A Christmas Carol - Review

Theatre Royal, Windsor

****

Written by Charles Dickens

Adapted and directed by Roy Marsden

Having played for just the one week at Windsor’s Theatre Royal, Roy Marsden’s adaptation of the famously festive ghost story made for a charming lead-in to the Christmas season.

Staged as a radio play, the cast sit onstage throughout, costumed as befits their various characters, stepping up to microphone stands to read their lines as Foley Artist Michael Workman creates all sorts of background noises to set the scene. All the sounds are real rather than digitised and it is a treat to see radio drama performed much in the style of how it would have been created during the mid-20th century.

Marsden is Ebenezer Scrooge. Clad in the traditional nightgown as Scrooge receives his three ghostly visitations over the night of Christmas Eve, Marsden’s portrayal of the old miser, from curmudgeonly to compassionate, is the work of a deft old hand who cleverly captures Scrooge’s complexities.

Playing (a Scots) Ghost of Christmas Past as well as Mrs Cratchit, Jenny Seagrove brings a glorious combination of chilling wisdom together with firm but humble homeliness to her brace of  characters. There is a kind familiarity to Seagrove’s performance that is as gorgeous to watch as it is professional in its delivery.

Michael Praed, Robert Duncan and Holly Smith take care of a handful of other key characters that the old yarn requires, while Shannon Rewcroft adds a glorious soprano touch to her roles as Ben Stock steps up to lead the audience in a handful of carols for all after the cast have taken their bows.

The ‘On Air’ series of radio plays is an imaginative concept that the Theatre Royal’s company appear to have skillfully mastered.  Classic dramas, delivered in a way that is both traditional and yet innovative. 

This opinion is published after the show’s run has ended – however it seems that irrespective of this critic’s praise, the Windsor audiences know a good show when they see it. On the night of this review, the house was packed with an audience that spanned the ages and generations, all enjoying an evening of fabulously crafted theatre.

Filumena - Review

Theatre Royal, Windsor

***

Written by Eduardo de Filippo

English version by Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall

Directed by Sean Mathias

Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly

Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly star in Eduardo de Filippo’s classic Neapolitan folly Filumena, delivering the 1970s translation penned by those stalwarts of modern English literature, Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall.

There are moments of comedy gold in the play's first half, particularly early on, as we learn of Kelly’s cantankerous, philandering Don Domenico being outwitted by his bride Filumena Marturano (Kendal) on the day of their marriage, a union which itself is a formalisation of their hitherto 35-year cohabitation.

Theirs is an unlikely romance. Filumena in her youth was a prostitute and the Don one of her clients, and from there blossomed a prickly love. Kelly and Kendal sparkle in their roles, with an electricity in their sparring that is frequently hilarious.

But Filumena (the play) cannot just rest on Kendal’s seductive, knowing wiles and Kelly’s frequent states of exasperation, brilliantly delivered though they may be. The story’s narrative offers a glimpse into the foibles and strata of 1940s Naples, but what once may have been an enchanting farce now seems dated and wordy. This review will not spoil any of the plot’s reveals, but especially in the second act, the comedy fast evaporates with the story condensing into a yarn that it is difficult to care about.

One imagines that de Filippo's original may well, like a fine chianti or prosciutto, have been steeped in l'italianità, the very essence of Italian culture, that will have added a richness to the tale that would have been recognised and adored by the cognoscenti.  Waterhouse and Hall’s translation however, for all its wit, strips away the beautiful Italian linguistics and the English that they replace it with quite simply lacks a romantic charm.  

The supporting cast – and all credit to producer Bill Kenwright Limited for employing such a large company – are for the most part a talented bunch with standout work from Julie Legrand as the faithful retainer Rosalia, and Jodie Steele as the Don’s latest young squeeze, Diana. 

At Windsor for another week and then touring, Filumena offers an evening of gentle entertainment.

Runs until 19th October and then on tour.

Photo credit: Jack Merriman

Accolade - Review

Theatre Royal, Windsor

****

Written by Emlyn Williams

Directed by Sean Mathias

Honeysuckle Weeks and Ayden Callaghan

A fusion of chauvinism, corruption, compromise and complicity, Accolade is an intriguing piece of period British drama from 75 years ago.

Ayden Callaghan plays Will Trenting, an acclaimed writer whose knighthood has just been announced. We learn early on however that Trenting frequents suburban orgies, and is drawn to sexual promiscuity like a moth to a flame. Honeysuckle Weeks is his wife Rona, another complex character who is aware of her husband's conduct. To say much more of the narrative would be to spoil, save for the arrival of Narinder Samra as Daker who it transpires is in a position to expose Trenting's conduct, some of which has been criminal.

Emlyn Williams's script is a pastiche of an observation of England's class system - almost like a diluted Pygmalion - and there is fine work across the company, notably from Jamie Hogarth as the Trentings's butler/driver, Sara Crowe as Rona's friend Marian and Gavin Fowler and Sarah Twomey as the roguish Harold and Phyllis. For the most part the dialogue sparkles, but seen from our more cynical 21st-century perspective, Williams' ending is perhaps a little flawed.

Sean Mathias has coaxed well nuanced interpretations from his company and Julie Godfrey's set and costume designs are a glorious tribute to 1950. Shortly to tour England's southern counties, Accolade makes for an evening of charming provocative theatre.

