The Week in Review(s)
Welcome to today’s edition of ShentonSTAGE Daily, in which I look back on the last seven days of theatre news and reviews (including my own).
FRIDAY MARCH 31
It was a sad farewell today to the historic Oldham Coliseum, which closed its doors to the public after a gala farewell performance that followed the shameful way it was de-funded by Arts Council England, furthering the Nadine Dorries inspired reign of terror as Culture secretary which seemed to be about levelling down instead of up and an ongoing strategy by the Conservative Party generally of robbing the poor to give to the rich, as it did with its allocation of lucrative contracts to its chums for what turned out to be unusable PPE.
The ACE portfolio funding represented a third of the venue’s income, and the board of trustees and senior leadership team couldn’t come up with a way of meeting the deficit, as “its loss affects the ability of the organisation to apply for alternate funding. The financial situation therefore is not sustainable for the current continuation of the business.”
In much better news, today was also the day we thought would never come, with Donald Trump finally announced to be formally indicted next week on criminal charges relating to the hush money paid to an adult film actress as he was running for President. Never mind the theatre; this has been the single most dramatic — and disheartening — period of recent American history that I can remember, as he sought to overturn democratic norms and even democracy itself.
And the good news from me personally is the return of my website to normal service, after it broke down and couldn’t be restored for nearly three weeks. But it is back and raring to go!
SATURDAY APRIL 1
Today I do a double bill of press performances: seeing the matinee of A LITTLE LIFE at the Pinter, then the evening performance of FOR BLACK BOYS…. at the Apollo, newly transferred from the Royal Court.
I’m reviewing both for Plays International — formerly a print magazine where I had my first-ever professional, paid piece of theatre journalism published in 1986, long before the arrival of the internet; the magazine no longer exists in print, but lives on online, and I’m delighted to be back in its embrace.
You can find my reviews here:
And here:
SUNDAY APRIL 2
After being presented with a lifetime achievement award at this year’s Olivier Awards, the great veteran actor Derek Jacobi — now 84, who has devoted the biggest chunk of his career to working onstage — spoke to The Guardian about the existential threat to the theatre posed by the high prices of tickets to attend it.
As he said,
“I’m not an economist – I don’t know the basics of how a theatre survives without money but it certainly can’t survive without bums on seats either. And if the money is prohibitive to bums on seats then we’re up shit creek without a paddle.”
Of course, the highest prices only work if people are prepared to pay them — and that only applies to a handful of (usually star-driven) attractions, like A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE that won its star Paul Mescal an Olivier, or A LITTLE LIFE that opens this week with James Norton.
But those shows — and those eye-watering prices — do get the headlines, and start to create a perception that theatre is simply unaffordable to many.
On Broadway, it all becomes an elaborate game, with tickets set at the highest they think they can possibly command — and then reducing them drastically when they don’t sell. When Good Night, Oscar went on sale, tickets for the remote top balcony at the Belasco were initially priced at $150, causing some consternation on the chat boards.
But as one correspondent to Broadwayworld’s chat room sagely notes,
“It’s vital to accept that commercial theatre is directly tied to capitalism and that will never change. Commercial theatre is NOT a public service. It’s an investment opportunity. It does not owe anyone cheap tickets. The producers will charge whatever they feel is appropriate, and that price can change at any time… Those who cannot accept capitalism’s role in Broadway should stop going to Broadway and focus on nonprofit theatre (but guess how those donors get their money…) You don’t have to LIKE it, but you need to accept it.
MONDAY APRIL 3
With the announcement of the nominees for this year’s Tony Awards due on May 2, the cut-off for eligibility by which time shows must have opened is April 27.
This invariably means a rush of openings in April to beat the deadline, though this year things are relatively restrained: there are just eight openings this month, starting with SHUCKED tomorrow and ending with the late announcement of Lorraine Hansberry’s THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN’S WINDOW (moving from BAM to the suddenly available James Earl Jones after the cancellation of ROOM that was due to run there, when a chunk of their capitalisation was lost by an investor withdrawing with the show already in rehearsal).
These openings follow just five shows last month. 23 shows had opened in the previous ten months; of these, 17 have already shut, either early after failing to catch fire or after limited seasons.
Though there’s always a chance of one of two more shows on the current list closing before the May 2 announcement, this means that there will be an almost equal number of titles still running that are eligible as there are shows that have already shut (18 and 17 respectively) by the Tony cut-off date.
The Oliviers, by contrast, don’t tend to influence when and how shows open; but this year has seen more shows that are still running — or set to return — than usual from amongst the winners that were announced last night (and I’ve already written about here), with big winners like MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO due back at the Barbican in November, while the Almeida’s A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE is currently at the Phoenix.
Another Almeida originated show PATRIOTS — which won Will Keen a supporting actor Olivier — has long been announced for a transfer to the Coward (and yet another Almeida show, TAMMY FAYE, won star Katie Brayben her second Olivier; it is yet to announce a transfer — delayed originally because of her pregnancy — but will surely do so in due course).
And today a West End transfer for STANDING AT THE SKY’S EDGE — that was named Best New Musical at the Oliviers — has been announced for February 2024, when it will re-open at the Gillian Lynne.
Meanwhile PRIMA FACIE, which was named Best Play as well as winning an Olivier for its stage debutant Jodie Comer, is transferring this month to Broadway.
