August 1997 Issue 11 £2.50

Matt Wolf meets a Hollywood Superstar

The thinking man's actor

Prolific, precocious, provocative

Making his mark

Also in this issue... 08

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EDITOR'S LETTER

n the very first imre of Applause , Matt Wolf wrote a piece in which he com/Jared the 'softne ss' of London's theatre critics to their more bmtal New York

cmm ter/Jam. As CI gro up (or 'scathe ', if yo u like ) of critics , our tolerance ratio, Wolf

maintained, WdS felr highe r than Broadway's bwchers who, at the risk of reducing the number of Brnw:ltuF siln us, m any seas on, to single figure s, would blast to oblivion the equivalent of the maJ1\ h<' luw-par /nodlfctions that find their way into the Wes t End.

Well, if the last re i< mrdlths are an),thing to go by, London's reviewers wmrld a/Jpear to hal'e taken \CU/,;"5oh'C'T!'llt/ons to heart. The majority of them gave the thumbs down to Terrence ,'vfc.'\'alh s mmrd-lvinninf,; Mas[er C lass, Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl, and to the 10hn Dem p,c\-I)ana Rowe musical The Fi x - all American in ori?;in, incidentally. Marlene

also hl1d 11 rOI/!;h ride from some of the more disceminf,; reviewers bw, ~mlike the first two, it has

manl1!;.;:,j 0 hong in on the strength of Sian Phillips' marve llous central performance. Blood has also recentl)' bee n drawn from Always, whose critical reception was the jO/tnwlistic eqHit>aient of Rese n'Olr Dogs. In cases such as this, there is not a grea t deal a producer can do excC'pt sin k so me more money into the show and hope audiences prove the Clitics \( rong . Shlll iU ,ilm , indeed , wm ow to be the case (as happened many )'ears ago, with rhe origntlll _h arhe Girl. which, desp ite its critical matrling, ran fil'e and a half years) , there con hI " \a .:.'t<'r l'c' l enge And talking of reve nge, [he best story I know conceming a cri tic's

come-u{)pJ llc,: 1m o/t'CS th e great George Jean Nathan, one of the mos t feared and brilliantly

en ltlir II - ,Ill Sell' 'z"ork's legendar), aisle-s itters. (I [ was Nathan, who, reviewing a production of The \ [1 KaJu, ll" ted that all [he girls were so ugly it was impossible to tell which was Katisha

dill! H hid! tlClSn '[ And i[ was Nath an who ended a review of a musical by saying he'd knocked 14 claSSically traineclrnale from ~ York who are just tutu divine ! cl'e)'\' (h ing in the show except the choms girls knee s - 'and God took care of that' ,) Nothan , the ' fn n g, 'eS, wished to meet th e deaf, dHmb and blind Helen Keller, and an appointment was se t DIREU FROM NORTH AMERICA

liP In Keller 's 'minder' Annie SHllivan, A few mimltes into the visit, Keller tapped out

'ome thinf,; into the palm of S~tllivcm's hand. Miss SHllivan relayed the contents bock to Nathan :

':'vii" Keller,' she said, 'remembers ver), well a ret·iew you tvrote of a play in which )'0" said tilat

tht' cos tf.tmes looked as though [h ey ilad bee n made by Helen Keller .' Oops - and touche I

.>.,U C ST 1997 4PP1<-\USE 3 aflPlause AUGUST 1997 ISSUE 11 content

REGULARS

OFFSTAGE GOSSIP 6 ONSTAGE REVIEWS 15 DIARY 20

APPLAUSE THEATRE CLUB 23 The Ihinkin g nwn '.~ t ll·lrlY . (1.3 5 CD REVIEW 37 BOOK REVIEW 38 NEW FACES DOMINIC WEST 41 SPECTRUM DANCE, TV & OPERA 42 NED SHERRIN 46

PEOPLE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE THElMA HOLT 47 OFFSTAGE BROADWAY GOSSIP 49 COMPENDIUM 50 SHOWS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE 50 CLARE RAYNER

TURNER PRIZE KATHLEEN TURNER

BARBICAN'S LOST MUSICALS: JUBILEE

THE APOCALYPSE OF THE HORSEMAN

EDINBURGH FESTIVAL

REMARKABLE CAREER JULIE WILSON

ALAN BATES PROFILE

3 MARTIN McDONAGH INTERVIEW

' ,... . l'l . ~ ,"1 • IAN COOl(

-'I,., G US- 1997 I"Pt USE 5 -stage

THE C;R EAT PETE PO~ nET HWAI TE is to st,]f

Recnlitlng Officer. Rumour has it that he gO[ his N unn managed to se cure the performance nut o n :' 1" a decade (lgl) JnJ une th in g i" fL~ r ::j urI:" hig break when Dani el Day- Lewis introduced ri ghts fL) r OJdahoma !, stealing them fl'(lm under Ernanuelle Beart wi II not he rq'c,1ClI1 g her him to the rwducers of In the Nam e of the the nose of the O pen Air whi ch thought it lI'a.S pcrfll rm ance as lvL1I1() n. I-I owe\'er J CYl l lGll Father ,15 ~n Irishman and Pete held the act in the clea r to moun t a production th is summer. ,1ge nt i:; h" und rn , uggest (;1sting Estell e together long enough for them w cast him as T he National is likely to presen t ,1 majm re\'i\'al Skornik - ye" her pf the Renault C li o ad n ' [[S ­ Giuseppe. Unlike D8n D8y- Lc\\'i s, he manc1ged in Autumn 1998. and ex panding all the nude scenes. [0 give up the accent \\'hen he stopped fi lming and didn't th ink It was necessa ry to apply fo r an • • • • • • Irish passport . A nFR THr SHOCK OF H L . \ R I ~ U that the l11 <1g ici,1lI Paul Daniels had been cast In Th e • • • SchulJl f;) r W 'Il 'c'.I , we now h,11' c to LIce the even SO~ IE rEo rLE ARE CA LLI NG Trevors Nunn's first Wl) rSe r wspec t () ( seeing Luke Goss, once of se as,m in ch<1fge of tbe N mion al T hea tre daring 8fLlS, in Ci reel.'c . The ",rt ()f peuple who hClught and rrovocJtive whil e orhers are saying it's far 8ms records alllhnse ye,lrs ,l~O are npw in their cuo safe - which suggests thar he's prohahly twentic:; and \\' () uld he I1wrrified if ~ny , )(1 e (" und the right bal ance. His own rroduction of MUSICAL disc ,))'c red the ir d,lrk, teen;'ge secret. Just wlw Ibsen's An Enemy of the Peo/)Ie defini tely comes the pn)ciuc crs think wllul d cough ur muney t,; ~m~!~T:GEAPPRECIATION SOCIETY inw the safe G1tegory, while rutting Bulgah lV's ,Cl' th iS (allen ,rar is hc),()nd cll ll1 r rehenslon. rather ubscure Flil(Ju into the la rge O livier lvk anll'hile, the same proJucers \\'Ish to (;l., t an Thl' I'ecn Meanwhile, Terry Johnson's nell' r roducti on of given the ,1o f, "I' dir<' Lnnf,! \ mn.:L I\· ,\:Ip,Jl l Fever. T he London Clickulds is certain to be interes ting Whether you perform in local This b,)des we ll f" the ,l,me e numher> bu t h'1rd ly - Ed\\'a rd Ra\'enscroft's neg lected res wration shows, go to the theatre or Sllg~ C'~ t 5 t hlH l h~ :' ~)(il..l·rct1h "l l1 o( the u r ig l n~l l filn1 comedy \\'as <1 gem of its time and was is gU lfl !.! , ) tl~Llr~ ill t h~ .,LJge \'e r ~ inn. l'er(prmed on e\'ery Lord Mayor's Day fur just listen to musicals on CD :;e \'ent\, YC <1fS until David Garrick rut 8 stop to or tape, "SMASH" aims to ••• it. N unn':; n,1tura l conservcHism truly reveals enhance your understanding \ '1 TFh \ '- " R ,~ I'U.ER MICH.'\ EL CPI)RllN is set to itse lf If) rhe progr

that the play ))';:I S perfor med in St Lo ui s in the has had one of the most regrt' rful ca reers in late 1930s. li ving memory since the ca rl l' "' rumise d IXl i.l h YO LI Were Here, has left Bill Kenwri ght 's ne\\' ••• production of George Be rn ard Shaw's P),gll1£1 Jion under a cloud. It seems thm Roy Marsden's Thed trt' seems to h,1)'e had an effect on greatest problem in rlaying Professo r I-li gg im

productiLll1 s at ()ther \·enues. For one reason and \V as nor so much getting Eli za Dolitrlc [(l talk another, the G reenwich Theatre has heen prope r, hut w get Emily U (lyd to acr.

6 f.FP .... US E .i, U G UST 199 7

interview

KATHLEEN TURNER

She has an aura of the Hollywood greats, having been compared to Bacall, Stanwyck and Lombard. Now, this movie godde ss smoulders her way onto the British stage with a homage to another legend Tallulah! and in Somerset Maugham's Our Betters Matt Wolf talked to her at Chichester. Photographs by Ian Cook.

\lU knn'" her as Mmry W<1lker, selling the sizz le in Bud\' Hcm n(ltil1n of ct sexy- looking wom~n in llliJJle age "'h" IS in wuch with her rh8t went o n to make her a st,)r. Or as the repressed Jpan scnsu ality. In the theatre, the roles get hetter anJ hetter.' And while she Wi Ider in RomanclnR Ih e SlOne ,md Th e Jewel oj the Nile, f(lr worries ~b()ur wh~t an olJer Chichester ruhlic might m

wh l> m he[(lism ,,",15 just ,1 jlln!;( le ,1 JI'enrllre away. But wilen unbridled 1;111guage (,I Jon't knolV how they'll tilke [(l it.' Turner grins, Kathleen Turner last shifteJ from cinema tp the S t "~,,, befllre rec iting the rlay's opening expletive), she ,1t least has the YII1heming Sheila G ish's part as the Jrugged-out Yvpnne in Indi scretions, advantage of 8 trJns-Arianric remove from ~ street where the glare has Vincent Canby of The Ncw York Times issued a rrescient cheer: 'When i1L1t Cl lwClYS heen g!t)wing. M< Turner opens up and lets fl y with th,n sexy, near-bmiwne delil'ery, she Turner has appearecl three times e1 n BwaJII'ay, (irst ots, Parents Terrihles, Jully renameJ Indiscretions by its Francorhn bic plaYJf1g B,mkheaJ in S

(~\'(lurite, Rul~ Lensb. 'l've hardly thought of it,' she S,lyS of rhe Turner herself rl~yccl host - anJ deserveJ ct medal of sorts for keering ~

MaU!2il 8m play, in which she plays Ame ri can ,1ti s rocr~1[ bdy Crayst(ln. slllile on he r lir' ,1S Maggie Snmh (Leuice and Lurage) scoopeJ the best S he C(l mpares it to Les Liaisons lJangercl< ses: ' It's quite cyniGiI in , elme actress prize. way" th(lugh the 1c8J is nowhere n eSean Mathias staging seemed to have everything going fo r it: 8 Londlln Hear enJ up spending the summer in S ussex, where 1 watched her ",,11k ped'gree; 'l scintillating line-up comprised of Turner. t wel English pros virtually unnoticed through C hichester w\\'n centre one Silturday (Roger Rees and Eileen AtkillS) anJ two hot young ascending stars ,lftertHlo n, a tll1)' black kn,l psack enJe,uingly heli sted on her hack ov("r rl (BJ"()Cldw

,1 relaxcJ lunch III thc rh eatre restBlithe Spirit matinee. For ),e ,HS, Turner Inste~d, ,dth(lugh the p18\, gPt ninc Tel'1\" nnlll in.HI , r)' \ ,r~ ~ ,' rJ fdr a

,md producer Duncan Weldon had been pursuing various o ptions: \'(1110'5 nem -musical), Turner herse lf \\as n"t in cl \l J ~ J ,,01. jl~ l h~m , I[) mJignity Aj"wid oj Virginia \'(I()olf' IV,\S a leading canJidate, hut, says Turner, 'I'm wmpellrnded by the fact that It \\',1 , he' (.d' >I\t! \\ lIltJere 11' Irons) \\"ho reilll)' t(lO y(lung at the moment for Manha'; and when HeywarJ's scrirt \\';15 ~ s k e el w reaJ the nll'llll1 eeS (m T V ,,'rll th It h r i ~ hl :-V18,- In(lrning.

CHTi veJ unsoliciteJ frolll C alifornia, Turner bwught it [(l Weldol1. 'Th,1[ hurt; ir hutt, it really diJ,' recalls Turner, running a brush through '1 know peuple are ~ Iw ays am,lzed that Ameri cans who do 111()('ies her honey-wloured hair. 'I got all rhese letters ('( "pology (rom rhe Tony (c1n t'\'~ 11 w;:l lk on (1..1 il stage,' SClyS Turner, Whl)St' early ~ [a ge cred its nomil1­

8 p/'L4U :.>E AUGU ST 199 7 ':' UG'JST 1997 ,.Ipp ,.lUSt: 9 The e ight-month, financially unsuccessful run posed irs cllvn and money- men. J['S really saJ: [hey don't rake chances the way they u ~e d problems. Atk l11 s Jropped our [(1 he treated for cancer, and Turne r was ((). I read these sc ripts and! rhink, 'what abour rhe characters I Has fighring her own healrh wa r, corning our of a lengrhy rrearment for a nyo ne bo rhe red to think of rhem l' Of the generarion foll owing on rheum,)wIJ arrhrJris thar lefr her bloareJ a nd rired, anJ leJ ro rumours behind her, Turner speaks of 'feel( ing) sorry in parr for rhem because rhm she haJ raken ro Jnnk: during rhe worsr of rhe illness, sh e couldn't rhey're fighring a muc h harder banie. When I was srarring, we were mClre e\'en hold a cup. ' I haJ been on all rhose anribimics, ,md ler me rell you, willing ro rake chances. Now, rhere's less respecr for acrors; you're nor ,)frer rhm, rhe sraircase was ,) killer,' says rhe actress, who missed encouraged ro develop your own indi \' iduality' numerous puform<1nccs and came Nor does she have muc h rime rn dread rhe fl oor-tn-ceiling spiral for rhe dismiSS ive arriruJe srairs [har prc1\'ided [he aesrheric [O\\'ard s rhe press rbar centrepiece of designer Srephen c h a r ,1Ct e rt se~ all roo lTI any Brimson Lewis's exrramdin,ny set. celebriri es . '\\ie're inrerdepenciem ; 'Then, when Eileen lefr, we had an I' ve ne\'er seen ira, us \'ersus undersrudy fm ages because rhey rhern, unless rhey say ' l)me[hing rhoughr she mighr come back. By maliciuuo, in which case you rhe [lme Dana I vel', who "';:1S don'r ralk to rhem aga in . !\'c wonJerful, came in, we'd alllosr always fe lr rhey h ad rhe rr jobs ro l11omenrum; rhe play never really do , as well .' Turner gives recovered. Believe me, killing generously of her time , hur al,o yc)urself elghr rimes a week is makes c lear when thar rime is ur. nor easy. 'Wirh rhe N ew Y(lrk Srill, Turner is il fighrer, us full circ le [() humuur ar odds wirh rhe sometimes C hich,:, e r. \\·here she has spent rega L e\'en impe ri ous impression 111 "s ,.r· c',e mo rning rn l,h()[o

she com·eys. (More rhan thar, she I.ooks delighred when o ur waiter shoors and will rerum [0 her renteJ tb rh 'l r afternoon ro run her info rms her rhat Undercover Blues, a fl op she did wirh Dennis Quaid, is on Tallulah ! lines. Larer o n , 'o nce I\ 'e ~ Ilr th e lines Jown, and we're ralkmg T V rhar evening. ) People may compare her ro Bacall , o r Sranwyck or 97 minures o f dia logue ,' she "ill he ),H neJ m EnglanJ by husbanJ Jay HaY\\'orrh o r ,m y of a half-J oze n m her gc)ddesses from H o ll ywood's Weiss , a N ew York real-e'r

rh,1[, during rhe '90s, trickled [U only one nOta hIe film, John Warers' Death among rhem, as \V eil as nipping in the bud full-rime enrolmenr ar Serial Mom. (Three Turner frlm s a\\'air release larer rhis year.) 'The rh e Cenrra l School of Speech and Drama, where she audired courses gre<1r ness \vas [() wllrk wirh ex traordinary acrors. On rhe orher hand, I during high sc hool. And as movies relegare her [() supporring or characrer ha\'e enough work, enough success, rhar I now have respecr wirhoU[ roles , why nor se ize upon rhe srage l (The parr, rhough, has to be righr­ hype, wlrhout sensati onalislTI. Thar alluws me privacy for which I am very she rumed down rhe recent [Ouring revi val of Applause as well as a rhankful; 1don't wanr w be tl ,1\'uur uf rhe month forever.' c hance co do MIS Sjrr.ile oppc,s ire Frank Langella.) 'As a rheatre acrress,

In ,my Cilse, she Cllntinues, who would want [0 be part of the so­ Yl)u're either an ingenue, which I never was, or you wait until you come calleJ 'new Ho ll y\\\lml'? 'The inJustry now is complerely run by bankers m[cl the gre<1 t r o l e~ . And rhar's about now.' •

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Signature ...... Date ...... Signature ...... Date ...... JUBILEE

As part of their Lost Musical season, the Barbican are putting on the little,known Jubi! ,a Cole Porter show packed with some of the composer's greates t songs. Dick Vosburgh looks at its histor .

n thl! winter r 1935, with Kin!: Geor"e V and Queen Mary planning their ilver Jubilee celebration the following spring, ole POrter and MLl Han Ie ided to write a holl' about Il mythical royal tUllllly on

the eve (l their jubilee. who begin [0 douht rheir popularit with rhe people. One of them, Prince s Diana, I' weary { f her royal Jutle~ and longs (or roman c. The King lung ' to C$ ape hb mun lane TOpl dUI ies and work lln hlS magi tri k , Prmce Jame. long, Cl> mee[ h18 Jream girl. [he beautiful nightcluh star Kare.n O 'Kane, who h 'populari cd the newest dance ,em9ti n, the Beguin', The )ueen long: tLI Illeet her drealll man, Charlie Rausmiller, who plays the 'Timan-like M ll \\' ~lIl'n the cre'en, whlic Dmna's J~am man i the UIlVC IIcwr-ditecmr- ompo er,hnclSt-playwrigl1t Eric Dilre, II character modelled nn (jel OWr"dl/Cllm"'flu hll"~ RoJgers and Hart, Jewme Kern, oel Coward, Vernon Dukc. Harr ' Warren, Victor Herbert, Leunard Bern'tel11 :lIld Vincent YOllman. , There were also thirty manu flP b ' Ie Purter, mcluding rhe ongmal orchestral score ufJllbilee, That orche'mllll1l1 will be heard 111 I'tcml:1er, accompanying i1nl)rh ..r of Fisher' hand-picked Wcst End ca 'r"

