London summary

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Some thoughts at the end of two weeks in London (I’m on the Eurostar to Brussels where I will spend two days before flying home from Paris).



There have been too many shows to write about. I have said nothing about the two Royal Shakespeare productions (Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra), Witness for the Prosecution at London’s County Hall, The Twilight Zone at the Almeida, or Barnum at the Menier Chocolate Factory.



Very brief thoughts:



Antony and Cleopatra. A prosaic Antony was dominated by the mercurial Josette Simon’s Cleopatra. She’s gorgeous and magnetic and many loved her. I found her insufficiently weighty to be the queen who has immortal longings in her as she puts on her robe and crown in Act V.



Julius Caesar. A Brutus who seemed a little young and unprepared for his role in history. Perhaps this is authentic: maybe Brutus really was unprepared to follow in the footsteps of his famous ancestor who assassinated Tarquin the Proud and helped found the republic. Martin Hutson’s needy and conflicted Cassius was the real star.



Witness for the Prosecution. This was produced in the now unused London County Hall, which made it a delightfully site-specific production of a good yarn, even if there was little intellectual heft to think about afterward. I enjoyed our conversation the next morning with director Lucy Bailey. (This play was a surprising choice for her: she may be best known for a production of Titus Andronicus at the Globe where many spectators, including at least one critic, fainted.) She fascinated us with accounts of her negotiations with the Christie estate (she cut about an hour from the original script) and her approach to solving problems posed by an unconventional space.



The Twilight Zone and Barnum. These were somewhat disappointing minor productions from two independent theaters that sometimes hit home runs. (The Almeida premiered Ink, for example, which then became a West End hit.)



I’ve only made glancing references to our visitors. For those who don’t know, Paul Nelsen (retired theater professor from Marlboro) and his wife Lou organize this trip. They reserve our rooms at a hotel a short walk from the West End and buy tickets to 10-12 shows, many of which Paul can do early with his memberships at the various theaters. He gives us all our tickets on the first day and we’re on our own to find our way.



Most importantly, he invites guests to meet with us every morning to talk about the shows we’ve seen. It’s a great system. I visit with others over breakfast or a drink after the show (and sometimes dinner) and I go to the morning meeting where we share our thoughts on the previous day’s show and then get to know someone involved with it.



Our guests, amazing all, have included critics Matt Wolf of the International New York Times and Michael Billington of the Guardian, directors Edward Hall (Cell Mates) and Lucy Bailey (Witness for the Prosecution), stage manager Sarah Alford Smith (Network), set and costume designer Bunny Christie (Ink and Heisenberg), actors Bertie Carvel (Ink), Martin Hutson (Julius Caesar), Janie Dee (Follies), Tunji Kasim (Network), and Zoe Rainey (An American in Paris).



It would be invidious to single out any one of these guests. All of them give me new insight and appreciation for the creative work they do. One anecdote may stand for all. When asked about the part the audience plays in any production, Martin Hutson told us that in the RSC’s current production of Titus Andronicus, Saturninus hands the baby he plans to kill to an audience member in the front row while he talks to the mother. Invariably, the audience member treats this inanimate doll as though it were a real baby, cradling the head and tucking it in. And one evening, the audience member refused to give the baby back to Saturninus. How implicated we become in these stories we go to see! Along with the actors, we, too, make believe for the two or three hours we sit in the theater.



For those of you who’ve followed the blog, thank you! I think of you as I write, and I like to think that this process of engaging with my friends helps me to think more deeply about what I’ve seen here. See you soon!

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