Going to the theatre

[Heather]

Closing Time.
(A play about a pub in a pub)
The Caledonia, Liverpool
Saturday 27th June 2015, 2pm.

A pub may seem like an unusual place to see a play. I know in London they have theatres in pubs but I can't think of a pub that has actually shown a play in the pub itself.

Closing Time, written by Liverpool playwright Scott Murphy has been performed at other venues in the city in previous years and in 2014 was shown at The Caledonia for the first time. The 2015 run also at The Caledonia, ended yesterday and was ahead of the shows visit to the Edinburgh Fringe later on in the summer. I believe however from speaking to the playwright after the show that there is another performance in a different pub Liverpool before they go.

The play is set in a pub where the brewery have called time and decided to close the pub to make way for new developments. The landlady has just died her husband John, the landlord is heartbroken as he gathers her friends and family around for the wake. The play explores the relationships he has with the people around him as well as his feelings about the pub closing.

He has a particularly bad relationship with his son which he tries to resolve, but the son does nothing to help matters as he is a drug addict. He isn't very happy either because he found out his mother had died by reading the obituries in the newspaper.

Also in the mix is a DJ who dresses up as a priest and the landlady's interferring sister in law, who although she means well her opinion is not always welcome.

Closing Time is ideal for a pub like The Caledonia which itself faced closure a couple of years ago but managed somehow to come back from the brink. It is hard to imagine it performed in another pub but you never know, it may work there too.

[Julieexeter]

When I first started going to the theatre in London it was to the main West End theatres but I have since found some real little gems.
I saw The Menier Chocolate Factory on the internet and initially thought it was the title of a play but it is in fact a factory near London Bridge converted to a theatre and restaurant. It is one of my favourites, and I have been to quite a few plays there including Assassins with Catherine Tate, a Ray Cooney farce in which the man himself played a small part, and it is where I first saw Forbidden Broadway which I fell in love with and followed into the West End. It is usually conventional seating with a stage in front, but at Assassins there was seating on two sides with the action in the middle. The old building with lots of wood inside gives this little theatre a warm welcoming feel.
The Park Theatre at Finsbury Park is a more modern building. There are two studios, the 90 and the 200 so both are compact intimate areas for watching plays. I have not yet seen anything at the 90 seater but I hope to soon. The 200 can be seated on three sides or in the round with an upper tier as well. Many of the plays there are new or 'not often performed' plays and can star very well known names. The café has seating on the ground and first level and does superb quiches and iced tea.
I found the Museum of Comedy thanks to Kevin Orkian. I was impressed by his performance in The Infidel at Stratford East so when I came across his name in a play about Pete & Dud I was interested and bought a ticket. The Museum of Comedy is in the crypt of a church in Bloomsbury Way. The little museum itself has many books, records, videos etc about comedy and lots of original items such as the bear from Steptoe & Son, Bill Bailey's 6-neck guitar, and Danny La Rue memorabilia to name but a few. The performance area is a little room with chairs and a small stage at one end. Every last Sunday of the month a well known actor/comedian is interviewed for a to be archived podcast. An episode of a show they were in on television is usually shown first, then the interview and the afternoon finishes with questions from the audience. I have so far been to two, the first being Michael Palin and Terry Jones from Monty Python, the second Christopher Beeny best known for the television programmes Upstairs Downstairs and In Loving Memory. A very enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
There is still a whole world of little theatres I have not yet been to, it is so exciting each time I find a new one.

[Heather]

Talking about unusual places to see plays, today's events for the 175th anniversary of the first Cunard transatlantic sailing from Liverpool reminded me. There was a play a couple of weeks ago at the Cunard Building in Liverpool set in the engine room of one of their liners.

Unfortunately I never got to see it but I would have liked to.

I wonder if anyone else here has seen a play in an usual place. It's about time we had a good discussion on here. The last one was about theatre toilets when Philip was with us.

[Julieexeter]

Not the most unusual but The Scoop is quite interesting. I came across it while taking a stroll from London Bridge to Tower Bridge one afternoon. It is situated near City Hall and is an amphitheatre cut into the thoroughfare on the South Bank. There are various events held there, mainly in the summer, including plays. While walking along the South Bank you can stop, take a seat or lean against the wall, and watch for as long as or little as you like.
One thing I have not had the chance to do yet as it is only on once a year for a short period is go to the Hotel Plays at The Langham Hotel. Apparently there are 3 short plays and the audience follow them in 3 separate suites of the hotel. Only being in London at weekends, by the time I remember to check it out I have usually already made other arrangements for the Saturdays they are on.

[Heather]

When I was looking for a show to go to in London earlier on in the year, I thought this looked quite interesting.

