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HAMPSTEAD THEATRE
Eton Avenue
Swiss Cottage
LONDON NW3 3TU
BOX OFFICE: 020 7722 9301
website: www.hampsteadtheatre.com
Reviews
by Philip Fisher for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
TRICYCLE THEATRE
Kilburn High Road (nearest underground - Kilburn)
BOX OFFICE: 020 7328 1000
TINY KUSHNER
by Tony Kushner
Now playing at the
Tricycle Theatre until 25 September
Nicolas Kent seems to have
developed an antipathy towards the traditional multi-act play form. This collection
from Tony Kushner is the third Tricycle multiple in a row, following Women,
Power and Politics and The Great Game: Afghanistan.
Indeed, in this context, a
collection of 5 one-act plays taking a mere 2½ hours represents a
relative paucity.
At times during the evening, it can
be hard to believe that this is the same writer as the person who created the
epic Angels in America, although the elusive search for The Great American
Dream and the caustic wit with which Kushner attacks those running his country
are common themes.
As a treat for English viewers,
this production has moved from the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and Berkeley
Repertory Theatre lock stock and barrel, under the direction of Tony Taccone. He has the benefit of four extremely versatile and
very witty actors who will not be familiar to British viewers and make the most
of the chances provided by so many different roles.
Flip Flop Fly!
The series starts with a fantasyand the first of several visits to Paradise. Like
all of the plays, Annie Smart's simple scenic design is supplemented by vocalised stage directions delivered by members of the cast.
The unlikely combination of Valeri Mudek as a through and
through American bimbo, beauty queen turned musician Lucia Pamela and Kate Eifrig playing the frosty real Queen Geraldine of Albania
provides a whimsical opening as they look back on their "fantastical
lives", ending with a comic song and soft shoe shuffle.
Both are fantasists and Kushner's
point seems to be that while the beauty queen is completely off her rocker, the
wife of the legendary King Zog with delusions of
grandeur is little better.
Terminating or Sonnet LXXV or
“Lass MeineSchmerzenNichtVerlorenSein”or
Ambivalence
Another theme of the evening is
psychoanalysis. In what is possibly the weakest but conceivably the most
personal of the playlets, JC Cutler takes on the role
of a shabby, neurotic, Gay patient.
He is trying to work out his
problems with the assistance of his secretly-desired, lesbian former analyst. Both
are assisted by their current lovers who, visibly to the audience but invisibly
to themselves, whisper words of support as things get tough.
Miss Eifrigas
the shrink gets an opportunity for glory in a fine final speech and takes it
with aplomb.
East Coast Ode to Howard Jarvis:
a little teleplay in tiny monologues
It seems unbelievable but for the
second time in a matter of months, a playwright has constructed a work around
tax returns, in this case under a commission form Alec Baldwin.
At the Finborough,
James Graham used the experiences of an English individual as a metaphor for
life. Tony Kushner enjoys himself with the true story of a scam that was
unbelievably (in every sense of the word) successful.
While the IRS (or Internal
Revenue Service to give them their full name) is reputed to be one of the most
efficient organisations of its type in the world,
everyone can make mistakes.
In what is effectively a
monologue, expertly delivered by Jim Lichtscheidl, a
tall but apparently true tale is spun that literally makes the IRS a laughing
stock.
The starting point is a neo-Nazi
white supremacist who, after being banged up in jail, explains that he is a
disciple of someone even worse, who discovered a way to achieve nirvana by reducinganyone's tax liabilities to zero.
In simple language, this was effected by claiming 98 deductions from pay and making a simple declaration on a
tax return form explaining that the US taxman has no jurisdiction over you.
This might sound a little
far-fetched but eventually several hundred people used the formula with
spectacular results. Just to make things even funnier, most of them were police
or internal security officers working for the very government that they were
ripping off.
Visitors might well shake their
heads and suggest that this could never happen over here. With the massive cuts
in headcount at HM Revenue and Customs and more proposed, don't bet on it!
Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker
in Paradise
The first play after the interval
combines the evening's main running themes. It features a discussion between
analysts in Paradise while at the same time lampooning the United States and
its most notorious president, Richard Milhous Nixon.
Death has not prevented Cutler's
Dr. Arnold A. Hutschnecker from continuing to work
with the man who now likes to be known as Milhous.
In a discussion with a fellow
practitioner, the doctor who is very much a neurotic himself, talks of the
stresses and strains that led Milhous to behave as he did before his colleague
comes to the startling conclusion that to all intents and purposes, Richard Milhous
Nixon is an analogue for Adolf Hitler.
