London theater I

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I'm here in London for twelve plays in thirteen days (I know, I was lazy the day I arrived) and I'd like to put down my thoughts as I get a chance to reflect. So here goes, with my first weekend!



SATURDAY: We saw Kenneth Branagh’s new theatre company’s production of A Winter’s Tale. It’s one of Shakespeare’s so-called romances, those odd late plays that somehow overcome their tragic beginnings with hard-earned love and forgiveness. I’ve seen it before and been left cold. In fact, I have an unpleasant memory of sleeping through much of the Bohemian festival at the ART some years ago. So what made this different?

Well, Branagh (co-directing with Rob Ashford and playing Leontes) and Judi Dench, for starters. But that isn’t necessarily enough. I’ve sometimes found Branagh’s movies tipping over into sentimentality, but that didn’t happen here. The production was, in fact, remarkably cinematic in style, with striking background music, and lighting that emphasized the depth of the stage (and a fabulous bear!) The opening scene is a beautiful celebratory Christmas scene in Sicilia, and as the characters watch home movies of Leontes and Polixenes we get an early introduction to the play’s crucial theme of the passing of time.

Tragedies often have us hoping that characters will get certain crucial information just in time to prevent the disaster. Here, nothing prevents the disaster in Act I, but that’s only the beginning of the story. Time, it turns out, will be less the impetus for tragedy than for the healing of its wounds. We begin to understand that when the action shifts to Bohemia. This production gave us a genuinely golden sheep shearing festival with dancing that leaves no doubt that the world (to quote Benedict) must and will be peopled.

And here Judi Dench’s role becomes crucial, and not just because of the luxury casting that gives her the role of Time in addition to Paulina. Knowing that she is now 81, and has played Perdita and Hermione in the past, I couldn’t help but see the significance of these three female roles representing three different stages in the life of a woman: the nubile bride, the wife, and the wise old woman. Seeing Dame Judi as Paulina and imagining her in these two younger roles was close to heartbreaking. (Mary, I remember your comment about life as a series of losses.)

So time, the inexorable force that takes away our youth, is heartbreaking. But it also shows itself as the only way we gain the hard-earned wisdom that brings some happiness at the end of our lives. This production gave equal weight to both of these truths. And as Paulina brought the statue of Hermione to life, it brought me to tears of both sadness and gratitude.



SUNDAY was more Shakespeare, with the National Theatre’s production of As You Like It. Was I the only one in our group that didn’t much like it?

The set of Winter’s Tale was magically conceived and realized, and the set here was also magical in its own way. The opening scene at court is presented as a colorful but claustrophobic office, bringing to mind the worst of a Wall Street trading office perhaps, and Orlando’s reduced status is blatantly telegraphed by showing him as one of the office cleaning staff, with his brother in a business suit. The coup de théâtre occurs in the transition to the Forest of Arden, when the entire set is pulled up by hidden cables to create a forest of suspended desks and chairs. It’s quite stunning, and the rest of the play takes place under this tangled mass. Which was the problem for me. Why should the Forest of Arden look like a blackened post-apocalyptic landscape? Or a post-apocalyptic Ikea? And what can the sheep possibly find to graze on in this landscape? (I pass over the illogic of a wrestling match in the office, as well as Rosalind and Celia also in the office in their pj’s—Hello Kitty for Celia!—before they take off for the forest).

For all the blackness of the set, the interpretation was quite straightforward: well-acted and transparent in presenting the pleasures of the (shortened) text. Rosalie Craig made a charming Rosalind, Orlando was his usual doofus self, and the supporting cast was all good. The revelation, though, was Patsy Ferran as Celia. She’s only 25, is performing her third major role at the National in the past year, and may be on her way to the top. She’s an irresistible comic (think Maggie Smith crossed with Mr. Bean), and she combines that with a welcome generosity in the way she listens to her fellow actors and shares her thinking with the audience. Watch for her!

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Comments

[Simon Harding]

Intrigued!
Really interesting thoughts - thank you. But I can't wait to hear what other plays you are seeing! Come on - spill the beans: what else can we look forward to?

[Coxtravels]

Patience!
A Winter's Tale teaches us that we must wait for events to ripen.