Holy Warriors, Shakespeare's Globe ***

John Hopkins (Richard the Lionheart)
 Sirine Saba (Berengaria of Navarre/Queen Sibylla)
 Alexander Siddig (Saladin) and Daniel Rabin (King Guy of Jerusalem) in Holy Warriors

 In this new play by David Elridge, he takes us on a journey through 800 years of history and how the crusades have had affected events through time. This visceral piece is delightful the whole way through. It starts with an atmospheric Arabian chant and makes you stand back out of sheer admiration for this piece. As an altar boy, throughout I experienced severe thurible envy (see picture top centre) and multiple scenes, including the opening one, reminded me of the sacred ostent of church. However, the grandure and pomp is also what detracts from this piece. It is so awe- consuming that it is hard to be drawn in and be immersed in the piece. Perhaps it is the fact that 800 years is perhaps too ambitious a time range to capture or whether it is just that the characters are too hard to break into so when they die, little pain is felt by the audience. The premature death in the play, I thought, should have had more impact but instead was just taken in; another piece of information for the audience to digest. However the scale of this production is rarely done by the Globe, except perhaps in Titus Andronicus, so designer Mike Brittonmust be applauded for his fantastic set.

The whole piece is spectacular and is yet another triumph for the Globe and, whilst not emotionally engaging, succeeds in a feat that few people would dare do.

Richard III, Trafalgar Studios ***

Martin Freeman in Richard III at Trafalgar Studios

If you want gore,Titus Andronicus at the Globe is for you. If you want Shakespeare retold in a modern context, you can't get much better than King Lear at the National. For a great Richard III, Mark Rylance's is hard to top. What I am trying to get at is that Jamie Lloyds adaption of this play does not have a USP; a sticking point. Yes, he has put a big star at the helm and has dramatically cut it to make sense to a younger generation but there is nothing particularly dangerous or different about it. Others have criticized the Winter of Discontent theme but I don't mind it. Whilst it does not make dramatic sense, if it wasn't for the sake of it being the only thing anyone in the production seemed to talk about, it would have been glossed over by many of the critics. Freeman himself seems to have developed the typical Shakespearean accent which was quite off-putting but his physicality was excellent. Gina Mckee was superb as always, as was the majority of the cast although the little child who played York overacted hugely and rather amused me when,in the dream sequence, he bumped into a desk. Whilst the deaths, publiscised for being overly gruesome, were pretty ordinary, the lighting was the stand out part of the show. It was stunning how it showed Richard's private and personal life. It is the one thing in this play which is awards- worthy. 

What really excited me, however, was the fact that there was an impromptu question and answer session after the show. Having see Jamie Lloyd at West End Live and much of the cast interviewed across the BBC, I was not expecting anything original but I was wrong. What is so good about these sessions is that, because you have just seen the show, the director and cast do not need to worry about revealing spoilers about the play. This led to some intriguing answers as well as astonishment to hear the schedule for ensemble member Alasdair Buchan who understudies 5 roles. These events, which are intended to go on for multiple dates in the season, are an absolute delight.

Richard III is playing at the Trafalgar Studios until 27th September. 

La Boheme, Royal Opera House *****

Ermonela Jaho and Charles Castronovo in La Bohème at the Royal Opera House

 Photograph: Catherine Ashmore

What can you say about a perfect opera such as this? My second visit to the Royal Opera House has secured my belief that La Boheme is other worldly. The arias are rapid and delightful, the plot romantic yet tragic; the characters funny yet three dimensional and human. Mozart does not even touch Puccini's heights when opera is concerned. This set some feat for the cast to reach.

And my high expectations were exceeded by the sheer quality of the Opera House's production. Whilst the production is now in it's sixtieth year (the show I saw was it's 609th performance), it is still fresh and interesting. The relationship between Rodolpho and Mimi is spine- tingling, with Jaho and Castronovo putting in a belter of a performance. The set showed why this staging is a firm favourite. Every single member of the cast was convincing and, by the end of the show, I was in floods of tears. Utterly remarkable!

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Savoy Theatre ***

 

 Katherine Kingsley as Christine Colgate and the Ensemble of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels have been on an extensive advertising campaign advertising with Robert Lindsay and Rufus Hound at the helm. So when I turned up to the Savoy, it was to my surprise that there was a tiny notice by the entrance to the dress circle saying that neither one of them would be performing. Whilst I had absolutely no problem with this, on the contrary, I love seeing understudies perform as, more often than not, they are vastly superior to the celebrities originally intended for the role. However, I expected for there to be at least a note in the programme or a notice at the start of the show. The general effort the Savoy Theatre put into giving the audience notice of this was appalling. On top of this, throughout the show, stewards were constantly moving in and out of the auditorium completely removing the escapist nature of theatre. Therefore, expectations for the performance were set very low indeed.

The show itself, however, vastly exceeded my expectations.The understudies seemed so natural in their roles and seemed to have a natural rapport with each other. Samantha Bond has been portrayed in the advert as if she is tone deaf but the truth is quite the opposite. She has firm control and can keep a tune quite nicely. Marquez's French accent is amusing but the person who stole the show was Katherine Kingsley. She is a natural at musical theatre. Her songs have elegance and grace and she has charm and style to match. However, it was not all perfect. In the first act, there is a scene with a lady from the ensemble who plays a girl from Oklahoma. Her song seemed like it should have been extremely witty and fun. However, Lizzy Connolly's American accent meant that I could not hear a single word she said. The same was true with some of the other numbers where lack of pronunciation meant that jokes were lost. Another aspect that troubled me was some of the lousy attitudes towards women. Again, in the first act in particular, many of the women were wearing skimpy outfits which was particularly prevalent in 'Great Big Stuff' where the women lifted their legs up to let their already short skirts fall down. The character of Freddy Benson in particular uses a bit of casual sexism which unnerved me. I would not advise taking elderly relatives with you either as some of the innuendos in the show makes quite awkward viewing.

This production was a lot of fun. However, I felt that there was too many concerns with the production and with the theatre itself for me to have a thoroughly pleasant experience.

Great Britain, National Theatre (Lyttelton) *****

Oliver Chris as Donald Doyle Davidson and Billie Piper as Paige Britain in Great Britain

Photo by Johan Pearson 

Satires are rarely performed in London. Thinking back, I think Great Britain is the first one that I have seen. I now am going to search out anything that can be either as fun or as contemporary as this piece at the National. Mirroring the rise and fall of the News of the World, Great Britain follows the life of Paige Britain, news editor at 'the Free Press', and explores the world of hacking and corruption in the media. The strangely familiar plot line is superbly scripted by One Man, Two Guvnors writer Richard Bean and has a strong cast headed by Billie Piper, of Doctor Who fame, who does a sterling job of playing a cutthroat editor. The person who is the main source of laughs is Sulley Kassam,the Police Commissioner, played by Aaron Neil, who brings the house down with the video parodies of his speeches. However, perhaps my favorite character and performance of the show is the Assistant Commissioner, played by Bluestone 42 actor Oliver Chris, who grounds the play into reality and giving it a message and moral value. In general, it is a spine-tinglingly funny with a bite familiar to Private Eye readers. This continues the zizzling year for subsidized theatre.

Great Britain is playing at the National Theatre until 23rd August before transferring to Theatre Royal Haymarket from 10th September.