12 APPLAUSE AUGUST 1997 Hart lmd Pmter had agreed to do no work unril [he\' reached the Canal The onginal BrrmJ\\'<1 ' proJucrion "~i Jllhile~ ai, () honsted some fine Zone, each I'lroke rhe pact; by th~ time the Franconia amved ar Panama, performanc~sj Prince jilmc' \"0 ' played hI' rhe dancer Charles Walters, Hart had ct)mplered OJ ~cenc, and Puner, a >ong, who also appenreJ in Pllnd, LeI's FLlce Ir ( 194 1). After 'ignlng with In.pired by .J tOp made at Kingston, Jamaica , rhar ong was The MGM a. a ehorel)grnph~> W Iter. ' ~Io n beCllme a Jin~ LOr, rurning )u Kling- K\ln~ Rird \>n the Dlvl-Di\'i Tree, Accordlllg to Porter, Bcglll chI" EaSler Parade . Good .ws, Th~ BurklIX months to complete our trek.' he told DI1 Barry \X/as 1I LMy by Berry Grable flnJ Wa lters hi~df.) The ro le \If Richard Huhler author ,If me ole Poner story. (AclllHlly, It rook four­ Karen O'Kane went (II Ihe ,inger/Jolncer June Knight, (he H,'l\ ywood and-a-half n1l1nth .) 'We worked I)n [he way 'uffic,ellrly to have the characrer ,lC.wr Mdville Co,'per playeJ rhe III gic-nhse, seu King, and the complete ore .md fx;ok by tbe rime we rerurned: (Acrually. Just One of t1unery movie c,'meJknm." ,mJ fomler -rage srar, Marl' B()I ml srarred as Thuse Thing ' \l'a written a fter the VI 'yage, just before the . rart of the ueen. rehean;ab.) Portl:r hl1d a Hmr f(lr invention chat woulJ pur even The Jlihi/U \\'a a mu1, nd, Pnner, Han and their producers, Max Gordon amI am H H.uri Hmd - depending on wh,m he £old the 'mr . He ,,!so adde,1 two inchc­ , II n.: elveJ letter thremening their 11" . if mey continued With the to hi official height, loprt!J two year 0 fh,s agl:. nnd de!tglucd III tell ing production. Next ame aeries I,f my~teri (l ll' oewrr "nee -: mi 'illg pmp". inrervl.:wer ' rhe mpll' fib thar he had served 111 lx1th the French army rippe,1 co~tuml: , a fire In tho? w(lrdrobe r (Ill, more r1m:ntcning letters ­ and the Foreign Legi,)I1 during World War I. and had received the roix everyrhing bUl II c.handelier folling on Ihe audience. The nn l)' person de uem:. connl!crcJ wirh d\1: 'how who wasn't worried ~I'l,lllt all mis w 5 Porter. Jul>il~e opc·ned nn 11 Ocrober. 1935 at , appruprmre!y, the Imperia l who haJ to he J isslldded from puning an auver i emenr in thl: Thl!iltre. Although (he revlcws were generally affirmative, Just One of newspapers, aylng: 'Dear ~ iniHer Rivab, _rop worrying, )lIhile~ i n't "II Th\ l~e Thin~s ,md Why hl1uldn't I! were almo-t completely ignored, rhat /.rood!" with RnhertGarland , rhe New York World-Telegram's tesldenr [Ill-ear, Mary BolanJ h,lwever, rook the threat erioLi Iy; hl:r nightly terror reactivareJ an old drinking prohlem. A. I'Cloulr, she I egan confusing her fellow act rs by honging her move. and Jarring all Over the stagl! ­ pre 'uny,u,ly hCClllIse -he thought the as'\;] 'In's huller might mi-;; a moving mrgcL Afler fl)ur ermtic mOl1lhs, Juring which there were mure rhreatening letters and back, mg\! fire" Bohmu Ie I the -how, As are ult , jubilee unly ran f I' 169 pt'1" nnance, with lur cwn (In'ling d I" [ recouping It 150,000 inve llllent. I\mer hau PUI up 18,000 himself, the IT:ll and h1 I rime he cver Inve tcd in (lIle of hi ' nwn mw icab. (The th~me !JIll/bike: an amiably I:cccntric fami ly find ing happinl>S: in individual expre" 'ion, is also the theme uf Moss H~rt'~ next pla , YOII Can'c Take Ic \'(Ilm You, written with George ~ Kaufman). Thl' ro le f young Prince Peter in ju/,ife., wa~ played by 15-year old ~h>nn(0mel1 Clift. Al:cording tu Cltft' \:-ol,'~p her. atric.ia Bo wonn, [b" ,h lW\ Phaml}m Death-ThreaLener rume,\ Pur til I.: ,m irate swgl' nll\ther wh )$C < n haJ au,ltei, ned ullliucct's!;(ully (nr tbe part Clift played. tatinl(, 'There i no whisding-a '-you-walk-our melody flpe for one's fu d l\Tirer, I dr 1111 at tbe WH\, )llbilee was written: on lhe Cunard ruchr ur endeavours.' Begin rhe Beguine was praised hy most of me other White L.lr lmer, __ Froln,,<'nia, Jurinl: a 34,000 mile world nll~e.ln critic~. hur h<'ld co wal[ untll 1938 before Artie Sh,,,\,', mstrumenml aJJ irion I,) Porter 3l1J HAn, rhe pan)' .::onsi teJ of Cole', wife, Linda, recording :'<-lld over two million COplCS and made the song a srnndarJ, Cole' valel, Linda' maid, >1lld, a' guesrs pf the Porters', HmmrJ f\lrge" !Illl M;ll)hall Fi 'her has inVited toss Hart's widow, Kitty Carli Ie l-Lart Bi ll Powell andjll/}ilee's fUture dinklgue din:"tllr, Monty Wutliley. The m intruduce the ~how at the B3rblcan. A decade before her m3rnage, Ms Portcr;; wok Z7 piece - f lugg,lge, and olt:'s lavish ~talero()m h,~aHe I a Carlisle, while in Hollyw ",d, filmll1g A Ntj(ht al lite Opera, audItioned fur quire 0f manus ripr raper, rwo-u02en ~h(JrJ1.:ned pCllcib, tl'pewrirer, a the role of Prince, Di,ma, A "he wwte ill her aucobiograph)', 'They dlLln 'r mcaonome, t1 small pian -cum-orglln, iI phonograph and recOI'd" and dfer me the r~rt, and I lost mure than a Broadway show. If they II d three case, \If hi~ f:w()urite champagne, Grand Chambertin '87. AImough engagl!d me, I might havc hau ten Iliure \,cars With Moss.'

~UGUST 1997 APPtAUSE 13

What the papers say ...

CLOSER Cottesloe Theatre

./ David Benedict, Independent This pungently funny, powerfully acted ploy is essential viewing .

./ John Peter, Sunday Times The latest productions reviewed by Clive Hirschhorn Patrick Marber has written one of the best ploys of sexual politics in the language ... (Liza) Walker is making a thrilling stage debut; the other three give the most gleaming, tough and t \\'a.\ Iw P,,,kcr. I rhi nk. \\'ho once From rhis pnmr on, Marber's (our proragn nlsts, n"ro beautifully crafted performance of their careers. "h'En'ed rh ,lt rh ere will ,Ii ,,·.\ \·, he " hJtrle J II of whom were srrangers at the heg inning of rh e Ibetween the s(':\ e~ b (" c ~ l:-c lnen and women play, hecome deeply embroiled in each orher's lives ./ Alastair Macaulay, Financial Times wa nt different [ hill!.!::: m ~n \\, ,:mt \\'n men and in wa ys that are potentiall y borh comi c and tragic. On the surface Closer is brisk, urbane, wnlne n \\'J I1l me n. In Closer, Patrick Marber', The conwurs nf love ~nJ lust blur painfully as the obscene, modern, quotable, slick ... beneath the a\\"es o rnd~ ' \\'d ll\\T\ ren second pl ay, wh at, eH times, rwo coupl es swap partners and indulge in a spOt of skin , it is deeply felt , painful, sad and wise .. the Notional Theatre and Marber have done is heing \\' r)~~ d b~ [\\"t~en the ~cx e s isn't S0 much a emotional hJra-k iri . In time Dan conquers Anna ­ each other proud. hmrle l'UI •• II-" "t war. The end resu lt will leave who has malTled b rry, whtl e a vengeance-d ri ven you hloodieJ, exhilarated, moved, stunned and Larr y nnw seeks our Alice who has become a ./ Georgina Brown, Mail on Sunday ,amfieJ th"t you've ,een the best ne\\' Bmi,h pl ay hmress in a London sex -club. Closer is the best new ploy I've seen since SLnce Arcadia . David Hare's Skylight... If you see nothing else A resonm1r four-hander in this year, see this . which a quarret of very different ..( Robert Butler, Independent on Sunday li ves anJ life.Clive Owen) a journ Cl li st who ~ a rn s his llving wfiting {) bi[U ~ ri es # Michael Billington, Guardian for a na(l onal newspaper ('the Marber writes well, no question ... What (he) Siberia nf journali sm'), comes rn locks as yet is Hare's ability to see sex in a rhe rescue of rh e waif- like Alice brooder context ... if the ploy seems a bit hermetic, it is becau se Marber only fleetingly (L iz a Walk er), a spunky ynung relates sex to society ... But what lingers is woman who hJS hrui sed her leg Marber's sense that, however much they couple after be ing kn ocked ,bwn hy a ca r. or fraternise , men and women rema in forever To use a Hollywood phrase , trapped inside their own skins. they 'meer cllre' in PosrmJn 's Park, a London ~q u (lne co mmerno ra ring ./ Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph My only real complaint is that the ploy's pasr acrs of he rOIS m by 'lrLlinary structure seems a touch too neat for its subject men and \\'() men. Dan accorn rani es matter... I'd be astonished if there's a better new Ali ce rLl Barrs where she is ploy this year. ex,llnined by Lorry (Ciaran Hinds), Clive O\\·Tn anJ Li za Wa lker 10 Cit) 'cr. ~ sraff dLlCrllr. In rhe ,Cene rhar (oll ows , and wh ich Tb~ centrifugal forces rhar propel Marl>er's ./ Andrew BiIlen, Observer rakes pl"ce abour a year larer, Dan has powerfll l inve, riga ri on intn male and female A hip young ploy grown out of alternative mer"phnri ca ll y wri rrc n his giri-frienJ's obiru ary anJ se xIiClItr\. ,1 re rhe terril>le rhings men and women comedy. .. The unquotable dialogue is real and scabrously funny. is livmg wlrh A li ce. or" >'rq' .l reJ to do to one another in the name ot He has aIso wr[[[en il non-scarrer of a mwe I, 100· e. 'Lying.' ohse rves one nf the characrers , 'is [h e ./ Nick Curtis, Evening Standard whose jacker phorngrilph and publiciry sri 11 5 have currency of rh ls world .' The cyni cal message rhar Caustically funny and very moving, this intimate been taken by An na (Sally Dex ter), J ra illpanth· underpin, rhe rial', rhough , is rh ar penple wh o 3re four-hander fulfills the promise of Marber's libidinous photog rapher wh ose insmnr sex -Jppeal 'adJicted tc> rhe trllrh' can he far more hurrful rhan debut ploy, Dealer's Choice... written, directed mfaruares him. Because Ann", iniriallv, does nnt n1ere li ar,. and acted with real feeling . feel rhe sam e rll" arJs Dan, he decides to playa When ir comes ro dt'scrihinf! such visceral X John Gross, Sunday Telegraph pracrical joke on her, and , pre tendmg [(l he Anna, cmottons as l on~, h8te, jertl OUS)\ recrimination, A superior soap opera .. . which doesn't leave u>cs his interner [l) se t up a blinJ-dare betwee n her berrayal, de si re and the excess haggage mosr much trace once (so to speak) you have .1I1li Larry, each of who m, l)( course, is unaware of relarionshi ps brings wirh ir , Dan categnrica ll y srme; switched off the set. .. after Marber's memorable th e ,I ecep ri nn. Vicki Mortimer's srage design allows rh at 'all the langu age is old . There are nl1 nell' first ploy... one hod hoped for more. U'. \ 1,1 h lLkJ rop projectinn, to read rhe sexually wmJ s.' Mayhe. Bur Marber has (ound a vigorous ./ Michael Coveney, Daily Mail t:'xr II.. it mt'~ ~ , l l.! C" '" each se nds the o ther. with wa y to recyc le them, and he dnes so by imposmg on This is the best ploy in London, the sexiest and hd.1n c'u ' re'lllts. hi s characrers' speech-patt erns a rh yrhm and a pa ce the most profoundly uplifting . A palpable hit. L"' 1T,'n 111 1 eh' (or D"n. the joke mi sfire s. Afre r Jisrincr In [he ir ow n WHy as Pinter's p"ituses are in L.l f ;\ mJ :\:m ,I " ml ". 1 clll f,a lT The Times ,,,t ,ul'· the'\ x tu.ll h· ,I" iJ II in 100·e. doesn't mi ss a trick, finds an effecri ve , sleighr -o(­ For all that Marber's characters involve hanJ in melJing rea lism with stylisi1t ion making ir themselves in the stormiest passions of love and hard co rell where rhe one hegins and th e orher ends. need, betrayal, remorse, vengeful truth -telling and lies, the over-aching intention of the ploy The play is also ve ry (unny. 'Ynu're nld enough What the papers say. stays out of sight. Cll be her ,mcesror,' Anna says ro Larry about Alice . ./ Fa vourable 10 glowing 'Th,'nk God life emls. We'd never survive ir,' ./ Bill Hagerty, News of the World ";Cly'l Lury. The best ploy of the year so for. X Lukewarm '0 slating A hespnke cas r gra phically distils rh e esse nti al .# Mixed cll ti erenc es hetween Marber's qu artet of victims, wirh newco mer liza Wa lker (looklJ1 g grear in a ~

A 'JGU ST 199 7 APPLAUSE 15 "Id as Lewis himse lf (he's 72) mauers nllt " j')t. Ir 's \>{lhat the papers sa)'. the 11'01' he tells 'em rhm counts, ,Ind rhc lIay he flin gs hi s L)ne in th e air on the pllnch-line, fail s tn DAMN YANKEES carch it on its spiralling deccnt, and refl eXive ly Adelphi Theatre re ac hcs out f'lr ,,,,orher as it comes bu lletlng at him (rom [he wings . .IX David Benedict, Financial Times Loui,e flrook; h" ,rstyle) brillion rly s ug.~e s ting Alice's All this is old-f"shioned sho\\'-biz l\\agic , Jack O'Br ien's astute di reclian cannot save th e roughness as \\'ell as her \'u lnerabilit y. Clive O\l' en', deli"erl'd with unabashed cnnfldence hI' a srar ",ho, ludicrous plot, and same performances are nat chari sm"ric Dan remains ILkeah le Jespire rhe so much Broadway as downright broad, but the With winnin,Q GlnJnur, ac kn o \\'ledge ~ that indulging superbly energetic company could run a power charac ter 's brazenl y hurtful emotional im rnatu riry; in sht ick - "s he ha s done f,l l' mo,r nf hi s life - is a station let alone a musical. S"lIy Dexter c,,,wey, the essence nf" fund"rn enrall y si ll y \I',1\, (c) make " fortllne. decent \nJman whose mner ::, rrength 1.t; rowe rl t:~s jf Lew i, is the sra r ()f the sho\l', he is nor it '> ./ John Gross, Sunday Telegraph \\' hen it IS in rhroll to her sexualiry; while Ciaran nnly asset. As Lola, Arril Nixon humrs and grind, Damn Yankees ... is cheerful, upbeat and totally Hmds is , upet'mel y effective as Lar rv, th e mOSt her ""Iuptuous imme to eye-rnpping effec r. She of its period. . I approached the prospect of d an,~e nru s and manipulative character rn rh e pla y. may nor be rh e natu ral -born cnmedLenne rh,l( the raucous Jerry Lewis in the part wi th some Ah,olurei y Marhe rl le)us. trepidation, but I was pleasanlly surprised. G\\'en Ve rd on, who ((eared rh e ro le, \\'a,; hur the ph" slCa l equipmenr I> there - "nd all in rhe ri ght X James Christopher, Observer t w~ s definitely nl)r [)onlthy P,,,ker \\·ho places. Her r\\'o hig ,hn\\,-swrrets - Whare\'er Lol a This ludicrous reworking of the Faust myth ... sits remark ecl rh"t the de,·iI has i111 the hest tlln e, Wan" and Who's Got The Pain - arc reHifi e. holl owly on Adler and Ross' swelling strings, I (wlI1e to think nf it, ",ho did ,ay it'). At any Th e ) lI~h Damn \'an"ees is " , how rhat tearful xylophone and chirpy, unmemorable r.He, it '~ (-In ~ ) ~ s l'r\· s ot rhe Nell' York cast I conservative, apple-pie virtues of Eisenhower's Two Lnsr Souls, wh ich he shate, \\ 'Ith Lo!.r, rh e America. Never mind , it has some pleasant saw rt cnupl e of YCClrs ago, but the guys are prcrry songs... and, on this occasion, Je rr y Lewis. cur\'ace,)us m,\l1-e~rer from hell - \\'ho llngin"lIy g,)od all the sa me ~nd provide this en joyable rev iva l sl..",ed it with Joe Hatdy (john -Michael Flmc), the \\'ith the kind uf echc Broadwa y ted ern Engli sh X Benedict Nightingale, The Times slugger flo yd is transFormed into - hut he al so get> company wo uld simpl y nor have rhe testostel',)ne When he is not exuding po-faced blonkness rn J(.) (l Veg a~ ~$(y l e cll rncdy routine complel t.:: with to durlic"te. from above Ihe blazer, Jerry Lewis, is, we ll , red tu xedo, wp har and about two doze n canes. Jerry Lewis. He in tentiona lly nudges the The reaso[\ lor rhese chonges is th ar the de"iI audience, mugs, comically simpers, and does t is n" accident thar the pia\, ch nsen, otlicl"ll y, out-of character voices. II is about as ~s yo u all know, is heing pla yed hI' Jerry Lew i.', «) "ren th e rcconstru cted G lobe Theatre IS Mesphistophelean as Norman Wisdom. \\'ho, \I'lth n"me-ahn"c-the-tirle arlcHnh, has IHenry V. No orher 5h'lk csr e.rre play, ((l my una s h~lITl e dl y rllrn ed J minor role inti) (I S[cH kn o\\'le J g~ , auuall\, rders trr rhe Globe ('th" ./ Paul Taylor, Independent ,'Chicle. Nnt thM Domn \"111l U!WIS in thl. d l'l l! spread-eagled. We' re talking Jack Benny rather rh"se huilt- re ),last fl malhay musical, tha ~r~( of a ro'e : [);1tnn Y;ll\kLt: ~ than Jim Carrey, Lewis' hei r... Damn Yankees is despite" ce rtain clumsin ess in act r-( ­ damn good. r\\,,,', hOl)k, (Ires on ,111 rLs co ns l from start tel fi nish . ~ /"

./ Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph When j firsr S,\\\' J>lc k \ Lewis tokes to the stage with the lazy O 'Brien 's exhibraring nonchalance of a performer assured of his rev iva l in New Yor k" audience's meek adoration ... Best of all is April c~)uplc of ye ars ago, Nixo n as the dev il 's sexy sidekick, Lola ... She is, like the show ilself, indecently en tertaining. Vicrur Garber was \. .. (earured as Applegate "nJ ~ '" .IX Nick Curtis, Evening Standard maJe L1\> impact at ,111. Yet Damn Yankees is on enioyable if erratic the shl)\\, sur\'l ved. The evening out, where neilher show nor stor following :-caSll11 Lc\\,tS realise their full potential. The team could have reploced G"rber, and, <1t rhe done beHer, damn il. mcHinee pcrfoflnrlnce j G1ught, ./ John Peter, Sunday Times h I:> re srr("Hnr \\'JS (IJmlrilble. This is a great, glamorous, gliHerball of a show, ArIIKe They don't make 'em like this anymore, thank he has bee n wurmg \\, Ith th e .,how rhat goodness.. . Lewis ... gives a mast peculiar perf­ rhe shti ck has broadened and rhe ,·aulleI· Hl e ormance .. Virtuoso it is; my kind of fun it ain'l. rnu tine added. The (,re t thm m;t as

1 6 A,r;"':' l"~ : AUGUST 199 7 \\' ooden 0 ') in the Ce of the text - and I have to admit thm li stening t" the nrening ,peech in \\' hich rhe na tte (' SL' C expect and bles sed with a wonderful se ,ious masking problems, )'ou later, abdicator ' I think n<1t' hla ze ned the IJ" tl y performance from Rylance, perhaps the most M'l il; 'If Alway.> were a pl dcc, charismatic actor of his generation , you WG uldo't want to g() there' shrieked the ./ Robert Butler, Independent on Sunday Telegraph; 'A lways! More Rylance ... is a superb Shakespearean, with an engagingly hesitant manner that invites us into like ne "er agt act - nor the n""t n ~t IL1 n;) 1 rc,'lewers h,,,,,,, , is patently ahsurd and X Benedict Nightingale, The Times The alarms sounded muffled, the scaling grippll1g in e\'en the best of prudu(' [l o ns - resonates ~ h nw -; no sense of pr o p~ ) rri o n whatsoever. They ladders ... did not appear, the smoke of war was in my nlclno ry ~ ~ sOinerhing of (1 n incomprehensible semed di saster, were out for the kill and nothing a cigoreMe puff, the offstage yells were few and blur in which the only impreSSIon made hI' the was going tn stand in th e ir WC\ y. unmortial.,. Rylance is a fine actor, but oddly , h,)\V 's , aliant ca st was the I\'ay in ",hlch they ,, 11 At best, ;\ Iwa ys is efficientl y dull. A t worSt muted here. ,1 1 m,1tgin all y improved as the rl"y, and but not untuneful songs [olioI\' the easiest op[lons, Richard Olivier .. . has gone to a lot of trouble, thaugh to no great interpretative effect, to Ihc 1 ern,'''n, l'r'l~ r e ssed. But not much. I simply There IS no origin,,1 'rake' on the familiar m m e ri~ l , reproduce original Elizabethan stage practices _, IlIJ n.'1 ~ . ,' In " " 'e,1 with Henry', , kirl11l shes with no [tcshncss of approach or startling in ve ntion. I n a in the costuming and all,male costing. hi ' ... 11 ~1l 1l l': \V Ith rh, IreS"I)le Ilh" of Nym (Bill big ptoduction nu mher at the Cafe La Pansenne :3 t"< 1 I. [h.!"kh \1\<'1l \\i.l ldcn). ['i'le>l (john Love, \\T learn , is a Carousel. At A rg yll House #. Georgina Brown, Mail on Sunday \!c nef\ \ "r c \' ~n ,he )!rt'Jt St C rispin's ,h,' ba ttie we',e inVI ted l<1 attend 'The Party I1f thc Year' - In Richard Olivier's generally dullish production .. ', It :\ ~tn( Jur ' I Cni ~l ~ t:J d) e En!.! li ... h le .. ..;n n h2 tween whi ch guests <1 nd servants both, seem to he h",·ing" goes all out for authenticity.,. The seating, too, is authentic. Kathe rr w ,Inc! :\ l l ~ e. her ';t") lewol\htn (Tohy pretty go nd tllnc, as the)' sing the nLght 3\Vil Y in C llt ~ C1Ckerell an.l lkn \\',,J,klt in Jr a~ l. but th L' n it's gla,' ;lccents. Wallis S im pson', Aunt BeSSIe (who is #. John Gross, Sunday Telegraph harJ r() go \\' r0 n ~ \\ it h \l lH~ ,It Ihc f:! reat comic s et~ reril'herdl to the story) is give n a on lo numbe r A thrilling venue ... isn 't going to be enough. We pI ece; in ,til 5hak2'pe lr,.'. c,d led The Reason for life is Lovc which ,,) " are also going to need thrilling productions; and Ry ldnce " ' Il if ahh' 111 ,1 "h .15 Henry, but has ye t unearneJ and b) is a clIche. Richard Olivier's ... though it has many merits , ro imposc himseli el n the I.. ,ie anJ make It hi, own, At " Welsh miner's ,·i1bge in 1936, rhe miners only fitfully qualifies for the description . It's a performance

