It’s been a bit of a run of theatre the last few weeks, but this Sunday it is comedy – but at a theatre (not a club or a stadium) as I had a last minute trip to see Bill Bailey’s residency at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket this week.
If you haven’t come across Bill Bailey before (which I find hard to believe if you’re in the UK because he’s won Strictly) he’s a stand up comedian and musician who is also known for acting in the TV comedy Black Books and the movie Hot Fuzz among other things. I was trying to count how many times I’ve seen him live and I think this is the fourth or fifth time – and he’s always incredibly funny and inventive.
I am a pretty mediocre musician – when I was at my best I was about Grade 6/7 but music theory is my bete noire, so I really enjoy the way that he deconstructs how music works and makes it funny. But it’s not all music theory, some of it is just funny – in the current show he’s got some bluetooth music balls that are set up to make drum noises, and a laser harp. What’s not to like. He’s also got a new Kraftwerk parody – and the original one was one of my favourite skits on the Part Troll DVD that I rented from LoveFilm back in the day – so I’ll finish up today by posting that original.
Bill Bailey: Thoughtifier continues at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket until the 15th February.
Here I come again with another play on another Sunday. Although to be fair, this is one I saw a fair few weeks ago now and has had to wait its turn. And given that we’re into 2025 now, it’s not even the tenth anniversary year any more – which was one of my reasons for revisiting the show.
The Play That Goes Wrong follows an amateur dramatic group as they attempt to put on a performance of a murder mystery as their latest show. And as the title suggests, it just keeps going wrong. Then even more wrong. Each actor is playing a character in the drama club who is playing a role in the show. And if you’ve ever spent any time around an am dram group you may recognise some of the types that seem to turn up in amateur productions. And then there’s the show – it’s sort of Mousetrap-y but it doesn’t matter if you haven’t seen the Mousetrap, because it’s a murder mystery play where anything that could go wrong does go wrong.
The first time I saw this – on the original UK tour in 2014 I laughed so hard that I couldn’t breathe and my sides hurt. I saw it again in London with maybe the second cast and so I think this was my third trip. And it’s still hilarious. The cast make it look easy but it’s really not – so much depends on the timing of all the physical comedy – and it’s impeccable. The company behind this are Mischief Theatre and they’ve gone on to do another show featuring the same characters from the drama group – Peter Pan Goes Wrong – which I saw for a second time this time last year when it had a Christmas run in the West End with many of the original cast returning. And they’ve done several other shows – several of which I’ve seen – and they have a new show coming into the West End later this year which is definitely going on the to-see list.
I struggle to think of anyone this isn’t suitable for – it would definitely make a great first grownup show for older kids (and I think there were a few families doing that when I was there) as well as people who maybe don’t speak as good English – because there’s so much physical comedy in it as well as the puns. And because it’s been going a decade it’s usually pretty easy to get sensibly priced tickets too if that’s what you’re after as well.
This is my second post about a Shakespeare play in under a month, and considering how rarely I got to see Shakespeare – in the grand scheme of my theatre going, this is quite something. However as I said in that post about Midsummer Night’s Dream, Twelfth Night is my favourite, so here we are.
This is the RSC’s latest production of the comedy, at the main theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon with a cast lead by Samuel West as Malvolio and Freema Agyeman as Olivia. Set in a sort of floating now (or at least floating near-now), what you can’t see from the pre-show set up is the giant organ set that is the backdrop to most of the show and allows characters to appear, disappear and hide as well as providing some of the music. it’s dark and melancholy but also a bit dreamy.
