If you haven’t seen them yet, you’ve already missed out – such is the motto of English theatre. Most shows run not for a season, but at best a few months. Market laws, competition, and public interest all influence the life of a play. Today, we’ll talk about five productions you need to catch before they vanish from the billboards.
Victorian-era playwright Arthur Wing Pinero turns out to be surprisingly relevant in the 21st century. The play for the new “The Cabinet Minister” was adapted by Nancy Carroll and directed by Paul Foster. Critics are ecstatic, describing the performance as lively, lavish, and splendid. It’s truly a quintessential example of English theatre. “The Cabinet Minister” is a farce—a bright, noisy, sparkling firework of a show on a very serious topic. Minister Julian Tuombley tries to deal with debts incurred by his family. His reputation is at stake, but his spendthrift wife and son are terribly upset by his claims. On one side are his angry household members, on the other, an equally irate House of Commons and the press who are scathingly walking all over the hapless minister. The irate Lady Tuombley is played by Nancy Carroll (no doubt embodying the character deeper, having worked on the play herself!), and “Young Sherlock” from Barry Levinson’s film—Nicholas Rowe—plays Julian Tuombley. Add to this the luxurious Victorian costumes, William Morris-style wallpapers—and you get the full picture of the performance.
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This is a very, very unusual play—but nevertheless, it’s real theatre with absolute transformation at its core. On stage are the most famous impersonators of Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli and their accompanist. There’s no clowning around, no comedic escapades or parodies—instead, there’s the very transformation that is always talked about in theatre but so rarely seen. Sometimes watching the stage is almost scary—how can it be that two actors so resemble and so perfectly impersonate these great women of their era? How they mimic their singing, turn their heads, and step? Why not? Two great actresses and singers, two historic figures who have become something more than actresses in their lifetime—they’ve become, perhaps, a global heritage. And impersonation is a specific art; it’s hard not to slide into parody, hard not to turn into “just a tribute”—but Steven Brinberg as Barbra Streisand and Rick Skye as Liza Minnelli make it work.
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The action of the eponymous tragicomedy by playwright Sean O’Casey takes place in Dublin after the Civil War in Ireland in 1922 (the play was written in 1924—right on the fresh trails). A married couple named Boyle tries to save their marriage—for love, for themselves. Juno is convinced she can steer their small boat through the hardships of wartime, shielding them from the roaring cruel world outside. Only Jack doesn’t help her at all, he’s the very “sofa soldier” who pretends to be a captain, lies as easily as he breathes, telling stories of his sea adventures, but does absolutely nothing but drink. Of course, the play has a feminist idea. Of course, this family is almost a matriarchy—where else would Juno go?.. They need to live. Director Matthew Warchus has created a tragic farce on the Gielgud Theatre stage. The actors perform vividly, tangibly, it seems they might overact just a bit. Mark Rylance, funny, mustached, wildly expressive in the role of Captain Boyle, and the subtle, ironic J. Smith-Cameron—as his wife Juno.
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It seems like, God forgive me, this is a production drama. Seriously—it’s a tragic play about the fate of fishermen! A new play by playwright Richard Bean transports the audience to 1976. A trawler sank off the coasts of Iceland. The fishermen died in a storm, and the shipowner hastily flies to Reykjavik. Of course, no one is happy to see him—but somehow he manages to arrange a cozy evening for the surviving crew members, full of drinking and candid stories about life. This will drastically change their relationships and lives. In the play, Emily Burns (making her directorial debut at Hampstead Theatre) casts John Hollingworth, an actor of bright dramatic talent, recently seen in Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon.”
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British fathers and children—that could be the name of this play by director Dijan Zor based on one of the main plays by famous English playwright Arnold Wesker, part of a theatrical triptych. So, the very end of the 50s, on the threshold of a new noisy time, a new generation is gaining strength and wants to be happy in its own way. Enchanted by new ideas, the noisy political life of vibrant London, Beatie Bryant comes home, to the older generation, in quiet Norfolk. Of course, she begins to share her dreams and views. But then comes a letter… Stories like “Roots” will always be relevant—it seems, as long as humanity exists, as long as there are parents and children, and as long as there is love, as young as they themselves are. The red arena on stage—where they cry, laugh, and dance. In the play, which once again turned the history of British theatre on its head, Morfydd Clark, star of “The Lord of the Rings” and “Patrick Melrose,” is cast.
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