Othello at the Globe

I was excited to see that Mark Rylance was going to be performing at the Globe Theatre, in Othello.  I really enjoy his work as an actor  loved him in Farinelli and the King . So, months ago when the season booking opened, I booked myself a ticket, and on Friday, travelled to London to see it.

It was another blazing hot day and I was a little worried about whether my seat would be in the sun, as despite a hat and lots of sunscreen, I don't think I would have been able to manage 2 and a half hours in full sun.

Happily, my seat (or rather, my segment of backless wooden bench, this being the Globe) turned out to be in a section which was in the shade, although only just so, when I arrived the next bit of bench along was still in sunlight, and as I discovered when I sat down, the patina of god-knows-what which has built up on the wooden bench over the past 21 years had melted, or whatever happens to gunky wood, so I stuck to it when I sat down!


However, that was a small price to pay for the chance to see the production, which was very good.

Andre Holland  was excellent in the title role: he came across as very dignified, and his American accent is an asset, at it reinforces the sense of his distance from the Venetians.

Mark Rylance, as Iago, was, as might be expected, equally good, in an evil kind of way, and comes across as a small, jealous man, rather than one with a towering ambition.  Sheila Atim, as Emilia, was outstandingly good, a powerful, strong woman, uncowed by her husband or Othello himself. 

The play is on until 13th Septmber and well worth seeing if you can get a ticket.

Twelfth Night at the Globe

It's been a while since I have been to the Globe, and one of the plays I've seen there before is Twelfth Night, which I saw 5 years ago, in a very traditional production with Mark Rylance as Olivia and Stephen Fry as Malvolio.

I knew this production was going to be very different - it was directed by Emma Rice, who has now parted company with the Globe, and features Le Gateau Chocolat  as Feste, and has even more cross dressing than is usual for this play.

It is set (judging by costumes etc) in the 1970's, apparently on a Scottish island, so Antonio (Pieter Lawman) and Orsino (Joshua Lacey) were in kilts, and  Sir Andrew Aguecheek (Marc Antolin) was in a pink fair isle sweater and was extremely camp.

Stage / Set (taken during interval!) 

Viola and Sebastian (Anita-Joy Uwajeh and John Pfumojena)were both excellent, and both appeared very young, which works well with the text, and the whole thing was fun, and didn't take itself too seriously.

I can understand why Emma Rice and the Globe parted company - this isn't the traditional, Elizabethan style production which the Globe specialises in, although I can't help but feel that if Shakespeare had had the option of including glitter balls, fairy lights, gold  lamé and the fabulous Le Gateau Chocolat in his plays, he would have done so! 

The performance I saw was the penultimate performance, so the run is over now, but it was fun while it lasted!

Bath Festival : Dominic Dromgoole

I was a little disappointed with the line up for the Bath Literary Festival this year, as I couldn't find very many events I wanted, and was able, to attend. However, one I did like the look of was an interview with Dominic Dromgoole, former Artistic Director of the Globe Theatre, talking about his book about the 'Hamlet: Globe to Globe' tour.

For those who don't know, the tour marked the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death by trying to take a production of 'Hamlet' to every country in the world.

Dominic Dromgoole, 20.05.17

It was very interesting. Dominic started by explaining that he is a local boy; he was brought up in Wedmore, so coming to Bath feels like coming home. He also pointed out that the parents of one of the Hamlet cast, another local boy, were in the audience!

He explained that the idea of the tour came about in a 'louche bar' where he and other members of the Globe team were drinking cocktails at the end of an away day (he commented that the Globe doesn't get any government support, and very little sponsorship, so the money comes from the box office and they felt, therefore, able to spend it on such things!). They were unsure, at first, whether it would even be possible, but (he claims) decided to go ahead anyway! It followed on from the season they had had at the Globe, where they performed all of Shakespeare's plays, with companies from around the world performing in a wide variety of languages, so they were able, to some extent, to build on the relationships built with various international theatres and companies.

He explained that they then had to decide which play to take on tour, and decided on Hamlet on the basis that it has iconic appeal, and unlike other plays (such as Romeo and Juliet) it is elusive; there is always more or the actors to discover, so they are less likely to get bored and stale over a long run.

He was asked about how well the play was understood, in non-English speaking countries, particularly as there were no sur-titles, and in some of the countries visited the play would not be (well) known.  He explained that, as at the Globe, they performed in natural light or with the audience, as well as the players, lit, which allows cast and audience to make eye contact with one another, and that key parts of the play 'read' clearly even of you don't understand the words -the opening scene, on the battlements, is a readily understandable scenario,  Claudius can be recognised as an authority figure, ghosts are well known in most cultures, and so on. 

