In Which there is Wildean Fun

We are very fortunate that Bath Theatre Royal has(usually) a new show every week, plus the productions at the Ustinov, and we get to see many productions wither before, or after, a West End run. 

This season is particularly rich, and I was rather extravagant in the number f tickets I booked when the brochure came out...

Last night I was in Bath to meet up with my 2nd Cousin, to have dinner and go to see  'The Importance of Being Earnest', starring Nigel Havers, Martin Jarvis and Siân Phillips. 

There is, of course, a slight issue with this - Havers is 63, Jarvis 73, and Gwendolen (Cherie Lunghi) and Cecily (Christine Kavanagh) are also older than the average debutante.

To address this issue, this production used the setting of an aging amateur dramatics group, preparing for a production of 'Importance', the idea being that we are watching the final dress rehearsal, at the home of two of the members. 

This kind of works: There are jokes about the cucumber sandwiches being eaten by members of the cast, and side play involving a stage hand with a ladder, but while these were entertaining, I am not entirely sure that that production might not have been better played straight, despite the advanced age of the players.

Once the Wilde was under way, it was excellent, but there were points where I felt that the wish to follow through with the 'modern Am Dram' meant that there were some points where this overshadowed the original play - for instance, Gwendolen's line about the name Ernest 'producing vibrations' is an excude for some very modern over-acting, which was a shame.

All that said, it was a lot of fun. Siân Phillips was excellent in the Lady Bracknell role, as was Rosalind Ayers as Miss Prism. Nigel Havers played Nigel Havers beautifully.

I'm glad I went, and I had fun, but I think another time I would prefer to watch the play Wilde write, not one with additions by Simon Brett!

In Which There Is Theatre and Ian McKellen

A couple of months ago, when I first got my  season programme from Bath Theatre Royal, I saw that in September, Sir Ian McKellen would be here, playing in The Syndicate. So I bought a ticket. I didn't, at the time, know anything about the play, nor did I know it would be just before I was due to go on holiday to Italy...

The play is by Eduardo de Fillipo whose work I'm not familiar with, although I gather that to any Italian this would be unthinkable. The play, The Syndicate is set in Naples, in 1960, and follows Don Antonio, (Sir Ian McKellen)  his family and associates.

It is an interesting play - Don Antonio doesn't appear at the start - we see the rest of his household, and it becomes clear that he is a very powerful, much feared and respected man; the young man who has arrived in order to have a bullet removed from his leg is not able to stop shouting or crying out by appeals to his courage, but the warning that he might wake Don Antonio does the trick!

(Photo by Manuel Harlan, from Bath Theatre Royal website)

And it quickly becomes apparent that Don Antonio, although he is obviously a ruthless man, does have a conscience of sorts. He seeks to prevent vendettas, ("Next time you want to shoot somebody, you speak to me first") and steps in to prevent a loan-shark from pursuing his victim, but at the same time he makes clear to his friend and doctor Dottore Fabio Della Ragione (Michael Pennington) that should he leave, to go to America as he wishes, he will be killed. He also clearly has had a very murky past, among the mafia of New York "it involved bloodshed, of course. But nothing dishonourable"

The play revolves around Don Antonio's attempts to reconcile a father and son, in order to prevent the son from killing his father. There were excellent performances from Gavin Fowler as Rafiluccio Santaniello as the son, and Annie Hemingway as Rita, his (very pregnant) girlfriend and Ian McKellen was superb, managing to be very funny at times, but also to create a very real air of menace, and despite everything, to be a sympathetic character.

I felt Cherie Lunghi (Donna Armida Barracano, Don Antonio's wife) was a little wasted, as she had very little to do, and somehow the strong feeling of a close family which came across from the actors playing Don Antonio's daughter, sons and housekeeper didn't seem to extend to her, but over all there was a very strong cast, and while the play perhaps paints a somewhat rosy and optimistic view of mafia life it was very well done.

I'm glad I went. And I hope I don't meet anyone like Don Antonio and his associates when I'm in the Naples area this week!