"'LGUST 1997 I\P,olA US[ 17 seven sce nes e nergised . Tw i g~ y Lawson as the ec[()riasmic El vira looks terri fic in lilac dnJ m(l"e; What the papers say .. . ethere'1l1y (she was n't " super moJel for nothing) ALWAYS l1ut lac ks a se nse of the mischievousne ss th,1['s sn Victaria Palace vira l to thc role. A lso , her I'o ice is toO down­ ma rker. Howeve r, (or so me()n ~ with so little stflgc X Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph their ne w ki ng rI"1 n Long M ~y You Reign. Thc experi ence, she has her moments. I fear the show's run is doomed to be a deal lYriCS are parricularl y clumsy. The nO l'ice compose rs As everyone knows, Dora Brya n \I'm recrU Ited briefer than Edward VIII 's reign. rhyme dres; with tCSt , bel ongs with sr rong, girl with to the prnJucti (, n as an eleventh hou r replacement \l'orl d, hound with crown, understand with man, for Maureen Lipma n, ion 'big deal' which WAS not curre ncy in that sh e is, she never let herse lf, not the pl ay, dOll' n. tunes as blond as those on offer here. Baldwin, 1936) grammatical slip-ups ((or you anJ I) As for :V! "ybe, <1S she works her IVa I' inr o the role , she'll Queen Mary, Walli s' Aunt Bessie and others the many wrnng dccents with whi ch the II'ti cs are di sc~ rd .' orne of the cosy 'our D,' r~ ' mannerisms and wonder in and out without making much impact IHz il y st rewn - J on't as k. I'ocal tics .1I1d tr y to end ow the undeniably on the heart and the mind. But there IS a pos it il'e side too. The show's eccentric Madame Arcati with a slightly more X lyn Gardner, Guardian book, though Itself not a diche- free zo ne ('I know dIstu rbing , ide to her nature. Directars Fronk Hou ser and Thommie Walsh 's these po licti ans,' says one of the solution to the lock of droma is to make characters, 'they're a ll bo rk and

everything bigger 05 the emotions get smaller .. 11() bite .')' conl'incingly charts There is a fundamental lock of faith in the the Duke', romancc with Mrs material which is entirely justified ... neither music Simpson without eve r eludi ng nor script have the emotional clout to make you believe that thi s is a grand passion . to hi s sex ual problems or fa 'CISt inclinations. Thete's an X Nick Curtis, Evening Standard unJeniable pOIg nancy In th e The tunes ore bland and repetitive, the lyrics second half, mamly beca use of staggeringly banal. But it is the sheer, cheesy folly Jan Hartlcy's winnmg of the concept that puts Fronk Hou ser's hilarious perfo rmance as WallIS Simpson. production right up there with Which Witch and Tom Ra nd 's COs tumes (except The Fields of Ambrosia for connoisseurs of the truly bod musicaL.. I expect to see it abdicate for the overbl oll' n Di or- li kc from the London stage very soon . creations in the fas hion sho\\") are extren,ely mrracr il'e, Hnd X Michael Coveney, Daily Mail Hi Ideg,ud Brcc hrler's se ts are This dire and uninspired event ... it bows the knee serviccdble. Shan i Wallis (as and offers no useful commentary on the ultimate Bessie) and Dal'id McAlli >re r lave story, cashing in on the Royals in a libreMo that storts feeble and progresses fram bad to oncc; IIhile in the cemr;; 1ro le of Ed"'Hrd well , colourl ess . X John Peter, Sunday Times V Ill , ClII't C,m cr looks good , sings ,md ac ts well , Tim Goodchild's cla" ic 1930's set i> excell ent;

There is something so old-fa shioned and English hut is alCl,.ige ther rVl. l perSo nl1a ble to suggest the and so are illusionist Paul Ki cI e's ciim'1(tlc about the whole business that you con't help Dukc's incipient nerJish ness and weakness. spec ial effec ts. thinking this is a long-lost musical being recoiled T here Is a pr" fe>sionalrsm abou t Thommie The pl ay, though a trifle lo ng, stillll'orks, but on Radio 2. Walsh's musical >r aging and co-direction with Fra nk nteJ s a harder eJ ge and more styl [::. h pl aying to X Susannah Clapp, Observer Hau:,e r, rh ('l [ mak es you \nsh the hrts ic tnrlterial was al'oid the J im ini ,hmg returns that, ine l'it cll1 s, they ,aI', are odious. And they' re and blarn ey in about equal me asures as it charrs the X John Gross, Sunday Telegraph quite ri ght. I made a bad rnl , take afrer the opening unl ikely rorndnce between thc puritanical yO llng It tell s the story in the manner of a clumsy night of Niiel C OII" md's Blithe Spirit at C hichc>te r: Fanny Hawke (Catherine C usac k) and Patrick noveleMe; and though Jan Hartley gives what in I put o n a l'IJeo of Dal' id Lean 's 1944 screen Kirwi n (Stanl ey To\\" nsenJ ) a 40 ycat- old other circumstances would have been a stor­ I'ers ion. Cowa rd , ">,parenrly, di slik ed the film ­ lithogrJpher \I·h" has a> keJ her to malT\" hlln . Set 111 quality performance, neither she nor Clive II'h lc h, apart from some cuts and a Jifferent ending, J tiny isl,lI1d outpost (calleJ Shcrkin ) in Ireland, Corter. .. con get the beMer of trite material. 1I'8S pretty fait hful to the 1941 orIgi nal stage 1790, II"hat little connict the play thro\\"s up, h"" X Bill Hagerty, News of the World pr(,d uct\on at the Pi ccadill y Theatre. For me, the inevital1l y, to do with religion. Insipid songs, unimaginative choreography and [,c rfonnances of Re x Harrison, Constancc Fanny, her ca ndl e-maker farher Ouli <1l' dialogue whi ch no more than scratches the Cummll1gs, Kay Hammond and MrlI"g arc t Glover), her ineffec tual brother Jesse (Bohcbn surface of a relation ship that brought about an RutherforJ remall1 rn cotnparable - they have style, Poraj) anJ tll'O adornve allnt, (Anne Carroll and abdicotian ensues its inclusion in any collection of elegd nce ;:l11 J wit - qut' [ities whi ch are in shorr Ing rid C raigie) ,liT [he rcrnctining SU [\'l\'OrS of a mi sguided, misbegoMen mistakes. supply m Tim Lu sco mbe's untid y, but not st ri c t puritanical s ~ct wbt)se isn!an on is[ c x i~tl.: nc e X Robert Butler, Independent on Sunday unenjoyable nCII" proJ uction . has left rh em perilousl" clos e ro becoming extinct. Neither the things that brought the Windsors As nOl'eli" Charl es Condom ine , Stcl'cn PAtrick, II'h" li lTS in Cork, is part Cathoirc and pa rt together nor the things that kept them aport are Paccl' is defic ient in both charm and sex-appea l, JeW ish and enj oys a lifestyle to ta ll y ali en to that of intelligently dramotised. The result is snobbish though he, and a r8ther shrill-V Oiced Re linda Lang hi> reciuslI'c intended. In this insrance lovc rmher and flat-footed . ,IS hIS \\"ife Ruth , do their best to keep thc r la y's than reli gion, \\"il"\\ th e day and alrhough it i ~ maJe

1 8 APP!~ 'SE AUG UST 19 9 7 What the papers say ... What the papers say ...

BLYTHE SPIRIT PRAYERS OF SHERKIN Chichester Festival Theatre Old Vic Theatre

X Benedict Nightingale, The Times quire clea r rh at Jesse will neve r marry, ar leasr Fanny X Paul Taylor, Independent This Blithe Spirit is very like a bird, but that is spareJ rhe prospec r of a lonely spinsrensh furure . For 0 play about painfully sundered allegiances bird, I fear, is a turkey ... one of the evening's Likea bl e rarher rhan dramaric, Barry's lyri ca l and the collapse of an idealistic alternative problems is that Dora Bryon .. . has yet to make pla y, (oc all its charm , is over-exposed ar rhe O ld society, Prayers of Sherkin is strikingly Iowan full contact with either her lines or her any active sense of conflict. Vic where, despire John Dove's moodil y character. armospheri c direcri on, It nev er seems to asse rr irse lf. .I Jeremy Kingston, The Times ./;< Charles Spencer, Telegraph In <1 cnmpany abour whom I ha ve no qu"lms John Doves' production allows his cost to create On the first night Dora Bryan seemed to be whacsoeve r, there's a rarricu larl~ ! fine performance characters persuasively at ease in their rich negotiating her lines with anxiety ... but there fro m Carh erine Cusack, who, in every respecr, is pattern of glean and gesture. are already the makings here of a great comic reminiscent of a young Sara AlIgooJ. There is no performance ... Though this isn't a great Kate Bossett, Doily Telegraph higher praise rhan rhar. .I production, it is richly and occasionally Another gem - if flowed - from the Old Vic's shockingly enjoyable All Things Conswered is an excellenr riri e for new plays programme, put together by Dominic a pl ay abour a philosopher who, one way and Dromgoole. X Michael Coveney, Daily Moil an<)r her and all rhings considered, decides to It's like watching Mozart played with fistfuls of commir suiclde. Bur jusr as rhe Alan Bares ./ john Gross, Sunday Telegraph wrong notes. Twiggy looks wonderfuL .. but she characre r in Simon Gray's Otherwise Engaged found (The) play... could so easily have seemed cloying, swaggers round the stage clutching her or insipid , or unreal. That Sherk in is none of hiS arremp" to serrle down amllisren to Wagner's shoulders like a sailor on the pier at Marseilles. these things is a tribute to the unforced lyricism of Pms ifal (d slow dearh irse lf to so me ) rhwarred by a Indefatigably charming, she spoils the erotic Barry's language, to his feelings for small effect with a nasty, sneering sulkiness that is va ri ety of interruptions, [he one arremrt David dramatic gestures and to what one can only call well-projected but self-defeating ... Miss Freeman (C hrisropher Godwin ), rhe cenrr,, 1 temperament or charm - an ability to make you Bryon's... assault on Arcati is at best characrer in Ben Rrown's promlsing firsr full -Iengrh share his conviction that people are approximate, at worst embarrassing. play, makes to klll himself, is , imil

X james Christopher, Observer The real villain of the piece is director John Dove who pods around the production with the kind of reverence one normally associates with memorial services; 0 light, olmost opologetic touch , as if embarrassed about the lock of a body and the length of the speeches.

AUGU T 199 7 AP PLAUSE 19 What th J)apers say ...

ALL THINGS CONSIDERED Hampstead Theatre

./ Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph (Ben) Brown is capable of real emotion and strong characterisation, and his play is well· crafted with two excellent (and very bleak) Keep an eye out for these productions and events twists at the end ... You leave the theatre in no opening in and around the West End this month. doubt that (he) is a bright new talent to be treasured. two plays by conte mporaries of Shakespeare: ./ Paul Taylor, Independent Theatre Brown, whose inAuences all seem to be at least The Maid's Tragedy by Beaumo nt and Fletcher, twice his age, is clearly a talent to watch. Will opens on 26 August and the comedy A Chaste he turn out to be more than a paler shade of WATERSHtP DOWN Maid in Cheapside by Thomas Middleton opens Simon Gray? Richard Adams' celebrmed novel gets the stage on 27 August. treatment by the New Shakespeare C ompany ./ Benedict Nightingale, The Times from 5 August, performed in the delightful Some may lind the play cold, some will wish it deeper. But, my goodness, this is a cracking setting of Regent's Park Open Air Theatre by a debut. cast of 60 young people from all over London.

./ Michael Billington, Guardian THE SEAGULL An astonishingly mature first play. .. Brown has TH EODORA written a beautifully balanced comedy of ideas, English Touring The,me's extensive UK rour G lynde bourne revives their highly sllccess ful one that shows suicide to be philosophically setties at the Donma r Warehouse from 1996 production of Handel's Roman opera sustainable but emotionally self· regarding and 12 August. Madame Arkad ina, is played by about the 4th century martyr Theodora. cruel ... it also argues the cases for and against Cheryl C a mpbe ll. Directed by Peter Sellars, the production opens self-slaughter better than any English play since Rattigan's The Deep Blue Sea. on 3 August and features Joan Rodgers and THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD Danie l Taylor as Theodora and her lover ./ Michael Coveney, Daily Mail OF GOD (ABRIDGED) Didymus. As a first full·length play ... craftily directed by The Reduced S hakespeare Company fo llow Alan Strachan, this is obvious evidence of talent their other abridged successes The Complete even if all the entrances and points are Works of William SllQkespeare Gielgud Theatre. RAMBERT killingly funny dialogue is sharp enough to slit your wrists with. A new UK rour for Rambert Dance C ompany OH, KAY! takes in nine venues including Leeds and ./ John Peter, Sunday Times This marvellous 1920s musical, with music and Plymourh and starts at ehe Palace Theatre, An astonishingly mature ond accomplished lyrics by the G ershwins and book by Guy Manchester on 26 August. The mi xed debut for a writer in his early twenties ... the Bolton and P G Wodehouse, is re vived as part programme includes a world premi ere by saddest and most harrowingly funny of of the Los t Musicals season at the Barbican o n comedies and!or the most hilarious and bleakly Company dancer and choreographer Didy invigorating of tragedies. 17, 24, 31 August, and includes songs such as Veldman and hall ets inspired by Bob Dylan, Someone To W atch Over Me, Do Do Do and ehe Ro lling S rones and an original score by .I John Gross, Sunday Telegraph Fidgety FeeL Philip C hamon. (It) marks the advent of a bright new talent .. Brown ... is adroit, quizzical, and often very funny. FOOL TO YOURSELF Alan Ayc kbourn directs a new comedy by Festi1. als ./ Robert Butler, Independent on Sunday Robert Shearm an, White Lies , at the Stephen Christopher Godwin gives a lovely study in Joseph Theatre in Scarborough fr om 20 CHICHESTER quiet frustration ... A very promising debut. August. Po ignant and wirry a nd sounding very Productions in August include Somerset 'Ayckbourn' it centres on a married couple .I Bill Hagerty, News of the World Maugham's Our Betters opening on 12 August, Sharp and thought-provoking. Do see it. who return [0 the horel where they met 20 with Ho llywood ac tress Kathleen Turner, and years earlier to be confronted with their G eorge Bernard Shaw's Misalliance scarring younger selves. Joss A ckland, Tony Britton and Natalia Makarova, opening in the Minerva S tudio on KING LEAR 19 August. It almost seems imposs ible that Peter Hall has

never directed a production of King Lear. He ARUNDEL makes his directorial debur with the play at the Set in the heart of the beauriflll Susse x Old Vic Theatre on 25 August wieh Alan Downs, and with the impressive Arundel Howard in the titie role, Victoria Hamilton

20 APP LAUSE AUGU ST 19 97

Bur the tuition was superb. My instructresses, my phone was ringing, and wl,at a delightfu l not toO se riolls and I have made a fu ll recovery Tammy and Alison, and School Pnncipal Roger novelty that was. save for a slight ringing in my ears and an obsessive Collins, performed miracles. By the third day, my So when The Independent, the newspaper compul sion to arise and lead the Israelites out of Rising Trot was near instinctive. The fourth day whose front page feature had broken the story, rang the Land of Egypt. produced ~ shambolic canter and a surprised smile me asking with some trepidation what I was up to As for The Prisoner of Zenda, the infuriating (horses do, I found) from Mookie. And not long now, I set a ll phasers on 'exploit' and successfull y tranqui llity of my career will not be troubled by after that, shield on arm and lance thrusting pitched a phOtO-stOry about my Ruritanian any untowa rd activity. The production has been forward, I streaked down the field, at two with my ambitions. T hen I had them ring the executive postponed, my phone is si lent; the FOADs and trUSty steed. producer of Zenda offering a prominent placement PEEPEEs infest my postbox like maggots. And my Preoccupied with learning to ride, I of Sean Bean's phorograph to tie the article to his agent, whose iJea of furrhering my career involved nevertheless was aware of an ominous silence upcoming film. Only a cad wou ld ignore the source ge tting me sporadic auditio ns for non-speaking Prisoner of Zenda-ward. Accordingly, I rang the of all thar nationwide free publicity. My chance to pans in foreign commercials, has dropped me. casting assistant with the assutance that my audition was guaranteeJ, I refl ected smugly. That's showbiz, lu vv ies. 'remedial classes' had re-honed my equestrian sk ills Strange how I've never been as ked to portray Bur what the hell. I' m still riding, and have to a keen edge. After a moment's recollection to Macchiavelli. gradu"teJ to a beautiful chestnut thorough bred remember who I was, she uttered the classic Meanwh il e, my riding lessons ga ll oped apace, gelding named Kerry, who previously worked as a phrase: 'Ah, yes. Well, they already have a pretty and my confidence had increased to the poim somewhat andante racehorse. I enjoy the exercise good idea of who they want to see .. .' A FOAD by where I felt comfortable enough to lengthen my and my new acquaintances. And I understand that any other name would smell as rank. Obviously stirrups a little in order to relax my legs and get my three ne\\' episodes of a Napoleonic War series are the y felt it was not going to be 'a pretty good idea' knees out of my ears. But there are twO sorts of to be shot this autumn, featuring Sean Bean as the to see me· riders, those who have already fallen, and those dashmg Major Richard Sharpe. Splendid cavalr y At this point, remembering the notoriety my who have yet to fall. And pride goerh before ... uniforms, plenty ofswordplay, a long shoot on last publicity stu nt had garnered, I decided to go The Light BrigaJe galloped close behind me location, and the sa me casting director as The publi c yet again. Willing my skull to the Royal as I led them hell for leather towards the Russian Prisoner 0/ Zenda. • Shakespeare Company in order to guarantee cannons, the infernal thunder of the bombardment myself the eternal, a lbeit posthumous role of alas­ echoed by the pounding hooves of my noble poor-Yorick the Jester in Hamlet had resulted in stallio n Moo-Cow - and then rea lity intruded and global fame for a week. I had hoped, successfully I quickly and successively lost stirrups, riding as it transpired, that this macabre and helmet and horse. Chapli nesque gesture would strike a responsive The casualty nurse at Whitechapel Hospital c hord in a world affl icted by mass unemployment. assu red me that tending to the aftermath of a jonarhan trained ar the Briswl Old \I,C Thearre school, Although my agent found herse lf unable to pa rl ey riding accident conferred much more of a soc i"l and the American Academy of Dral1Ultic Art in Los any of the resulting T V or radio interviews into cachet than sewing up the knife wounds with Angeles. Pans have ranged from T)'balt in Romeo and something so exotic as an audition for anything, I which she usually dealt. The six stitches in my Juliet to the title role in The Dresser. Several TV and still enjoyed my minor celebrity status. For once head are to be remm'ed shorrl y, the concussion was film credits include the tefefilm Apocalypse Watch.

o o

THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD

22 NP LAUSE AUGUST 1997 London Office: The Appla",e Bltiiding, 68 Long Am. L",u1m WC2E 9JQ S, Albans Ofjice; PO Box I . S, Albans ALI 4ED

That 70's celebration of a ll things Sondheim ­ Side by Side by Sondheim ­ has re turned to London to delight fans of the wonderful Mr S. G reenwich Theatre is the venue and Kathryn Evans (Mack and Mabel), pictured ri ~ h t , and Li sa Sadovy (Company, Into the Woods) star alongsid e celebrity comperes includmg D<\w n French and S heridan Morley. More musicals nell·s ... Chicago is on its way into town at last. The press launch last month at the Prince of Wale,; Theatre was a smas h in itself - and when I think of the Broadway prod uction, and then think of Ru thie Henshall , Ute Lemper and Nigel Planer ­ and those fabulous Kander and Ebb songs , I feel quite giddy. Much more news on Chicago next month. Fan Club news, and my dear fri end John Barrowm,m has been honoured at last with an offic ial fan club. Members receive a q uarterly newslette r detWest End theatre at a spectac ul ar discount by orga nising a group. For further information call Applause on 0 171 312 1991. Hope to see yo u there. H appy theatrego ing'

VI N A WEEKEND AT CHICHESTER AND SEE KATH EE TURNER

This summer enj oy a weekend in gorgeous Sussex, staying in an idy lli c country hotel and enjoying the best seats at the C hiches ter Festival Theatre. Your weekend will begin by checking into one of the be autiful rooms at the Angel Hotel in Midhurst, just outside C hicheste r. The Angel Hotel has offered rest and refres hment to travelle rs for well over four centuries and carri es the prestigious Michelin Guide red 'M' as a symbo l of its ex tremely high standards of hospitality. Then enjoy an evening at the Chichester Festival Theatre, with the bes t seats in the house to Our Betters by Somerset Maugham. Scarring Hollywood actress Kathleen Turner, Our Betten is a perfect example of the world­ class drama that the C hic hester Festival Thea tre produces every year.

To win a weekend in C hichester simply answer the questions be low and return on a postcard to Applause Competition, The Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JQ. The prize must be taken hefore 27 Septe mber 1997. Good luck ' 1. Kathleen Turner is st

The competition is subject to ava il ability and offers a twin room for one night at the Angel Hotel, Midhurst and two top price tickets to Our Betters, to be taken between 6 August and 27 September 1997. To book a room at the Angel Hotel pl ease call 01730812421. To book tickets (or Our Betters call 01243781312.

