The Tragedy of King Richard II - Almeida Theatre

The first theatre visit of 2019 was to see Simon Russell Beale as King Richard II, at the Almeida. 

I was intrigued when I saw that he was going to be playing the role, as of course the actual, historical monarch was one of our younger and, on the whole,  less successful kings (other than with the peasant's revolt), and  was only 33 when he was deposed, and died, and he is generally played by a younger actor. At  almost 60, Russell Beale isn't the obvious choice. 

It's unusual casting, and its an unusual production - the set is a single, apparently metal-lined box or cell - it's not clear whether this is Richard's cell, and the play is all in his mind, or whether it is symbolic of the  ways in which power can trap someone, or something else altogether.

The production is in modern dress, with no costumes other than the gloves which everyone but the king wears, and no props bar a crown, and a number of buckets, labelled, and containing, blood, water and soil. It's also a very small cast, of 8, so everyone except Simon Russell Beale (Richard) and Leo Bill (Bolingbroke) plays multiple roles.


I enjoyed it, Simon Russell Beale is an excellent actor, but I was less convinced by the staging - I felt it was less easy to follow than it could (perhaps should) have been - and I have the advantage of being pretty familiar  with the play. I think in paring it down, they have pared a little too much.

However, I was glad to have seen it , and enjoyed some excellent acting. It was interesting.

'Against' at the Almeida

I saw Ben Whishaw's performance in 'Bakkhai' at the Almeida theatre a little while go, and really enjoyed it, so when I saw that he was appearing there again, I decided to book.

This time, rather than a take on an ancient Greek myth, the play was a new one, 'Against' by Christopher Shinn, which explores the issue of violence in society, how we respond to it, anf whether it can be changed.

Ben Whishaw and Emma D'Arcy CREDIT: JOHAN PERSSON

Whishaw plays Luke, a  Silicone Valley billionaire who has a revelation, believing he has heard the voice of god, and is called to "go where the violence is", leading him to visit the family of a school shooter, and a college campus where there has been a high profile rape (or rapes).

Its an intriguing idea, posing questions about violence in society is seen, and how we talk about it, and also about how the original, fairly simple idea which Luke has, of listening to people and giving them a space for their stories, becomes more complex.

There are some interesting (and uncomfortable) scenes with Kevin Harvey, as a college lecturer (and former sex worker), whose determination to stand up for the marginalised (sex workers, those in unconventional relationships) results in his being intolerant and bullying towards anyone who doesn't share his views, brow-beating his student, Anna (Emma D'Arcy) about the (thinly veiled autobiographical) short story she has written, to try to persuade her to change it to reflect his views, and  pushing Luke to disclose whether, and to what, he masturbates..

Harvey also appears as Jon, a friend of Luke's, and the founder and CEO of Eclipse, an Amazon-esque company where Luke plans to make his next announcement. (and there is a sub-plot, (which doesn't quite work), with Elliot Barnes-Worrell and Adele Leonce as a pair of low-wage workers at Eclipse.

It is a play which provokes thoughts and questions, but doesn't really offer any answers, and I did feel that the final scene, which introduces a totally new character, might have worked better had we met that person earlier in the play.

It was a very interesting play, with a strong cast. 

The performance I saw was the penultimate one, so it's now closed. 

Another Hamlet

When I saw that Andrew Scott (Moriarty from 'Sherlock') was going to be playing 'Hamlet' at the Almeida Theatre, this Spring, with Juliet Stevenson as Gertrude, I couldn't not try to get tickets. I didn't manage it directly, but my friend A did, which meant that last night he and I fortified ourselves with an excellent Turkish meal before heading to the Almeida.

This production of the play is almost uncut, and is directed by Robert Icke, who was also responsible for the horribly effective and chilling 1984.

It was very interesting, and very different from the last couple of versions I have seen. This iteration of the court of Denmark is modern, the stage divided by sliding glass doors allowing to see behind the arras at times, the opening scene sees Horatio and Marcellus spot the ghost on the bank of screens showing feeds from security cameras, and updates such as Fortinbras's invasion are shown as news reports (complete with Danish headlines running across the bottom of the screen).

Andrew Scott's Hamlet is not, for the most part, as maniacal as you might expect, from seeing his Moriarty - from the outset, he came across as anxious and uncertain, constantly fidgeting with his watch, and lacking in self-confidence. His soliloquies are often conversational, and this is definitely a Hamlet in which the madness seems genuine rather than feigned.