Having seen a few different versions of this now – from the Trevor Nunn directed film, through the Globe all male production and right back to my very first at the Barbican in the mid 1990s – I love to see the different ways that directors can take the show and how they can highlight some things and how many different ways there are to play it and how many different roles can actually steal the show with a cracking performance. That Globe production absolutely belonged to Mark Rylance’s Olivia – all gliding like she was on wheels and building to a screaming climax at “Cesario, husband, stay”. This production might have been stolen by Michael Grady Hall as Feste if it wasn’t for West as Malvolio – and taken over all they balance each other out in a way. Feste is ridiculous – whether it’s his giant yellow and black costume at the start or when he’s painting the organ with a paintbrush made for fine art. It can sometimes be hard to see why the household wants to take quite such a drastic action against on Malvolio but West does a good job of making you see why they might want to do that – and then manages to make the audience feel almost guilty for laughing at him by the end.
This is only on until next weekend, but I really hope that it gets a run at the Barbican as the Dream has this year – I would happily see it again because I’m sure there’s a load of stuff that I would notice going on behind the main action at a second viewing.
A modern classic of a musical today – and actually one that I saw early in December when it was still in previews but as the whole run was sold out before it even started previews, there was no point in rushing!
This is the first London revival of Mel Brooks’ musical version of his classic movie The Producers. It follows Max Bialystock, a down on his luck theatrical producer, and Leo Bloom, and accountant turned producer, who team up together to try and swindle investors by deliberately putting on a show that will fail. Except that their sure-fire flop (Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Adolf and Eva at Berchtesgaden) is a surprise hit – and now they have to pay back their investors.
My first exposure to this show was the Broadway message boards of the early 2000s and then I West End production, on about its third cast one summer holiday. And it was wonderful. It was big and brash and funny and had huge production numbers. I loved it – and the CD of the Broadway cast recording was in regular rotation for me for years. I think I could probably still sing along to almost the whole thing. But given how big the original production was, and how small the Menier Chocolate Factory is, I was fascinated to see what they did with it, especially given their reputation for transforming massive shows into more intimate productions. I am forever in love with their La Cage Aux Folles, where they did just that, and which remains one of my favourite things that I have ever see in a theatre.
And it was a brilliant night. The Producers is still hilarious and the performances were brilliant – Andy Nyman was just as good (maybe better?) in this as he was in Hello Dolly this summer as Max and his pairing with Mark Antolin as Leo was brilliant. And it felt rawer and less shiny than the Drury Lane original did. The sets are smaller, the cast is smaller with the ensemble doubling or even tripling roles (especially on the night I was there where the artistic director came out before the start to say they were three cast members and the stage manager down). But it also felt very familiar. But with so many jokes and so much there in the writing how much can you really change? And had they actually just changed enough to make it feel fresher and less like an Old School Musical than the original did – and thus more likely to appeal to new audiences, as opposed to jaded old theatre habitues like me? I went with someone who had never seen it before and she really enjoyed it. I got exactly what I wanted – another look at a favourite show, done a bit differently – and I would have gone again if I could have done. But I can’t because it’s sold out. But if it transfers to the West End…
Have a great Sunday everyone.
Oh and here’s the original London production on the Royal Variety Show back in the day so you can see the difference in scale…
Every year in the run up to Christmas, I need to clear space on the TiVo for all the new stuff that’s coming – and that means that I’ll delete a few of my favourite movies to clear space – knowing that they’ll be on again at some point over the 10 days of Christmas and if the TV happens to be on when they’re showing, I’ll probably switch over and watch too. So today, here are a few things that are on that list…
Some people say it’s not Christmas if the Wizard of Oz isn’t on TV, I say it isn’t Christmas if The Sound of Music isn’t on somewhere. It is in my top 10 favourite movies, if not my top five. But it’s also now a tradition to read this genius article from McSweeneys: I Regret to Inform You that My Wedding to Captain Von Trapp has been Cancelled. It’s thirteen years old now and it’s still as funny as the first time I read it. I think I like it more than I like their Decorative Gourd Season article. And that’s saying something!
I’m also a big Doris Day fan – and Christmas is often a time when her movies pop up on TV. This year as well as Pillow Talk (definitely in my top five) there’s Lover Come Back, Move Over Darling and Calamity Jane where you can also enjoy the wonder that is Howard Keele – star of the movie version of Kiss Me, Kate (which inexplicably isn’t on this Christmas damnit).