I didn't book it because I thought Jake might not be interested in it, he's funny like that.

I think it looks fun.

http://alice.alice-underground.com/#ali ... nderground

[Julieexeter]

You beat me to it there Heather. I didn't have time to submit on that one. I was looking at the 'Alice' yesterday but I do not think it would be accessible for my disabled daughter. I am seriously thinking of giving it a go when Tracey is on holiday though.

[Heather]

I was reminded the other day that we did have our own play performed in underground tunnels in Liverpool in March of this year. Again I didn't get to see it.

The play was performed in Williamson's Tunnels under the Edge Hill district of Liverpool. The tunnels are named after Joseph Wiliamson the eccentric Liverpool business man who built them. Williamson is known in Liverpool as The Mole of Edge Hill and that was also the plays title.

You can find out more about the tunnels here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williamson_Tunnels


And here is what the Liverpool Echo had to say about the play:

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/whats-on ... on-8913850

[Christine]

The Old Vic tunnels are very special but as you'd expect, damp and pretty uncomfortable. But I did see the wonderful Fiona Shaw there a few years ago reciting The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (directed by Phyllida Lloyd who also did the much-applauded women-only Julius Caesar at the Donmar). The Rime was slightly overdone, overly dramatic, although the albatross is always worth re-visiting.

[Julieexeter]

I went to see The Elephant Man at The Haymarket Theatre, London on Saturday. The play does not relate the life of Joseph (John) Merrick as a story, more a series of sketches showing key events but they do flow together reasonably well. Bradley Cooper is absolutely amazing in the title role. He uses no prosthetics; he stands on the stage as himself and in front of your eyes slowly contorts his face and body. He holds that shape and the distorted speech for the whole of the play, while showing us the development of Merrick's personality and dreams; never going 'over the top' with the portrayal. I was also impressed by the performance of Alessandro Nivola who plays Dr Frederick Treves. I felt his emotional attachment to Merrick while still looking on him as medical study material. The play itself is not the best I have seen recently, a bit slow at times, but well worth a watch for the performances of Messrs Cooper & Nivola alone.

[Heather]

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,
Empire Theatre, Liverpool,
Saturday 25th July 2015, 2.30pm.

A National Theatre production currently on a tour in the UK and Ireland of which Liverpool is the first date.

When TCIOTDITNT was showing at The Apollo Theatre in London, the roof caved in and the audience were covered in rubble. The show was then moved across the road to the Gielgud Theatre while The Apollo was made safe. As far as I know it is still there.

I had heard of the show however I had no intention of going to see it at the time, but, when a national tour was announced I decided that actually I would like to go and see the show that brought the house down at The Apollo.

TCIOTDITNT is based on a novel of the same name by Mark Haddon and adapted for stage by Simon Stephens.

When a neighbours pet dog, Wellington, is found in the street dead with a garden fork sticking out of him, 15 year old Christopher, a young boy with Aspergers Syndrome, sets about to find out who did it. He decides to write a book about it but when his father finds out he confiscates it. Whilst searching the house for it, Christopher finds some recent letters from his mother that his father has been hiding from him. She left after having an affair with a neighbours husband (the one with the dead dog). Christopher has no idea of this as he was told by his father his mother had died. He is very angry with his father, who also reveals to him that he killed the dog, and sets off to London to find his mother.

Good story, good graphics, annoying music.

http://www.curiousonstage.com/tour/

[Julieexeter]

The Park Theatre at Finsbury Park is one of my favourites. It comprises the 200 (seat) and 90 (seat), both intimate studio venues. Until Saturday I had only been to the former but I liked the look of Hatched 'N' Despatched and I was not disappointed. The seating was 'in the round' and made to feel as if it was part of the set - all the action takes place in a living room.
Two of the cast were known for Coronation Street - Wendi Peters (Cilla from The Street) plays Dorothy, the matriarch who rules the family with a rod of iron. She makes no secret of the fact that both her son and daughter have married beneath them in her opinion, and her husband would not have reached his high position in the Union without her input. Vicky Binns (Molly from The Street) plays Madeleine her daughter, married but naïve in many ways and unlike her pushy mother . I had previously seen Wendi in Oh What A Lovely War so I knew how well she can give a performance but every single member of the cast was brilliant. The story basically is that Dorothy's son and his wife had arranged a christening for their baby but Dorothy's brother-in-law had died and her sister was going on holiday so decided the funeral had to be held before she went and the only date possible was the same one as the christening. Hence all the family are together after the services and as the drinks flow so the secrets including affairs and violence surface. In spite of the dark content this play is hilarious and well up to the standard I have come to expect from this theatre. It is set in the late 50's and the records played brought back memories for me as well, I still have many of them in my collection of 45's.

