Island neighbour, with his shady past and extravagant parties.

Running at slightly over eight hours (including two short breaks and a dinner interval), John Collins’ production demands huge commitment on the part of both actors and audience. There are no opulent sets (just the grotty office) and barely a change in costume, but thanks to the power of Fitzgerald’s writing, Ben Williams’ evocative sound design and the growing depth of the performances, it isn’t too long before one is completely sucked into the careless glamour and desperation of a dying era.


Noel Coward, St. Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4AU
Tube | Leicester Square
Until 15th July
£37.50 - £77.50
gatzlondon.com

Torch Song Trilogy

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TNT

He may not have the excess avoirdupois frequently alluded to by Harvey Fierstein (playwright and original star of this  multi award-winning trilogy dating from 1978-1981) but David Bedella makes a convincing Arnold Beckoff, a husky-voiced, gay, New York drag queen looking for love and contented domesticity.

In The International Stud, written before the explosion of the AIDS epidemic, there’s a dated innocence to wisecracking Arnold’s initiation into the pleasures of anonymous sex in the backroom of a bar, and desperation in his relationship with Joe McFadden’s closet bisexual teacher Ed.

A year or so later, Fugue in a Nursery sees Arnold and the devoted new pretty boy in his life (Tom Rhys Harries, fresh out of drama school) weekending with Ed and his new wife. An enormous bed dominates the set as the quartet tumble into various permutations in their attempts to make sense of the situation.

Finally, in Widows and Children First emotions run dangerously high when Arnold confronts his widowed mother (Sara Kestelman) with not only the troubled (but surprisingly perceptive) teen he’s in the process of adopting, but also the depth of his own grief at the senseless death of his lover.

Simultaneously pertinent and something of a period piece, this heartfelt triptych mixes sentiment with snappy one-liners. It amuses and entertains, but there’s no denying the pain behind Arnold’s quest for both honesty and fulfilment in Douglas Hodge’s slimmed down and welcome revival.


Menier Chocolate Factory , 53 Southwark Street, SE1 1RU
Tube | London Bridge
Until 12th August£29.50 (MealDeals £37)menierchocolatefactory.com

Ragtime

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TNT

Having a concept is all very well, so long as it serves the play rather than the other way round, but although 21st century multicultural America makes a justifiable contrasting backdrop to the early 20th century aspirations of the characters of E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 novel, Timothy Sheader’s revival of the 1998 musical adaptation doesn’t always satisfy.

The set is a pile of rubble and discarded present day trash, topped with an Obama poster. One by one, the cast relinquish their contemporary dress in favour of period costume as the stories of a black ragtime pianist, a New Rochelle WASP mother, and an Eastern European Jewish immigrant intersect and collide with historical figures such as industrialist Henry Ford, escapologist Harry Houdini and free-thinking anarchist Emma Goldman.

The themes of religious and racial prejudice still come across strongly, and there’s some witty choreography as well as an impassioned performance from Rolan Bell’s Coalhouse and moving ones from John Marquez’s widowed Tateh (trying to make a life for himself and his daughter in an unwelcoming foreign land) and Rosalie Craig’s Mother (crossing the social boundaries). But there’s generally too much going on and this epic tale of American dreams (both broken and fulfilled) flounders until night draws in and the darkening sky overhead increases the tension on stage.

Open Air Theatre | Inner Circle, Regents Park, NW1 4NR
Tube | Baker Street
£22.50 - £49.50 | Until 8th September
openairtheatre.org

Antigone

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TNT

Greek tragedy can sometimes be a rather distant affair.

But director Polly Findlay’s urgent interpretation of Sophocles’ two and a half thousand year old work (using a 1986 version by the late Don Taylor) takes place in a more or less modern hub of political activity and grips from start to finish.

Antigone’s brothers have killed each other in battle and, whilst bulletins bring the latest updates, Creon (their uncle) has decreed that, though one has been buried as a hero, the body of the other, Polynices, is to be left to rot, unhonoured. To him, the security of Thebes is paramount whilst for Jodie Whittaker’s determined Antigone (following her conscience even on pain of death) the obligations of familial duty supersede the dictates of Creon’s law.

Neither the reasoning of his son Haemon (Luke Newberry) nor the prophecies of blind Teiresias (Jamie Ballard) can sway Christopher Eccleston’s intransigent Creon. He barely falters from his chosen path until Kobna Holdbrook-Smith’s Messenger brings him the devastating news precipitated by his own tyrannical actions and his fatally arrogant refusal to recognise the power of the gods.