AUGUST 1997 AP PlA USE 23 he Silver Sturgeon

Reserve your evening on board The Silver Sturgeon, at £49 per person, and enjoy a complimentary bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge champagne.

Offer valid far sailings before 30 September and mu st be booked by 31 August 1997. LONDON'S FINEST VIEWS IN FIVE STAR LUXURY

Drink at the HOllse of Lords t Dinner at theTower of London and Dancing at th Rm'al Oh 'ervutory

The Silver Sturgeon is the largest and most elegant pas senger vessel eve r to cruise the River Thames. Designed w ith the atmosphere and style of some of the great transatlantic li ners, it is unparalleled fo r sheer si ze, comfort and style. The Silver Sturgeon is launched by Woods River Cruises who have over 50 years experience in bri ngi ng unrivalled lu xury to the River Thames and boast two Royal Watermen to H M the Q ueen. Your evening on board this spectacular new ve ssel will begin w ith a complimentary drink surrounded by the glory of the Art deco interior. From Bri stol blue mirrors to specially commissioned fabrics and furniture and rare nineteenth century artefacts. Dinner on board will be the high point of your eveni ng. The exceptional quality of the lavish four-course meal will be complemented by impeccable five-star service. Following dinner, enjoy dancing to the accompaniment of live music beneath the double-height glass ceiling, take a stroll on the extensive promenade decks to see the ever changing sights of London, or relax with a drink at one of the three bars. The boat w ill return to the pier at 10.30pm and dancing will continue on board until 11 .30pm . Sailings are on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, boarding from Tower Pier between 7.30pm and 8pm. To book a night on board The Silver Sturgeon call 0171 8782002.

Previous winners of Applause competitions include: Jenny Wall of Surrey who won a walk-on part in An Inspector Calls (March issue); Mrs Wynne of Flintshire who won a dinner/dance weekend in London (Apri l issue); John Osbourne of Oxford who won a Disney shopping spree (May issue) . Congratulations to all three winners.

Plea se address your leHers to The Editor, Applause, The Applause Building, 68 Long Acre, London WC2E 9JQ_Each month we will give two tickets to a top West End show for the be st leHe r published .

Dear Sir, Rodgers- Hammerstein at the Nati onal; but YO LI will r ea l i,,~ rhe weak ness and lac k of Am [ alone in thinking that, all in a ll , hav ing pa id obeisa nce ro Carousel, cou ldn't we emotion in the performances of the other Oklahoma' is a pretty disgracefu l choice for the have had Allegro or Me and}uliet or Pipe Nll rma Desmonds, includ ing Pe wla Clark and next National T hea tre musica l and the first of Dream) O r are those lost classics onl y ever to Patti LuPone. I am convinced that Elaine the Trevor Nunn administration) Yes, I do be the preserve of Ian Mars ha l.1 -Fisher in Paige IS the best and the only rea l Norma kn ow of the National tr iumphs with Caro usel Sunda y afternoon co ncens at the Ba rbican) Des mond si nce G loria Swa nso n. and GU)'S & Dolls, and what they meant at the Michae l Harding, Bath Hanna-Riikka Halme, Finland box- ffi e: "lit as I ha\'c a I WH \! ~ lInd ersrood it, This month's Star Lettel" wri ter recieves two ticke ts Dear Sir, the whole pu rpose of the '<1 mcron to see JesLis Christ Superstar. Wi th reference to your co mm ent (June issue) Mac kin tos h gra nt w the NAti onal was to find about Howards Davie, ' prod uction of Eugene either new mus ical ' or unearth those which Dear Sir, O 'Nei li s The Iceman Come th be ing ' ... a far cou ld not possib ly, for commercial or other 1read with great interest d1e letter from Mr better proposition tl1a n (ev il rumour 00 the reasons, be done elsewhere; uuly In Th e Dari< Steven Michael Warner, regarding the Norma ca nce ll ed Steven Ber koff production which for all its ml>casring and prodllcthJn fau lts, Desmonds of Sunset BOLlle vard . Unfo rtunately I was to star Mickey Rour ke', we wonde r wha t pe rfectly fits this bi ll, as did the Sundheims at never had the opportunity to see the show on spurs you to pre-judge) the national. Blit Oklahoma' only a dozen the srage, 3S I onl y ca me (0 England in late T he event was not muted, let alone years ago in the West End and on the road April, so I only spea k from the experience of ca nce lled, bu t were it to have been disc ussed, almost ever since' hearing severa l different versions of the so ngs . the combined w lents of the great actor, Nunn claims the virtues of rediscovery Yet I am most surprised to re:ld that anybody Mickey Rourke , and Steven Be rkoff, a director and reb irth; but Oklahoma' has never fa il ed to would prefer Pe wl;} C lark's Norma Desmond. fa mous for his phys ical productions, would make money anywhere in the world, and Woul d you pl ease just li sten to rh e fee ling, have made it Llnm issable. regul ar ly gets red iscovered and reborn all over power and depth that El ain e Paige puts in her Joanna Marston, London Ameri ca. By all me;Jn s let's have another interpretati ons of these wonde rful songs, ;} nd

24 APP[,A'JSE AUG U ST 1997 ~vents & travel

VENICE ­ RENAISSANCE ART AND LIFE

This break, accompanied by art historian John Williams, will introduce some of Venice's greatest treasures - the Bas ili ca of St Marks , the Dages Palace, the School of San Rocco and the Accademia, pl us other delights. Price pe r person sharing a twin room in a very pleasant and central hotel with bed & breakfast and return air travel: £425 approx. (Actual prices fo r 1998 to be confirmed shortly.)

YLLANA COMIC VISUAL THEATRE & Spanish Restaurant Offer

The fu nniest company from the far side of the Bay of Biscay are back in the UK with thei r latest show G lub! Glub' , which receives its UK premie re at the Ed inburgh Fes tiva l Fringe before touring to London and throughout Europe. Glub' Glu b! is a show about fi ve scurvy, roaming sailors and thei r comic explo its on the high seas. Directed by David O u one, the less than ship-shape crew are ad rift in a storm of comic eve nts naviga ting their way th rough killer sharks, being enslaved by devilish vikings, fighting off mating parrots and having a little trouble in the gall ey. EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE GLUB! GLUB! at the GILDED BALLOON - 0131 2262156 Mention Applause and get concession price tickets at £6. Enjoy a meal at IGG'S Restaurant, 15 Jeffery Street - 0131 55 7 8184 - where Applause readers can get a free glass of wine with their meal/tapas. GLUB! GLUB! at the HACKNEY EMPIRE, LONDON - 0181 9852424 Mention Applause and get concess ion pri ce tickets, Mon- Thurs at £5, Fri -Sun at £6. Enj oy a meal at Bar Lorca, 175 S toke Newington High Street - 0171 27 58659, where Appla use readers can get a meal for two for £ 19.50 including a boule of wine or jug of sa ngria.

PARIS - IMPRESSIONISTS IN WINTER

A chance to see some of the marvellous Im press ionist arc in Paris with visits to the Musee dfOrsay, the O rangerie and the Musee Marmottan. Price per person sharing a twin room in a comfortable and central hotel with bed & breakfast and standard class trave l to Paris by Eurostar. The trip is accompanied by arc historia n John W illiams.

~U G U S T 1997 M PLAUSE 25 HEARTBREAK HOUSE Dav id Hare d irects G eorge Bernard S haw's Heartbreak House with an a ll -s tar GIst that includes Emma Fi e ld ing, R ichard G riffiths, Parr ici <-l Hodge and Penelope W il to n (pi ctured ).

ELVIS

The offic ia l musical hi ograph y el l El vi, Pres ley makes <-l we lcome rt to rhe \'(Iest End - and (e;ltures t ' King's greatest hits including Bit Suede S hoes, Heartbreak HOte l , Jailhouse Rock.

27 August, 7.30pm Wednesday

THEATRE ALMEIDA t London. N1 Almeida stree . - -­

1-30 August: Man F. . - n, 7. ~5pm·, rue'S , ;;ipm., ~

APOLLO VICTORIA 17 Wilton Road L d ' on on SW1

e)how f th Month

STARLIGHT EXPRESS - FAMILY TICKET OFFER For over I y c ~l[S Scmlight EX/n-ess h Andrew Lloyd Webber's smash-hit musical for only £50. Additional ti ckets cost .L 15 for ad ults and £10 for chi ldren (a minimum offo ur ticke r.s must be purc hased to bene fit fro m this offer) .

26 A/PI i) t AU GUST 19 9 7 e offers

312 1991 THE BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE Award -winning Irish playwrig h t Martin McDonagh returns to the Roya l Court with a trilogy o f pl"ys b"sed around and inc luding h is huge ly successful play T he Beauty Queen of Leenane. Applause . on-Thu eve, 8pm; readers have the chance to 1-30 AUguS\~ and Sat, 5.30pm see 'Martin McDonagh's Fri, 8.30pm, riveting, award-w inning first play'.

THEATRE PICCADILLY t London W1 Denman stree ,

Friday 22 August, Bpm

ROYAL COURT DOWNSTAIRS St Martin's Lane, London WC2

THE BIBLE: THE COMPLETE WORD OF GOD (ABRIDGED) Fo ll owlI1 g the huge success of the Reduced Shakespeare C o mpany's Th e Complete Wlorl

AJGJST 199 7 APPL4,USE 27 THE OFFICIAL LONDON THEATRE GUIDE OF THE SOCIETY OF LONDON THEATRE

ADELPHI DONMAR WAREHOUSE LYCEUM PLAYHOUSE Damn Yankees The Seagull Jesus Christ Superstar The Wood Demon Jack O'Boen's Broadway prOdudan ofJerry Slephen Unwin directs the English Touring Gale Edwards directs Andrew lloyd The Playhouse Theatre opens as a Ross and ~ichard Adlers musical lealures Theelre prOduction of AnIon Chekhov's Webber and TIm Rice's musical based an producing theetre fallowing its refurbish­ Jerry Lewis as Ihe Devil in an updale of Ihe naturalislic drama about a group of the adu~ life of Christ. Sangs include I ment. Anthony Page directs the first lale 01 Dr Faustus. people's differenl aspirations and sense of Dan1 Know How to Love Him. production - Chekhav's eerly masterpiece Man-Sal 7.30. personal failure. August 12-September 6. Mon-Sal 7,45. about love and disillusionment. Mals Thur, Sal 2.30 Man-Sot BOO, Mots Thur, Sat 4.00 Mals Wed. Sat 2.30 Man-Sat 7.30, Mots Sal 2.30

ALBERY DRURY LANE LYRIC PRINCE EDWARD Pygmalion Miss Saigon Marlene Martin Guerre Ray Marsden plays Professar Higgins who Baublll & Schonberg's musical aboul on Sian Phillips plays the drink-sodden diva The latesl from Boublil and Schonberg. believes Ihal he can lurn on Easl End American G.1. wiha falls in love with a local Marlene Dietrich in Porn Gems' musical writsrs of Miss Saigon and Las Miserobles, is ftowergi~ Inla a woman of breeding. Emily girl during the Vietnam war continues its ploy about the Germon singer. Sean based on the folk story of a man who Lloyd plays Eliza Dalit1le and the cast also amazing run, n's naw in its eighth year. Malhias direcls. returns fram a war and cloims to be a includes Michael Elphick. Man-Sat 7,45, Man-Sat 7,45, woman's long last husband. Man-Sol 7.30, Mats Wed. Sat 3.00 Mots Wed & Sat 3.00 Mots Wed. Sal 3.00 Man-Sal 7,45. Mots Thur. Sat 3.00

ADWYCH DUCHESS NATIONAL THEATREt PRINCE OF WALES Tom and Clem The Herbal Bed In repertoire. OLIVIER: GUYS AND DOLLS Smokey Joe's Cafe Richard Eyre's acclaimed production of Shakespeere's doughier is accused of The BlOadway revue inspired by Ihe songs Alec McGowen and Michael Gambon the Fronk Laesser c lassic returns. leading a married man astray in Peter of Leiber and Staller gets its West End play Clement Attee and Tam Driberg in LYTTELTON: THE CRIPPLE OF INISHMAAN Whelan's drama, based on a true court premiere. Sangs include Heartbreak Hotel Slephen Churchet1's new political drama Martin McDonagh's new play direcled by case. Extended season. and Hound Dog. Stars members of the in which a MP threetens Ihe Pome Nicholas Hytner. AMY'S VIEW David Hare's original American cast. Minister's plans in postwar Europe. Mon-Sat 7.30. new play feetures Judi Dench as on Man-Sat 8.00. Mafs Thur. Sol 3.00 Man-Sat 7.30. Mats Wed. Sat 3.00 Mals Wed. Sat 3.00 actress. LADY IN THE DARK Hart. GershWin and Weill's psycho-musical. APOLLO FORTUNE ROYAL COURT THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING Wesker's closSic Popcorn The Woman in Black direcled by Howard Davies. The Leenane Trilogy Ben Ettan's comic play deals with screen Ewan Hooper and James Simmons play COnESLOE: CLOSER Patrick Marber delves Martin McDonagh's The Beauty Queen 01 violence through the slory 01 a IiIm the two men embroiled in this extraordi­ into relationships in his new play. KING Leenane. A Skull in Connemara and me director. played by Donny Webb. who is nory ghost story. Writ1en by Slephen LEAR Ion Holm follows the regol descent l o nesome West performed as a trilogy held at gunpoint by two fans of his film s. Mollatrat1 from Susan Hill's novel. into madness. directed by Garry Hynes. Mon-Sat 8.00. Mon-Sal B.OO. OTHELLO Sam Mendes directs David Mon-Fri 800. Mats Wed 3.00. Sot 4.00 Mals Tue 3.00. Sol 01 4.00 Harewood as the Moor Sal 1.00.4.00. 8.00.

APOLLO VICTORIA GARRICK NEW LONDON ROYAL COURT THEATRE DOWNSTAIRS Starlight Express An Inspector Calls Cats Blue Heart The 2nd longest running musicul in theetre Stephen Daldry's hugely successful revival Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical inspired Oul of Joint presents Caryf Churchill's Iwo history is Andrew Lloyd Webber's roller-skat­ of J. B. Priestley's ploy in which a by T S Eliot's Otd Possum's Book of Practical new one oct ploys aboul cotastrophes ing extravaganza. inspired by the move­ mysterious inspector disrupts a celebration Cals continues into its 16th year. Booking which transfer from Ihe Edinburgh Festival. ment of trains. Direcfed by Trevor Nunn. at the Birling residence. Ihrough to March 1998. Max Sfafford-Clark directs. Opens Sept 22. Mon-Sat 7,45. . Mon-Fri 7,45. Sol 5.00 & 8.15. Man-Sal 7.45. Mon-Sat 7.30 Mats Tue & Sat 3.00 Mats Wed 2.30 Mats Tue & Sat 3.00 Mals Sat 3.30

BARBICAN GIELGUD THE OLD VIC ST.MARTIN'S Shintoku-Maru Shopping and F"' "ing The Peter Hall Company in repertOire. The Mousetrap WAITING FOR GODOT Peter Hall directs Yukio Ninogowa, famed for his epic rework­ Max Stafford-Clar\< directs Mar\< Ravenhill's Murder in a remote hotel is the SOurce of Ben Kingsley. Alan Howard and Greg Hicks ing otEuropeon clossics. directsanewJapa­ brutal debut ploy which centres on the wo~d ' s longest run. It·s ncw the 45th nese play which draws on the tragedies of emotional alienation through the lives of in Beckett's masterwork. yeor for the Agalha Christie thriller and Oedipus and Phaedra. on abused 14-year-old boy. Limited THE PROVOK'D WIFE Victoria Hamilton and people are stililrying 10 find oul who did it Oct 15 at 7.00. Oct 16. 18 at 3.00 & 7.45 season until August 6. Michael Pennington ore at odds in Mon-Sat 8.00. Oct 17 at 7.45 Mon-Sat 8.00. Mats Thur 3.00. Sat 5.00 morriage in Sir John Vanbrugh's comedy. Mots Tue 2.45, Sat 5.00 GRACE NOTt Dominic Dromgoole direc ts CAMBRIDGE GIELGUD Geroldine McEwan in Samuel Adamson's STRAND Grease The Bible: The Complete Word of new ploy about on ageing woman and Buddy her fortune-hunting family. The major revival of the first stage v ersion God (Abridged) The Buddy Holly Story His life story is KING LEAR Peter Hall direc ts Alan Howard 10 include the famous songs from the film The Reduced Shakespeare Company threaded amongst Ihe songs that has now been running for three and a halt condenses Ihe whole of the Bibfe into a as the once respecled king descending influenced a generalion before his years. David Gilmore directs. two hour show tor comic sHeel. Opens into madness. untimely dealh. Over 3000 performances. Mon-Sat 7.30. August 13 . PLAYHOUSE CREATURES April de Angell!' Tue-Thur 8.00. Fri 5.30 & 8.30. Mats Wed. Sat 3.00 Mon-Sat 8.00, Mats Wed 3.00. sot 5.00 ploy about women in the theatre. Sat 5.00 & 8.30. Sun at 4.00

COMEDY GLOBE OPEN AIR VAUDEVILLE The School for Wives In repertoire: HENRY V Mark Rylance plays In reper1oire: Skylight the young warrior-king. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM The Peler Hall directs Peler Bowles. Paul THE WINTtR'S TALE Leonte's misplaced Regent's Pork favourite returns. David Hare's play about Ihe aNempted Daniels and Daniel Betts in Moliere's sexual jeelousy leads him 10 despair. ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL Dillie Keane reconciliation of a restaurateur and his ex­ satirical comedy in which a guardian THE MAID'S TRAGEDY Beeumonl and stars in Shakespeare's Iragi-comedy. lover, on inner city teacher. returns with 8ill hopes to marry his charge. Fletchers JacObean tragedy. KISS ME KATt Cole Porter's musical toke on Nighy and Stella Gonet as the couple. Mon-Sat 8.00. A CHASTE MAID IN CHEAPSIDE Middelton's me raming of the Shre w. Mon-Sal 8.00. Mats Wed 3.00. Sat 5.00 comedy about common desire. Mon-Sat 8.00. Mots 2.30 Mals Wed. Sat 01 3.00

CRITERtON HER MAJESTY'S PALACE VICTORIA PALACE Reduced Shakespeare Co The Phantom of the Opera Les Miserables Always The Reduced Shakespeare Company Andrew lloyd Webbers musical follows Boublil. Schonberg & Kret;:mer musical William May and Jason Sprague's musical present The Complete Wor\

DOMINION LABAITS APOLLO HAMMERSMITH PHOENIX WYNDHAM'S Beauty and the Beast Summer Holiday Blood Brothers Art A beautiful girl falls in love with a beast Dorren Day slars in the stage adaptation Willy Russell's award winning musical David Haig. Anton Lesser and Mark who lives In a bewitched c astle. Disney's of the Cliff Richard film in which he goes follows Ihe plight o f Iwo Liverpudlian Williams ptay three friends whose musicol version of the classic toiry·tale on holiday in a double decker bus. Limited brolhers separated at birth bul destined to relationship is turned upside down when features lyrics by Tim Rice. season to September 4. meet again. one 01 them buys a work of modern art. Mon-Sat 7.30, Mon-Sat 7.30, Mon-Sat 7.45, Mon-Sat 8.00. Mats Wed & Sat 2.30 Mots Wed. Sa l 2.30 Mots Thur 3.00, Sot 4.00 Mats Wed 3.00. Sat 5.00

DONMAR WAREf'OUSE LONDON PALLADIUM PICCADILLY The Maids Oliveri Elvis ,,~,.th~ guide ,.'" is subject'" ','amill", 10 change '" "~II'! John Crowley directs Jeen Genet's Lionel Bart·s classic tunes return 10 the West The official muslcallribute to the king 01 without prior notice. Please ritualistic drama in which two sisters act End in Sam Mendes' major revival of the rock 'n' roll reI urns 10 the West End lor a check all details before making out Ihe murder o f Iheir employer. Limited musical version of Dickens' tale. Barry limited twelve week seeson. Songs include your booking. season. Un~1 August 9. Humphries stars as Fagin. Blue Suede Shoes and Heertbreak Hotel. t = Registered charily. Man-Sat 8.00, Man-Sat 7.30, Mon-Thur 8.00. This information is prepored by Mats Thur, Sat 4.00 Mats Wed, Sat 2.30 Fri. Sat 5.30 & B.3O The Society 01 London Theatre

THE ABOVE SHOWS CAN BE BOOKED THROUGH THE TICKETLINE ON 0171 3121991, SUBJECT TO THE USUAL AGENCY BOOKING FEE NO BOOKING FEE ON Always, Starlight, Grease. Miss Saigon, The Mousetrap. Woman In Black, Buddy, An Inspector Calls, OliverI, Martin Guerra, 5adlers Wells at the Peacock Theatre.