Runs until 15th June and then on tour 

Photo credit: Jack Merriman

Hamlet - Review

*****

Ian McKellen

Directed by Sean Mathias

Written by William Shakespeare

117 minutes

It was a bold move in 2021 for Sean Mathias to cast Ian McKellen as Hamlet in his production at Windsor’s Theatre Royal. Traditionally the role is played by a much younger man who needs to be a credible university student as well as one whose mother is still of an attractive re-marriageable age, and desirable to her former brother-in-law. In this iteration however McKellen was the oldest actor on the stage, boldly defying convention. The production attracted mixed reviews at the time, however it led to McKellen returning to the role at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022 - in a completely separate dance-based production - and subsequently to the Bill Kenwright Company releasing Mathias’ work as a fully storyboarded full blown feature film.

 

This filmed take on Hamlet proves to be an inspirational revelation. Filmed in and around the Windsor theatre, Mathias has set the play across the stage, backstage and front-of-house areas of the venue, giving a meticulously re-imagined interpretation of the story.

Film and theatre are profoundly different media. The live performance demands our attention on a scene or tableau, possibly quite diverse in its panorama, and often far away from where the audience is seated. Cinema however, as Norma Desmond made clear in Sunset Boulevard, is all about the close-up. And Ian Mckellen as Hamlet, in close-up, is quite simply a masterclass. Few living actors have a mastery of Shakespeare’s verse that can match McKellen. His delivery of the prose, both the famously quotable stuff as well as the lesser-known lines is exquisite and even those familiar with the text will find new revelations in the story through McKellen’s delivery.

A decent production of Hamlet demands a cracking supporting cast and Mathias has rounded up most of his 2021 company to accompany Sir Ian. Jonathan Hyde is a suitably evil Claudius with Jenny Seagrove stepping up to the role of Gertrude. It is in the Gertrude/Hamlet interactions - notably Act 3’s closet scene - that the age-neutral casting is most put to the test, but Seagrove pulls it off and if her death a couple of acts later is perhaps a little hammed up, the pathos with which she describes Ophelia’s death, is exquisite.

Ian McKellen and Jenny Seagrove

Emmanuella Cole is a well cast gender-swapped Laertes, with Ben Allen also putting in a finely sympathetic shift as Horatio. Equally, Steven Berkoff’s Polonius is perfection in pomposity and Frances Barber delights as the First Player.

Amongst the supporting roles however it is Alis Wyn Davies who shines out as Ophelia. Frailty may very well be her name such is the carefully crafted fragility that defines her performance, with Davies bringing a light to the fair Ophelia that is rarely seen. Hers is a  gorgeous performance, which when her voice is married to Adam Cork’s music in her tragic mad scene, is lifted even higher.

 

Squeezing in at just under 2 hours, Mathias has trimmed the text with wisdom and sensitivity. Set in contemporary dress in a dystopian locked-down world, this is very much a Hamlet for the 21st Century with Lee Newby’s design work sitting well in the compressed settings of the Edwardian-age theatre. Neil Oseman’s photography is similarly ingenious, adding a profound depth to the story's imagery.

In cinemas for one night only on February 27th and while there will of course be future online streaming, if you are able to catch this on the big screen, just go!

Ian McKellen’s Hamlet is a must-see. His take on those famous speeches, in close-up, is unsurpassed. The rest is silence.

For a full listing of screenings click here

Ian McKellen

Houdini

Theatre Royal, Windsor

***

Written by Stuart Brennan

Directed by Peter Snee

Jamie Nichols as Harry Houdini

The life and times of the legendary escapologist Harry Houdini should have the makings of a great piece of theatre. Stuart Brennan's tale charts the journey of Houdini and his brother Theo, also a magician and apparently the brains behind some of the star's early acts. As charismatic Harry succeeds in life, so the relationship between two siblings becomes strained, with Theo stranded in his brother's shadow.

Brennan's play focuses more upon the fraternal love, rivalry and jealousy between the brothers, than upon Harry's famous death defying acts of derring-do, becoming a commentary upon familiar and potentially troubling aspects of the human condition. Such a grand emotional canvas however demands great insight and Brennan's style remains too superficial to adequately deliver. Audiences want to see and learn more about the great Harry, not the mediocre Theo and in having cast himself as Theo, Brennan does not help matters. Onstage for much of the show, his accent varies (occasionally Irish?), his acting stutters and he and his character lack the gravitas for us to care about them quite enough.

By contrast, Jamie Nichols gives a compelling and credibly believable performance as Harry. His look, poise and presence suggest a man driven by a desire to perform, with his Houdini at times suggesting the character of P.T. Barnum, the gifted American showman who preceded Houdini by some 70 years and who knew just how to humbug an audience. (If only Cameron Mackintosh had cast Nichols in his recent Chichester musical revival...) Technical glitches have beset the production and it's a shame that more illusion is not offered on stage. The few escapology stunts that are presented are entertaining and even though the lack of a strait-jacket routine disappoints, it remains fair to say that Nichols' performance alone does justify the ticket price. 

The supporting cast make the best of the two-dimensional characters that have been written for them. Mark Lyminster is the believably ruthless Martin Beck, Houdini's producer, whilst Evanna Lynch (Harry Potter fans will not be disappointed, she played Luna Lovegood in the movies) has a complex role to play as Harry's wife Bess. As Houdini's fame grows, their marriage stumbles and Lynch is offered too much dialog that is little more than clumsy cliche. She makes a good job of it though and offers a look that has a gorgeously classic style with a hint of her character’s contemporary, Keystone Studios’ movie starlet Mabel Normand in her appearance. Katie Johnson's hair and make-up work is impressive.

Brennan needs to drastically re-write this piece with less of the struggling Theo and more of a spotlight on glamorous showman Harry, with lots more magic thrown in too. If his show were filled with classy illusions it would sell out. Somewhere inside the confines of this Houdini there is a truly great play struggling to break free.

Runs until October 12 2013 at the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin