…movement of the people

Many things are more important than football. Having said that if we could bottle the passion and unifying effect the game has on hundreds of millions of people worldwide and convince them to invest that in serious global issues we might yet have a chance to pass this planet on to future generations in a more stable state than the current status quo. Right now, one of the biggest challenges is the huge movement of people. It’s a subject that is topical, poignant and often divides national opinion in half, especially in European countries where many have come seeking refuge.

Joe Murphy and Joe Robertson spent some time in The Jungle (Playhouse Theatre), the Calais refugee camp, a temporary refuge or place of notoriety depending on your viewpoint. The impact on them must have been huge so they wrote this very realistic piece of immersive theatre to bring it home, no holds barred. You are immediately transported to that place, the sights, smells and sounds, the chaos, confusion and unrelenting discomfort of existing in such an environment. This is not a sanitised TV report but an experience that will stay with you long after you emerge into another jungle; the London full of despondent football fans knowing they have another four more years of hurt.

The people in The Jungle hurt much more and there’s is a daily experience. When you have nothing but hope the reserves of strength, determination and fortitude are almost bottomless. The committed and wholly believable cast are all around us at various points, suggesting continual movement and displacement. The insightful Safi (Ammar Haj Ahmad) guides us carefully through the emotional and psychological turmoil that each of the characters must endure. However, the most fascinating, and in some ways challenging component is the portrayal of the Western volunteers. No answers, no judgement but lots of questions and the obvious references to post-colonial trauma and our role in creating this hideous mess is stark and very uncomfortable.

Directors Stephen Daldry and Justin Martin do a superb job in creating a production that does not let go and the realisation that this place was created in January 2015 and bulldozed in October 2016 may give the impression that the problem has gone away. That is not true, and some are still in and around Calais waiting for the day when they may be able join their football loving friends in London or Manchester; a chorus of football songs, including profanities, brings home the sick irony and inhumanity of the whole situation. One very emotive speech by Safi will either make you cry or determined to act.

For now, just make sure you see it. My one recommendation would be to transform the play into more of an Augusto Boal Theatre of the Oppressed experience which allows for more dialogue and interaction between performer and audience, thereby transforming the passive observer into thinking solution provider.

Meanwhile Bev C (and mum) love their trip down memory lane…

Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof (Barbican) has to be the most famous milkman of all time. He spends much of the time pleading to God, with If I Were a Rich Man, that wonderful song capturing his yearning sentiment. Topol made the part his own and all these years later I thought I might still want him to be up there on stage. Well let me tell you this Guildhall School of Music and Drama production was a five-star hit and in Alex James-Cox they have a worthy successor to the great man. He was brilliant but then so were the rest of the cast and I particularly liked Poppy Allen-Quarmby as Yente, a woman for whom broxenia are meat and drink.

Martin Connor’s direction was very clever in the way it balanced the comical and the serious. This is essentially a musical play about a community who are eventually forced into the wilderness. Adam Wiltshire’s wood set was very evocative and apart from being very realistic also symbolised the predicament of the village folk, close to nature but never truly embraced. As for those musical numbers it’s difficult to know where to begin. Mum’s favourites? Tradition and Sunrise, Sunset. They are now the stuff of theatrical folklore and if there is no professional production due in the West End soon I’d take this show as is and put it on there. A blessing on their heads…Mazeltov!

Finally, Susie Brodie is conflicted…

The King and I (London Palladium) is one of the great musicals. Who would not swoon at those songs, that orchestration, the lavish set and costumes, and gorgeous children who could charm monkeys out of trees. Yet as I allowed myself to be swallowed up by the spectacle a little voice in my head kept asking those awkward questions about imperialism and its uncomfortable legacy. It is set in Siam in 1862 (Thailand today) and this portrayal is very faithful to the original which is all very well, but the stereotyping of the king and his English governess are so caricatured they almost became laughable despite top quality performances from Ken Watanabe and Kelli O’Hara.

That said the production is a looker. What especially took my eye were the ostentatiously beautiful costumes from Catherine Zuber, worthy of their own catwalk show which came into their own during the equally delightful choreography. And those Rodgers and Hammerstein songs are a joy. Shall We Dance, Getting to Know You, Something Wonderful, there are several. The chemistry between O’Hara and Watanabe is so-so with the vocal medals all going to her while he is a real character, his likeability overcoming his less adept singing voice.

You will laugh, you may cry but both those emotions will be borne out of very different responses to the show. In the end I was won over.

The Jungle – 0844 871 7615

Fiddler on the Roof – run complete

The King and I – 020 7087 775

Barney Efthimiou