28 APPLAUS = AUGUST 1997 @atingout

paimings of nautical scenes which have been its trademark for thirty years remain. POISSONNERIE DE L' AVENUE At Poissonnerie, old money talks, and when ··~t~ge£truc:k 82 Sloane Avenue, SW3 Tel 0171 5892457 it does, it orders class ic French food which tas tes There are chefs who appear on TV Clnd write wonderful because it is made with the freshest cookery books; there are chefs who somehow ingred ients rather than because its reCipe was DRESS FOR written last week. manage to hold down CI job in trendy restaurants THE OCCASION whilst producing food which all but the least dis­ I otdered a 'soupe Jegere de poisson', a li ght and spicy soup with the tiniest crouton on whi ch cerning diners recognise as inferior to their own Character, Period, cooking; and there are chefs with years of experi­ fl oat some sinful garlicky rouille. I was thinking of ence wh o produce consistently good food without the appetite I would need for some baked seabass Pantomime, Suits, any media attention at all. simply roasted with fennel, pine kernals and Frocks, Dresswear, The lotter is the scenario at Poissonnerie de virgin olive oil - very 90's, very delicious. For Animal, Showbiz, Cabaret, every class ic dish - lik e asparagus with hol­ l'Avenue. You don't know wh o has cooked up Unifonn, Fantasy, your dinner, but frankly, who cares? First and fore­ landaise sauce - there is a conteR;\porary one, like most, Poissonnene is, as the name leads you to rocket salad with tomatoes and parmesan. My Wedding and Funeral! expect, a pescivore's dream. Its menu has twenty companion IVas tempted by the specials; for as if dishes for each of the first two courses, and ninety there isn't enough choice on the menu, the With accessories to match per cent of them feature the fruits of the sea. A patron glides about offering daily treats, which is wet fish shop sells the surplus nex t ro the restau­ how we came by some super-fresh calamari-monk­ Call Cyril or Alan on rant - a magnificent display of sa rdines as bright fis h pilau. By eight o'clock every table was full on as tinsel, prettily plump sca ll ops in the she ll , me night we were there. 0800 174 114 lobsters, skate seClbass and tuna. Just recently, the Desserts are sweet and delicate. Poi res frontage has been renovated ro provide a sleek, religieuses are pears dressed in a chocolate sauce or visit us at modern, si lver-gre y facClde. But insid e, the which gIves then a nun-like aspect; they sit on 41 Brushfield Street, restaurant's deeply comforting oak panels and oi l meringue and a small pool of creme anglaise. Spitalfields, London E 1 6AA Tuli pe de fruits tropicales is a tulip made from the biscuit used for langue de chat, full of fresh frui ts. 4 minutes walk from It all makes fo r a perfect evening. Liverpool Street Station

Sue Webster Mail Order and courier service available

RESTAURANT

BRASSERIE

BAR DES AMIS

Al FRESCO DINING PRE/POS T THEATRE 2 COURSES £9 .95

I~ II~n ' J\'r Pl.l' (" II LI 'nc :\ ur\. C,wem (j,lfllcn TIJ..l'h"I1C ,1 1jl ' ill 14-H

A UGUST 1997 APP LAUSE 29 seating fax l C - serVlce

For a West End theatre seati ng plan, sim ply di al the number of the theatre listed below from the ha ndset of your fax machine. Helpli ne 01714 123795. Pr (:s~ nred by Arpl all ~ l! t1l3g,:mne in ilsslX'iation with Telecom Express Ltd. We!'tmins[cr 1(''''cr, London SE 1 7, P. Call, cust 1: I. 50/01111 (duration o( (ex appro,. 2 ITIII111tes). Adelphi 099 1 992 3.59 Lyric 0991 992 324 Alben Hall 0991 992 323 National·Olivier 0991 992 325 Albery 0991 992 302 National.Lyttleton 0991992 326 Aldwych 0991 992 303 New London 099 1 992 328 Apo llo 099 1992 , OS Old Vic 0991992 329 Apo llo Victoria 0991992 307 Open Air 099 1992 330 Barbican 099 1 992 308 Palace 0991 992 331 Cambridge 0991 992 ,09 Peacoc k 099 1992 341 Coli seum 0991 992310 Phoenix 0991 992 332 Comedy 099 1992 3 11 Piccad illy 099 1992 333 Criterion 0991992 312 Playhouse 099 1992 334 Dominion 099 1 992 313 Prince Edward 0991992 335 Donmar 099 1992 314 Pr ince of Wa les 0991 992336 Drury Lane 0991 992315 Queens 099 1992 337 Duchess 099 1 992 316 Roya l Opera House 099 1992 340 Duke of York 's 099 1992 317 Savoy 0991992 343 Fortune 0991992 318 Shaftesbury 099 1992 344 Garrick 099 1992 3 19 Shakespeare's Gl obe 0991 992 342 Gielgud 0991992 320 St Martin's 0991 992 345 Haymarket 099 199232 1 Strand 099 1 992346 Her Majesty's 099 1 992 322 Vaudevill e 099 19923 47 Laban's Apollo 099 1992306 Victoria Palace 099 1992348 Lond on Palladium 099 1 992 323 Whiteha ll 0991992 349 Lyceum 099 1992 358 Wynd hams 099 1992 327

travel information

Theatre/and Car Parks Westminister MasterPark Car Pa rks: Cambridge C ircus: Newport Place, WC2 (0171 434 1896) Poland Stree t: Po land Street, WI (0171 4377660) Rochester Row: Roc hester Row, SW 1 (0171 8284298) Trafalgar: Spring Gardens, SW I (0171 930 1565) Whitcomb: Whitcomb Stree t, WC2 (0 17 1 8395858)

On presentation of a voucher, theatregoe rs can pay a spec ial rate of D.OO/evening at the car parks ab

Public Transport Bus and Unde rg round serv ices run umil midnight, with nig ht buses taking over from there and depa rting (roIll Trafa lgar Square. For more information call London Transport on 0171 222 1234. Train Se rvices also ru n umil "He, but it's best to check with your loca l train stations regard ing last trai n departure times. Train enqui res can al so be made on 0345 484950.

Coaches For advice on coach parking ca ll the Metropolitan Coach adv isory service on 0171 2305332.

Taxis Black cabs are readily ava il able, but if a minicab is required ca ll 0800654321 for more info rmation.

30 Al'H Uj[ AUGUST 1,)97 FESTIVAL

Jane Marlow visits uaint, genteel, may he ever so tourists who double the popu lation of their c iry, sliglltly twee are words t1,"t are lV ith open arms. Edinburgh to observe like ly to po p up when talking According to the G uinness Book of Rewrds, the city's annual about the puhlic's perception of rhe Edinhurgh Fringe is the largest artS fes tiv

half a million visitors from all stereo type south of the border it has tl) be ,

few d ifferent festival s whi ch hapren (0 run llh ' He Dr who IS also a musician , o bserved : 'It's the most less concurrently. The Edinburgh Fes tival and the promintnr location In town realiI', apart fr om the Fr inge Festi va l me perhaps the mos t well known, castle, and was sc re aming our to he used.' but the Film Fesri v

in (1 tent i:; th e Glll\' ~ I S roof. It' s th e perfect fes tival venue I.'ecdu se ir fee ls li ke rhe c ircus has cume tn town. H aV ing had the site su rveyed - he didn't wanr 1115 patrons to go crashing through rhe fl oor into the shops below - and discovering that ][ fir with only 0 .9 a me tre to ,pare, Da\'id will again Wa verle y Shopping Centre, or all unu.

W G UST 1997 APP LAUSE 31 the Cafe Graffiti will metamorphose in(O an example, suggests putting a h a irdryer in each room 'eccentric, tango palace' providing a mixture of the and (hat towels me dried 8fter use. Mrs Russell POTTED HISTORY OF 'passionate and the exotic'. (hinks that 'peo ple get involved with the Inside the cavernous, rather dere lict looking organisation not as a mo ney makIng venture, THE FRINGE: building, Peter describes the transformation: 'We but because they want to help o(her people enjoy put a balcony all the way round the room, half way the festival.' '1947 First companie not IIwiteJ to up the wa ll , which is swathed in velvet and A I(hou.q h there are locals who lo athe the the International FestIval go I[ alone. carpeted, with cables and chairs. People can festival, it's actually very hard to find e xamples of 19-4 Fin Fringe pmgmmme printed, promenade around the whole space and look at the this apparendy dying hreed. Retired POS( Office 1955 Edinhurgh U llIvers([y s[udcm murals and view the performances. The building worker Frank's anitude was more typical : ' I'm glad 'ct u a cenrml box office. itself is as much a part of the show as the things we h ave a festival, it's good for business and J enjoy 1955 The Fe 'rival Fnnge ocierv that goon in iL' the armosphere it f,rings to the City.' I' formeJ , As well as the Indian and Japanese dance Donna Nughmana and Asma, 13 year old 1959 Th" tlClCty become a (omp:my rhat can be seen in the ma in performance area, schoolgirls, agree with Frank. 'We look forward to limited by guarantee a nd able ro drply downstairs there is a theatre area, a bar and a the festival, it is the highlight of the year. We do funJlng. garden. Perhaps not the intention orche Catholi c go to one o r two of the events, but we really like "'r PUH1C 19i 1 FIl"'t pru csslonal Fringe Apostolics who built it in the 1870's. mi xing with rhe tourists.' Even TotTI, a bus driver In a dreary but potentially amaC(ive building, in Edinburgh who comes inw contact with more aJmlOi'tnlr,'r appOI nted. exam tables are push ed aside to make way for more than his fair share who don't know their Royal 1972 The ' Fnn~ e FIrst,' flre hom, Ten frivolous activity when the University allows their Mile from their Grassmarket, hasn 't gOt a bad word awarJ are prc

prem ises in Chamhers Street (0 become the to sa y. 'The city is alive for those three weeks of 19 0 - ,\ttl,h chIldren are :lhlt' tn .:nter Famous Grouse House. Three theatres and a cafe the festival. There's a good feeling about the place <1 competition to J esl£!n the Fr ing.: p, ,rer, are created and decorated with colourful banners. and everybody seems ro get along. It's good to see 19 8 FestIval adm ll11 nanon mo,'c to theln .keep coming.' cu mm huilt offIce at 180 High lret:t. The International Festival's figures reveal 1989 Fringe fesnval get, fir r pre " olfice. that 50% of their audiences are Scottish·based; 1992 Bo~ orneI'I computeri cd. 30% come from the res t of the UK, and rhe 1996 FlftlNh anmversa r . of Fe,tiva\. remaining 20% from overseas. Results of a recent survey should also help keep the smiles on the faces of rhe people of Edinburgh: rhe festival generates fl2Z million for EVENTS AT THIS YEAR'S the economy of the city and sustains over 4,000 FESTIVAL INCLUDE : jobs in Scodand The Ensign Ewan is one of the first pubs Mt'M14re For Mrastlre directed hy down from the casde where rhe Tanoo takes place. tephane Braun,chwe11l at the Royal McHtin. the evening manager says, 'it's not like it is Lyceum from 11 -25 Augus(. on a Sunday in tvlay, when Edinburgh closes. Perer [ern" alzburg Fes[tval production During the festi vals we have to have people on the of The Cherr OrdlLlTd ar the Fe-rival door to Stop the crowds coming in " he says. Theatre from 23 - 0 August 'Jr is the key time when you make your The COCkUlil Plmy ~r [he King's Theatre Inoney for the resr of rhe year. There's no real August. animosity between locals and (Ourists because mosr fmm 25 -}0 people who live here realise that they arc keeping Ar the Gateway Theatre (l season () new our council tax down.' wmk incluue TImeless by lIspecr ulture A lrhough all the festivals are crammed into a from 27-30 Augu. t and PaTtllion by Tama.ha relatively shon space of time (the Military Tanoo Theatre Company tmm I 1- 15 Augllst. stans on 1 Augus( and International and Fringe Festivals e nd officially on 20 August), the 'buzz' For more information contact the that is created during it is staning to extend inte.rnational Festival box office on beyond the designated pe riod. 01 147 2000 The cultural tidal wave that surges through Mrs Russell, who has lived in Edinburgh for Edinburgh nO( only affects the fabric of the city, ZO years, explains thar after rhe festival '(here was bur its inhabitants wo. Local resident Hazel Ross a time when the city became a desen, but now r AND ON THE FRINGE: says, 'there's a great atmosphere when the festival's think Edinburgh has woken up to the fact that the on. Ir's pandemonium, but everybody is friendlier cultural activity shouldn'r really f,e concentrated and cheerier.' So fri endly in facr that some locals into Just three weeks. Today the re is a continental FOil! House by the Tresdc Theatre

decide ro open their homes (0 visi(Ors looking fo r flavour even after the fe stival has gone. Now it is mp:m y at the Pleasance from reasonably priced but comfortable more and more likely (hat you'll find something 7- 0 August. accommodation. Festival Beds, who co-ordinate eXCiting in Edinburgh every wee k. It's been slow in teven Berkoff In Ihe premIere of the service, was esrabltsh ed last year and acco rding happe ning, but it is happening.' • Ma.s sage a t the A '~ embly Room; from to on e partiCipant, Mrs Russell, it was so successful 19-30 Augu r. they have become pan of the Officia1Festi val Think No Elfil of U$ . M)' LIfe Wirh Brochure this year. Kenneul Williams wntten and performed 'It's roo much work to do all the time', she l y D~\'iJ Benson - the show that won says, 'but I enjoy meeting new people and Since completing a pOSI graduate degree in journalism rhe Fringe Fir~t Award last year IS h" k ru discussing what they are going [0 do at the a( the London College of Printing in ,'vlarch 1997, the As cmhly Rot ms mm 9-30 August, Festival. Some of them have given me ideas ro see Jane Marlow has been worhinl!. as a freelance for something I'd never thought of and vice versa.' publications as diverse as Ace Tenni, Magazine, Festival Beds view their properties with Bigwig, a Scotlish music mal!.a~ine , and Ihe For m re information contact the

Tourist Board specifications in mind, bur they have Marylebone Merwry where she is (I regular Fringe om eon 0111 2265257 . own list of recommendations which, for (h emre reviewer.

UST 1997 , I I'll 1 I JULIE WILSON

to be gutsy or rorchy or blu esy. I cannot tell you how many pelOple pan ed me on An actress and singer who is still going strong the head and sa id; "You 're such a nice girl. You should go home to Omaha and after more than 50 years in the business, ge t married." The mo re they sa id that, the mlO re I perse vered .' With acting as her first love, she quickl y ga ined a reputation for telling a Piers Ford meets a survivor, whole srory with a song . Her effortS were rewarded when she was pi cked to rep lace Lisa Kirk as Bi anca in Kiss Me, Kate in 1949. When the show opened in ulie Wilson is adamam that she never planned her cateer. She has, she LonJon in 1951, she came lOve r with Patricia Morrison and Bill Johnson, scoring

says, just gone where the winJ has blown her. It's rurned out [0 be quite a a great per,onal hit. 'That was rea ll y fun,' she recalls. 'Playing a naughty chorus

voyage. From band singer [0 stylish ni ghtcluh headliner. From acness girl, madl y in love wirh her bea u but still with a fondn ess for the olJ daddies j (West End, Broadway and roles in numerous American musical to urs) [0 with tbe loot. And I had a built-in showstopper (Always True to You in My virtual retiremem. And fin all y [0 re-emergence as a recording anist and Fas hi on). They just don't write m,)ny songs like that. Cole reall y ourdid himse lf.' the doyenne of New York 's reviving mtimate cabaret scene, a position which she After Blanca, she stayeJ on in Brita in to study at RADA, later appea rin g has just conso lidateJ with a season at th e Algonquin Hare! in New York . in the original Lond on production of Bells Arc Ringing. Sbe was here flO r four

A survivo r' Certainly. But at 72, there is much more [0 Julie Wilsun than a yea rs. 'I loved ir. The countrys ide, living in London. I st ill ha ve many fri ends still glamorous n ouper nading on past glori es and the cunem vog ue for there,' she says. 'Most of all, I used (0 love ge ning on the train and going down nos talgia. She is constantly sea rching for new, mode rn material. 'It isn't true th at to Brighton. All I wanted was ro se trl e down there and watch the world go by l' there are no new songs being written fo r my ty pe of performance,' she sa ys. 'All But settling down an yw here, at least for long periods, was not re all y on the

that's needed is for someone [0 sing them.' She takes daily vocal lessons, gives cards. Much in demand for mu sical clO medy, she rewrned ro Broadway in 1955 to mas ter cl asses in the art of cabaret and n eks the length and bteadth of take over as lalume in Ki smet, then stepped in to Janis Paige's shoes as Babe in

Manhanan in search of live performances, boch by her proteges and by Tire Pajama Gam e, a role she had turned down earlier in order [0 continue her established artists of her own vintage. srudies at RADA. A coupl e of minor film role s followed and , lik e other versatile It's true that there is an old -fas hi oned glamour about her. O n stage she still female stars of the 1950's, she had a prolifi c recording caree r, the fruits of whi ch wea rs the glittering gowns whi ch were her hallmark as a nightclub artist. The have recently been made available aga in thanks to Japanese CD im pom . dark half is pulled tightly back in a dramatic chignon. Awa y from the spotlight, The remainder of the 1950's anJ the 1960's btought mi xed flO rtunes. There coming in fr om a bitterly cold evening on New Yo rk's 46th Sn eet, these wa, pl enty of hard work touring in shows lik e Panama Hauie, Silk Stockings , Show trappmgs are [Oned down. We mee t in The Indian Palace res tauram. Julie likes Boat and High Fidelit y. BroaJway beckoned aga in with the ill -fateJ Ji mmy and, hot, spi cy food. Down [0 earth as she is, there is an imensit y abou t her which late in J 969 , Park , which lasred a mere five performances. Roles foll owed in hardl y shifts as we eat and talk . A concern for the kids who find it so hard [0 ge t Follies , A Little Night Ml lI ic and Company. There were a couple offailed

stan ed in the business today ('It's such a Jo- it-yolltse lf wo rld. It isn't an easy m8rriages (she spent tW O yea rs living in Ireland attempting [0 preserve the bu siness, although it's still wonderful and exciting'). A fondness for the second) and, more bappily, two sons, Holr and Michae l. Sadly, Mi chael would experiences in a long career which ha ve served ber so well profeSSIonally. A di e aged 26 in 1991 . Fina ll y, in the mid 1970's, she took what she now refers to worr y about the lack of hours in the J ay ('Time goes so fast. I don'r know where as a 'sabbarical', returning to O maha to nurse her agelng parents and rai se her it goes, but it sure does fly') . There is a depth [0 her clear, large eyes which teenage chilJren. probably hims at some of the unhappi er pe ri ods in her perso nal life. But above It was an invitation ro perform Cole Porter in cabaret in New York in 1984 all. a defIant lack of semimenrality which surely li es behind her success as an whi ch brought Julie Wilson Out of her self-imposeJ retirement and es tablished inrerpreter of the work of Weill, Arlen, Porter et al - songs which , even sranJing her as a d,gnified, soph is ticateJ presence on the New York cabaret sce ne. Apart alone, te ll a complete story. from a couple of flOra l'S back to rhe stage with Legs Diamond ([988) and Julie (nee Juli a May) Wilson was born in Hannah ... 1939([990), tbis is the domain In which sbe now makes her home. O maha, Nebras ka in 192 4. She paid ber The yea rs ha\'e darkened her voice. 'I used to give so much without lea rning dues as a touring banJ singer, reaching bow to si ng properly. I did hundreds of shows witb laryngiti S, just pushing the New York in the chorus of Three 10 Make materi al out with sheer ph ys ical force because I was very strong,' she say s. But it Read y in 1946. 'I never wanred to be a is preci sely thar scarred qu ality that engages the li stener on an intimare basis,

singe r,' she maintains. 'I wanted to he making Jul ie Wilson a ro le model for anyone who aspires [0 lyric interprewtion an UCtress. I always loved [0 sing, but I rather than soulless belting. never had the confidence in my voice. There is a fatigu e about her, a touch of world weariness wh ich is evident What I could do was the up rempo even on the excellenr series of songbook CDs she has produced with long- term

numbers and the srory type of song. I accompanist 'Will,am Roy. 'I don'r know what else [0 draw on except myse lf anJ

remembe r as a cbild of six working Oil my experie nces ,' she says. 'C hoice is ve ry imp lO rtant [0 a performer like me. We

a song in front of the mirror, choose a song thar talks [0 us, that rouches an experience or a relarionshi p in being a vamp . a fe mme our life, that we can reflect. We do use a lot of ourselves and the emotiuns of {atale . I didn 't kn ow what's happened to us. It's a natural thing to do.'

what that was , of 'When I came bac k, people asked me how it felt [0 be singing aga in after course, but I knew seven yea rs being in O maha. The answer IS, it's very strange. It's lik e meering the words were fl irty an old , true friend. You pick up jusr where yo u left off. No embarrass ment, no and for some reason apolog ies for nm writing or calling. Ir's as though you had a conversation I was drawn towards yesterday and you've just run into them again on rhe sneet corner or the th at [ o n g ue ~ in ~ subway.' cheek stuff. The

swee t stuff never Piers Ford is (I {reelan ce writer and jOtll'1Ulli .l t who has contributed to Show M LlIi c, Th e workeJ for me. Indeperu1en t, The Wire Gramophone , Midwee k and d,e \'(/(1 /1 Street Journal , Eu rope. The matenal h ~d He is currently fYreparing a book on th e art and h,s ro,,' o{ th e torch singer.