And then there’s the Agatha Christie adaptation situation. Unusually this year there are no repeats of the Joan Hickson Miss Marples (Alibi are repeating some of the Ngaio Marsh Alleyn adaptations this year though) but you can watch the Albert Finney Murder on the Orient Express, which is definitely a Christmas movie (snow!) and has an all star cast and amazing music and is much better than the recent remake – which isn’t bad, it’s just not that one!
Oh and Some Like it Hot is on too. Another from my all time my top five. My TiVo is going to be so, so full!
If you’re lucky, you might be finished for Christmas by now. If you’re me, it feels like you might never be finished. But I have my Christmas Radio Times, and I’ve been through it to work out what my highlights are this year.
You would have to have been out of the country to miss that it’s the final every (definitely, definitely, cross their hearts) episode of Gavin and Stacey on Christmas Day. Following in recent tradition of One Last Episode for Christmas (see also Detectorists and Ghosts) Ruth Jones and James Corden say that once you’ve seen it you’ll know why there’ll be no more. I do hope everyone lives. I’ll be watching to find out, but the last Christmas special was good so I sort of trust them.
I’m slightly more worried about Wallace and Gromit. But that’s more because the bar for them is so incredibly high. Lest we forget the duo have five Baftas and three Oscars. The train track chase in The Wrong Trousers remains one of the most perfect sequences in animation. But they’re back – and so is Feathers McGraw, easily one of the most sinister villains ever to grace a children’s programme. I really, really, hope it’s good.
And the other new thing that I’m looking out for this year is a fresh adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five. I’m always fascinated to see how childrens classics are reinvented. As some one who reads a lot of vintage childrens literature I would say that the Blyton cannon is one that stands up less well when rereading as an adult compared to some of the others but people have very fond memories of it from when they were small so it can go either way. I didn’t mind the reinvented Swallows and Amazons a few years back, but it wasn’t as good as the books. So lets see how this one does.
Actual proper culture from me this week with some Shakespeare. Although to be fair, Conclave got a bunch of Golden Globe nominations this week so maybe it’s two weeks in a row.
The RSC are back at the Barbican this winter with A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This had a run at Stratford earlier in the year and has transferred in and as you can see from the programme, the big name here is Matthew Baynton (of Ghosts fame) who is playing Bottom. When I started writing this, I thought this might be the first time I’ve seen Dream done professionally* but I had totally forgotten that I saw the Michael Grandage Company’s production with Sheridan Smith and David Williams in it a decade or so ago. This is much better than that one. Much.
This isn’t one of my favourite Shakespeare’s (that’s Twelfth Night) but this production is a bit like a minimalist fever dream – with 80s inspired costumes in a big black space where lights and ladders can appear and the actors at times seem to materialise from no where. Baynton and the mechanicals are genuinely funny and their final performance capped a riotous evening that seemed to go by in a flash.
It always feels like A Decision to go and see some Shakespeare – so long, such language, not always funny when its meant to be but this was an excellent choice for a wintery evening – and as I happened to be there on press night, I also spotted several of the other Ghosts stars in the audience (to be fair I mainly spotted them in the bar at the interval) to support their colleague. A very satisfactory night out.
*although technically it was the first Shakespeare I ever saw – because Class Six did it as their leavers play when I was in Class Five, but I don’t think that counts. In case you’re interested, I spent two years in Class six (village primary, only six classes for seven years of school when I was there) and we did Bugsy Malone – I was a dancer at Fat Sam’s, and Twelfth Night – I was a recorder player at the court of Duke Orsino. As you can tell acting was not my forte
Another Sunday, and another week where I’ve been out and about and doing a few bits and bobs. It’s been a few weeks since I talked about a movie so I’ve gone with that.