TUESDAY APRIL 4
Tonight the first London production since Cameron Mackintosh’s original world premiere of Stiles and Drewe’s musical BETTY BLUE EYES debuted at the Novello Theatre in 2011 had a press night at the Union Theatre in Southwark. I’d love to have seen it again, but as I’ve previously written here (https://shentonstage.com/shentonstage-daily-for-monday-march-13/), I do not review shows where the companies aren’t being paid at least under the terms of the Equity Fringe Agreement (or better).
The remuneration for this run is £250 each — not per week, which would be bad enough, but for the entire engagement, including rehearsals and 21 performances, with a possible top-up from a profit share after all the costs have been accounted for. I’ve been challenged by some who feel that I’m depriving the actors of recognition, which is part of the reason they are doing it, but I refuse to participate in their active exploitation, even if they happily subscribe to it (Meanwhile, other participants — including the creative team, the venue, the press agent and the rights holders — are being paid; these rates have not been disclosed, but I’d wager that they’re significantly more than each actor is receiving).
WEDNESDAY APRIL 5
Today I travelled to Hammersmith, where two of its three live venues are respectively newly in administration (which means they’re looking for a buyer who can absorb their deficit and start the venue with a clean slate) and definitely thriving. (The third is the venerable — and gigantic —concert venue, the Apollo, which only intermittently is used as a theatre stage, most recently last summer for SISTER ACT that will now return for another run next summer at the Dominion.
The bad news first: Riverside studios, the entirely rebuilt multi-disciplinary arts centre is in serious trouble, as it labours to service the massive debts incurred by its comprehensive redevelopment and subsequent Covid-related closure.
It has been a live entertainment venue since 1976 (initially under the stewardship of legendary writer/director Peter Gill) but it was closed in 2014 for the site to be redeveloped with 165 brand-new luxury flats over it, re-opening in 2019 just before Covid shut it down again. It now includes a large TV studio and two studio theatres, plus a suite of boutique cinemas, bars and a restaurant.
KILLING THE CAT, a bold new musical receiving its premature world premiere there, is hardly going to attract the hordes, but then it wasn’t meant to.
Joshua Schmidt and Warner Brown’s chamber musical poses existential questions about faith vs science, mapped out against a developing relationship between a couple of opposing beliefs. It is perhaps appropriate that a show about the dangers of certainty should be so uncertain in its dramatic tone; but composer Joshua Schmidt provides frequently haunting aural tones, exquisitely played by three onstage musicians.
It is gorgeously sung by a luxury cast led by Madelena Alberto, Tim Rogers and Molly Lynch (three actors whom I will happily see in virtually anything!), with terrific work too from Joaquin Pedro Valdes and Kluane Saunder; they make it worth seeing for them alone!
But for all the artistry of its presentation, it feels at times to suffer from a surfeit of sophistry; why exactly should we care about these self-obsessed characters at all?
It was much more pleasurable, even if unnervingly on the knuckle, to spend time at a packed performance later at Lyric Hammersmith seeing ACCIDENTAL DEATH OF AN ANARCHIST, a riotously funny Italian written political farce by Dario Fo and Franca Rame from 1970 that must surely be West End bound now. Daniel Raggett’s production turns it into the best comedy since ONE MAN TWO GUVNORS — but with more political bite and resonance, especially given the current state of the Met police.
The morning after I see this shockingly pertinent new production, a Guardian headline reports, “Commissioner vows to clean up Met as force faces biggest crisis since 1970s” — and the story opens by telling us, “Scotland Yard is battling its biggest corruption crisis since the 1970s, its commissioner has warned, as new evidence emerged of the widespread bungling of sexual and domestic abuse claims against officers.”
THURSDAY APRIL 6
Soho Theatre is hardly one of my favourite venues — with its three venues on three floors, usually each presenting two shows a night, and a packed ground floor bar, it feels too much like an Edinburgh fringe venue for my tastes. And it mostly programmes accordingly, with headliner comedy acts comprising the bulk of the bill.
But some of them have a strong theatrical cross-over pedigree, and in the last few months I’ve started popping in more regularly, recently seeing Jordan Gray here, and revisiting Colin Hoult’s The Death of Anna Mann there after seeing it at Edinburgh last summer.
Hoult is back there this week, and while he is downstairs, playing at the same time in the main house is Kim Noble with his strange, sweet and just a little bit sickly new show LULLABY FOR SCAVENGERS, a show about striving for connection with another living creature — even if it’s just a maggot, squirrel or fox.
There is seemingly nowhere this man seemingly won’t go, whether it’s stuffing a maggot up his penis (yes, really — and we see it, too, on film) or snogging his own mum (yes, again). It is bleak but also frank and fearless, raw and revealing, and entirely marvellous. The bravery and honesty of putting yourself on such open display is astonishing.. And intensely moving.
SHOWS AHEAD IN LONDON, SELECTED REGIONAL THEATRES AND ON BROADWAY
My regularly updated feature on shows in London, selected regional theatres and on Broadway is here: https://shentonstage.com/theatre-openings-from-w-c-april-3/
See you here on Monday
I will be back on Monday) If you can’t wait that long, I may also be found on Twitter (for the moment) here: https://twitter.com/ShentonStage/ (though not as regularly on weekends)
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