It's been an odd month as far as theatre trips have been
concerned, although none actually blew me away some were good, whilst others stood
out as being some of the worst I’ve seen in ages, and that is saying something.
I don’t usually post negative reviews but to balance the good ones this month
I’ve provided a personal view of all five productions I’ve seen in January.
Inferno
Barons
Court Theatre
(10th January 2013)
Three short plays loosely based on three of the themes from
Dante's Inferno: lust, gluttony and wrath. The second play' was a five minute
scene of a guy in a fat suit eating crisps. The first lust, written by one of
the performers did nothing to convince. Two lesbian lover prostitutes pick up
Jack the Ripper as a client, sorry for the spoiler but it was so badly
telegraphed I felt like groaning at the revelation. Unfortunately, the fact
that neither of the girls could bring themselves to look at each other during
the performance left it inconceivable that they were lovers in lust with each other.
I've seen more love between two straight manly men on rival sides at a football
match.
Ran 8th January 2013 to 13th January 2013
The Dumb Waiter
Courtyard Theatre
(11th January 2013)
A two hander set in a non-described basement, a play from
the pen of Pinter. This one act play managed to keep your attention and built
the tension well with both humour and menace. Full marks to Clare-Louise
English and Maggie Valois as the two hit men.
Ran 8th January 2013 to 13th January 2013
Lady Windermere's Fan
Bridewell Theatre
(15th January 2013)
Presented by Turn of the Wheel Productions.
A play from Oscar Wilde revived at the Bridewell Theatre.
Not essentially one of the best know plays by Wilde it still retains the
ability to entertain today and provides a subtle twist that demonstrates why
Wilde is held is such high regard. An entertaining evening, and one of the
highlights of the month. The set was basic but worked very well with changes of
lighting and an enthusiastic butler showing what can be achieved with limited
resources. The off stage lighting for a fireplace worked well, creating the
required ambiance and function for the story, and succeeded in expanding the
illusion of the size of the stately homes.
Ran 8th January 2013 to 19th January 2013
Every Man for Herself
Courtyard Theatre
(16th January 2013)
A simple plot, performers in war torn Italy,
performing in a cafe decide to escape dressed as women. It was basically
painful. The theatre audience were used as the audience of the cafe, with an opening
appeal for applause before the performance had even started - this felt like an
act of desperation. It might have worked if we had been sitting at cafe tables.
The first act was basically the plot, the second act a string of numbers from
the escapees in drag starting in English and each one dropping into (I'm
guessing) Italian, which was lost on the majority of the audience.
On paper this offered a lot of promise, unfortunately it did not deliver.
Ran 15th January 2013 to 20th January 2013
House of Atreus
Waterloo East Theatre
(22nd January 2013)
Théâtre Libre present
House of Atreus
Adapted by Ozlem Ozhabes
Directed by Kaitlin Argeaux
Movement by Justyna Ziarek
Orestes, returns to his homeland to avenge his father's
murder. For me an average production with some questionable decisions regarding
staging. The women were costumed, however basically but they did at least
provide a feeling of a bygone period. The two guys looked like they had just
wandered in off the street, the hero of the play dressed in leather jacket and
hoody. I've seen very conflicting reviews of this play, one described the tango
performed by the wicked mother and her new lover as being brilliant, personally
I felt it was out of place and would certainly have been panned by the critics
on Strictly Come Dancing as laboured, clumsy and awkward. Although I'm not one
to deliver spoilers, when the revenge attack does take place it is poorly lit
performed behind a muslin cloth, it neither works dramatically nor
artistically.
Ran 15th January 2013 to 27th January 2013
My Big Gay Italian Wedding
Greenwich Theatre
(30th January 2013)
Described as a "music and dance filled
extravaganza", to be honest wasn't really. The majority of the music and
dance took place either before the show started or shoehorned into the second
act, and can I go on record to say I HATE "gangnam style" and the
inclusion of this number made me shudder. Other than that it was ridiculously
funny, at times hilarious and so over the top it managed to comeback down again
the other side.
Runs 30th January - Sun 3rd February 2013
I’ve managed to find a few
minutes this week to actually glue some sticks to some foam board. Miracles
happen in small doses once in a while. I’ve covered one side of each of the
small shack buildings I started earlier in the year. The aim with these is to
keep them simple, rough and ready. They will be the outskirts of town
buildings, and I’m going to build them in pairs one slightly smaller than the
other, this is to aid storage, as I’ll sit one inside the other in their boxes.
The roof sections will also be made separately so that they can be stored
easier and maybe if I plan it right, they may also be interchangeable to some
degree just for a bit of variety.
