I'll have to do my London report in segments over several days. FJL, I love QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS (I'm a big fan of Simon Gray, in general) ever since I saw a televised version of it back in the eighties with Edward Fox playing Quartermaine. He also originated the role onstage. This production directed by Richard Eyre, a director I much admire, was a lovely production with a terrific cast. Sadly, the weakest link in it for me was Rowan Atkinson, who I have always adored as Blackadder. He could not erase the memory of Edward Fox for me in this role and somehow missed the poignancy the character has always produced for me.
It's true both Atkinson and Everett sit a lot in their seperate roles...and, perhaps, it is a tribute to Everett that he can hold the stage just sitting. His Oscar Wilde was mesmerizing and this play and his performance were one of the best things I saw. Freddie Fox (Edward Fox's son) was also very good as Bosie. We saw him a couple of years ago in a production of FLEA IN HER EAR at The Old Vic (he played Camille with the cleft palette, for those who know the play) and we knew then he was a young actor to keep an eye on.
John G. THE AUDIENCE with Helen Mirren turned out to be high on my list of favourites as well. It was surprisingly good. I say "surprisingly", because I feared this play might be a tourist trade piece with both Mirren and Peter Morgan the writer capitalizing on their movie success with THE QUEEN. With two such talents I should have known better. It was a rich, insightful piece. And she gave a smashing performance. TRELAWNEY OF THE WELLS interested me because I am a theatrical archeologist who is always fascinated by the obscure, the forgotten, the rarely done. And it was also playing at the Donmar Warehouse, a favourite venue of mine. The play, I felt, showed its age with a bit of a rocky start in the first scene, but picked up steam, and I had quite an enjoyable experience by the end of the play. It is a slight Victorian comedic piece by Pinero, but enjoyable for what it is. I don't think it's as good a play as, say, his THE MAGISTRATE. Also Patrick Marber did some " most respectful additions and ornamentation" to the piece, so I don't really know whether these helped or hurt it.
I'm not sure this is an extraordinary season...or at least the two weeks I was there...I've been there when the available plays I felt were much more exciting. With the exception of a couple of things at the National, I saw every straight play that was pretty much available which says something about the season right there. Shaftsbury Avenue is still over-run and booked with long-running but essentially clapped-out musicals, often of the jukebox variety. Sorry, but I don't consider things like THRILLER and STOMP and ROCK OF AGES and LET IT BE real musicals, let alone real theatre. Also, while it's nice to see terrific actors like Helen Mirren onstage, I can remember a time when the West End was not so dominated by the need for movie star or tv names. You could see people who might be terrific actors but were hardly household names in terrific plays. It was certainly not the worst selection of plays I've seen over the years; nor was it the best. But overall, it was eminently satisfactory.
