It seems right to post about this as a follow-up to Too Close to the Sun. After all, there’s something about us theatre folk that craves, nay, demands an obsession with revisiting failures. And on the cabaret circuit, nothing draws out the hardcore like a concert of hits from everyone’s favourite flops.
Then again, if my experience (along with Mark Shenton’s) is anything to go by, there aren’t that many hardcore to go around. At least not for a month-long run at the Stag, which may be why these things are usually one-nighters.
But I digress.
Officially, any show which is commercially produced and fails to return turn a profit to its investors is a flop. For entry into Not Since Carrie, the flop-lover’s encyclopaedia, a show needed to fail financially AND run for under 250 performances (and run before 1988, though a second volume is long rumoured to be in the works.) The shows in Blink!...vary. Some are long running financial failures, some didn’t cross the pond well, and some are just, well, there.
At this point I should really just hand things over to Mr. Shenton, as his previously linked post on Blink! matches the majority of my thoughts almost word for word. A few other bits to bullet-point though...
-The narration was heavy on the Wikipedia (lots of dates and performance counts) and lacking in any sort of useful context for the songs. If you’re highlighting shows that nobody knows, then you have to give the audience some context lest the acting be completely lost. And yes, I have written better.
-The narrative delivery also came across as too casual and a last-minute concern. I liked that it was split amongst the cast, but it was thrown off and clearly not of much concern.
-”New Music” from Ragtime was well condensed from six characters to two, but played at a turbocharged tempo, which undermines the beauty of the song. Props for trying something different, but no.
-The two medley sequences, one on UK hits/US flops and one on actor-musos, despite being the most questionable in terms of merit in a piece like this, are the most entertaining parts of the evening.
I wish I could be more positive about Blink!, but the evening found itself squarely in the realm of decency, never falling too far or rising too high. It’s amusing and fairly cheap and the bar’s not too expensive for pre/post/interval drinks. And remember, it could always be worse.
Where: Above the Stag
When: Until 16 Aug, Tu-Fr @ 19:30, Sa @ 17:30 & 20:15, Su @ 18:30
How much: £10 unreserved
Concessions: None
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RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £5 with an E for Effort.
RZ Other Notes: I’d give it the £10 if someone had the clever idea of including a drink with the ticket price.
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Thursday, 6 November 2008
THOUGHTS: “Confessions of Honour”
Job applications, writing commitments, and the first cold of the season are keeping me from reviewing this in greater detail, but I did want to get a post up about Gerry Hinks’s Confessions of Honour to say....that I liked it. Quite a bit, in fact, but it ticks a lot of my boxes: history, good pacing, interesting subject, not being painfully obvious with how the twists go, quality acting, the list goes on and on. The only real qualm that I have is that at its core, this play is a two hander but there are four characters: the central Frederick Salisbury (Keith Minshull) and Wolfgang Meissler (author Hinks), as well as the Warrant Officer who occasionally pops her head in to mind them and the RSM who is only around for the beginning and the end. I can understand having a third character to frame the play’s events surrounding a Victoria Cross awardee returning his medal to the regiment, but another seems excessive.
Anyways, this is a play which falls squarely under the category of “nice” and “intimate” and while not a life changer, “a wonderful way to escape a nasty, rainy afternoon.” The London run is closed, but I believe there was one more short run following which may have a day or two left.
Anyways, this is a play which falls squarely under the category of “nice” and “intimate” and while not a life changer, “a wonderful way to escape a nasty, rainy afternoon.” The London run is closed, but I believe there was one more short run following which may have a day or two left.
Friday, 16 May 2008
REVIEW: "Never So Good"
Only a master actor like Jeremy Irons could turn a Tory prime minister of lesser regard into a cuddly benevolent - and yet it works so well.
Told as an autobiographical reflection, Never So Good starts as a young Harold Macmillan leaves for the first World War after being expelled from Eton for buggery. Choosing to associate with Catholics and radicals, to the dismay of his domineering society mother, Macmillan is an idealist thrown to the violence and destruction whose legacy still pervades Britain. Wracked by survivor’s guilt, Macmillan’s younger form (Pip Carter) personifies his destroyed idealism through the remainder of the play as the older Macmillan (Irons) enters politics and rises through the ranks of the Conservative party, from his position in Churchill’s cabinet to his eventual succession as Prime Minister despite a cheating wife and orchestrating much of the failed endeavour to reclaim the Suez canal in the 50’s.