Olivier at the National, South Bank, SE1 9PX
Tube | Waterloo
In rep until 21st July | 020 7452 3000
£12 - £32 as part of the Travelex season
nationaltheatre.org.uk

Minsk, 2011: A Reply to Kathy Acker

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TNT

Performed in Russian with English surtitles, the 85 minutes of Belarus Free Theatre’s touring production forms a companion piece to New York in 1979, produced in their homeland 2 years ago and based on a text by American punk writer Kathy Acker.

This urgent new work paints a deeply disturbing picture of a city scarred by political events, corruption and suppression – and one in which, under the current dictatorship, they cannot freely perform. Several of the cast have lost jobs, been detained, exiled - or worse - because of their involvement with the company.

The threat of arrest and torture is everywhere, with the KGB ready to pounce at the slightest – or even no – provocation. Wave a flag and you run the risk of being carted away; play a musical instrument in public and you can end up in jail. One actor marks the scars on his body in red – some the legacy of innocent childhood accidents, the more recent ones the result of police brutality. An actress’s naked body is painted black, then completely obscured in paper to emphasise the country’s dysfunctional attitude to sex. Most effective of all are the closing statements, quietly delivered like love letters to a city held dear in their hearts even though it takes away their freedom. 

Young Vic, The Cut, SE1 8LZ
Tube | Southwark / Waterloo
Until 23rd June | £10 - £17.50
youngvic.org

The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

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TNT

The snowy kingdom of Narnia comes to Kensington Gardens courtesy of Threesixty Theatre in an outsize tent which, thankfully, proved remarkably warm and dry on a chill, rain-soaked weekend.

Rupert Goold’s adaptation of C.S.Lewis’s classic 1949 children’s story (which he also co-directs) relies heavily on overhead wraparound projections to create the ice-bound country of perpetual winter, discovered by accident by wartime evacuee Lucy (and later her three siblings) when she hides away in a wardrobe.

Like the cave paintings which decorate the home of Mr.Tumnus the faun (Forbes Masson) they’re attractive, but far from stunning. Mrs Hedgehog’s attire looks simultaneously soft and spiky, but the raggle-taggle costumes sported by Mr & Mrs Beaver barely capture the essence of these industrious creatures. Aslan, though, is rather magnificent. With his voice pre-recorded by David Suchet and his structure owing a sizeable debt to the wonderful War Horse, this benevolent lion is an emaciated, skeletal giant of wood and bark, his mane a mass of autumnal leafy twigs and his roar enough to put fear in the hearts of the youngest members of the audience.

Stilt-walking trees and aerial spins add a touch of the circus, but it isn’t till after the interval that the production really takes off as the battle between good and evil (in the shape of the White Witch) is fought to the death and beyond and Aslan makes the ultimate sacrifice.

Kensington Gardens W8 4PT
Tube | High Street Kensington Until 9th September | £25 -£65lionwitchtheshow.com

Wah! Wah! Girls

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TNT

Britain meets Bollywood in Tanika Gupta’s lively if unsatisfactory contribution to the World Stages season, in a collaboration between Sadler’s Wells, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Kneehigh.

Rina Fatania’s comic Bindi (a dumpling of a woman in a huge armchair) tunes in to her favourite daytime TV channel whilst her husband is out at work and immerses herself in the story of Sita, a runaway from Leeds who turns up at the East London dance club run by Sophiya Haque’s secretive, glamorous Soraya, a former mujra dancer with a hidden past who is determined not to give anyone – not even Delroy Atkinson’s obliging Cal – the chance to break her heart.

Bollywood glamour and East End reality collide to the accompaniment of a mix of movie tracks and Niraj Chag’s new music, and the dance styles are equally eclectic as the old is challenged by the new. Director Emma Rice’s directorial hand is particularly apparent when a puppet fox makes an all too brief appearance, but quite why Polish handyman Pavel sports a red Superman outfit as he sings from the scaffolding, or what purpose a pigeon cum angel serves as she wafts around the stage, I really don’t know.

The production can’t be faulted for its levels of energy or enthusiasm, but it wouldn’t have hurt to add a little more sophistication – and a stronger plot - to this colourful venture.

Peacock Theatre, Portugal Street WC2A 2HTTube | HolbornUntil 23rd June | £15-£42sadlerswells.com

Cantina

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TNT

Slutty, sexy, sadistic – this Aussie import (first presented as part of the 2010 Brisbane Festival) isn’t for the fainthearted.

In a polished combination of dance and acrobatics, the performers put their bodies through the sort of torture which would make most of us run screaming.

Chelsea McGuffin does a nifty tightrope walk in high heels, is flung – and rotates - in midair, and (still in stilettoes) picks her way across stripped-to-the-waist strong man David Carberrry. He barely flinches as her heels dig in, then gets vicious in a face-off with agile Daniel Catlow.