Over all it was an interesting conversation, I was glad to have gone. And it left me really wanting to see a version of Hamlet at the Globe! 

After the event, I had a chance to buy a book (although I bought an older one rather than Globe to Globe, to start with!) and say hello. 

Nell Gwynn

I missed Nell Gwynn when it was originally on at the Globe Theatre, but heard many good things about it, so when I saw that it was coming to Bath I immediately booked a ticket. 

And then a little bit later I realised it was for the same night I would be getting back from Venice, but as that was the last night it was in Bath, there was no way of changing the ticket, so I decided to hope that the train would be on time and the traffic light, and that I'd get back in time.

It was, and I did. All the travel gods smiled on me, I was out of Gatwick within half an hour of the plane landing, and got to Bath with time to grab a snack before going into the theatre!

The play, written by Jessica Swale and starring Laura Pitt-Pulford as Nell and Ben Righton as Charles II, begins in 1660 as a young Nell Gwynn, selling oranges at Drury Lane theatre, draws the attention of actor Charles Hart (Sam Marks), and starts on her path towards being one of the first professional actresses in Britain, and, a little later, mistress of Charles II.

It was lot of fun. I particularly enjoyed the performance of Esh Alladi, as Edward Kynaston,an actor famed for his portrayal of female roles, outraged by the idea of women on stage!

Nell gets most of the best lines - there is a lovely sequence where she gives her unvarnished opinion of women characters as written by male playwrights, with particular reference to  Shakespeare's 'Juliet. (Spoiler Alert: She is not convinced by Juliet and her suicide) 

There was live music.  There was singing and dancing. There were ridiculous hats. there were political jokes.

It was all great fun.

Sadly the run is now over, so you can't see it, but if they revive it, go see it.

In Which There are Plantagenets and Severed Heads

When I got my brouchre for this season at Bath Theatre Royal, I saw that one week they would be playing host to the Globe Theatre's 'Globe on Tour' productions of all the Henry VI plays - 'Henry VI', 'The Houses of York and Lancaster' and 'The True Tragedy of the Duke of York' I haven't seen any of them before, and I enjoyed the previous Globe of Tour productions which I've seen, so I booked to see all three plays, and last week was at the theatre on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings (The did do 2 matinees on Saturday so it was possible to see all three plays, in order, on the Saturday, but I felt that might be a little too much of a good thing!)

The plays are a bit of a mixed bag, and, I would say, *not* Shakespeare's best, but still worth seeing.

The first play covers battles with the French, and Joan of Arc (who was portrayed with a strong Yorkshire accent, presumably to try to emphasis her rural/working class antecedents, although it made a odd contrast with the French accents of the other 'French' characters. Henry VI (who is of course a child during this period) doesn't speak for most of the early part of the play, but in this production is present on stage, reacting with fear, surprise and so on, to the action. There weren't any severed heads in this production, although a number of characters, including Joan or Arc, wind up dead.

The second to plays flow much more readily into each other - , 'The Houses of York and Lancaster', starts with Henry's politically embarrassing marriage, to Margaret of Anjou, the strong-minded but dowerless daughter of the King of Naples, and goes downhill from there, with internal strife at court (leading to the first of the severed heads.. the Duke of Suffolk - and as the same actor played Jack Cade, he later got to admire his *own* severed head, which must be interesting!

The play also saw Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) - who was played as having practically no redeeming features whatsoever (admittedly, difficult to avoid given the text) but also with an exaggerated limp, crookback and unusable arm - which is no doubt authentic in terms of the Shakespearian production, but did strike me as being a bit over the top - quite apart from anything else, it made it difficult to believe in his military exploits!

The body count rises throughout the plays. Which I suppose is fair enough for a civil war.

Over all, I enjoyed the plays but I can see why the aren't among the more frequently performed of the plays, even the history plays.

The tour included several battlefield performances, in the open air at various civil war locations, which I imagine must have been interesting!

In Which Shakespeare Happens

Sometimes you have to wait for the Good Things to happen. Way back in February, I saw Stephen Fry tweet that he was going to be appearing at the Globe Theatre, in Twelfth Night, in the autumn. So I rushed off to the theatre's website, booked a pair of tickets, and then asked my friend J if she'd like to meet up and go with me. And then we waited for 8 months, and on Wednesday we both travelled to London to meet up and see the show.