As a biography, Never So Good is quite a success - the characters are interesting throughout, and we see the seedier side of the upper classes (always entertaining). As theatre, Never So Good also makes good on its name, as director Howard Davies keeps the play exciting and from feeling its 2 hr 40 minute length, despite telling forty years of story, as it hits only the keynotes and highlights. A certain West End musical which the RZ is set to re-review next week could learn quite the lesson here. Time jumps are represented in musical interludes, as Macmillan goes from party to party and the music and fashions change even if his tux doesn’t. The practice of holding dialogue between younger and older incarnation allows the audience into Macmillan’s thought process in a naturalistic manner.
That said, Irons does take his portrayal a bit far, under-enunciating at times though it is clearly a character choice as it comes and goes depending on if he’s addressing the audience or other characters as his not-much-younger self. A comment at the end that audience members can google a certain internet bookseller for copies of Macmillan’s autobiography is also out of place, and a disappointing way to end an otherwise solid play.
In all, it’s none too surprising that the RZ liked this play given that he reads non-fiction for fun and studied quite a bit of history as an undergrad. While others may be turned off by the work’s subject matter or right wing political leanings (the National being known for generally leaning left-ward), there’s really not much to complain about with this piece. It’s well constructed, mature theatre that makes no aspirations to brilliance but also refuses to compromise its integrity - much like Macmillan himself.
Where: National Theatre/Lyttleton
When: In repertoire until 14 August. Check the website for dates and times.
How Much: £10-£41
Concessions: Day seats and standing room available for £10 when the BO opens, standby for £15 90 min. before the show, student tickets for £10 60 min. before the show.
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RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £30 for a well done, classy piece by the National that sadly falls short of amazingness.
RZ Other Notes: Much of the run is sold out, but tickets do resurface on the National’s website. They’re also not kidding about the quantity or quality of the strobe light and sudden loud noises when issuing warnings, though these affect the two pre-interval acts only.
Told as an autobiographical reflection, Never So Good starts as a young Harold Macmillan leaves for the first World War after being expelled from Eton for buggery. Choosing to associate with Catholics and radicals, to the dismay of his domineering society mother, Macmillan is an idealist thrown to the violence and destruction whose legacy still pervades Britain. Wracked by survivor’s guilt, Macmillan’s younger form (Pip Carter) personifies his destroyed idealism through the remainder of the play as the older Macmillan (Irons) enters politics and rises through the ranks of the Conservative party, from his position in Churchill’s cabinet to his eventual succession as Prime Minister despite a cheating wife and orchestrating much of the failed endeavour to reclaim the Suez canal in the 50’s.
As a biography, Never So Good is quite a success - the characters are interesting throughout, and we see the seedier side of the upper classes (always entertaining). As theatre, Never So Good also makes good on its name, as director Howard Davies keeps the play exciting and from feeling its 2 hr 40 minute length, despite telling forty years of story, as it hits only the keynotes and highlights. A certain West End musical which the RZ is set to re-review next week could learn quite the lesson here. Time jumps are represented in musical interludes, as Macmillan goes from party to party and the music and fashions change even if his tux doesn’t. The practice of holding dialogue between younger and older incarnation allows the audience into Macmillan’s thought process in a naturalistic manner.
That said, Irons does take his portrayal a bit far, under-enunciating at times though it is clearly a character choice as it comes and goes depending on if he’s addressing the audience or other characters as his not-much-younger self. A comment at the end that audience members can google a certain internet bookseller for copies of Macmillan’s autobiography is also out of place, and a disappointing way to end an otherwise solid play.
In all, it’s none too surprising that the RZ liked this play given that he reads non-fiction for fun and studied quite a bit of history as an undergrad. While others may be turned off by the work’s subject matter or right wing political leanings (the National being known for generally leaning left-ward), there’s really not much to complain about with this piece. It’s well constructed, mature theatre that makes no aspirations to brilliance but also refuses to compromise its integrity - much like Macmillan himself.
Where: National Theatre/Lyttleton
When: In repertoire until 14 August. Check the website for dates and times.
How Much: £10-£41
Concessions: Day seats and standing room available for £10 when the BO opens, standby for £15 90 min. before the show, student tickets for £10 60 min. before the show.
---------------------
RZ Unofficial “Worth Paying”: £30 for a well done, classy piece by the National that sadly falls short of amazingness.
RZ Other Notes: Much of the run is sold out, but tickets do resurface on the National’s website. They’re also not kidding about the quantity or quality of the strobe light and sudden loud noises when issuing warnings, though these affect the two pre-interval acts only.
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