Pitcairn, Shakespeare's Globe ***

Pitcairn is a play about the island, based around when the British discovered it and the destruction that ensues. From the writer of Great Britain, One Man Two Gunors and Made in Dagenham the musical, Richard Bean here has gone along a slightly darker twist. There is something inspiring about the writing here. It manages to maintain a level of humour whilst having genuine intrigue. Within the play, there a several divisions that appear; namely class, god, gender and race. One minute the division on the island is due to the gender of the islanders and next they are arguing about God and science with relative ease. The acting is also fantastic, with all the actors putting in equally fantastic performances. No one stands out as being perfect but the play chugs along nicely. The set also works well in juxtaposition to it's venue. Despite all of this, however, when all put together, it doesn't quite work as a whole. I really enjoyed it but I can not say that it holds a candle to Bean's earlier work and will never be as memorable or as exiting as Great Britain.

Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare's Globe ****

Matt Doherty, Matthew Needham (Antipholus of Ephesus), Andy Apollo (Gaoler/Officer), Harry Katsari in 
The Comedy of Errors 

I have always known through word of mouth that Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors was more error than comedy so I was anxious going into Blanche McIntyre's production. I was wrong to be anxious. The atmosphere at the globe was electric perhaps only equalled by Henry IV in 2010 as the actors fell about the stage in a comedic fashion. The farce , in a see how they run fashion, starts with a Dromio trying to get a pair of pants hanging from the roof. This sets the tone for the play. It is a rip roaring, rollicking production with almost everyone, bar Lucianna, giving an above good performance. I would like to see how te good people of Keswick can offer when I go and see this play up there in October.

King Charles III, Whyndham's Theatre ****

Tom Piggot Smith in King Charles III

When this hit first arrived at the Almeida, I was extremely disappointed not to get a ticket. Therefore, I was delighted to get tickets at yet another transfer to the West End for the company.

And I could not have picked a better time to see it. I can not think of a more relevant play than this, immediately after the Scottish referendum and the talk of devolution still strong in the mind, this play directly addresses this question in a dystopian future about the death of our current monarch and the chaos that ensues. It is one of the best written plays to come out of England in the last 20- 30 years with Mike Bartlett giving us perhaps the strongest pieces of verse since Shakespeare. This, in turn, is acted with brilliant performances from Piggot Smith and Oliver Chris, last seen in Great Britain at the National. Actually, King Charles III makes a very strong double billing  with Bean's new comedy, recently transferred to Theatre Royal Haymarket. It both picks up on similar themes and takes them in very different directions. Great Britain talks about the press and their role in privacy whereas, in Bartlett's play, freedom of the press is a very prominent theme. It also is great fun. The audience laughed at the snide comments and in jokes about the royalty. This play, in my opinion, is a play that will be showcased for years and years as some of Britain's greatest pieces alongside Shakespeare's Hamlet and Bennet's The History Boys. If you want to see great writing on show, this is the show for you.

Oliver Chris and Lydia Wilson in Kind Charles III

The Moment Before I am Powerful, Trafalgar Studios (TrafExtras) ****

When getting into the theatre seemed too much for trafalgar studios, with the incompetent staff packing people into the bar and not opening the house until 5:58 for a 6 pm start, I was in a bad mood. However, at 6:15 until 6:40, the finest Shakespeare speeches were performed by some of the best actors in the West End. The performance started with a speech from Hamlet performed by Lauren O' Neil, then followed by Deborah Findlay reprising her performance as Volumnia, giving her soliloquy from Coriolanus, a role she last played at the Donmar during Christmas. These two impressed me the least. I only managed to understand part of what they were saying and could not put together the first part of the narrative. From then on, however, it was all on top form. Papa  Essiedu and Cynthia Erivo (next performing at the Donmar in an all female production of Henry IV) performed their last speeches as the titular roles in Antony and Cleopatra. They were both moving and moved the narrative forward considerably. However, James McAvoy stole the show performing Antony's speech at Caesar's funeral from Julius Caesar. This cleverly followed on from Erivo's soliloquy. It was brilliantly moving and engaging and had the whole audience captivated. It just showed why McAvoy is one of the great British actors.

Doctor Scroggy's War, Shakespeare's Globe ***

 

The other West End piece on World War One which I have seen this year was the tragically awful Versailles by David Gill. So, this Globe production had to be better.