AUG U S 1997 APPLA USE 33 the Complete Works qf William Shakespeare (abridged)

All 37 plays in 97 minutes projile

ALAN BATES

remember, years ago , Harold Pinter in rhe firsr rhroes of casring The Homecoming, agonising over who should pl ay rhe farh er. 'Ir wo uldn'r be a problem in France,' he muttered . 'In France you have ac rors lik e PierreI Brasseur or Jean Cabin who keep" sex ual prese nce for eve r. They are srill old, potent bulb of men. In EngLmd ir seems rhar all actors are neurered in rheir Iare forties. They can play sexual menace, bur rhey don'r seem [0 be it. And so merim es jusr being is exactly whar Yl1U need .' I ca n'r help rhinking rhar rhar seems [0 be one problem which has sofrI y and sil ently va nished away. Think of rhe acrors who would have been rh e ri ghr age ro pla y rh e sons back in 1965, and A Kind of Loving! Mercurj,1 l and menacing in Th e Careraker )A young god wrestling naked on rhe hea rrhrug in Women in Love l Ye s, prohably srili all of rhose: nnce see n, never fnrgorren. Bur rhink again. Ev en in his persnnal impnrence, Butley was mad, bad and d~nger(l u s rn knnw. Bares' Diaghilev in Nijinsky \Vas a marure seducer nor because he was pl ay ing a characrer powerful enough ro impose his will, bur because he \Vas ge nuinely, in every se nse of rhe \Vo rJ, seducri ve. He plays men, nor overgrown sc hoolboys. Bm rhen come to rhink of ir , he always has. Thar is, pe rhaps, ar rhe heart of rh e mysrery John Russell Taylor attempts nf Alan Baces . For make no misrake, rh ere is a to unravel the mystery that is mysrery. On srage lOr on screen, rhere is always somerhing ceasing and ramalising abnm him . Alan Bates) a complex and The one rhing he has never been, as far as I ca n remember, is phlegmaric. Hi s characrers mal' contradictory man and actor. somerimes ha ve difficulry in articularing whar is

inSide rhem, wa icin g [(l erupr, bur rhe y are hard ly

in wa m of somerhing [0 say. He certainl y >

,WGU ST 1997 APPl4US E 35 does nOr regard himself as an inrellectual accor, at least, [he y r e tl ~ c:t ti le ,itu3rion of thetr creator, bur ir seems inevirable tlur any character he d thinking man \\'ho is impelled to examine ami plays musr have the abiliry co rhink. Often, sometimes excori:He himself in publIC view, to an 1l1deed, think to excess, The result of too much effect at once hilClrious and excrUCIating. And in thought n,ay be generalised angst - Bates is very most of the crucial instdnces, Ale\11 Bates has good at conveying the tangled, tortured self­ been on hand to ,leI', for the purposes of the examination which dri ves a characrer llke rhe script, inw Simon Grcty'.s ,hoes. This \\'as most omnipresent hero of David Storey's Stages to or overt in Unnatural Pmslrlts on televisilln, 3 twu­ over the brink of madness - or it may turn to part adapt<1tion of Gray's uwn diaries, in which bitrer and destructive rage, such as lies jusr Bates was explicitly playing Grcty in a beneath rhe surface of Burley's academic frivolity, wonderfully savage account of what it involves to Bates is always to some extenr a charmer­ he a professional writer in BntClin and, more he cannot help It. But he does not need co be a parricularly, America. Here Gray/BlHes agunises symp,1thetic charmer: he can play rhe contemporary equivalent of <1 musr<1chio-tll'irl ing villain and make one understand, as fell' are able m do, exacrly why this dangerous, unscrupulously destructive characrer can im[1ose lm others and smilingly encompass their doom. Whatever rhe characrer Bates is playing, he ,1Iw<1Ys requires complexity of response. If the characrer doesn't, Bates enforces it anyway, with uniquely unsetrling results. This must all be bound up, I suspect, with the dichotomy berween how he looks and what he does. To Simplify dramaticallv, he is a star because he looks Iike one, an actor becc1l1se he acts like one. A strikingly handsome mem, he has never been able to rest at simply being a matinee idol­ even if he might somerimes h:1Ve liked m do so. To his looks is added an inner vibrancy which works magnetically on an audience, whether deployed on stage or on screen, But one of the roms of this vibrancy is rt rersonal demon which will not let hIm rest. A cllmpiex and in some respects cllnrradicmry characrer in the man has willy-nilly to millur all the performances. So, like any star, he has a personality of his own which always emerges co inform any role that he plays: that is what stars do, Bm it is nm the personalIty we would expect to go with the lu"k\. And m reconcile the two, bring them into the same 8 U1L _' pl(1)'.~ .I 4l fU Simon Gm:", I_ 1ft: 5ur f"4' lrr. frame uf reference, he has to be an actor as well. ovet what is demandc' d c)i him and how, Looking back over the career thus filr­ Sl1metilnes olltrage(')lI ~ h ' , he reelers to it) a.nd, amazingly, it is more than forty years since he perhars Ictrgely becau ,e Gray i.s lent the physical played the role of Cliff in the original production allure and magnetic rresence of Rates, we go of Look Back In Anger and imbued what was along with him coml'lerely. written as a mere sounding-bomd i,)r Jimmy Apply the Sl, m e cOlll'enient duuble vision to Porter's furious eloquence with his own haunting Bwln ctnd Otherwise Engaged, and one can see ambiguity - we can see thm he has always been a exactly hull' the double-acr works, The heroes of character acmr in the carapace of a leading man. both are basically ptetry insufferctble, inclined to Even when playing young and relatively be destructil'e of llthers with a destructiveness innocent in Zorba the Greek, Georgie Girl or Far which must come primarily from self-lomhmg, From the Madding Crowd, he always connived to Yet ['I"yed with all of Bates' special, inalIenable act the role as an interesting, Idiosyncratic qualities as a star actor they charm LIS and enlist character instead of just coasting through it, as uur sympathy in spite of Ul1f5elves. The nell' play many others would have clone, on charisma takes Ul' ctgain the theme of ;)~onising self­ alone. He can playa touch of rough, :1S in The a"c"ment: the cenrml characler, who is on stage Go-Between, 111 such a way thm HOllsman's lines "II the rime, is pushed to rhis rei1rrraisal of his in A Shro/Jshire Lad ahout the hlood that \\'arms lifc and II'mb by the condition of his wife, lying an English yeoman, rhe thoughts that hurt him, in a coma from which she may never recover. It might have been written specifIcally fur him, is a play which, rnllSt import')ntly, happens rnside The bit about 'the thoughts that hurt him' the skull of the cmis-buund Jeff. And again are particularly applicable to the long-standing Bates, the acting man's thinker par excellence, rrofessional relationship of Alan Ba tes and can keep us riveted and absorbed while he Simun Gray, which is being again confirmed and thinks. It may nllr f,c a healthy mind in a hectlthy renewed in the nell' production, LIfe S[rpport, All body, hut an agoni,cd mind in rt stili resplendenr Gray's central characters are in various IVays hurt hnuy is ccrt,lin tel he: much more fascinarlng imu by their own thoughts, OlJl'iously, in rh,1t res peer much more fun. CD REVIEW

Tom Vallance eonard Bernsrein h ad rhree grear soaring and sensuous, rhey caprure all rhe successes on rhe Broadway musical playfulness and pass ion of Bernsrein's music. compares Bernstein's srage :md all rhree were ser in New On The Town recei ves rhe Mas rerwnrk York, rheir pulsming scores reflecring tremment on C DTER2 121 7. In common with musical interpretations rhe excirement and rhyrhms of other releases in this series, rhat means for rhe of New York through three of his rhar grear c ir y. firsr time on record rhe complere musical score O n Th e Town (1944), rhe srory of rhree of rhis landmark show (as important in its way most successful works, sailo rs on a joyous 24-hour spree in rhe ciry, is as the prevIous season 's Okla homa'). The full of brash o primism and brio. Wonderful Town National Symphon y O rchesrra under John (1953) also celebrares rhe c ir y, bur adds a wry Owen Edwards is larger rhan rhar on rhe and somewhar cynical rouch tll the way rhe Clry N onesuch disc and plays rhe considerable responds [() rhe aspirations of rwo ambirious amoum of ballet music wirh appropri ate gusto girls from O hio; while West SIde Stor)' (19')6) and commirment. The casr is srrong, wirh has <1 darker [O ne altogerher, reflecring rhe Erhan Freeman a virile Gabel' (and how ch:mge in N ell' York irself since rhose innocent pleasing to hear such fine dicrion), Kim and optimistic days of rhe Forries, with racial Criswell an impish Hildy and in orher leading prejudice and gang warfare parr of its up-daring rol es Tim Fl av in, Judy Kaye and Gregg of Romeo and] fili et Edelman, while Louise Gold contributes an The CD Leonard Bernstein's New York hilarious cameo as rhe ultimare torch singe r. (No nes l/ch 7559-79400-2) rakes rhe bri1.1 iant Bernsrein himself conducted an a lbum of id ea of selecting irems from rhese scores hlghlighrs in rhe Fifties which was strongly along wlrh music from Bernstein's ba ll et casr wirh N ancy Walk er, Berr y Comden and Fanc\' Free (rhe genesis of On The Toum) , Adolph G reen and which is hard to bear on and rhe film On The Waterji'ont (ser around some counts. On Some Orher Time, for rhe cir\,'s docks), to make an immense ly insrance , Ka ye and Criswell are roo forceful enjoyable and evocative programme. A to be appropriate ly wisrfu l, bur overall rhis is srarry line-up of pe rformers - Dawn a fine performance, and it inc ludes a number Upshaw, Donna Murphy, Mandy Patinkin, cur from rhe Broadway producrion, Audra tv!cDonald, Judy Blazer and Richard Gabey's Coming. Muen: - has been as sembled to perform Mas terworks al so present anOther Bernsrein's supreme mareri al (one musr superlative score in irs entirery wir h South nor forger rhe lyricists, Beny Comden, Pacific (CDTER2 1242) . If as ked to pick a Adolph Green and S rephen Sondheim). fav ourire Rodgers and H ammerstein score from panicularly liked rhe version by Murphy, rheir four or fi ve grearesr (rhe ream's own was Muenz and Upshaw of \V'onderfrd Town's Carol/sel) I would choose rhis one, and ir is Whar A Wasre (wirh some lyrics grand to hear for rhe first t im e on disc the nor heard before) and Judy Bl aze r's beautiful choral repri ses of Bali Ha'i and rhe account of a song cur from rhm martial music remin iscent of Rodgers' wo rk for show, The Story of My Life (ir was rhe T V series Victory Af Sea. I doubr rhar repl aced by rhe more humorous One anyone can ever equal aurall y rhe endearing Hundred Easy Ways). naive ry of rhe original N e llie Forbush (Mary Mon,,, Mandy Parinkin is touchingly Martin) or rhe sonorous passion of rhe firsr 'feUl. IUllI1 subdued on Some Orher Time and Emile De Becque (Ezio Pinza), bur rhe leads "I~ ..'f .UU H',IUmlll jo ins Blazer and Murphy for O n The here, Paige O'Hara and Jusrino Diaz, have fJ'~~y Town 's rousing show-stopper You G ot played rheir parts wirh grear success on srage JJ IUUUIIHIIK.\I"""11 Me. Richard Muenz renders an and give toral convicrion and vocal expertise effectively simple A Quier Girl from to rheir roles (and ir is good to hear linking Wonderful Town, A udra McDonald is dialogue in this beautifully imegrared score ). appeali ngly winsome on rhe sa me The album srarrs disappointingly with show's A Little Bit in Love, and Dawn a somewhat turgid account of the Overture, Upshaw demonstrates once more that while in contras t (and as in most recent she is the best of all 'crossover' singe rs with producrions of the show) the tempo adopred exquisire renditions of Lonely Town and for A Wonderful Guy is too fa st, miss ing rhe Somewhere. The latter song from West Side infectious lilt to be found on the original Story leads in w the infecti ous music for the performance. Otherwise, no complaims, and roofrop hall er, and one musr give due praise to the chorus work is te rrific - never has the the O rchestra of St Luke's under the baton of men's number in praise of Bloody Mary Eri c Stern. Whether dissonam and jazzy or sounded so rohust. •

;:' U GU ST 19 97 APPLAUSE 37 BOOK EVIEW

Rhoda Koenig on the life and times of theatrical agent Peggy Ramsay, and a history of the American theatre.

ho ugh M~rgaret Ramsay never had She was in for the long haul, not the fas t buck, and much success as an actress, in old age was even critical of the bucks that Came toO fas t, she was portrayed on the screen (in Prick for the wrong reasons. 'The courle of O scars are Up Your Ears) by the greatest actress of not in the least helrful; I spit on them,' she wrote our time, Va nes s~ Redgrave. This to Robert Bolt, meaning that, no matter what their Th , E "C;;r"C,' >if he ~ 'I odcm Amenca" TI,eatcr, /914 -1929 . extraordinary, ironic tribute was pa id because effect on his fee , they thwarted his development as hy Ronal d H \\',11 0<" ,[[ Yo le Universi[y Pre,s, 260 I'p. Ramsay, better known as Pegg y, had 11\ middle age a writer. 'I'd really like you back ro no running ,et up as an agent for playwrights, and became water and the la va tory a bog at the end of the mocher and muse to the pos twar experimenters, garden.' Ramsay's high-mindedness was not the didn't unJerstand it. instead nf defending and leftists , and angries. Maggie Smith was Ramsay's justification of a puritan or a financial explaining the rbI', , he merely said he was like 'a first choice, but thac might have been cas ting too incompetent: she li ved well, and she di ed a typist who didn't understand Omar Khayam.' No much to type: Ramsay was also known for an old· millionaire. But she saw the contract as the last wonder the se rious playwrights worshipped Pegg y fa shioned theatricality of manner, perpetually and least of her labours. Well before that came Ramsay. S he may have taken ten percent, but she plct ying the eccentric grande dame, a character "ut encouraging, supporting, and 10vIOg with the love g.l ve a thousand. of Oscar Wilde or one of her clients, Joe Orton. that chastise th. When David Hare's Knuckle was Colin Chambers' account of Ramsay's earl y panned, she wlJ him that his distress was only '--iiii=-- he years from the Grear War to the life is a sketchy one (4 5 years are JispmcheJ In 'inverted conceit'. 'Now, you either believe that Great Depression were fertile ones for fe we r pages), his prose is at times clumsy, and he the thea tre is important, or you don't. If you Jo, the American theatre, lnrroducing nor putS a lot of material on Ramsay's influence into then you te ll the truth on the stage and yo u expect only nell' topics (wa r, business, sex) but an afterword in stead of incorpof<1ting it into the to be li stened to. You and the re st of uS say the new ways of drammising them (poetry, main text. But one couldn't go far wrong with suc h audience and critics didn't lik e Knu ckle because jazz, expressionism). In his survey of some famili ar a subject - an intelligent, fl amboyant woman the pl ay isn 't commercial and should have been and many forg otten plays of the period, Ronald H important to the careers of many impor;ant tucked away in a small out-of.the-wa y hall. It's lik e Wainscott shows that the theatre of sOclal playw rights but almost unknown to the public ­ a re vo lutionary who has the opportunity o f blowing criticism was thriving well before most Americans and Chambers has produced a biogmphy that is up Parhamenr saying if only he'd blown up were brutally made to realise that something was not only, as was lI1evitable, a collection of hdarious Dewsbury Town Hall he'd have got awa y with it.' badly wfl)ng with their society. Though early anti­ anecJotes but an absorbing history from the insiJe R"msav didn't merel y exhort and console; she Communist plays porrrayeJ ' Bol sheViks' as rapists of the postwar British theatre. With twO big delugeJ her writers with recommended reading, anJ dictatOrs, there was litrle sympathy for big exceptions (the biggest egotists'), Pinter and not merel y from English-language literature but business in the theatre as early as 1925; if not Osborne, Ramsay's clients were the postwar British French and Japanese. She ga ve one young writer, ogres, businessmen were philIStines and foo ls. Pl ays theatre - Alan Ayckbourn, Peter Nichols, Richard Cottrell. whom she rhought was strong on were based on such contr o "er > i~ I i" ues as the Christopher Hampton, the Royal Court dialogue but weak on srory, La RochefoucaulJ's Sacco-and-Vanzetri Case and labour unrest: In a playwrights, and many others. MaXl111S and to ld him [() choose one a Jay and play by Upton Sinclair. Singing Jailbirds, the Strike Ramsay woulJ sometimes ask a new, hungry write the plot of a pl ay from it until he had leader is imprboned and his eyes gnawed by rats. ",riter if he could use some money, or would eve n improved. Jo hn Bowen sa id she might se nd a Loose liVing also found its way onto the stage flutter a fan of fi ve rs under his nose. But th is paperback on Ze n or an item rom from a earlier than one mi ght have thought. Before the forthright, e ve n parodic offer waS more maternal newspaper accompanieJ by a message: 'What Twenties began to roar, the 'lingerie pla ys', such as than Faustiil n. Ramsa y was pleaseJ when her could yo u make of this if you let your unconsci ous Par/or, Bedroom and Bach or Up in Mabel's Room, young men sa id they didn't want money they rip l' scrawl ed on .) bit of brown wrapping paper. were popular with Broad way audiences looking for haJn't earned. The excerpts from Ramsay's letters and a rare a naughty-but-nice night out. interview make one wish she had written for One would lik e to know more about some of publication, so sharp are her eye and tongue: the pbys Walnscott discusses - specifical ly, how 'When I first set up shop, cars look ed like prams. gooJ they are. Are Susan Gbspell's dramas of When I came up for air, the cars looked like mouth insanity and censorship, for II1StanC e, worthy of organs. I still find that late at night I have to ca lm reviv"I' Unfortunately, as in most academic myself by reading Schopenhauer. I have only to histories, the author is primarily interested in look at his litrle worrieJ face to feel happy.' literature as a source of fa cts or an illustration of At times one gets a bit tireJ of the character themes. The quality of a few of these pl"ys is Ramsay playeJ with such strenuous predictability ­ obvious, su ch as Life of Man, which clearly had .1 her <) lItspoken contempt 1,)[ clients' wives, I,er lot of influence, but on T V skit wmers rather than po inting out a pi ece of offi ce furniture with That's Express ionISt pl aywrights. 'An impassive, where lonesco flic ked me.' But all this carry- on anonymous, half veiled Being in Grey delivers a was JU St thrown up by Ramsay 's main activity ­ prologue in which the futility of existence is moving heaven and earth to do the best for he r pronounced: this is then dramatlsed.' \'Vainscott boys. She even ignored con ventional wisdom to sounds as if he is not without shrewdness. hut 1 attack, indeed terro ri se, unfriendly critics. When bland and blood less approach proJuces a thin D J W A Darlington unwisely tolJ her at the interval unJerpo wereJ treatment of this potentia ll y of Si x C haracrers in Search of an Al.llhor char he exc itll1g materla \' • interview

MARTIN McDONAGH

He's become the bad boy of theatre for his could have had no conceivable experience. Garry Hines, wbo directed tbe play for Druid Theatre was shocked at tbe authe ntic ity of his voice and how outspoken comments, but as James re miniscent bis style was ofJM Synge. Though McDonagh is by n o stretcb of the imagination an issue wr iter, or even remarkably well read (he left sc hool at Christopher finds out, he is an undeniable , 16), he taps into one of the great themes of Iri sh literature: the immigrant prolific talent - and quite good company, diaspora, here in the figure of a labourer Pam Dooley, who returns home from London with the shattered image of every prospector. ' ... when it's there I am, it's here 1 wish I was, of course. Who wouldn't' But when it's here I a111 ... it uch has been said about Martin McDonagh since his first isn't there I want m be, of course nOt. But I know it isn't here I want to be produced play, Th e BeaLlry Queen of Leenane, caused a either.' Few playwrights have put the sc hi zo phrenic love/hate re lationship that major stir in the tiny space above the Royal Court In the working-class Irish wage wirh their rOOts more succinctly or eloquently. Sloane Square. Set in a parochial backwater in Bur the critical reception has by no means been uniform in its praise. On Connemara in the West of Ireland, the play rook closer inspection McDonagh was deemed to be as outrageously arrogant as he considerable, some say indecent, delight in unravelling the sanity of a middle­ was revealed to be prolifIC. The news that he had sheaves of plays a lready aged spinste r saddled wi rh written coinc ided with the looking after her monstrously acres of column inches that selfish mother. The frustration we re given to his now of Maureen, having to put up legendary showdown with with her mothet emptying her Sean Connery at tbe Evening chamber POt down the Standard Awards last kitchen sink and burning her November. McDonagb, there letters, was as wonderfully real to pick up an award for tbe as the mOment of inspired most promising young violence that finally freed her. playwright, was roo drunk to What fue lled the make a speech and not drunk disbe lief and jealousy of enough to stop sounding off McDonagh 's peers was his age, about the prete ntiousness of it 25, his unnatural talent for a all. When Connery poked good Story and the fact that him in the ribs and told him he'd only ever seen a handful to mind his language, he tOld 0( plays in his life before. the screen legend to go forth 'Themre' he says, 'bored the and multiply, and then later SdLb off me. I only ever went declared to the world 's to see film stars, Martin Sheen tabloids that whereas or Ti In R,;th. The best was Connery had only ever made probably Da'id ~1amet's one good film, he would write American Butt'alo with A l at least 'seven brilliant plays Pac ino which I sa\\' from a and 20 good films'. Foolish, fr ont row seat at the Duke of yes. Fun, of course. It was Yorks when I was 15 .' To date actually little more than a he's only seen about 22 plays scufning of egos in a and fout of them are his own. champagne flute. But the To add insult ro injury press, ever despemte to stick a this Irish muse was brought up 'bad boy' label on any in the Elephant and Castle precocious talent, turned it and then Camberwell, into a minor cause celebre, London, and though his I n fact the sober parents hail from Galway, he McDonagh is thoroughly .It iII manages to present a pleasa nt company, and as ge nuine scenario of which he styled by the photographer

A U G U ST 1997 APPLAUSE 39 Hugo G lendinning, very good­ clear in ambitio n. You wi ll nor catch hln) looking. He doesn'r need co, Il1 specring hiS navel and rhen spilling his guts. His hur does anyway, jusrify his genetal attack is (0 put several dysfunctional fam ily arrogance. He doesn't suffer the members in a room and let them do the job fe'r no rmal inhibitio ns of jobbing him. This is wh y the Leenane plRYs fee l like a he ll playwright; , ,md he believes his on earth. II try anJ write e'ac h scene on its o\\,'n so work, for the mosr P"rt, is it becomes as that, judiCiously framed, fl,ld neatly even if much of that enjoymenr Intl' a pia,'. is had at the graruitOus expen,e I{j .: cre;1 ri\'c touchsto ne is of some of his characrers. rh ..' ~ re t::J M \\ htc h.: \\ nll..' '''· The CrifJfJle of Inishmaan, it's hI S true m u ....t' . 'I J,l(\\ 21 \L' his second Lo ndon play which my,elf time t" h ide am rh ing,' opened at rhe Nation,)1 he says, which IS ~' tobabl\, wh y Themre , is a case in point. his charac ters are so Here a young crippl e, Billy, uncompromisingly frank, and hrought up by twO doting in their own idi()s yncratic 'Iu ntS, esc "pes his Island of ahusive, goss ipy, in-bred peasants to way >, hideously deformed. seek silver-sc reen fame in H o ll ywood. The arriv,,1 of a film shoo t Rana I i ty has si n ister on" neighbouring island, and Billy's potenti,,1 as a quaint Irish unJt:rt\H1es

(0 pick up a pen in anger until the summer of 1999. He's saturating his o wn is spread ing his plays "bour. '] get an enormous buzz se eing my plays gll market. Lope el e Vega elsewhere. FJeal switched sa t down and wrore screenplays, TV sc ripts, radio plays, short stories, and then on. The real test, I suspec t, is whether he can still write winners ,,·hen rhese only as a laSt resort, thearre. plays are back on the shelf.

