Tosca, Royal Opera House *****

Bryn Terfel as Scarpia in Tosca

On Thursday, I had my first trip to the Royal Opera House and what an experiance! It is so grand and the buzz created in it was electrifying. On top of this, the opera chosen for my first visit was the opera that convinced me of the power of classical music. Puccini's music  is the best music for anyone starting in opera. Tosca gets the romance and grandure just right.

And this production achieved perfection. Kent's production is so evocative that treads the line between the extraordinary political events going on and a close romance. It has received a lot of criticism over the years, however giving this production five stars only on the merits on its cast. This either shows inconsistency of several reviewers or the snobbery the same reviewers. Having said that, the cast is absolutely superb and, whilst it is slightly unbelievable to understand how a production can leap from two to five stars, the combination of Radvanovsky, Massi and Terfel does prove an unstoppable force. Vissi d'Arte in particular had my hairs on end with rapturous applause. They also made the third act seem good which is also a great feat. In general, one of the best operas performed perfectly. 

P.S: Placido Domingo waved his stick around well.

Stephen Warbeck Ensemble, Sam Wannamaker Playhouse ****

 

The Sam Wannamaker Playhouse

Left slightly cold by the disappointment of The Last Days of Troy, I needed this concert to lift up my hopes for the Globe. Luckily, it did just the job. The theatre itself still takes my breathe away, with a better chance to see all of it's wonders from the pit. Warbeck himself is a genuinely funny man who tied up each piece sublimely with anecdotes and with a genuine sense of camaraderie between the members of the ensemble who enthusiasm for each piece rubbed off on the engaged audience. The pieces themselves evoked many emotions from melancholy in the Wolf Hall pieces to joy in the Two Brothers piece 'To Freedom'. My personal favourite was the Young Doctor's Notebook. This piece, which apparently was critiscised by many, was upbeat, with a Jewish sensibility to it and was generally a pleasure to listen to.The ensemble is extremely talented with special notice to Sarah Homer who did a sterling job on a range of woodwind instruments. Overall, a terrific evening.

Find more concerts by candlelight at http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/concerts-by-candlelight.

The Last Days of Troy, Shakespeare's Globe **

Lily Cole in Last Days of Troy

Copyright Jonathan Keenan

The Globe yesterday was pelting it down ready for the last performance of the Last Days of Troy. It was perhaps the worst weather I have seen in my many excursions to the Globe, with little rays of sunshine peaking through. This meant, throughout the performance, there was continuous rustling of coats with people taking them on and off in accordance to the weather. The play itself was nothing special. Whilst Armitage's adaption of Homer's Iliad was interesting enough, there was nothing special to help it stand out. Lily Cole is slightly better and expresses more emotion than critics have claimed and, whilst no one gives exceptionally bad performances, no one particularly stands out as being particularly good. The one device in the play that stood out for me is that Armitage also have scenes of the God's in the present day, lamenting over the tragedy of Troy. However, by only using it at either end of the play, it only comes across as a cheap gimmick. It is a shame as Armitage's work has always impressed me but this work comes across just as a disappointment.

West End Live Talks, Leicester Square ***

 

It's time for another West End Live performance. However, having found last years musicals a bit lack luster with shaky sound engineering, I decided to opt for their new emporium and talks. The tent itself was impressive. The sheer quantity of outfits, props, designs and electrical technology was staggering with imput from the Royal Opera House and the National as well as all the commercial shows typically found at West End Live.

The talks themselves started off shakily. First up was the cast of 'Handbagged' who seemed only to talk about how much they enjoyed the experience and how 'they have learnt so much about the Queen and Margaret Thatcher'. I did not leave that tent having learnt anything about, the play, the people or their characters, which was most disappointing. Unfortunately, then I had to leave to see King Lear at the National again (just as emotionally engaging and awe- inspiring as the first time round) before coming back to hear the last talk of the day with the leading couple in the new stage adaption of Shakespeare in Love. This was substantially better than the first talk, partly due to the insight into rehearsals but mainly due to the superb chemistry between Bateman and Briggs- Owen. Whilst there was nothing particularly substantial to the talk, which appeared in a red carpet 'insight' fashion, the charisma of them both won me over, leaving me anticipated for what they and the rest of the cast have to offer.

