A likeable beginning

 

In my ‘umble opinion Michelle Terry, new artistic director at Shakespeare’s Globe, has quite an act to follow in Emma Rice who was cast out after a two-year reign. She lit up the theatre in ways that delighted some and appalled others. I found her approach brave, belligerent and boisterous. C’est la vie, she is no more and Terry sets about her task with a same-day double bill of the popular comedy As You Like It and Hamlet (review next week) announcing that her season will be “race-blind, gender-blind and disability-blind” which is very de rigueur but how does that translate onto the stage.

The answer is a clever mixture of eclectic styles that when popped into the theatrical blender throw up some unexpected surprises and delights but also the occasional oddity. The first of which features Jack Laskey in the role of Rosalind. Fine and dandy if he were to play the role ‘straight’ but I was confused by his interpretation which was phlegmatic and befuddled and added yet more complexity to the Bard’s plot as she spends much of the time pretending to be a man. Still, I guess in an age of non-binary and gender fluidity this is the direction of travel and I need to keep up. Conversely, both Bettrys Jones (Orlando) and Nadia Nadarajah (Celia) are a joy. Jones belts around the hallowed dais with wonderful merriment while deaf actor Nadarajah signs everything giving truth to the idiom that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’, the smallest gesture and cursory glance expressing so much without being heard.

Co-directors Federay Holmes and Elle While have done a fine job in bringing the incongruous and experimental into a coherent whole. The actors too deserve credit as they were invited to participate right from the beginning of the creative process. Some appeared to have relished this opportunity while others seemed uneasy. That said Pearce Quigley is an absolute hoot as Jacques and his version of “all the worlds a stage” is hilarious, something akin to watching a chimpanzee in a playpen. Terry, who is also an actor, flits in and out of the play, a tease before her portrayal of the Prince of Denmark later in the day.

Overall a good if somewhat safe start by Terry though I have to admit to yearning some of the colour and irreverence that Rice brought to this venue, especially with a crazy comedy such as this.

Meanwhile Gracia Erinoglu loves the young cub…

There’s no two ways about it, when it comes to a wily old fox or a spunky young’un give me the cub anytime. Freddie Fox is a revelation as Viscount Goring in Jonathan Church’s delightfully light and frothy production of Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband (Vaudeville Theatre). This takes frivolity to another place and the pairing of Freddie with real-life dad Edward (Fox) playing his father, the Earl of Caversham, is ace. Rehearsals must have been so much fun when you bear in mind the polarised nature of their characters. Caversham a highly respected and admired politician with Goring a lazy sod of no fixed employment and far more interested in lounging around on the divan or getting lost in sartorial narcissism, the ultimate dandy.

Wilde peeps into and dismantles human relationships of all kinds with families, romantic entanglements and those involved in espousing high morals while doing the opposite the main casualties. The witticisms cut through like a razor and though over one hundred years old have a present-day resonance with echoes of the various shenanigans that have occurred in Parliament. The two Foxes have excellent support from an excellent cast. Susan Hampshire quips with aplomb as Lady Markby and Frances Barber is tremendously entertaining as the scheming Mrs Cheveley with sonorous tones that could wake the dead.

A super revival and those Foxes will charm the pants off you while they charm birds out of the trees.

And Sotira Kyriakides is seeing double…

Alison Jackson (Soho Theatre) is known internationally as a photographer, film-maker and artist, made famous for her satirical imagery using lookalikes of famous people to uncanny and hilarious effect in what-if scenarios. Now she can add stand-up comedienne to her CV. She introduces video clips and photographs from her work, explaining how the staged photos have been used by the tabloids. She gives an insight into how she creates these staged images. The results resemble a newspaper cartoon brought to life. We lap it all up because it looks like the ‘reality TV’ we want to see and because we love to see people in power in compromised situations.

Much of the hour-long show is devoted to Harry and Meghan lookalikes, who are given a makeover during the show. The Evening Standard’s headline that evening was ‘I put Meghan’s dad up to photo stunt’ – was it Ms Jackson?!

Finally Rose Goodenough witnesses one turn too many…

The Henry James novella, The Turn of the Screw (Yvonne Arnaud) is a ghost story but this production played out far more as a psychological thriller which had moments of real drama and tension but ultimately fell short with an unsatisfying ending. The action flicked between the past and present continually and you needed to stay alert to keep up, as an interview with a governess is not what it seems and we are transported back in time to a dark past. Carli Norris impressed in the role as did the cast as a whole playing a range of child and adult characters. A journey through time that uncovered difficult truths and provoked discussion but as the lights dimmed for the final time I was left hanging on. The screw had missed its final turn.

 

As You Like It – 020 7401 9919

An Ideal Husband – 0330 333 4814

Alison Jackson – Soho Theatre, 11 June

The Turn of the Screw – on tour

Barney Efthimiou

 

 

 

 

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