Henna Kaikula’s body is as flexible as a rag doll – a resounding, squirm-making crack accompanies each unnatural bend of the joints of her fingers, feet, arms and legs. And Mozes not only gets naked for a slick trick with a shredded newspaper but also spins wildly, blindfolded, from the top of the Spiegeltent which houses this hour long circus cum vaudeville show, neatly topped and tailed by ukulele playing Nara Demasson.

Priceless London Wonderground, Southbank Centre
Tube | Waterloo
Until 30th September | £15.00 - £50.00
cantinalondon.com

The Beloved

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TNT

Stopping off at the Bush as part of World Stages London this short play (written and directed by Amir Nizar Zuabi’s for the Palestinian company ShiberHur) puts a new twist on the story of Abraham and his son Isaac.    

It brings the tale up to date to reflect the stresses of living on unsafe border territory and show the damage that early childhood trauma can cause.

As in the biblical story, at the last moment Abraham has desisted from sacrificing his young son to God, but he refuses to tell his wife what went on when the two of them disappeared for days and he’s sworn the boy to secrecy. So it’s left to the sacrificial Wise Ram, in conversation with Young Lamb, to reveal what happened up in the mountains.

It’s a heartfelt piece of writing which lays bare the agonised worry of the mother who has already lost one son to war, the misguided confusion of the father whose attempts to toughen up their remaining boy destroyed their relationship, and, when the lad has himself grown up, the emotional anguish he in turn suffers and inflicts on his own wife in what could turn out to be a repeating story.

But those talking sheep (in their frankly ridiculous costumes) are at odds with the heavy symbolism and the combination neither satisfies nor adds insight.

Bush Theatre, Uxbridge Road, W12 8LJ
Tube | Shepherds Bush
Until 9th June | £ 10-£24
bushtheatre.co.uk

Chariots of Fire

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TNT

Artistic director Edward Hall is right on track and going for gold with his inspired production of Mike Bartlett’s decent stage adaptation of the multi award-winning 1981 film.

From the moment Vangelis’s iconic music floods the auditorium (brilliantly converted by Miriam Buether into a mini-stadium, complete with revolve and circular racing tracks which cut right through the audience) and the actors begin their warm up exercises, you know you’re in safe hands.

It barely matters that this fact-based account of a devout Christian Scot, Eric Liddell (Jack Lowden) and an English Jew of Lithuanian descent, Harold Abrahams (James McArdle) in the run up to the 1924 Paris Olympics has been made familiar by the movie. Hall not only incorporates snatches of very British Gilbert and Sullivan but also (in conjunction with choreographer Scott Ambler) thrillingly generates the tension, determination and excitement of wanting to be the fastest in the field.

It seems almost unfair to single out any of the well-trained, physically committed cast, but Tam Williams self-sacrificing Lord Lindsey deserves a special mention for clearing a hurdle - its ends topped with precariously balanced glasses of champagne - several times over, and Nicholas Woodeson is memorable as the professional coach used by Abrahams, much to the disapproval of the Cambridge dons.

Better than a ticket to the Olympics – and cheaper. Go.

Hampstead, Eton Avenue, NW3 3EU
Tube | Swiss Cottage
Until 16th June | £22-£29
hampsteadtheatre.com
Then transfers to Gielgud from 22nd June till 10th November

Events While Guarding the Bofors Gun

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TNT

Tensions run high in director Robert Hastie’s powerful revival of the late John McGrath’s 1966 drama of servicemen stationed in Cold War West Germany in 1954.

Cooped up together in a cramped hut when they’re not on duty outside in the bitter cold, a handful of gunners have been detailed to stand guard over an already obsolete anti-aircraft weapon.

Nominally under the shaky command of the youngest (an 18 year old lance bombardier whose main concern is for the night to pass without incident so that he can return to Blighty, as scheduled, for assessment as future officer material) they’re bursting to relieve the monotony of a pointless task – none more so than Charles Aitken’s intense O’Rourke, a volatile Irishman with a fatally self-destructive streak.

McGrath nails the futility of these young soldiers’ lives going to waste, and Robert Hastie’s rare and welcome revival is well served by all, especially Phil Cheadle’s hard-headed Flynn, at 32 the oldest and most self-controlled of the ill-assorted unit.

Finborough, Finborough Road, SW10 9ED
Tube | Earl’s Court
Until 16th June | £12-£16
finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Posh

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TNT

It would be ASBOs all round if it weren’t for the privileged backgrounds of the ten members of the exclusive Riot Club, Oxford undergraduates headed for a life of power and influence thanks primarily to wealth, titles and family connections.

