Place and Date – 12th March 2011, Theatre Royal, Glasgow
Who Else – sister, niece and niece’s BF
Category – culture
A theatre trip this time. But not any old theatre trip – after all, my regular trips to the West Yorkshire Playhouse don’t “qualify” for this list since that’s what I do on a regular basis. And the whole idea of this 40-list is new or notable stuff … (or at least that’s what I’m saying now. Ask me again come November when I may be desperate for items to make up the list!) so it needed to be a corker of a show to make the list 😉
So let’s see, a legendary actor in the form of Derek Jacobi – considered to be one the finest actors of his generation – in a Donmar Warehouse production of King Lear, and an added bonus of a quick trip to Glasgow – oh yes. There was an amusing exchange in the pub beforehand when the generational divide kicked in and my sister and I were asked by niece and her BF – “Who is Derek Jacobi anyway? and what has he been in?” My response was embarrassing and woeful since when put on the spot, I couldn’t name much other than Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and maybe Gladiator. Apparently repeated screeching of the words “but it’s Derek Jacobi!!”
All this is nothing to do with organisation or artistic sensibilities on my part though, the ticket was a generous xmas gift from one of my sisters. It was all looking rather good. And when I found out that Gina McKee was also part of the cast in the role of Goneril, I was starting to be quite gleeful 🙂
And so I guess the big question is – did I enjoy it?
Um, yes. Overall I did. Although the lack of effusive praise from someone as overexcitable as me probably won’t be seen as the strongest of recommendations will it?!
Let’s stark with the good – Derek Jacobi was very very good – the haughtiness, the self-delusion, the fury and madness unravelling and the humanity were very well pitched. And Gina McKee was a scene stealer whenever she appeared. It was also very stark staging – largely a palate of blues and greys from memory which meant that the words and acting were all, and there was little distraction from this core.
And yet, it may have been this severity of the staging that meant I didn’t love it. I am clearly a creature with a limited attention span because without some light relief in terms of the sets, or costumes or in fact, lightness elsewhere, my attention did wander (and it is a bloody long play!) and the final summary is probably that I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. I had really wanted to be blown away but I wasn’t, not quite :(. As an aside, a few weeks later, I went to see a production of Hamlet by one of my favourite companies – Northen Broadsides – which I was also expecting to be a cracking production. After all, this was possibly the most famous Shakespeare plays (probably one of my favourite I think), and by a company who I have always enjoyed. … and actually …. it was poor. No life, some very clumsy insertion of musical numbers that were not only performed poorly but jarred quite badly and just added unnecessary padding. Also took me longer than usual to “get my ear in” for the dialogue and I started to wonder if perhaps one little-known side effect of impending middle age was an inability to cope with Shakespeare.
Fortunately, a blistering production of ‘Tis A Pity She’s A Whore at the WYP earlier this month restored my faith in plays from this period. Superb acting, staging and dialogue which was somehow communicated to the audience in a way that made the whole thing seem incredibly modern and contemporary. Loved it.
But I’m wandering off the topic again – rather like my attention during Lear. I guess it made me me realise that when I go to the theatre, I want or need more than just some of the greatest words ever written. I want humour and warmth, and although I want to be thought-provoked, am too lazy to really ponder meaning. And I need to warm to the characters.
Clearly I am better suited to box sets of the West Wing and other TV dramas. and I am tempted to see if I could do a marathon box set viewing in one go as one of my things for the list. Maybe I’ll save that for the last quarter of the year when I have run out of new things to bake and am still short on the list 😉
scotcheggsandmarmalade 