Conclave an adaptation of the book of the same name by Robert Harris. I haven’t read the book, so I can’t comment on the differences between the two. But as the movie starts the Pope has died, and Cardinal-Dean Thomas Lawrence is suddenly in charge of the Conclave – the meeting to chose the new Pontiff. A flock of cardinals descends on the Vatican to be cloistered together and vote. There are several different candidates and factions as the diversity of views in the church try to find a candidate the majority can get behind.
Considering that at the core of this is a group of old men voting, this is a suprisingly exciting movie, with plenty of twists and turns as votes go on and the situation in the Sistine Chapel gets tenser. And it’s got a pretty cracking cast: Ralph Fiennes plays Lawrence, who says (repeatedly) he doesn’t want to be Pope, much to the disbelief of some of his colleagues, and who has doubts – about himself and about some of the leading candidates. Stanley Tucci is Aldo Bellini, a liberal American cardinal who was close to the previous Pope, and who is one of the favourites going in to the conclave. John Lithgow is Joseph Tremblay, a moderate Canadian cardinal and Isabella Rossellini is Sister Agnes, the head of the Vatican housekeeping staff.
I really, really enjoyed it – the plot keeps moving and shifting, and the set design and cinematography make it feel cramped, dark and claustrophobic – a feat considering it’s set in the Vatican, a place filled with marble and high ceilings and designed to make you feel small and insignificant. The ending is going to be… divisive, but I thought it worked – and fitted in to the themes of the movie in general.
Conclave is in cinemas now – not sure how easy it will be to fine for long, but this week it’s on at both the independent cinema in my town that we’re members of and at the big chain.
Something a bit different this Sunday – some thoughts about a show, but not really a review because it’s a bit more than that but also there’s nothing for you to book right now.
I took this photo at the end of the Avenue Q 18th birthday concert last month. I said on my Instagram that I think it might be the best photo I’ve ever taken – the cast looking back at their younger selves at the end of the show. That it’s a good photo I know because most of the cast have used it in their Instagram posts about the show, which made my theatre nerd heart happy. That I was in the position to take such a good photo is down to being quick on the booking fingers when the tickets went on sale – and snagging us prime seats in the middle of the middle of the stalls for the matinee show.
Who is us in this context? Well it’s me and my little sister. The West End production of Avenue Q opened just as I was finishing university, and as she was doing her A Levels. I think every theatre geek has a couple of shows that are formative in their development as a theatre fan, and this was one for us. It wasn’t the one that got us into the world of theatre message boards, but it resonated with us at the points in our lives that we were at at the time. If you’ve never come across Avenue Q, it’s a comedy musical that tells the story of a new graduate, Princeton, who moves to New York to start his adult life and ends up living on Avenue Q – a sort of grown-up Sesame Street and through the show he learns life lessons from people and puppets. One of the writers went on to write Book of Mormon, and the music for Frozen (and Frozen 2). It premiered on Broadway in 2003 and it actually beat a little show you might have heard of called Wicked to the Best New Musical Tony in 2004.
I saw the original cast three, maybe four times, and then saw it on Broadway with Little Sis on our five days seven shows trip a year or two later, and again in London with Him Indoors a few years after that. One of those times I saw the original cast I took my then boyfriend, who subsequently blamed it as a factor in our break up for “giving you ideas about needing a purpose”* which was… a stretch. Anyway. Moving on. It’s a show that has a special place in my heart. And it was wonderful to go back to it and see it again, with the actors we loved that first time. Twenty years after its first production there are some things that haven’t aged that well – they did a disclaimer at the front to that end, which felt sensible – but there’s so much that’s wonderful and the nostalgia factor was great too.
And the other thing about Q is how well the original cast have gone on to do. Jon Robyns who played Princeton has just finished up a run as The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera. Simon Lipkin is about to play Fagin in Oliver! in the West End after a successful run Chichester in the summer. Giles Terera has pack of awards for his theatre work – including an Olivier for originating Aaron Burr in the West End production of Hamilton. The only original cast member who couldn’t make the reunion was Clare Foster – and that was because it was opening week for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in which she’s playing the female lead.