We had tickets for the matinee performance, so had also take the opportunity to book tickets for the British Museum's exhibition 'Shakespeare - Staging the World'.

'The Long View' -Wenceslaus Hollar, 1647

The exhibition uses Shakespeare's life and works as a prism through which to look at the world he lived in, and London in particular, and brings together some fascinating articles, interspersed with videos of actors (including Anthony Sher and Paterson Joseph) performing extracts from some of the plays.

There were maps of London, tapestries of Warwickshire, a 1st Folio, an actual page in Shakespeare's own hand (part of a play about Sir Thomas More) as well as other items with less immediate connections to Shakespeare - including a hand bill for a bear pit (and the skull of a bear!) the eye of Edward Oldcorne (executed for alleged involvement in the Gunpowder Plot)

Reliquary containing right eye of Edward Oldcorne, 1606

And the Funeral Achievements of Henry V (including a decorative shield which is believed to date from the late 1300s - it's just amazing to think that this could have survived so long.

I had slightly mis-calculated how long stuff would take us, so we ended up having to run the last bit to the Globe in order to avoid being late for the start of the show!

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We were seated in the upper gallery, which (as the name suggests) is right up at the top of the theatre, but we had great seats (or rather, spaces on the wooden bench!) - right at the front.

View from our seats, during the interval

The show was excellent - it's a very traditional version of the play, with an all-male cast, and full period costume. Mark Rylance (Olivia) was the complete, upper-class lady - dead white make up, huge farthingale - very much the great lady, rather than the young, naive girl she is sometimes played as.

(Photo Nigel R Barklie/Rex)

Olivia glides across the stage (rather like the ladies in 'Trumpton'), making 3-point turns when she needs to turn or sit. There are occasional moments where she slipped over in to pantomime dame, but they were infrequent.

Samuel Barnett's Sebastian and Johnny Flynn's Viola were superb -they were dressed in identical white doublets and hose, with long hair, and managed to make their mistaken identity became believable.
 Liam Brennan's Orsino was very convincing in his (slightly uncomfortable) attraction to 'Cesario'.

Stephen Fry's Malvolio presented as a dry, pedantic bureaucrat, less malignant than the character is sometimes presented as being, arrogant and awkward in his hopes of affection from Olivia, and pitiable in his imprisonment.

taking a bow

In all, it was a highly enjoyable piece of theatre, and while the run at the Globe was fully sold out and has, I think, now ended, the play is transferring to the West End - I'd say it's well worth booking tickets,  if you can. And I very much hope that having returned to the stage after so long, Stephen Fry will be considering more productions in future.

Cabbages and Kings

It's been a busy couple of weeks, but mostly related to work and other non-bloggable stuff. However, this weekend is more interesting.(It's true that the Olympic Flame relay came through my home town, and through the town where one of our offices is based, but I wasn't there in either case, didn't see it, and had no real wish to see it, which does not make for exciting blogging!)

After a very wet, very cold spring we seem suddenly to have been given all of the missing warmth and sunshine at once - my clematis has exploded into flower, as have the rock geraniums, and after a lot of tiring, and at times stressful stuff at work, this weekend has been about good things.

On Friday, I went to Bath Theatre royal to see the Globe Theatre 's touring production of Henry V.I realised, as I waited for the play to start, that it is not a play I've seen performed live, before. I have read it, and I have seen both the Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh film versions, but never seen it on stage.

(photo from Globe Theatre website)

It is not, of course, one of Shakespeare's more subtle plays, and this production concentrated on doing it well, and not on trying to make it something it isn't. The French were vain, in shiny armour and fancy surcoats. The English had plainer, battered looking armour, and big, ugly pole-axes and pikes - it wasn't hard to imagine them on a muddy battlefield, actaully killing people.
Jamie Parker as King Henry was excellent, coming across as a soldier with a conscience. The production was originally designed for the Globe, but worked well in the Theatre Royal, with lots of exits and entrances through the auditorium, and heralds and drums and pikemen charging up via the stalls.

I personally found the comedy interludes, with Pistol and Bartolph and Nym rather overdone and tedious, and would have been happy for all or most of them to be cut, but I often have that reaction to the 'comedy' in Shakespeare's history plays, so I'm  not inclined to blame the Globe for that !

The Chorus was played by Brid Brennan, which meant that the Chorus was portrayed as an older serving woman,  which was interesting.

Stylistically, it seemed to me that the production owed a good deal to the Branagh film version of the play, and it was definiely well worth seeing. at least 4 stars!