A s far as I can gauge he has a lmost a ge nuine a ntipathy rowmJs theatre . Luck/It seems (0 me part and pa rcel of McDon ~ gh's ,·,lice. Irel and has 'I starred our trying to bnng as much film into theatre as I could,' he says. liberated him in much the s"me way that the 50's Soho liberC\ted Jez

' I o nly rea ll y tOok up writing for theatre because rhere was more chance (0 get Butterworth in Mojo. Both writers are helped rathe r rhan hll1dered by stuff on. The access is easie r, which is both good and bad. Bad mos tly because distance. That themes of any sort should erupt "'irh such force from his flow of you can get any old crap on.' The o nly thing that has made his toes curl in dialogue is a golden by-product of hIS imagin8tive landscape. He admits freel y recent yea rs is Tracy LettS' Killer Joe. 'That play had something of an influence he's never wriuen a rlay with a single iss ue in mmd. Many aspiring on me. I admired its blackness, the Jacobean themes, the wi t.' playwrights reading this can curse the ir educati on for the critical emphdsis we If the Leerwne Trilogy was iilumin')ted and unified by "single put on deconstructing works of arr. McDo nagh is unhampered by literature. characteristi c, it would be McDonagh's fant~stlcall y black wit. In A Skull in Unhampered, in fact, by most of the resrrictio ns we impose on pl:1)'s. That's Connel11a}'Q it is the local gravedigge r, whose wife died in mystcrious why in my o pinion he's a bo rn n atural, and rhe longer we can keep him on circumstances, that ge ts rhe rough siele of the local gossips' tongues. 1n The stage the betrer. Lonesome \\/est we get a horribly compelling image of rhe inhabirants of Leenane rhrough the fierce rows between two subnormal brmhers and a desperate a lcoho li c priest. 'What the blackness does is a ll ow the heart to sh ine Jame.1 Chriswpher did 10 years hard labour a.s depwy theatre editOr at Time O LII thro ugh', says McDonagh. magazin e. Afler a shon spell wilh the SttndllY Ex/)ress he was shown lh e door all d is The most brilli ant and infuriating feature of Mc Donagh's wriring is ho w now a free lance critic who regalary submils reviews to The Times and ()c casimwi simple he makes it look. HIS style is unh~mpere d by pnts), and remarkably comedy revie ws for lh e Dail)' M[liI .

40 AP P!t,USE AUGUST 19 97 new~aces

DOMINIC WEST b)' Clare Colvin

People a,Sllll1 e, wrongl y, that Domin i<; \Vest is part of the (,lInoli s \Vest th eatrical family, IL is an easy mistake tel make, (or th er ' h,lS been a n almost familiar case to the start of hiS « lreer. With o nly o ne profe>s ional srage performance, he was rakc n on Ii I' three pil'mal roles in Peter H ri ll 's c.o mpany at the O ld Vic. The rhird was one of rhe. I1 H»t d if(jcult and coveted of young ac tors' pa rrs ­ thar of Konst<1ntin in C hekhov's The Se(ll{ltll. It IV a, Konst'lI1tin lhal West IVas interested in hut two "the r parts were allotted h1l11, rhat of the MP's yo ung assistant in H ~ rl e \, G ral1l'ille Barker's \\Iaste, and the Cl'os> -dress ll1 g role of the culo nial l\'Ifc Betti' in Caryl C hurc. hill's Cloud Nine, 'I lVas sli ghtly misclst as Betty,' says \'(Iest, 'When I put the costume "n I felt as if I IVa s pre tn' and petite and Sll'ect, rhe n J looked in the mirror and :;aw ",h'lt rese mhled a big fat rugby player in a dress,' In fact, the contrast be tween the tall, rangy 27 year o ld with hi, dark good looks, and the frill y Victorian co:; tume houi: ht 'l clHnic poignancy to rhe part. But ir was the role <)f K"nstanttn that attracted the critics' a tte ntion, T he Daily 1vLlil n,)riced h is

'h"nd")l11e jaw and fi e ry, ,brk stares', and The Time' lI'd> , truck by the 'big, g;ll1 gling fi gure whose Wll'lI1 lkd-dog loob hide Cuildhall Schoo l of M II,ic and D rama, gradllating in 199') , and .. Imost hlundering rage, confused :lInhit ll nand ( n inte nse sicknes: of imnied iatcly landed sU llle high prl > lie film parts - Ric hnllHlcl in rhe hertrr', She ridan Mo ri cI' in The S pect;1 to r hailed his rerfilrmance Ia n McKellcn RidwrJ III and Picasso's l11ot(lr-bih, riding sun , Paulo, in as 'th e be:'; t in the role r ha ve eve r seen', 'survivin g Picasso. Imer DOl11inic We ~ l at the O ld Vic

Seagull', firsr night. H l~ had overslept hef(-)rc hi, cI'cn i n~ [{l he leamrng Wo, and h ' a nd Anliette Rening IVcre very o pen to Ille performance, a nd :lrrived off and directs by 'H e h a, ,~or [() have incredible vo lr age to h im , hecallse he osmosis, "" uch ing the monitor ,md making occasional "uggestions, I cares ahout rhini::; with a passion and ene rgy that the pellple liked getting h:1ck to the re h e:1fS

' did, "NelTr lllake the mistake rha t YOll arc hl gger than the \\'h~re pe,)ple cn m e our 0 d r'lIna schuol and are seen as new faces.' O n ( "" I' Kter. " r rry to It't the c hara c t ~r I ~ :ld , \'(I hel1 he C< Ill '" o n 'lm l rhe Jome,tic fr')nt , \IC' n:ctn tly hought a '3 0 year o ld house in 1';\11 [ ' ,1b.'lI t hi, Ill, )ther, it , holiidn't he o ml(, h Glll , c' he fee l, it ~ h Ol'ed itch, ",llId l needs a lot of work dl.ling to it. ;0 deep"" 'I t's in a , ..pmre ",hen: C hristophe r Marlowe :; tahbcd somenne T h~ 11\1~ 'Shc\ " Cd, e, IT\I' moth" r' got ,1 r ,) u C o u ~ laugh fr,1 m hdml' hl'i ng h n l,hed til Deptford whe re he got stahhed himself. It\ the stalL, une ~ ,ln lr,l. l\, nl!!hr, II' hen his mllrh er and 4'; fri cnJ , a iM ) cl psc r<' Curt.llll Ro;)d where the firsr Hamler was put. on by from hi; 1ll'lll" t'\\ln Pt' Sh effield ,1ITII'ed tn , cc hll11 pbl' Rurhage\ cn mprllly, \'(In rk ing on rhe ho use is a nice antidote to acting, Konsrnntin, HI- m

H e dec. ided tll \.! o into act ing afrer gcrrinl!;l BA !-lou, Il1 The Sear,ill :1 nd \\'lL\,\ le a re In rt:pe rro l'\' at the O ld Vi c umil Engli ; h ,tnd I)1',1 111 a at T rinity 'o llege, Dublin, He wen t rll the 4 1 ecc l11bcr, Box office relel'ho ne; 0 17 1-92, 76 16,

AiJG IJ ST 1997 I' PP iil, USE 41 SPECTRUM

JEFFERY TAYLOR APPLAUDS THE ARENA SWAN LAKE, AND FINDS ROYAL BALLET'S NEW TRIPLE BILL 'SICKLY'

So what If the an-tan's sniffs (,( dlsapproval for Derek Deane's arena Swan Lake were louder doan Tchaikovsky's crashing cords. The l'unrers voted with their feet - anci their cash. The lI'orld's favourite ballet II''''S a se ll out at London's Royal Albett Hall in June \\'ith roughly 50,000 people pocking into just 12 perfotm

the occilsionol medieval chair or bench [0 ring the minima lly lit arena, the dancers bodies -;[J(l l ~ . ~\lllcrJc h.', Swef.' ! I C ~ , ~\Ifl 41 f iJ )ick 'Ii conjcc l-I on, al one prOV Ided a setting (or the action. mui bd.tH L ItHtlli .\ f"Iler tihll C}u C 11() III Bnt-th t. Young Thing ....

Petipa's originol chorcogrophy and Young O lr"er HIndle's BrigJ 1C Young Things , Tchaikovsky's soaring, throbbing melodies. set In D," 'id Bllghr 's srunning midnight blue The work's focal point on the opening and bron:e art deC<',et, \\'as so darkly lit little night was the Russian Altynai Asylmuro[Ova, could be seen . \\lhm was clear, however, was the worlds greatest li ving class ical bollerina. that it was a young man's work. Hindle failed to Her dark beauty is the perfect vehicle to express find a voice to fill George Gershwin's hrassy human emOtIon, but A sy lmllratova also has a score and the courage to take the bit hetween soul that takes the magic, the music and the his tceth and let go. movement and transforms them IntO simply the However, American Lila York's most natural experience in the world. choreographic invention wa s tn no dOLliet in Her Prince was Ita li an -hom Roberto Bo lle, Sanclum. A (rantic Karka-esque world l)( a ta ll gonnless you th wb ose cack-handed senseless oppress ion I\'as peopleJ l,y srl l\" (rill y mishandling of the divine Asy lmurawva came girls anJ sober-suited men I'res,lg in g a cosy perilously close to sabotage. His acting redefin ed happy ending. A facile thou!.!h fa sc inating Dorothy Park er's crack about running the ga mm mo rse l that only highl lglul'd yl\Ung doneer of e motions from A to B, and though blessed Robert Parker', immense tdlent. with God-given physical gifts, he remained Th e Nuccracker SU 'ec ti es , David Binrley's buttOned lip inside and out, the entire evening. interpretation of Duke Ellington's send-up But Swan Lake came through unscathed o( TchaikovskY'$ Casse Noisette suite, come and it is hoped to establi sh a Derek Deane roo late to sa lvage rl programme sinking under arena ballet at the Albert Hall as an annual its own (rivolity. With hetter planning

.'Iummer evenL pro,'iding more substance [lJ sink one's teeth in w, this confection could be sweet. \X/ith Swan Lake's particular eternol Truth is Love About the same time Birmingham Royal Boilet Binrley as Bmain's leading classical Conquers All, a yearning as o ld as man hlmself opened its annual London season at Covent choreographer, in the widest sense o( the and anyone with half a heart can onl y Garden with a triple bill hig on eye-catching phrase, a banque t of puddings was 0 Sic kly instinctively respond co De<1ne's handling of effects, hm thin on the choreographic art. disappointment. •

42 "'PI'L·\l'5~ AUG US T 1997 RONALD BERGAN LONGS play ahout assimilated, Guardian-reading, like me), the plain-looking couple, have a fell' rrofess ion"1 British Asians. moments of joy when they spend a weekend at FOR SO ME LEVITY IN TV The Scar (BBCZ), made by the co­ a smart country hotel. Although the freckled DRAMA, BUT HAS TO SETTLE operative Amher Grour, is set in a dere li ct area May says she a lways wa nted ro be like Don s of Durham, and deals with the devastation of Day, and there is mentio n of Calamity Jane, FO R SOCIAL REALISM the community hrought about hI' the closing of they dance to Hernando's H Idea lV ay and sing the coal mines . 'When they closed the rits. I There Once Was A Man, hoth numbers fr om These days. the hfe of a telel'islon drama critic felt my pulse had stopped,' says middle-aged Th e Pajama Game, one of the rare Broadway I, not a h <1 I'[,1 ,lne. \X 'hi l~ theotre and film May (comrellingly played hI' C harli e musicals ahout the workers, to which I suggest criti CS ~cr ((1 .,~ (' a ,"a ri e(y Df ~ h () \\' s froni Hardwick). H er ex-miner, ex-hubby spends his the soc ialiy-cllO sc ious Amber Grour next turn comedies. mll,ic8 1>. thriller, il nd 101'e stories , time drin king and fi shing in the canal, and she their attention. This is not as fanci fu l as It

sha l'l nE! them \I ll' reactil'e audiences, the has a tough time bringing up her two hrooding sounds. After all, Mike Le igh is Sl)On [Ll direc t te lel'isiun cntlc (this one, at least) is a lone, slumrll1g gluomiil- in an armchair watching (lther reol, le's dismal li ves. Not that I'm against the realistic derlction ll f sufferi ng, deprivation and hard , hll'. but. in the last fell' years, there seems w hal'e been almost nothing but. T his social realrsm is a lso to be (ound in most Br itish COl' se ries and a number of sitcoms. Eve n when Macbe th was shown recently, it was st8ged on a Birmingham housing est;1 te. A ll these films r ut me in mind of French director Francois Truffaut's notorious claim that England IS not a cinematic country because of its undramatic sce nery and dreary urban landsGlre. I was horing, at least, that Flight (BBCZ) might be ahout a rilot, or an a ir trip to exotic c limes. But the titie refers to the escape to Londo n fr om the north of England hI' a young Indian woman from her Hind u father, a strict urho ld er of traditiona l Asian famil y va lues.

S he is ahout to go [0 uni versity when she is c<)ught kiss ing her secret M,)slem boyfrt end. A moment he fore the d iscol'ery, she says, 'M \' clad \I·tli hear (If It hefore you em take your to ngue out of my nwuth' The hitter rather. II'ho had been crippled whil e \I 'ork ing in the local cotwn mill, beats her ur, and tells her thar because of her association Bill Spe ed (Roy) and Charlie HardWIck Uvlny) in T he SC;)r. with the 'Moslem scum', she ca nnot go to uni versit\, hur has to stay at home and ' let's rray teenage children. May startS an affair with Roy a film abo ut G ilbert and Sullivan, and did that \I'e'll f"ind a man tl1 marry you .' (Dill S r eed), the foreman at the quarry that you know that Ingmar Bergman o nce tricd In Brix mn. she fmds J refuge for girl s in a sim il ar was somehow resronsible for making a lot of to make The Merry Widow starring Barhra positinn. and is fin "lly joined hI' het mother and m iners redundant. Streisand> younget sisters who have also fled the father. The real it I' of the tale is deerened (not I have a dream. There wil l be an economi c Rosh"n Seth, wonderfu l actor thar he is, heightened as in Mike Leigh) by the mingling miracle in this country, he lped by the discovery seemed miscast as the tyrannical father. o nl y llf the actors with actua l miners' wives who of masses of oil in Kent. Consequently, because he cannot di sguise his soulful face, hut fo ught w keep the mines open, and there is a depressed areas woul d disarpear and the poor the rest or the cast. especially Mina Anwar as sequence shot during the Durhrtm miners' gal a would no longer be with us. Suddenly, all the the pur-UJ' ll n daughter, is admirilble. Well addressed by Tony Benn in a cameo arrearance. T V directors and writers IV ho have dealt over written (hI' Tanika O upta) <1l1d direc ted (hI' But it seems thar the great days of rroletarian the years with inequalities and the result:; of

Alex Pi liai), it reveals the terri hie dilemma solidarity are over, and there is only a gli mmer Thatcherite economics, would have tl) f"ind fac ed hy British Asian 1I'0men trapred in a of hl1re fm people like May at the end. o ther sllbjects. • patriarchy. H owever, one day I'd lik e tel see a Thankfully for her and Roy (and for viewers

AU G UST 1997 A PPl AUSE 43 SPECTRUM

MAX LOPPERT ON THE failing of our boringly verisimilitude-obsessed, Richard Hudson's blandly refined reily-dominated age. Through It <1 liana(e voca l samlsrone-coloured bllx-se( spoke, modishly, of SUMMER FESTIVALS, AND resplendency, dramatic tenors of varying ages, neither time nelr place (the designer ler his A PARTICULARLY LACK­ shapes ,md sizes such as Caruso, Gigli, Bjiirling, cosrumes dll -hm \w rk): and the s(aging by Del Monaco, Tucker and (in our day) Domingo Graham Vick , 0 1\ ndehourne Director of LUSTRE PUCCINI have made Des Grieux believable and, in the Productions, had a Je(aci ll::d , \"8guely 'critical' process, made a triumph of (he opera. Patrick feel [() it (elderly roues cm1 J'in ~ it Lip runen in Su mmertime, an' fO[ oper« critics [he livin' is Dennisron, a slim, handsome American, W

(Act 2) (0 [Wo concluding acts of drenching, almost Wagnerian Roman[ic pass ion and pathos. Manon LeswlIl has none of Boheme's shapeliness or su refire appeal, bu( on a good night i( can exude a freshness and warmth miss ing from, say, the nth revival of Tosca. Just (he Pucclni for Glyndebourne, one migh( think; so it 's sad to have 10 report tha( on May 17 the fe stival 's luck y Streak had apparently M;)nnn LC::.Glu t: PlHrick /)enniSWll (OC.~ GrieloJ and Adina Nic!.? sc! 1 (J\t1 m Il Jtl J. run out. The performance was less a disaster (han

but (he tenor's is the beau role - plainly on pleading on (he Le Havre ljuaysidc, the mounted. The final di sappointment Wset, i,C

mll re l'a lll,. He ,l ' rhc performance progressed ­ " pera l\Cc upi,,> a proud pl ace, This ye~r Gilberts and vulgarises Shakespeare in a way rhc ""k" ) ~ ~ leJ lre rr a nean 'juice', agili ry, a and Sulli v,1I1s C;ondo/iers stood shmtl de r [0 that's quite barbarous. I,"'e h lI'al' l)i" tl')II'er in g ar rhe wp - hur she too shoulder wirh rheir Trial h)' Jury in Bow Streer Playwright Edward Bond speaks ' eemeJ unengaged, ,md (in rh e early scenes) Magistrares' Court, and - more elevared than his mind, cruelly ill-cosrumed, Among the smaller-pelrt ei rher of these - wi rh rhe Earl y O pera pl aye rs the I'ereran Paol () Monrarsolo srllod our Comp,lny's perfprmances in Sr C lement Danes Forget all that stuff about providing a:; Manlln's physicall y decrepit bur mentally Church of Handel's Ariodallte, nne of rhe fer underprivileged areas of the roug h Parisi::m sugltld be unwi se to specu lare, Artist Lucien Freud's reaction to Phillips was ex pertly revived by Daniel DOl>ner Whmever the re8son, even rhe most jaded Andrew Uoyd Webber's efforts to get - fl exihle, a[[11,)spheric, quick to se ize on eve n Eleitc; cl l1 J \\"()rd, The ensemhle, which affecring display of queenly tics ,md uemors, inclu,k d such hiehlv- accomplished se niors as and Marrila 's uncomplic<1ted rad iance, All Eli:aberh G" le \J ['niliont p(l[[[ \\'in!! ra\c), dnd Ned Jenkins rradlrion were ban ished, and in rheir place (rh e Ull)[ ,mk~ f<'l l ' Genef;11 Sir Ph ilir' rhe inmltc express ive forces of rhe music were Wlnge,H'e)' \\',1- IJ r2! el\' \I 'i rlwu IIcaknes:; , unleashed, In the pi t C hrisri

