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Review: Welcome to Thebes – The National Theatre

June 21, 2010 in Review, Theatre | No comments



I have come to admire The National for their ability to put on a show with such effort, vigour and production values, that it can be easy to ignore the fact that the play is, quite frankly, crap. These are the reservations I came with when I saw Welcome to Thebes last Wednesday night. After all, it’s a new work, based on other works, which, if Nation is anything  to go by, doesn’t bode well.

Welcome to Thebes is a modern retelling of the story of Creon. However, you wouldn’t recognize it because playwright Moira Buffini has replaced Creon with his historically mute wife, Eurydice. She has also planted in some additional characters from the Theban backstory of Oedipus and some post-glory, post-story Theseus to mix it up a bit. Take all this, mix it in a blender and throw it up in contemporary, war-torn Africa and you have Welcome to Thebes. Surprisingly, it’s done quite well. The stories mix well and make an obvious parallel to African/Middle Eastern – American relations, commenting heavily on the notions of war, class and society. Buffini handles it all quite well, with a nice mix of humour and drama, even sneaking in the odd Oedipus joke.

The actors are all commendable, doing a good job with the characters. There are a few exceptions, with some far weaker than others,  but the overall quality more than compensates. David Harewood as Theseus, Nikki Amuka-Bird as Eurydice and Jacqueline Defferary as Talthybia are standouts. However, it’s Madeline Appiah as Megaera who stole the show for me. Her intensity, mixed with her brilliant talent for comedy, culminated into one of the most enjoyable and disturbing performances in the show. One interesting casting choice, as pointed out by a fellow blogger, was Alexia Khadime as the surprisingly mute Harmonia, better known recently as the much larger role of Elphaba in Wicked. Sure enough, by the end of the night they made full use of her voice with a few hauntingly beautiful melodies driftig above the action.

The production values, as always with The National, are fantastically high. The set, a crumbling African palace complete with stormy sky, worked beautifully, and the ‘appearance’ of a helicopter was brilliantly achieved, only bettered by Mr Mackintosh in Miss Saigon.

Overall, it was a rather enjoyable evening. The script was in need of slight editing, with the finale running on past the obvious closing point and providing a little too much closure, as pointed out by my theatre partner. Hopefully, considering this was preview week, they’ll work this out and make the relevent editing before it officially opens on the 22nd. Still, Welcome to Thebes is a welcome change from the oh so boring Women Beware Women.

Welcome to Thebes is playing at the Olivier Theatre at The National Theatre until 19 August.

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Review: Women Beware Women

April 21, 2010 in Review, Theatre | No comments

Thomas Middleton was one of Shakespeare’s contemporaries. He wrote works for most major playhouses in London during the early 17th century. However, his name doesn’t conjure the same reaction as the bard. Most people when hearing his name would probably reply with ‘Thomas Who? Does he play for Chelsea?’ I would like to count myself as one of the few who actually know his name, but alas, I cannot. Before seeing Women Beware Women at the National Theatre, I had only seen his name in passing, not knowing him from any other playwright, or football player for that matter.

There is possibly a reason for this.

Women Beware Women is a flawed piece (that seems to be my motto recently). I overheard somebody saying after the show that it was amazing how a show that is so overblown can be so under written. This is a fair statement. This production clocks in at almost three and a half hours, with enough action to comfortably fill ninety minutes.

Women Beware Women is a confused piece of work that centres around a social group of characters in Florence. Leantio, a poor banker’s clerk, has married Bianca, an heiress from Venice. Soon after the wedding, Leantio is called back to his business and leaves his wife in the care of his mother. Meanwhile, Isabella has been promised to Guardiano’s Ward by her father Fabritio. However, Isabella’s uncle, Hippolito, is in love with Isabella and confesses this to her sister Livia, who then conspires to bring them together. Confused? This is only the first two scenes…

What transpires is worthy of a Jerry Springer episode, with rape, betrayal, incest and murder. This culminates into a climax that leaves your head spinning and asking exactly what just happened. Unfortunately, this climax comes in 10 minutes at the end of 3 hours, and the questioning isn’t due to an unexpected twist or turn, but utter dumbfoundedness.

In saying that, Middleton does have a way with words. While his scenes tend to go on forever with very little progress, he certainly knows how to turn a phrase. His evocative dialogue is full of wit and substance, and his darker turns are close to immaculate. Bianca’s exchange with Guardiano after being effectively locked in a room for the Duke to do with her what he will is so full of malice, yet still maintains an air of propriety, and echoes some of the greats of this period. However, what Middleton seems to fail at is progressing the story, and creating scenes that make sense. The aforementioned climax of the play is nothing short of a pointless blood bath. It’s as if the author saw Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet, liked how many people died at the end, then emulated with not much reasoning behind it. Also, the predominant theme is that women are the cause of all evil. However, a deeper reading of the text (and the programme) suggests that it is the men who cause these actions by treating the women as possessions and pets. Somehow, both of these readings merely come across as misogynistic.