First seen at the Royal Court in 2010 and now making a welcome transition to the West End, Laura Wade’s wickedly funny and politically updated satire of a debauched evening’s wining and dining among the privately educated elite doesn’t hold back in portraying the ridiculous rituals of these overgrown schoolboys – or their obnoxious belief that money can buy them out of trouble.

With their callous attitudes to the less financially fortunate - only the club’s president ( Tim Mison) shows a modicum of sensibility – they’re out to trash and get smashed in a manner more than a little reminiscent of the Bullingdon Club which boasts David Cameron among its former members.

It all makes for an extremely entertaining evening, with strong performances all round in Lyndsey Turner’s partially recast production and particularly memorable work from Max Bennett’s misogynist Harry (fresh from a fencing victory and a blow job), Richard Goulding’s titled George, Leo Bill’s Alistair ranting against the lower classes, and Steffan Rhodri as the unfortunate landlord of the rural gastropub who’s been led to believe he’s playing host to a group of young entrepreneurs.

Duke of York’s, St Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4BG
Tube: Charing Cross / Leicester Square
Until 4th August | £15 - £52.50
poshtheplay.com

What the Butler Saw

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TNT

Doors galore, mistaken identities, dropped trousers, a frenetic pace and some killer lines – Joe Orton’s final play (he was bludgeoned to death by his lover in 1967) has all the ingredients of a successful farce.

But Sean Foley’s misjudged revival of this exercise in comic subversion starts out manic and has nowhere much to go from there. Working on the principle that more is more, his production manages to kill rather encourage laughter despite a cast which includes Tim McInnerny as predatory psychiatrist Dr Prentice, Samantha Bond as his nymphomaniac wife (who announces that her “uterine contractions have been bogus for some time) and Omid Djalili as visiting inspector Dr Rance.

Set in Dr Prentice’s consulting room, the confusion is sparked by the attempted seduction of the secretary who’s come for an interview and Mrs. P’s off-stage encounter (in a hotel linen cupboard) with a young bell-boy who has stolen her dress and wig.

By the end of what feels like a long evening, most of the protagonists (including Jason Thorpe’s investigating policeman) have variously been shot at, doped, restrained in straightjackets, or dressed up as members of the opposite sex in this heavy-handed account of Orton’s anti-establishment satire which desperately needs room to breathe.

Vaudeville, Strand WC2R 0NHTube | Charing CrossUntil 25th August | £25 - £49.50whatthebutlersawtheplay.com

The Sunshine Boys

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TNT

Prolific American playwright Neil Simon doesn’t always transfer well across the Atlantic, but with its wisecracking comedy tinged with recrimination and regret his 40 year old comedy proves a decent showcase for Danny DeVito’s debut on the West End stage.

He plays Willie Clark, one half of a once successful vaudeville double act. For 43 years he performed alongside his partner Al, but they haven’t spoken for over a decade, not since the latter announced his plans to retire to New Jersey.

Now living alone in a shabby New York hotel apartment, forgetful, grumpy and still nursing a grudge, Willie relies on the weekly visits of his nephew and agent (Adam Levy) who has finally managed to get him a deal – a CBS television retrospective which involves one last link up with Al.

Just the sight of the ultra-short DeVito next to the bulk of Richard Griffiths’ rather too ponderous Al is the stuff of old fashioned comedy, and some of the gags have definitely seen better days. But DeVito’s pyjama clad portrayal of the aging, angry Willie – and Simon’s depiction of a tetchy marriage-like relationship which hasn’t mellowed with the passing of time – carry Thea Sharrock’s rather slow production.

Savoy, The Strand | WC2R 0ET
Tube | Charing Cross tube
Until 28th July | £25 - £28.50
sunshineboystheplay.com

Step 9 (of 12)

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TNT

Although the subject of alcoholism crops up frequently in both serious dramas and comedies, the world of fostering and adoption seems, by and large, to have been ignored.

So the field was wide open for Rob Hayes to make a strong impression with his short new play which involves both, especially with The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison on board.

He plays Keith, the temporarily dry young man who has got as far as making his list of those he has harmed (step 8) and should now be in the process of making amends – except that he seems to have forgotten that this should only be if it does no further harm to the injured parties and that it shouldn’t involve coercing them into forgiving him for past misdemeanours..

In his grubby, grotty bedsit Harrison’s Keith has the slightly manic look of someone only barely under control, ready to explode without too much provocation and surely with more than alcoholism at the root of his problems. As his estranged foster parents, Barry McCarthy’s mild, conciliatory Alan is completely convincing, whilst Wendy Nottingham’s hostile Judith makes it clear that only a grudging sense of duty has persuaded her to visit this reminder of past troubles.