Only We Who Guard The Mystery Shall Be Unhappy
The American presidents might
have thought that their discomfort had ended with Tricky Dickyprior
to yet another play set in Paradise. No chance.
In the final piece, Kate Eifrig does an uncanny impression of Mrs. Dubya,Laura Welch Bush who is
invited by the angelic Valeri Mudek
to address a trio of dead children.
The key here is that each child
has died horribly as a result of an "accident" perpetrated by the
American liberators of Iraq.
In this company, the former First
Lady's decision to comfort them with her Christian interpretations of a well
chosen extract from The Brothers Karamazov could easily be regarded as
undiplomatic.
By the time that she has
finished, audience members will be in little doubt that Tony Kushner is no more
a fan of the recently deposed US president than his disgraced Republican
predecessor.
Reviews by Philip
Fisher for Theatreworld Internet Magazine Internet Magazine
MENIER CHOCOLATE FACTORY
51-53 Southwark Street SE1 1TE
Box Office: 020 7378 1712
ASPECTS OF LOVE
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart
Directed by Trevor Nunn
Now Playing at the
Menier Chocolate Factory until 26th September
It’s back and yes,
“love, love changes everything”!
This is a wonderful
opportunity to see a piece of musical theatre that was a big hit first time
round (about 20 years ago).
Having
not seen it before I would describe it as a cross between “A LITTLE NIGHT
MUSIC”, the book “REBECCA” and the film “OBSESSION”
with a dash of “THE SOUND OF MUSIC”. The story, based on a book by David Garnett, is
very French with wives befriending their husband’s mistresses and
husbands happily living under the same roof as their wife and her lover.
There’s lots of glugging back of wines and spirits and puffing on gauloises while everybody nods and agrees that “life
goes on, love goes free”.
The two main characters,
who have the sweetest, most enchanting voices are; Alex Dillingham (Michael
Arden) a 19 year old English boy on the cusp of becoming a man and Rose Vibert (Katherine Kingsley) an older actress. It’s
1947 Paris, she’s starving and he’s got money (well, his
roué Uncle has) so off they toddle, having met each other 15 minutes
ago, down to “his” villa (his Uncle’s) in the Pyrenees.
It’s all blissfully wonderful for about 10 minutes then it all goes
horribly wrong pretty much until the end of the story. But just go with it,
you’ll like it.
The singing and music
are heartbreakingly soft and melodious. I couldn’t help but be moved even
if I did want to slap a couple of the characters. I wanted to grab Alex and
shake him and scream “If it ain’t working – move on, plenty
more fish in the sea”. But I guess this was all set pre-internet dating.
It’s a brilliant
production with a wonderful ensemble cast directed by the ever talented Trevor
Nunn.
A must see for anybody
who loves musical theatre.
Reviews by Sarah Monaghan for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
ALMEIDA THEATRE
Almeida Street, London N1 1TA
BOX OFFICE: (020) 7359 4404
Reviews by Philip
Fisher for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
FINBOROUGH THEATRE
The Finborough Arms Pub
Finborough Road, SW10
(5 minutes from Earl’s Court & West Brompton Stations)
BOX OFFICE: 0870 4000 838
Reviews by Michael Spring for Theatreworld
Internet Magazine
THE GATE THEATRE
(Notting Hill Gate)
BOX OFFICE: 020 7229 0706
Reviews by Lucy Popescu for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
KING'S HEAD THEATRE
Islington
BOX OFFICE: 020 7226 1916
Underground : Angel (Northern Line)
Highbury and Islington (Victoria Line)
Reviews
by Clive Burton for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
THE OVAL HOUSE
52-54 Kennington Road, London SE11
(Oval underground)
BOX OFFICE: 020 7582 7680
Oval House Theatre Upstairs / Downstairs
Reviews by Michael
Spring for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
THE BUSH THEATRE
Shepherds Bush Green
London W12
BOX OFFICE: 020 7610 4224
e-mail: info@bushtheatre.co.uk
The Bush Theatre is above the O'Neill's pub on the corner of
Shepherds Bush Green and Goldhawk Road W12
Reviews by Lucy Popescu for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
LYRIC
HAMMERSMITH
King Street
Hammersmith
BOX
OFFICE: 0871 22 117 22
Reviews by Lucy Popescu for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
NEW END THEATRE
Hampstead
BOX OFFICE: 0870 033 2733
(Nearest Underground: Hampstead [Northern Line] - 2 minutes walk
For more details or individual advice/help - email:
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