Production Photo: Claudius, Hamlet and Gertrude

Gertrude (Juliet Stevenson) and Claudius (Angus Wright) are passionate with one another, unable to keep their hands off each other, but I wasn't entirely convinced by Claudius-as-villain , except in the final poisoning scene.

I was left feeling a bit ambivalent about the production. I would quite like to see it a second time. But I found it interesting, and worth seeing. 

Hamlet is at the Almeida until 15th April.

Greeks and Drama

I forgot to blog about it at the time, but on 14th August, the Almeida Theatre, with the British Museum, arranged a reading of the whole of Homer's Iliad, by a relay of over 60 actors and readers. ('Iliad Live'). I t started at 9 a.m. at the British Museum, and at 8 p.m. moved to the Almeida Theatre, and the whole thing was livestreamed

Iliad Live scripts

It was, in every sense of the word, Epic. 

I did not get to watch or listen to it all as I was working, but I dipped in and out all day, and was *very* impressed. Of course, the Iliad was written to be be performed, not read in a book, and works well even if you cannot see the whole thing. (Also, whoever was running the @IliadLive twitter account is a star in their own right and deserves greater recognition!) For instance:

The Iliad ‏@IliadLive  Aug 14

GHOST ALERT: Now speaking is the ghost of Patroclus. He's asking to be buried. Which is fair enough after quite a long time dead. #iliad

So, having seen this, I was looking  forward very much to seeing the Almeida Theatre's production of Bakkhai (The Bacchae), a new translation of Euripides' classic. (which I booked months ago). The play premiered in 450 BC, so I shall not worry too much about spoilers...

I had a bit of a trek to get there, due to rail strikes and engineering work. However, I made it, and in time to meet up with a friend for lunch and a catch up, which was lovely.

In some respects, the production is quite traditional - there are three actors, plus a chorus(although the chorus are all women, which no doubt Euripides and the Ancient Greeks would not have approved of). 

Chorus

There is minimal set and very few props - just a few fawn-skins, some wreaths, thyrsuses, and the occasional severed head.

The three actors were Ben Whishaw, Kevin Harvey and Bertie Carvel, all of whom play more than one role.

Ben Whishaw is Dionysus - he starts by addressing the audience directly "How do I look? Convincingly Human?"  Which at that point, he does, in a T-shirt and low-cut jeans, outlining for us his genealogy. (Son of Zeus, born by a lightning bolt, in case you were wondering)

As things unfold, and we learn that Dionysus is angry at those who fail to accept or acknowledge his godhood. And you really wouldn't like him when he is not happy. Although when he is happy, he could be a lot of fun to be around.

(Photo (C) Mark Brenner) 

King Pentheus (Carvel) ignores the advice of his father in law Kadmos (Harvey) and Kadmos's friend  Teiresias (Whishaw again) to join in Dionysus's rites.

This turns out to be a poor decision. Pentheus is determined to stamp out the irresponsible and unruly Bakkhai and their worship of Dionysus, putting those he catches into prison, and determined to crack down on them.

Dionysus poses one of his own worshippers in order to approach Pentheus, and to lead him on, to attempt to spy upon the wild women in the rituals. 

Dionysus is now no longer in his casual  modern dress but wears a long flowing fawnskin dress and is both sensuous and androgynous, flirting with both the audience, and with Pentheus - but also illustrating, all too clearly, that the Greek pantheon was, on the whole, much better at wrath and vengeance than at mercy. .  

Whishaw makes a very impressive god, very clearly not quite human...

As might be expected for one who has the hubris to challenge a god,Pentheus ends up humiliated and dead, having been tricked into dressing as a woman in order to spy upon the bakkhai in their rites (which, for a straight-laced, misogynistic politician he enjoyed way too much) , and then torn limb from limb by, among others, his own mother (also played by Carvel) 

There are lots of tensions and conflicts- between belief and non-belief, masculinity and femininity, wildness and civilization (or at least urbanity)

And through it all the chorus provides a, well, chorus, of exposition and emphasis, with songs an chants, all perfectly times and almost a concert in it's own right. They were superb.

In fact, the entire play was superb. I don't know whether I have any chance of seeing the other plays in the season, Medea and Orestia, but having seen this, I would like to see the others. And I definitely want to see more of Ben Whishaw's work - I've seen him live once before, in Peter and Alice (with Judi Dench), and on screen as Richard II in 'The Hollow Crown' (and of course as Q in the more recent Bond films) but this gave him the opportunity to demonstrate he has a much greater range.