But Hayes doesn’t really pull it off, never pursuing ideas and past episodes in any satisfactory way – and although it provides one of several amusing moments, surely any sensible adult (let alone these two English teachers with vast experience of Keith’s unpredictable behaviour) would have headed for the hills as soon as their former charge served up so-called coffee made from gravy granules.

Trafalgar Studios 2 | £17.50- £29.50
Whitehall, SW1A 2DY
Tube | Charing Cross | Until 26th May
atgtickets.com/trafalgarstudios

A Slow Air

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TNT

For 14 years, middle-aged siblings Athol and Morna haven’t spoken to each other.        But what was it that caused the rift between single mum Morna and solid, reliable, happily married Athol? In the course of an absorbing 80 minutes, David Harrower’s intertwined monologues (which he also directs) reveal how different the lives of these two ordinary people have been and hint at reconciliation thanks to the intervention of Mona’s son Joshua.

Their stories are simple enough - nothing earthshattering, just a succession of remembered incidents and events exposing both protagonists’ points of view. Susan Vidler’s resentful single mum Mona still thinks the world owes her (she’s unjustifiably, angrily indignant when the rich woman she cleans for refuses to let her borrow her flat for Joshua’s 21st birthday) and more than a trace of the wild child she once was still remains. In contrast, Lewis Howden’s comfortable Athol, now based in Glasgow and with his own tiling business, has settled into a life of walking the dog and playing golf.

Both performances are first rate, drawing you into Athol and Morna’s past and present in this low-key, quietly engaging two-hander, fittingly played out on adjacent sides of the jagged edges which split the square stage into unequal halves.

Tricycle, Kilburn High Road, NW6 7JR | £15+
Tube | Kilburn
Until 2nd June
tricycle.co.uk

Top Hat

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TNT

Typical of its genre, Irving Berlin’s 1935 RKO motion picture smash hit was as frothy as they come and director Matthew White and Howard Jacques’ stage adaptation proves as undemandingly light on plot as the original.

A handful of additional Berlin songs have been added to keep things moving swiftly along through countless smoothly achieved scene changes from a New York theatre to a swanky bridal suite in Venice via the art deco luxury of a London hotel.

Following in the footsteps of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers ain’t easy, and although there’s little chemistry between Summer Strallen’s high-kicking, honey-voiced Dale Tremont and former Strictly winner Tom Chambers’ Broadway star Jerry Travers (whom she mistakenly thinks is already married to an old friend) her glamorous elegance complements his nifty footwork – even if he does seem just as happy dancing with a hat stand!

The well-drilled chorus (almost too many of them for the limited space) tap with precise gusto, Vivien Parry’s cynical, wisecracking Madge has barely a good word to say about men in general (let alone the theatrical producer to whom she’s really married) and Stephen Boswell and Portuguese Ricardo Afonso go for broke as, respectively, an off the wall valet prone to gnomic utterings and a manic Italian designer stripped to his undies.

Aldwych, Aldwych WC2B 4DF | £20 - £65
Tube- Covent Garden/ Charing Cross
Till 26th January 2013
aldywch-theatre.co.uk

Making Noise Quietly

This is London

First seen in 1986, Robert Holman’s three short plays are linked by the shadow of war and a trio of classcrossing meetings.

In Being Friends (the first and most effective) a sickly, effete and openly gay young man (based on writer and artist Denton Welch and played with great precision by Matthew Tennyson) encounters a virile conscientious objector (a Quaker from Manchester currently working on the land) as he sunbathes in the Kent countryside in 1944, with doodlebugs landing not far away.

Then, in Lost, set in 1982, a working class mother (a hurt Susan Brown) learns that the estranged son she hasn’t heard from in five years has been killed in the Falklands when a naval lieutenant (his father a Vice Admiral) knocks on her door. And finally, in the longest play and the one which gives the trilogy its name, an almost mute young boy – abandoned by his mother and left in the unwilling care of his angry, foul-mouthed squaddie stepfather (Ben Batt) – scrawls messages on his forearm, instead of speaking, in an unwitting imitation of the numbers tattooed on the skin of the elderly German artist who tries to help them.

Peter Gill’s sympathetic direction of these subtle vignettes (played out against a simple, unobtrusive set) allows Holman’s moments of truth and tenderness, hurt and conciliation to make their own quiet impact, and adds a further layer of resonance as the characters crisscross the stage between the plays, like ghostly memories of the casualties of wars past and present.

Donmar until 26 May