Inherit the Wind **** TNT

Friday 23 October 2009 16:32 GMT

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Inherit The Wind

This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Friday 23 October 2009 16:32 GMT.

Though much of Lawrence and Lee’s 1955 drama is decidedly old-fashioned, the dramatic fireworks in the climactic courtroom scenes more than compensate.

Based on the real-life 1920s ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ in which a Tennessee teacher was prosecuted for breaking the law by teaching from Darwin’s evolutionary text, Trevor Nunn’s production crams the stage with disapproving townsfolk as David Troughton’s blustering, blinkered, bible-bashing prosecutor Brady faces up to agnostic defence lawyer Drummond (a thinly disguised Clarence Darrow).

But it’s Kevin Spacey’s determined Drummond – upholding the right to think for oneself – who steals the show in this pertinent battle between creationism and scientific theory.

Old Vic Theatre, The Cut, SE1 8NB Tube: Waterloo. Until Dec 20. £10-£48.50

Comedians **** TNT

Friday 23 October 2009 16:20 GMT

Despite its title, Trevor Griffiths’ political drama isn’t very funny – and that’s intentional. Written in 1975, it follows six would-be comics as they warm up for a make or break performance in front of a visiting talent scout.

We see them first – a milkman, an Irish labourer, the Jewish owner of a third-rate nightclub and a docker among others – in the Manchester classroom where former vaudevillian Eddie Waters has been holding evening classes for the last three months, trying to inculcate not only a sense of what will and what won’t work, but also the possibility of comedy as a force for change.

But it turns out that the talent-spotter (Keith Allen, Lily’s dad) is of the old school for whom political correctness definitely isn’t on the agenda. He’s all for giving the masses exactly what they want and, before returning to the classroom for the final verdict and analysis, we witness, turn by turn, just how far this disparate, desperate group are prepared to descend to crude sexist and racist cracks in order to get a job.

Played out in real time, this is an angry – if dated – piece of writing, and Sean Holmes (the Lyric’s new artistic director) has assembled a fine cast for his revival. Matthew Kelly’s unsmiling Eddie (the laughter knocked out of him by what he saw when individuals were reduced to stereotypes), Mark Benton and Reece Shearsmith’s antagonistic brothers (unwittingly sabotaging their chances when their double act falls apart) are particularly impressive, and David Dawson is unforgettable as mercurial van-driver Gethin. With his shaved head and troubled personality, he shocks everyone with an angry, mime-based routine of class hatred which challenges what comedy is all about.

Lyric Hammersmith, King ST, W6 0QL Tube: Hammersmith (0871 221 1726). Until Nov 14. £10-£25 (special offers for under 26-year-olds)

Endgame *** TNT

Friday 23 October 2009 17:03 GMT

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Endgame

This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Friday 23 October 2009 16:50 GMT. It was last updated on Friday 23 October 2009 17:03 GMT.

This isn’t the production it was originally intended to be. There are just four people in the cast of Samuel Beckett’s bleak 1957 comedy, one of whom makes a single brief appearance, whilst another has what can only be described as a supporting role. But it’s the two main characters who’ve been recast in Complicite’s energetic revival, with a rather too young Mark Rylance seated centre stage as the aged Hamm and director Simon McBurney stepping into the shoes of his crippled servant Clov.

This musing on the end of life and the deterioration of the body could be a grim affair, but the proceedings are spliced with moments of black humour, which make watching the inevitable fate of the protagonists more than palatable.

Entombed in a dingy, brick, tower-like structure, with a pair of grimy, ladder-high windows letting in the merest hint of light and the tantalising reminder of what was once a better life beyond the walls, Hamm waits for death. Stuck in a state of interdependence there’s only one way out for Hamm – though Clov still nurtures a tiny, rebellious glimmer of hope for a different existence in the wasted world outside. Cruelly ensconced in dustbins, his parents Nagg (a dog-biscuit munching Tom Hickey) and Nell (the excellent Miriam Margolyes making maximum impact as she suggestively recalls her long-faded youth) also wait for the end.

McBurney’s resentful Clov has a stiff-legged walk to emphasise his inability to sit down, whilst Rylance’s tetchy, histrionic Hamm (a bully permanently confined to his wheelchair and mole-blind behind his dark glasses) gives a masterclass in acting from the waist up. His performance doesn’t make the prospect of getting older any more appealing, but in its flamboyant variety it lightens the mood in this existential account of the human condition.

Duchess, Catherine Street, WC2B 5LA (0844 412 4659; nimaxtheatres.com) Until December 5. £20-£46

Breakfast at Tiffany's *** TNT

Monday 19 October 2009 16:11 GMT

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Breakfast at Tiffany's

This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Monday 19 October 2009 11:27 GMT. It was last updated on Monday 19 October 2009 16:11 GMT.

Anna Friel on stage is less the wide-eyed innocent than Audrey Hepburn on screen in Samuel Adamson’s new version which partially acknowledges the louche, more dangerous New York social scene depicted in Truman Capote’s 1958 novella.

But an airy set and clunky staging do little to conjure the risqué lifestyle of Holly Golightly, reinvented goodtime girl from Texas who survives by fleecing older men.