Doctor Scroggy's War is a million times better than that piece about coal distribution yet still felt incomplete. The plot is about a young boy who joins the war, is injured and left in the care of Major Giles Gillies. I found the play itself somewhat too blatant with obvious reverential remarks on the British class system. Brenton's use of asides also seemed slightly out of place. However, the cast more than make up for shoddy script work. Full of Globe veterans, James Garnon steals the show as the plastic surgeon and establishing himself, in my mind at least, as one of the greatest British actors on the stage. His comedy in this and as Caliban in The Tempest as well as his darker side as the cardinal in th Duchess of Malfi. Catherine Bailey also puts in a blinding performance as the live interest of Twigg. However, the pinnacle is Bill Lyons music which was just beautiful from start to finish. So all in all, despite poor script work, the cast and musicians  turn what could be a clunky period piece in the style of Versailles, into a relatively pleasent evening.

Talk Round- Up 2014 So far

Mark Kermode: The Role of Critics, ICA

Francessca Martinez

Kate Aidie

As well as brilliant theatre, London offers amazing events and talks. The national, as I have said before, offer brilliant platforms in which different people talk about their work or offer other points of interest. Francesca Martinez being interviewed by Clive Anderson was my first experience of the National's temporary space. It is very similar to the Donmar, one of my favorite places to experience theatre, and provided a very much more intimate space than the interview with Sam Mendes for Lear. Francessca herself is inspirational. That adjective is a word she discourages for herself but it is true. Her comedy has paved the way for equality for disabled people. Of course you get the Tanni Grey- Thompsons who's role in society is to campaign for equality but there are no disabled people in the public eye except for Martinez and those guys off of the Last Leg. There were only two disappointments in this. First the attendance was truly despicable and secondly Mr Anderson. The obnoxious, pompous pig annoys me deeply and only hindered Martinez's amazing story. I haven't got much to say about Kate Aidie's talk other than that she is a woman who has been everywhere and had lots of interesting stories to tell. But perhaps the most interesting talk was held at the ICA with Mark Kermode (Radio 5 Live, The Observer) hosted a panel of critics to talk about their role in their chosen section of culture. The flappy handed, ranty film critic known for his legendary rant on Sex and the City 2 where he sang the internationalle, led perfectly giving each person equal opportunities to talk about their chosen topic. The radio critic had particularly good insights on her profession and the theatre critic discussed assessing theatre from different cultures. However, what impressed me most was the intelligence of the audience. The QandA section of a talk can be excruciatingly painful but here the questions provoked interesting answers and not one was in any way sniffed at. The whole evening was a delight.

However, the end of this year is set to be some of the best events in some time. Here are just a few:

9th September: Creators of Curious Incident in Conversation, Gielgud Theatre

2nd October: Alan Bennett, Lyttellton

9th October: Insights: The Trial (Phillip Glass and Christopher Hampton interview), Clore Studio

21st October: Richard Eyre, Olivier

4th December: Dame Judi Dench, Lyttellton

12th December: And Evening with Private Eye, Lyttellton

19th December: Theatre Quiz 2014, Olivier

The Crucible, Old Vic *****

Richard Armitage and the cast of the Crucible

From the outset, Miller's Crucible at the Old Vic was clear to be an outstanding piece of theatre. The dark atmosphere was almost tangible during the opening scene. I thought 3hrs 30mins would bore me but I was so riveted that at the end I still wanted to see more. Faber stages it perfectly with lighting which makes the disturbing events seem even more terrifying and, unlike many west end shows, I could not pick one actor who performed less than a five star performance. However, whilst Armitage's Proctor is stunning, it is the Reverand Hale (Adrian Schiller) who really affected me the most. His fall from grace reminded me of Gillian Anderson's Blanche in Streetcar. His performance in the last scene left me with a tear in my eye. Whilst I am not convinced performances in the round work, this is a near- perfect rendition of Miller's classic giving his parable on the Mcarthy era into the modern age.

Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Gielgud Theatre *****

The Cast of Curious Incident

Having read the book and play text with great admiration, the stage show was obviously the next step.

This show is truly brilliant! The only surprising thing about it is how something this alternative has gained so much public acclaim. I have never seen such a spectacular extravaganza. The last time I saw Graham Butler (Christopher Boone), he was in a groundbreaking yet mediocre production of Henry VI. Here, he puts in a stellar performance. This production truly sets a benchmark for theatre globally and my only regret is that I did not see it sooner,