The second day, on the other other hand, was far more interesting and had much more depth than the first. This was probably because we had the creative teams instead of just the surface so they knew more about what they were talking about. My day started with a talk from director of 'Let the Right One In' John Tiffany who talked about the show journey to the West End as well as it's future on top of describing the inspiration for the set and finding child actor to play the main roles. This was followed by Trafalgar Transformed director Jamie Lloyd talking about the upcoming production of Richard III which put to bed my concerns about the suitability of Martin Freeman to the lead role as well as mentioning the great work of Mousetrap. An equally gripping conversation. The day was rounded off by Magician and theatre illusionist Richard Pinner who gave some great tricks before discussing about his career, the types of tricks he has devised for productions and the hazards of pulling it off. This rounded off a far more positive day two.

In general, I was impressed by the efforts of the West End Live team to branch out into plays. However, they need to lengthen the amount of time their conversations last for to get the most out of the interviewees.

A View from the Bridge, Young Vic *****

Luke Norris, Phoebe Fox, Nicola Walker and Mark Strong in A View from the Bridge
Photo by Jan Versweyveld

Words cannot describe how superb this show is. But here is my attempt:

This poignant piece is perfect in every single way. From it's actors who have their accents down to a tee to the direction from Ivo Van Hove who has just demonstrated to me why he is the best director that theatre- land has. The set and lighting is fantastically designed by Jan Versweyveld that hosts a spine- tingling finale which interprets Miller's work in a way that left me with a lump in my throat.

The role of Alfieri, however, is the highlight for me. Van Hove shows him to be outside of the action to start off with, just observing the action taking place off stage, but gradually works his way onto the stage and into the action and gradually becoming more helpless and more desperate for the tragic tale to stop. This is just one example of how deep the director takes this. And whilst the deeper metaphors make this production the perfection it is, it is backed up by a strong story with plenty of emotion from Arthur Miller, showing Shakespeare how to do a blood bath to leave you in tears.

This production is the best example of how you do not have to pay the West End prices for West End quality. If this production does not pick up awards next year, something seriously wrong has happened.

Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's Globe ****

William Houston in Titus Andronicus

Copyright Simon Kane

Renowned for it's gore, the revival of Bailey's 2006 production of Titus Andronicus has had people fainting and vomitting throughout. This has attracted great deals of media attraction which made me feel apprehensive, not being the bravest of people.

However, whilst sickening, the gore in Titus did not make me react adversely unlike two people who fainted at the moment when Lavinia appears tongue and armless but, other than that, little activity was seen in the crowd. It was a very different experience on stage, however, with about 5 deaths a second, it certainly is not for the faint hearted.

The actors, as always with the Globe, were on shining form with the best performance coming from Flora Spencer-Longhurst giving an all- out, scarily realistic portrayal of Lavinia. It must be one of Shakespeare's most challenging roles, having to convey a variety of emotions throughout the play without using verbal communication. It takes a huge amount of skill to pull this off well and this young actress does it superbly. Other highlights include the creepy, almost phsycopathic Titus played by William Houston as well as Aaron being performed remarkably well by Obi Abli. Whilst it seemed to play more to the seats rather than the groundlings, which were tossed about quite a lot throughout, disgruntling a few, I think this small fault is not too detrimental to the production as a whole. The thing that goes against the play is that the level of gore throughout means that there is little time to empathize with the characters and therefore cannot feel any emotion towards any deaths that occur, even in the tragic denouement. This goes some way to explaining why Titus is not part of the repertoire frequently used on stage. However, it is still terrific to see a good bloodbath on British theatre and is a nice change to what the Globe usually produce. That being said, I can't say that I would have the stomach to watch too many more shows with this much gore.

Titus Andronicus is playing at Shakespeare's Globe until 13th July