[Christine]

Martin McDonagh, Hangmen, at the Royal Court, London



As you would expect from the writer and director of In Bruges, black and funny and full of surprises.

[Heather]

The Sound of Music,
Empire Theatre, Liverpool.
Saturday 19th September 2015, 2.30pm.

I absolutely love The Sound of Music. For me, it is one of the best musicals ever. It's based on a true story and there are so many good songs in it. I love it so much that this is the third time I've been to see it at the Liverpool Empire in the last 5 years.

In the first of the three shows, Connie Fisher played Maria. She had won a TV talent show where the prize was to play Maria in the West End. The part was well suited to her and she gave Julie Andrews a run for her money. I would have loved to have seen her again in The Sound of Music, but sadly she has a vocal condition and she cannot sing at the moment. The role of Maria was filled by a rising West End star Danielle Hope who won a different TV talent competition to become Dorothy in the West End production of The Wizard of Oz.

I make a point of not watching TV talent shows but get to see the winners (of the theatre ones) eventually in something. I have always been impressed by them and I was looking forward to hearing Danielle's voice. I knew I wouldn't be disappointed and I wasn't. She played the part of Maria excellently but their was one flaw and that was that she was trying too hard to be Julie Andrews when she sang sometimes, putting on an accent which was a little annoying and fake.

Now today I couldn't get a programme for love nor money because the theatre sold out of them last night so your guess is as good as mine as to who the rest of the cast were. The littlest Von Trapp child was nearly as big as the 2nd littlest and didn't get the usual 'ahh's' from the audience when she came on stage and the bloke who played Uncle Max looked like a shorter version of Piers Morgan from where I was sitting and probably looks nothing like him really.

Although I was a little distracted by some of the children around me who kept talking during the quiet bits, opening sweet packets and whinging ever now and again, it was a brilliant show that put a smile on my face and kept it there from beginning to end.

The show is currently on a UK tour.

[Julieexeter]

The Gate & The Kings Head Theatre

Last weekend I saw plays at two pub theatres. I love the intimacy of little theatres like these and try to support them; in spite of the fact that they tend to be self-supporting they manage to put on very good quality plays.

On Saturday at The Gate in Notting Hill I saw The Christians with a first rate cast including William Gaminara (Silent Witness on tv) and Jaye Griffiths (The Bill on tv). The play is set in an American church which has just paid off all its debts, has an increasing congregation and the future looks good. Pastor Paul, a much respected man, delivers his sermon. All is not well in the church, there is a crack in its foundation and he wants to share a revelation he has had. There is no hell and Jesus Christ died to save all mankind, not just Christians. The way he delivers this sermon shows there should be love for all men and no religious (or in fact other) divisions. However far from uniting other members of the church this revelation divides and there are questions he finds difficult to answer such as whether if there is no hell, Hitler is in Heaven. Also is it a coincidence that Pastor Paul produces this revelation at a time when the church is solvent and not so concerned about losing some members of the congregation? Whether or not one is religious, this is a play that can lead to much soul searching. There are moments of humour to counter the serious subject matter, and even a choir. I found myself engrossed in the different arguments and they were still whirling around in my mind after the play had finished. I only found out about this theatre recently but going across to Notting Hill was a visit well worth making.

Sunday afternoon I made my second visit to The Kings Head Theatre in Islington (I saw a fun musical - Shock Treatment - there a few months ago). The Man Who Had All The Luck was Arthur Miller's first play and has not often been performed. David is a self taught mechanic who finds that everything falls into place for him. His girlfriend's father dies in a road accident after refusing to allow them to marry, leaving her wealthy. David buys a small garage and a main road is built past it producing plenty of trade. David has the world at his feet (in a small town way) but begins to have doubts, or maybe guilt, about his success, when seeing the failures of those around him. Why is he so lucky without even trying when others work hard yet get bad luck. The possibility of things going seriously wrong for him seems to give him a sense of relief but his luck holds. At the end of the play he tries to convince his wife that he has come to terms with it but you wonder........ I thoroughly enjoyed this play which was also thought provoking and had a very good cast.

A very good weekend of theatre.

[Christine]

Claire van Kampen, Farinelli and the King, at the Duke of York, London.

Fabulous play about the power of music to heal, with the ever wonderful Mark Rylance as the king of Spain troubled by melancholy and bipolar disorder, which can be soothed only by the most famous castrato of his time, Farinelli. Poignant, quite funny at times, with amazing countertenor falsetto singing by Iestyn Davies. I think Philip would have loved this.