Sometimes its hard to tell if seeing a show that you have such fond memories of will enhance your memories or detract from them – we actually avoided seeing a revival of one of the other shows that was seminal for the two of us a summer or two ago because we were worried that it would taint our memories of it – but I’m not sure we ever really worried about this one because it was the original cast and it was billed as “in Concert” although it was more staged than that suggests. So it was great to see the band back together and be reminded how good they are and how fun the show is. And for me and Little Sis it was great timing too – this was our last theatre outing before she has a baby and so seeing a show that means so much to us but that is also about new beginnings and new possibilities was a great way to mark a bit of a moment in both of our lives.
I hope you have a show you have as happy memories of as I do Avenue Q, and that you get the chance some day to have a moment like we did at the Stephen Sondheim for this.
*Other things he blamed: “those books you read and films you watch for giving you ideas about happy endings”. I hope your eyes are rolling as hard as mine are.
Back with a book adjacent streaming pick this week, because why not. And this has had so much advertising that you all can’t have missed it and as I’ve watched it I thought I should report back.
This is the pretty starry eight part adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s legendary 80s bonkbuster novel, Rivals. Set in the Cotswolds, it’s 1986 and retired Olympic showjumper and now MP Rupert Campbell Black and his rival Tony Baddingham are jockeying for power. How are they doing that? Well it’s through the medium of regional commercial TV franchises. I know. That sounds bonkers, but it works. And yes – those franchises really were a thing. And there are a lot of storylines going on here from the huge ensemble cast. At the start of the series we see Tony returning to Britain from a trip to New York where he’s recruited a hotshot producer for his company Corinium and then poaching Irish journalist and interviewer Declan O’Hara away from the BBC. And it’s the arrival of the O’Haras that sets up a lot of the events of the series.
I’m going to fess up now that I hadn’t read the book when I watched this, but maybe that’s for the best, given that you often have a picture in your head of what everyone should look like and the show often doesn’t match up. So I went into this with no preconceptions or loyalties and I enjoyed the hell out of it. This is a over the top melodrama where basically every character is doing bad things to a greater or lesser extent. In fact, the only really “good” character in all of this is the eldest O’Hara daughter Taggie. Taggie is 20, and it’s her… complex relationship with Rupert that is at the heart of this and keeps it from vereing over into awful people doing awful things. And I thought long and hard about how to describe what’s going on between Rupert and Taggie, but it basically boils down to the fact that I know that the age gap is too big, and I know that Rupert is probably morally bankrupt, but by the final episode I really didn’t care!
This has also got a lot in it about the British class system – everyone in it is rich, but they’re not all posh. And the way you can tell is through a myriad of tiny and bigger things – from Valerie’s double glazing and uncertainty about whether she should be saying dessert or pudding, to Tony’s insecurity about his grammar school education compared to Rupert’s at Harrow and much, much more. It’s so clever. Oh, and there is so much sex. From opening on a couple joining the mile high club in Concord’s toilet to fourways and pretty much everything inbetween. Excess is the word of the day – and there’s a lot of 80s excess in here. Your mileage may vary on that – and also on the sexual politics. I could have done without Rupert’s behaviour towards Taggie at the dinner party and I could definitely have done the full visuals on the nasty rape in episode six, but for the most part I just tried to see it as a product of a different time that the show runners haven’t tried to modernise too much because if you did that you would lose a lot of the rest of what makes it so much fun.
I watched the first four episodes in Essex the other week, and I then watched them again with Him Indoors so that I could watch the rest of the episodes with him and I could happily watch the whole thing again – maybe now with the benefit of fast forwarding the bits I didn’t love. And can we have series two stat please – there is so much left unfinished they can’t just keep us hanging surely…
Verity Reads Books (lots of them) 