Friel is cute, sometimes vulnerable and casually naked as the witty man-magnet, Joseph Cross is unremarkable as the aspiring young writer who falls under her spell and, with a few exceptions, the other characters are strictly one-dimensional.

But if you haven’t read the original, Sean Mathias’s production provides a serviceable if uninspired account of the plot – and a supporting role for an exceptionally laidback ginger tabby.

Theatre Royal Haymarket, Haymarket, SW1Y 4HT (0845 481 1870) to 9th January (£15-£49.50)

My Real War 1914-? *** TNT

Monday 19 October 2009 16:15 GMT

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My Real War 1914-?

This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Monday 19 October 2009 16:15 GMT.

This is a short show, so despite the question mark in the title there’s the uncomfortable feeling right from the start that this solo performance, adapted from the letters of Havilland Le Mesurier can only end one sad way.

Upper class, privileged and eager to abandon his scholarship to Oxford and enlist, Lem (as he prefers to be called) initially has the naïve enthusiasm of an excited puppy, but as he completes his training and is shipped out overseas, eagerness turns to boredom, boredom to a longing for the creature comforts and safety of home, and longing to fear and the realisation that fighting a war takes a terrible toll.

Tricia Thorns (who also directs) has adapted his correspondence to create a touching portrait of a promising young man swept up in the tragedy of a whole generation. Writing from the trenches, he allows his growing doubts and anger to surface in his letters to his father. But, to his mother, the tone is more reassuring as he tries to shield her from the reality of mud, rats, injury and death, telling her instead how much he welcomed the cake and hamper from Fortnum & Mason.

The production is way too busy, with an action to fit every change in mood, but Philip Desmeules - bright-eyed, floppy haired and with a military tache – poignantly brings Lem back from the dead in this factual account of what it was like to serve in World War I.

Trafalgar Studios (2), Whitehall, SW1A 2DY TUBE: Charing Cross (0870 060 6632; ambassadortickets.com/myrealwar) Until Oct 31. £15-£22.50

Many Roads to Paradise *** TNT

Monday 19 October 2009 16:24 GMT

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Many Roads To Paradise

This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Monday 19 October 2009 16:24 GMT.

The need for love and affection is paramount in the unlikely linked pairings of Stewart Permutt’s enjoyable, bittersweet comedy which is being given a well-deserved and partially recast second airing at this intimate venue after its short run last year at the equally tiny Finborough.

Having come straight from the hospital where I’d been visiting an extremely elderly relative, I groaned inwardly when blind, 80-something Stella appeared in a wheelchair. But Permutt’s dialogue soon had me laughing. He’s captured not only the wayward thought patterns which often characterise the very, very old, but also the tender feelings which can, sometimes, develop between people from completely different backgrounds. So Muslim Somali carer Sadia in her hijab provides the warmth that Jewish Stella’s critical attitude has long ago knocked out of her relationship with her frumpy 50-plus daughter Helen.

Helen, in turn, has found someone else to criticise her over the years – her long-term lover Avril, a forcibly retired radio producer with an over-fondness for the bottle and an unstoppable waspish tongue. The only thing that seems to be right in Helen’s life is her job at the local travel agent – except that the firm is about to go out of business and her shy, gay boss Martin (who’s about her age) has just taken up, sort of, with the much younger and rather unpleasant man who picked him off the internet because of his hairy chest.

The coincidences are a bit too neat, the characters somewhat underdeveloped, but this short new play is touching as well as funny, and Amanda Boxer’s delivery of Avril’s killer putdowns shouldn’t be missed.

Jermyn Street Theatre, SW1Y 6ST Tube: Piccadilly Circus (020 7287 2875). Until Nov 14. £14-£18

An Inspector Calls *** TNT
Tuesday 13 October 2009 13:07 GMT

This is the show that, in 1992, catapulted director Stephen Daldry into the public eye and the world of Hollywood and Billy Elliot. His striking revival of JB Priestley’s 1945 drama took a tired repertory staple and completely reinvented it. A string of transfers and awards followed, and now here’s another chance to catch his multi-timescale interpretation with a new cast but the same expressionistic design.

Rather than contain the action in a single room of the home of wealthy Edwardian industrialist Arthur Birling , designer Ian MacNeil lifts their scaled-down house high above a World War II setting in which children scrabble through rubble to peak at the riches the Birlings are enjoying in 1912. But, one by one, father, mother, son Eric, daughter Sheila and her smug fiancé Gerald are summoned by the enigmatic Inspector Goole who announces the suicide of a working class girl who was once employed by Birling and subsequently turns out to have been linked to – and ill-treated by – every single one of them.

As Nicholas Woodeson’s no-nonsense Goole prods away at their consciences to unearth truth after truth, the implications of their actions become all too clear – yet even when their involvement is exposed, not all of them are prepared to admit their share of the blame.

Some of the acting tends to the over-emphatic, but Robin Whiting impresses as alcoholic young Eric, Marianne Oldham’s Sheila makes the journey from selfish complacency to some sort of social awareness, and Daldry’s production remains a powerful indictment of the moneyed class’s ability to sweep guilt and unpleasantness conveniently under the carpet.

Novello, Aldwych WC2B 4LD (0844 482 5170; aninspectorcalls.com) Tube: Covent Garden/ Charing Cross. Until Nov 14. £12.50-£47.50