Our Town

 TNT

Just a few chairs, tables, ladders and a leafy bough hanging overhead comprise the scenery in Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning study of everyday life in the small fictional community of Grover’s Corner somewhere in New Hampshire.

 Written in 1938, it was pretty experimental for the time –with the character of the Stage Manager (a competent Simon Dobson in present day clothes) breaking through the fourth wall to address the audience directly whilst also dropping into the action to serve as a drugstore owner and a clergyman.

Most of the characters make only fleeting appearances over three acts and thirteen years from 1901 to 1913, with the focus mainly on the changing relationship between young Emily whose father edits the local paper and George, the doctor’s son. Between them, the ensemble of fourteen (drawn from a multitude of countries and performing with varying degrees of conviction) play a host of other locals – from the milkman to the alcoholic church organist (whose misery is never explained) and from a university lecturer to a dead woman waiting to welcome another spirit to a different place.

Apparently this reminder to appreciate what one has and to make the most of one’s allocated time has been performed somewhere in the US every night for the last 75 years. Tim Sullivan’s mildly diverting if somewhat underpowered production does little to explain why – but Zoe Swenson-Graham’s Emily glows with optimism in this gentle portrayal of ordinary American life at the turn of the century.

£15+, Kings  Head Theatre,
Upper Street, N1 1QN
Tube | Angel kingsheadtheatre.com

Read more: Theatre review: Our Town at Kings Head Theatre, London - TNT Magazine
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Infamous : Derren Brown

 TNT

What to say about a show that you’re not allowed to say anything about?

Several times during the course of a superbly entertaining evening, Derren Brown – psychological illusionist and mentalist extraordinaire – entreated punters and critics alike not to divulge what goes on in over two and half hours of mind-boggling entertainment.

But I’m sure he won’t object to my saying that he’s a first rate showman who continues to astound every time he appears on stage, holding the audience in the palm of his hand throughout and accomplishing the seemingly impossible – be it mathematical calculations, feats of memory or soliciting visits from beyond the grave.

Somehow, he seems to get right inside people’s heads and, as one would expect, audience participation features large, ranging from a few moments with a microphone to zoning out on stage during the interval, with the majority of the selections decided, in egalitarian fashion, by the random throw of a high-flying Frisbee.      

With co-writer and director Andy Nyman, Brown has put together a slick show built less on shock factor than previously and more on personal confession.   But I’ve still got absolutely no idea how he does what he does. He may, as he reveals, have been called “dickbrain” at school, but those brains of his have stood him in pretty good stead ever since and I just hope they’re already mulling over the contents of his next mind-bending production.

Palace Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue, W1V 8AY
Tube | Leicester Square / Tottenham Court Road
Until 17th August£16 - £51nimaxtheatres.com

Pride and Prejudice

 TNT

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of the appearance in print of Jane Austen’s ever-popular novel, Simon Reade’s stage adaptation breezes through the husband-hunting escapades of the five Bennett sisters as possible suitors come and go.

Simply staged on a two-tier rotating set of green and gold railings (which at one point become the frames for the numerous Darcy family portraits), Deborah Bruce’s efficient production stays true to the fundamental spirit of the book as the garrulous Mrs Bennett despairs of finding sufficient wealthy, well-connected bachelors to guarantee the financial security and social status of her all-female brood.

Fresh out of drama school, Jennifer Kirby gives a likeably assured performance in the pivotal role of Elizabeth, capturing both her independent spirit and her outspoken wit as she initially despises  - then falls for - David Oakes’ haughty Mr. Darcy.

But, in general, there’s little room for depth or subtlety – partly, perhaps, because of the open air venue (charming though it is when the rain holds off and the temperature improves), partly because of the necessity to strip away much of the original.

So although Ed Birch’s ingratiating clergyman cousin, Mr Collins, gets the laughs with his ridiculous spindly-legged bows and his determination to recruit a wife – almost any wife – in order to please his benefactress (Jane Asher’s disdainful Lady Catherine de Bourgh) it’s a rather too broad interpretation.

But Rob Heaps displays an endearingly puppyish happiness as the somewhat colourless Mr Bingley when he finally gets his sweet-natured Jane, the empire-line dresses place the production firmly in period, and there’s enough dancing in various country homes to make this an enjoyable, if unexceptional, evening.

 

Open Air Theatre
Inner Circle, Regents Park, NW1 4NR
Tube | Baker Stree
£25.00 -£55.00
Until 20th July
openairtheatre.org

 

The Cripple of Inishmaan

 TNT

He’s waved his wand on screen as Harry Potter, whipped off his clothes on stage as a troubled teen in Equus and now Daniel Radcliffe has adopted an Irish accent, a hobbling gait and a mangled arm as Billy, the eponymous youth who lives with his adoptive “aunties” on an isolated Aran isle and dreams of escape.

Set in 1934, Martin McDonagh’s 1990s black comedy mixes fiction with an element of fact (an American film crew really did descend on the area to make the documentary Man of Aran) but the characters are his own.

Pat Shortt’s grubby Johnnypateenmike splits his time between delivering  (usually very tedious) local gossip and trying to kill off his frustratingly resilient old mother (June Watson) with forbidden bottles of illegally brewed booze. The aunts (who run the local store stocked almost entirely with stacks of canned peas) have their own peculiar habits - Ingrid Craigie’s fretting Kate talks to stones at times of stress whilst Gillian Hanna’s down-to-earth Eileen eats the sweets before the customers can even sample them.

With nothing to do to pass the time, Radcliffe’s Cripple Billy (there’s nothing politically correct about McDonagh’s work or the locals he portrays) has turned to books and staring at the cows – but he’s determined to grab the chance of a screen test on a neighbouring island.

It’s an effectively understated performance which contrasts well with Sarah Greene’s abrasive Slippy Helen, a foul-mouthed little minx with a penchant for cracking eggs over all and sundry.

There’s more than a touch of pastiche about London born and raised McDonagh’s writing, but his dialogue fizzes with cruelly funny brio and, fully acknowledging this, Michael Grandage’s snappy production makes you laugh even when you know you shouldn’t.

 

Noel Coward, St. Martin’s Lane, WC2N 4AU
Tube| Leicester Square
Until 31st August
£10.00 - £57.50
MichaelGrandageCompany.com delfontmackintosh.co.uk