In terms of this production, The National Theatre has yet again assembled a fine cast and thrown all the production values they could at a less than perfect play. The entire cast did an admirable job with a sluggish play. However, there were some who stood out above others. In general, the three women at the centre of the play, Bianca (Lauren O’Neill), Livia (Harriet Walter) and Isabella (Vanessa Kirby), were incredibly strong. O’Neill’s darker moments during the first act brought a beautiful sense of malice to the character. Walter shone as the controlling matriarch who loses it all in the end. Out of the men, Hippolito (Raymond Coulthard), Ward (Harry Melling) and Laentio (Samuel Barnett), were the standout performers. Barnett made Laentio by far the most likable characters in the show. His wit and bumbling charm served the character perfectly, and made you feel for him, even when his actions aren’t always pure. Melling is a brilliant comic actor. Having only ever seen him as Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films, he is a revelation. He completely steals every scene he is in.

At just under three and a half hours, Women Beware Women isn’t an easy watch. However, if you have a penchant for Jacobean drama and want to see one of the lesser appreciated playwrights, then have a look at Women Beware Women.

Just remember, Middleton is no Shakespeare.

Women Beware Women is playing at the National Theatre until July 4.

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Review: Nation.

January 28, 2010 in Review, Theatre | 2 comments

On a whim I went and saw Nation at the National Theatre last night. Nation is a play with music based on the Terry Pratchett novel of the same name. It’s been adapted for the stage by Mark Ravenhill, which was an odd thing considering I was only familiar with his earlier work like Shopping and Fucking. Nation seemed to me a slight departure for a playwright who’s works have mostly been in the ‘in-yer-face’ style. What was a playwright who had previously written a great scene where a character gets raped with a knife doing writing what is ostensibly a Young Adult’s fantasy book. However, what I didn’t know is that Ravenhill seems to have tamed a bit in recent years, even writing a pantomime.

Yes, a pantomime.

To tell you the truth, I probably wouldn’t have bothered if I hadn’t picked up a £5 ticket offer for some insanely good seats. I’m not a big Pratchett fan. This could probably get my nerd status revoked, and I have honestly tried, but Pratchett just hasn’t captured me in the same way as other fantasy authors. In fact, the thing that stands out for me from Pratchett’s novels is a single quote.

62 books. 1 quote. Not bad.

I’m being unnecessarily harsh about Mr Pratchett. I also enjoyed the Hogfather when it was on TV. I also had a read of Guards! Guards! the play, and thought it was quite funny, if not a little too nerdish. Anyway, back to Nation.

Nation is the first non-Discworld novel that Pratchett has put out since 1996. It’s an alternate history of our world set in the 1870s. It tells the story of Mau, a native of ‘The Nation’ who finds himself alone after a giant wave washes away everyone he knows and loves, until he finds the ghost (read: white) girl. Daphne, who thinks that she’s the sole survivor of the wreck of the Sweet Judy is stranded on the island with Mau. They fall in love, things happen and they ostensibly save the world (paraphrasing here).

Nation is flawed. I felt that I couldn’t really get attached to the story. There were some interesting and funny characters within the story, and there were some great moments, but the story as a whole left me feeling a little empty. It was nice enough but I had a sense that I’d seen it a million times before. It seemed a typical Pocahontos/Avatar style white person meets and falls in love with a native style story.

In saying that, Nation by National Theatre was an absolutely revelation. In fact, the play itself is about the only thing I can fault in the production. The cast were great, and did the most with what they had to work with. The staging was brilliant, the lighting, set and sound design were truly impressive and the puppets and puppetry were fantastic. It’s an extremely strange and disconcerting feeling for me to say how much I enjoyed the production, considering I really didn’t like the script all too much. The production values were so high that they overshadowed the piece itself, which in this case is a good thing.

I’ll start with the cast. The two leads, Gary Carr and Emily Taaffe were very strong. They both had great comic timing and made the most of what was often trite dialogue. Carr, who plays Mau, is an exceptionally talented man. It’s always pleasing to see a production where the lead character actually stands out above the rest. He played Mau with such conviction and seemed to own the stage with his every movement. Taaffe, as Daphne, was spot on. She managed to be likeable and irritating at the same time, which was absolutely perfect for the character. What I was most impressed with was that she never turned the character into a caricature, which would have been so easy. The other standout, by far, was Jason Thorpe as Milton the Parrot. His movement and delivery of lines were perfect. According to the woman behind me, the parrot was a Shakespearean device. I just thought it was a nice piece of comic relief in an otherwise boring story. Each to their own. The rest of the ensemble were extremely good, but hard to pick out individually.

Secondly, the direction. Melly Still did an exceptional job with Nation. It’s often hard to see the direction behind a show. However, the staging of Nation was hard to ignore. The way that the actors interacted with the set, lighting and soung, along with the interaction between the actors themselves was awe inspiring. There were moments where my jaw simply hit the floor, especially towards the end. This is an incredibly well staged, tight production. In addition, the use of puppets for the slightly surreal animals of the island was inspired, providing menace and comedy in equal measures.

Finally, the design. I would recommend seeing Nation for, if nothing else, the set, lighting, sound and projection design. The way all elements interacted was a thing of beauty. The I have never seen such an effective use of sound and projection within the theatre before. I sound like I’m gushing, but in all honesty, it absolutely floored me. One scene in particular, where Mau is shown paradise and then taken back to the stark reality of the world was beautiful. The juxtaposition of the stage filled with tiny, pretty lights, to the barren world that was created with one lighting change was inspired.

That happened to be a long winded, rather conflicting review. All in all, I would recommend seeing Nation. It runs until the end of March at the National Theatre. What it lacks in story, it makes up for as an experience.

£5 tickets aren’t bad, either.

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