AU G UST 1 997 APP{l\l'SE 45 an anyone explain how a very has merit in its e) ",n right. The enterpri"ng hll:HCd a sim ilar sexual triumph with HRH ! 'Of average American company in Bridewe ll, re cently host tn an exciting season ,of course I had the Clutch",' she proudly Damn Yani ne sto r\', he on both sides c) f the Atlantic - remember the Lad), with a scarf: Whyl had the entire coml'aO\' PUt bro\\'n I'a['er bags incredihle impact of the o riginal Ok lah onw ' and Pmter: 1 knew I wou ld meet a IJdy over their heads. After a long period of fumbling, West Side Star)' troupes - but surely 111 this the with a sca rf. did Glenda Jackson take hers off and, in a rare 50th Anniversary elf the Marshall Plan, there Lad)' with a scarf: See yo u later then. nash of fri volity say how valuable she found the ought to be Lend to counter the vast hoards And Hm-old hrtd [() contend "'ith Armando exercise and suggest that Brook try it tool He \l'h ich we are currently leasing. There isn't a l,mucci in the next tent naughtily winding up did so enthusiasticall y. Glenda then tip-toed pe rformer In Damn Ya nkees with the exce ptio n his audience to discontent the greJt man. around her coll eagu es and, miming that the of jerry Lewis (curi()usly reminiscent of Ronald pubs were open, led them silently and stealthily Reagan) and just possi bly April Nixon as Lo la, away leaving the grand old enfant terrible alone who could not have been cast here, or as well. under hi s bag. I think he should be told . • I have to apologise to [hree N elV York stars who were my n e i g hr o ur ~ at Hay o n the Sarurd;] y night. Apparently they were upset by the 'gusts Look out for a unique rev ival at the Bridewe ll of mirth' com1l1g from my crowd - no t in tbe Autumn. (21 Oct - 16 Nov). Two o rganised l A~ john Dugdale wrote in the hundred and o ne years age), on 2 April 1796, Sunday Times, In th~t case, 'you h,lVe to work jol1n Phdip Kemble presented Vo nigem and harder to re[ain their (the audiences) Rowe na at Drury Lane. lr purpo rted to be a lost ,utenrion.' Sorry' pl ay by Shakespeare. Vo rtigern was a legend8ry }th century King of Britain IV ho is repo rted to have enlisted Henglst and Horsa against his former allies, the Picts, thus causing the transfer 18ln indehted to someone (can't remember of Bri"lIn to the Anglo Saxons. He married who) for a story of Robert ('Jim, Lad') Newton's Hengist's daughter Rowe na, met Merlin, post mortem. Dr Keith S impson had him cold marvelled at his prophesies and was burnt a li ve o n the slab. He turned to hiS ass istant, 'Do yo u in the tower in \X/al es to IV hich he had re t ired. know who thiS is, Perki nsI' 'No sir,' sa id the OUR WIDE-RANGING (An early example of the Welsh attitude to assistant, 'who is he" 'This, Perkins,' said weekend cottages' Certa inly enough material Simpson, knife poised, 'is one of the fi nest CATALOGUES OF 1000s for fj\'e acts. ) aC [(1rs of the day.' Perkins thought abo ut it fo r a OF DIFFERENT TITLES ARE Unfo rtunately fur john Philips the p lay moment. 'If he ain't dead, sir' he said, 'he's lVas not by Shakespeare bllt by a prolific forger, bleedin' brilliam.' ISSUED REGULARLY William Henry Ire land, who as a lawyer's clerk had easy access to old parchment, deeds and antiquated writing. However, on the morning of Vo rtige rn's first night his cover was blown. He Another echo. Roy S trong's diaries quote had been rumbled by Edmund Malone, a Harc)ld Anon suggesting [hat the Duchess of scho lar who also unmasked Chatterton's \\lJl1dsor's hold ""er the Duke depended on her forgeries. The play was given a rough ride and use of 'the Chinese C lutch', 'learn[ in [he speedily withdmwn. Ire land confessed; but his brothe ls of Shanghai'.(No reference to it in fa ther, who had published the pl ays never A/ways') Was It Peter Bull \\'ho I remember ceased to believe in them. He insiSted that his [e lli ng me back in the 60's thm May Ha llar (an son was too stupid to have written them' For elderl y actress wlw played the hetting fanatic In some years Joe H rt riTI ston has been trying to the St;1ge and film versipm pf Se parate Table.1 mount a production. He believes that the play and who was in later life. of llllpie

46 Hot~foot from the Tony Awards where her co~production of A DoWs House picked up a clutch of prizes, producer Thelma Holt talks to Michael Coveney .

...._ he first questi on I h ~ I 'e for Thelma Hoh cuncerns her cms, Psyche and Poppy. Have they eaten each other yet ' Fo ur years ago she had JUSt taken charge uf this pair of highl y neurotic srrays in her cosy Ba yswater homeStead. 'Well, Psyche has gOt a lor worse, I'm afraiJ and has become a serial kille r. She often presents me with three dead birJs a day. Po>'p), has mere ly become a drug addict, so that's not toO bad. They m lS$ me when I'm aIV ClY, so I'm prohahly to blame.' Thelma is C1\vay a lot. O n her most recent vi sit to Nell' York , she sat back proudly at the Ton y Awards ceremony while A Dull's HOlLIe, co-prese nted with Bill Kenwright, pick ed up (our pn:es: hest acuess for Janet McTeer, best supporting ,lewr fo r Owen Teale, hes t directOr for Anthony PClge and best overall production. THELMA HOLT

'Yes, I am terribly proud of it and delighted for the actors. Though I Her oldeSt friend fr<1m training days is Vanessa ReJ grave, who rings was less delighted when Janet got up and w id fi ve thousand people in her regularly before deciding what to do next. Alan Rickman ,md Sir [an Radio City th at we'd decided to do this show after she'd got me so pissed McKellen are devoted loyali sts, and she has made it huge diffe rence not un I'odka I couldn't say no. Still, who cares. I lost my reputatic) n years Michael Sheen, an i1~' l. I'm more worried abou[ losing mone y. ' electrifying nelV actor and a nother besotted acolyte . Thelma Ho lt, an ebullient sixty-something who indeed runs o n Thrice married and thrice di vorced, she is a truly remarbhle woman 11l1 .IJul er:ll<:,1 I'"db and unquenchable nptimism, is one of the most in the se ines, Bntish theatre ttad ition of Lilian Bay lis, Emma Cons and Jeli) ,tI:ui Cl nJ I () I ' ~ J characters in Lo ndon theatre. A former actress and Annie Horniman. But she outsrrips those dames In the raciness stakes. co-J ire(tl)r, ,r rhe ~1 1'c : l 3 . .lee Theatre lI'i th Charles Marowitz during the H er second husband was incensed to find her taking a bath II"lth his gay first fringe f.,Xllllc1'· the \'1 , C';. sht h,(; become a formldable champion of brother. 'But he's o nly a baby,' protested Thelma. 'He's twenty-s ix " fLllned foreign 1\"I'rk , ex" ric 1'.I'rl.:. leall l!1 ~ I'oung ;)([urs and nell' initiatlves. the short-lived spouse . She sits on rhe h'.lfd 11 rhc G b:,~,, " ' C itize ns. ,md will co-prc1l1uce There is a littl e bit of private money noating m(I LlI1d in the with them early next l ear r h dlf Pn,II 'c'S re\'iq l of Vanbrugl1s The b,K kground - her first fath er-in-Ia\\' was the Danish busi nessman Find Relapse in the West EnJ. She i, chair I' t the .Arts Council Drama Panel, G raucob, the II1 ventor of N u- Swift fire extinguishers, and she remains and a member of the mner CUU IlI.I I. ,mJ i, deel'[Y it\\'oll" ed in winnmg close to his third wife ,md wido w, Syl via Graucob. Sylvia supports her nell' Il1l)ney from the Lotte ry, an,1 the nell' L"b()ur ",I in istry of Educa ti on, sholVs :md provides relaXing boltho les in Yorkshire and the Channel for drama training. And she's on the council ,It R,ADA, O\'erseeing the re­ Islands when ;r ho liday becomes a necess ity. hui lJing prugramme at her alma marer. O therwise, The lm a's famlly comprises her actors, hcr technicians, ' It's 8mazing to think that John Gielgud, myse lf and M ichael Sheen her cats and her twO long standing accompl ices in an office high above all tUlned in exactly the same tumhledown rOc1n1S at RA DA. I'm always the Waldo lf H otel in the Aldwych, her devilstatingly efficient secretary tryin ~ (, I improve conditions for actors. \Ve trcat them I\"()rse than we Malcolm (who sings in choirs) and her bOYlshl y attractive amCinuensis tre, l[ h"bes in this country. That', not [() say there are 11\) actors worth Sweet Pea (\\'ho changed her real n ame, Jime S light, to thiS moniker by rre1tin'.! i.'ld ly. But they tend not to be ones I work with, darling.' deed poll ). ~

'1'JGUST 1997 AP ;o!~USE 47 'My wllrking life means I ~ m unable to m,lke conccssions w domesticity. However I 00 h~,·e ;1n enormous weakness for homc entenaining un a rather large if somewhat harhmarJ scale.' The benefic iaries of this hosrlwlity h ave included Georgians from the Rustavcli Thea tre, who m she presented at the Round House, when she ran thm beautiful, much-misseJ venue in north LonJon; the Jaranese comranies of Yukio Ninagawa, whom she has rresented at the National and the MermaiJ; and the c~Sts of rroductions by the Italian m,lestros Giorgio Strehler anJ Franco Zeffirelli, also at the Natio nal. She loves them "II equally, thl1ug h she cnnfesses a slight rrefe rence for the Japanese. 'They are mnrrol nHN llf ShClftcsbury Avenue, did Iwt find a home for A DoW.' H(Jl/ s". Sh" mutte rs something about the hi gh rems anJ contra condirion> tlley offered, so she wem instead to the 'difficult' Ph,yhl)use near Charing en1SS. E,-en there, McTeer's blistering rerformance ensured a return ,1n the investment and a modest I'rllflt to Thelma uf £38,000. After the triumph at the To n I'S , the show willmilke even l110re mo ney in New York, desrite a limiteJ run. What next? She is co-rroducing Genet's Th e Maids at the O()[1mar W~Hehouse; co-rroJucing Mari,·aux's Les Far.lSSCS Confidence.l , vi sitll1g the N atio nClI from the Comedie FrClncaise in Sertember; presenting ;Jnorher Ninagawa exmwaganza, ShinwhHl1(lW, at the Rarbicm in Octohe r ~ <1 nJ bringing Peter Bwok's exquisire Pansi,1I1 version l)f Beckett's Harrv Oa)" s (featuring Brook's beCiutiful wife, NaGlsh" Parr y) to the Riverside Studios in Novemher. Nu-one since the late S ir Peter l)aul'eny has J<>ne sO much for visiting foreign theatre in London, and Thelma's c,'ntribution, alongsiJ e thnse of the directors "f LIFT, and the ne" h ee.] ,If fe ' ti,·,,1 imrresCl rios, has helped tril nsf\lrm the thearncal Lmdsc.1 re Irre,·ersibly in this (oumry over the past ten years. Lo ng may she n,'urish.

: (! ~, \\ ~mn.::nl.l~'" '11 TIk (,\ass ~vlen < l~ t' - ric ll f th e /)(lllmar. ~ 1H~' r hL"r 1 Th,'/m(l Hole '~ .)1/1.:«('., ...[111 prudlh.:ri,lY!s .

48 ,:;.or . ·· _ cO A UG US T 19 9 7 r

ofistage

C \T:' TRU ~: rs A CHOR US LI NE hit. (Ever heard of Can'ie, Legs Owmrmd, Swnnites'l we Wo nted to write, and rn da mn It because it is nO( O n June 19, CaLS pla yed its 6,138th pe rform ance '[t was not a good ttrne for the industry,' sa id Chicago is terri bly unfair. My GoJ, if I ca me up with anJ overtook A Chorus Line as the longest tunning GeralJ Schoenfe ld , preside nt of The Shuherr Chicago all the ti me, I'd cy nic mysel f to death.' show in BroaJway hi story. O rganizatic)[1, which owns the Wintet Garden. Said Ka nJer: ' I love Steel Pier because it is the C)mroser Andrew UoyJ Webbet and The success of Cms ushered in a wave of polat oppo.s ite of Chicago, whi ch IS about as mean­ producer Cameron Mac kintosh threw a hig porry Stitish pop operas - Les JvlI lerahles, PJwnlOm of the spi rited as yo u can get. But I guess the movers and under a tent outside the Wi nter Garden Theatre. O{Jcra, Miss ScuR"on - that fu elled Broadway for a shakers in the rress didn't want so methl11g as tender, Past anJ cutrent members of the company attended Jec~Je. 'Its impact, said Sc hoenfelJ, 'was enormous.' as Jirect, personal and romantic as Steel Pier.' (some 240 New York ac tms helVe appeared in the Still , theatre purists ca rr that CaLI turned Both men saiJ sitting through the Tony musical), as well as performets fr om every other Broadway in to a theme park wh ere big se ts anJ Awards this yea r was difficult. ' I was confident show on Broad way. special effects Jominate. Yes, it spaw neJ u s Mis l-ur Clllcago wou ld wi n, but I IVas worn ed ahout Steel But the festi vi ti es coulJ not completely drown It al so hrought such [e"er fare, artistically spea ktng, P,er,' Ehb confesseJ . 'I was as prepared for what out the gtumhling. For the fact is, Broadway Joesn't as Swrllghl Expre s.1 and Beaury and Ihe Bealt. happened to it at the Tunys as you can he lV ithout much care for Cal" - and it was especiall y miffed 'BroilJwav shows used to be about craft,' said slitting your throat.' that Lloyd Webber's feline spectacular had relegated AlesS

Gerard Alessandrini, crearor of the satirica l Chicago is H crtticaland fmancial smas h. It harvested rev ue Forbidden Broad way, said : ' In the past, a case six Tony AwarJs in June, includmg best re Vival, hest cou ld he made that what wJs li sted as the longest choreography and bes t directinn. And i[ is clea ning funning show was also l1 ne of rh e hest ever wri n en ­ up at the box offi ce. Irs advancc curren tl y sranJs a[ a Just a short walk Fldel/cron the ROl)f, My Fair Lady , A Chorus Line . whorring ~ 11 .5 million, and it continues to sell ~ Cats, though it has gooJ things in it, is cerwinly nor o)'er :3200,000 worrh of tickers a day. In addition, {rom the West In;' ... • on my list of the top 25 musicals.' the Al11e ri GHI national [O ur is playing ro sold out 'J have no Idea wh y C ats has run as long as it houses, and is set to opcn in London later rhis yea r. has,' said Peter Srone, who wrote the hooks for So why are n't Kander anJ Ebh uncorking the French's Theatre Tlwnic. JV!y One and Only and /776. 'It's a good cha mpagne' shn", bur nor a great show. I guess people JU St ha ve Alas, the success of Chicago can'r dispe l their Bookshop "n unending iascinatlon wi th people II) animal sui ts.' disappointment in the failure uf their new shuw, Many Broadw"y executives thi nk Cats is a Sted Pier. Nominated for II TonI'S, SI.eel Pier fail eJ A veritable Aladdin's cave of books triumph of marketing over contene, whereas A to nah a single one. The mus ical, whi ch orened hlst about all aspects of theatre: scripts, Chon,s Line rep resenred (III that IS best ahou t the Arril, played Irs final performance June 27. it lost Broadway mUSica l. $7.5 milli on. set design, lighting, sound, audition A Chorus Line, sa id veteran rroducer Eli za beth 'I fee l like my left hand is [eall y hapry and my material, and more'

\ !c ~J nn, 'g lorifieJ Broad way dancers, American righr hand IS mi serable,' Kander co lJ me. 'It's quite ,h,)\\ 1: 1: 'r,'rrise ;md New York wit and se nsibility. di sorienrating.' Our recent publications include: E\ t: r\~hltl '2 ..~h'u t ![ \\ . ,~, muc h more cornJurring [ 0 'I th in k 1'10 more d'SaPPl)inted than harpy,' Bad Company by Simon Bent Beo,ld"'d\ IhJn C el[' .' Rut, McC,lOn nored, Cms does Ebb added. 'I hapren to love Steel Pier, and It is Cracks by Martin Shennan deliver in on< ,Irea : ·BI"< ,'),I>.<.I1" lt kes money, and it upsetting to me that it diJn't carch r,n.' The Dearly Beloved and doesn't much cue \\'h,) i~r lnF It. ' Chicago and Steel P,cr couldn't be more What I Did In The Holidays In New York , Ihe s!,,) \\" ha, cdrne I ,wer $350 Jlfferenr. Wntre n in 1975, Chlca.~o is a tough, by Philip Osmenl millinn. World wide, its gr,'" ,t,,,,Ll , al S~.2 billion, cynical take on the American justice system. It is Killers by Adam Pernak nL :1k in g Cats a bigge r earner rh zlIl thL: IlI tl:'t :- lI L( l'~::'(u l laced with o IJ - fa~ hi o ned sh owhi : rizzazz and boasts mr)l" ie of all time, Jurassic Park. some of rh e late Boh Fosse's sex iest dances. Playhouse Creatures by April de Angelis Playing the Wife by Ronald Hayman The shr)w has gen erated $194 mil liun in [,1'C5 Sled Pier, <1 n the other haml, IS gentle dnJ (,It New Ynrk C ity ,md Stilte , accord ing ro one 5[1[1·e\·. ro manti c; critics called it anaemi c and boring. It is If We Are Women by Joanna McLelland Glass O\'"r:1\ 1, econnmis[> estimate rh m It has In Jec reJ set 10 Atl anric C ity during the Derress inn and O\'er ~ 3 bi lli on in to the Big Apple 's economy. full",vs a gro up of marathon dancers. It must also he noted that Ca rs sa\'eJ Ka nder and Ebb thmk the show suffereJ French's Theatre Bookshop nr".leln"". RICk in 1982, when the sh ow opened, because reviewers compared it - unfairl y, they claim and Samuel French Ltd Fitzroy Street, London WI P th e Grc,H \Vlme Way was running out of gas. - W C hicago. 'People were Jisa rroinred in Steel Pier 52 6JR The.ltte ' \\'cTC empty, finoncing was Jryi ng ur and hec(l usc it \Va s n l) t as cynic.. l (lnd as hard ~ hittin g as Tel 0171 387 9373 Fax 0171 387 2161 nell .~ . llld i L. 1Il musicals fl oppcJ morc often than Chica!(o,' Ehh sa id. 'But that's nor the kind of shrrw

A UGUST 1997 APPlAUSE 49 NAME GAME II When you've filled in the names across, you will find 0 hidden celebrity running down through your I answers. 4 1. Opera composer 2. Nearer to Marber ~ 3. Ayckbourn's Off I 4. Critical opinion 5. Russian playwright r 6. Waiting for play 7. Timeless musical 'II never forget the first time I saw a 8. National theatre i I I I 9. 'Happy' actress rt play on s t ~ge. I was '1bout 9 and a eJ half, and had bee n evacuated during the war [0 a family in Keighl ey in York shire ANAGRAMS WORDLINKS and they rook me to see) 8 Pri es tley's These three phrases are anagrams of Find a word which can be added after one Dangero us Corn eT. It was put on by Harry three well-known musicals. word and before the other word to make two new words e.g. WALL (PAPER) WEIGHT. Hanson 's Coun Pl aye rs, and I was unerl y SOUL RACE g ob s m~cked as they say roday. The lAUNCH ROSIE BISCUIT ( ) ORGAN chandeli ers, the great red curtains.. . I wa s SIN SOAP SCHOOL ( ) PIECE hooked for life. WHITE ( ) BONE The first time I saw a Shakespe

red uced me [0 fl oods of tears. It was the City 1 2 3 4 5 The answers to the five clues below read down of London School for G irls, and I can still as well as across. remember the name of the girl who pla yed 2 H'1mlet. Her nan1 e wa s Audrey Parrish, and 1. Accommodation she had long blonde ha ir. It chilnged my view 2. Dramatic musical 3 of Shakespeare. 8efore that it was stuck on 3. Sea birds 4. More sea birds the page, bu t nolV it came to life. 4 5. Noose LKatharine Hepburn understudied in Phillip Barry's play Holiday. A decade was lik e to di e. Unfortunatel y the play died later she starred in another successful Barry comedy. Can you name it? as well. 3 Who starred in the original 1974 production of Side by Side by Sondheim2 Some of the magic of the the

I usua lly fall as leep. I have [0 admit that I do enjoy glitzy first nights, although it hilS to be ANSWERS

something IWilnt [0 see. Something With a bi t of me<1t on it. UOWOM S 1009aj'l 'P' OSS\11 1<; S3N~3 Ip' The wonderful thing about the the:J.tre is ulJJays paN 'a,zua)PW o'lnr SN~31IE V'~3dO Il mow II the argu me nts it provokes on the lV ay home. 'u,poW lua)III'W 'uouJa)! p!AOa T GIIOMSSOII) INIW AJOIS o'ydlapol'Yd aYl·l. Ja Aa ~ AO H . I Wh o's Afraid of Virginia Woolf', for exa mple. ZInO uaM() aAlI) :awou uapplH My husLxmd maintained that the yo ung lopua)!IA!I)lla~) 16 aoISaHO) 19 ~3WWnS lsol Aluappns :sanlS s,(oMlvlL IOP0:) 19 Aoy~ay) 1<; couple wouldn't ha ve stayed to be insulted aW!I~3WWnS : aw'I~3WWnS :Ao P'loH ~3WWnS MalAa~ (p' saSt 0N IE Jasol) Il. ,umnd II that long. I. sa id rhat they needed [0 stay to lIilS"U ilW"9 ilW"N learn about themselves. We had a real good MCXJNIM : ~\111 0) : ~ 31S\fW : m ~j\l9 NOISSVd :3NIl Sn~OH) V :13SnmV) Vi rginia Woolf over th8t. SlINI1 GIIOM SWVlI9"N."

50 A P P!~ i.." i A U GU ST 1997