'Assassins' at The Landor Theatre

As part of my ongoing education about Stephen Sondheim, Chris took me to see 'Assassins' with Angela at the Landor Theatre in Clapham (I like the idea of a theatre in a room above a pub, it makes it so much more real in some ways). Anyways, a musical play about American assassins and would-be assassins of American presidents? Um, OK I thought.

As it turned out, I loved the idea behind the play, biographical pieces about the assassins, their stated motivations and speculations about the real them strung together by the 'spirit of assassination' who pops up every now and then to support and inspire his fellow assassins. The 'spirit of assassination' is the first man to kill a president, John Wilkes Boothe who killed Abraham Lincoln. I don't know enough about American history to know how accurate (or not) the biographies of the assassins are but it kept my attention. The final scene is, of course, with Lee Harvey Oswald where the spirit and the other assassins, past and future, all plead with him to forget suicide and kill the president instead since that will validate them and ensure their names live forever.

The start of the play seemed a bit strained with a bit of over-acting going on and voices needing to settle, but people seemed to calm down and get into their roles. I'd single out Jeff Nicholson for particular praise who was excellently cast as Mr Charm himself, Charles Guiteau who killed President Garfield for not making him ambassador to France. He came across as a charming rogue and jack of all trades with a streak of madness and a most excellent voice. I'd have made him an ambassador. I'd also praise the double act of April Small and Jenni Bowden as the mismatched would-be assassins of Gerald Ford (yes, they failed). They were borderline comic relief but worked well together, one scowling and one always smiling.

I have to admit to not having heard of some of the presidents (not too surprising) and no, contrary to popular mythology, I can't remember where I was when Kennedy was assassinated - I am, actually too young for that! But I do remember the attempt on Reagan and I never knew his would-be assassin was a Jodie Foster fan. I was at a national students union annual conference in either Blackpool or Margate (I think) when it was announced from the platform that Reagan had been shot and we'd be updated on progress. The roar that erupted around the hall with around a thousand voices cheering was very strange. That was back in the deep dark days of Maggie and Ronnie ruling the world and Labour on its Militant witch-hunt, a very strange time to be even on the fringes of politics. Even stranger to think that most of the cast and audience were too young to even remember it.

So that's another thumbs up to Mr Sondheim, starting the month with 'Sweeney Todd' and ending it with 'Assassins', both blood soaked musical inventions. As Angela pointed out in the tube station, I now have to see everything that she and Chris have seen over the past 25 years. Now there's a challenge!