Looking back over the past ten years and I know I've seen many many dramas at the theatre in London and elsewhere, I've seen many plays by Shakespeare performed in lots of different ways and styles and I could easily come up with a top ten Shakespeare plays alone. But that wouldn't be representative of the range of plays I've seen over the decade. So here they are, the plays that have stuck in my head for one reason or another.
Shirley Valentine @ Menier Chocolate Factory 2010
I'd seen the film but not seen the play, which was in rep with 'Educating Rita', but it was Meera Syal I wanted to see and she was Shirley. Alone on the stage talking to the audience about her life and the little sadnesses, the ordinariness of it all, you could've heard a pin drop. There were lots of laughs too and, even though I'd seen Meera in lots of things before, this is the performance that told me she was a great actress as well as comedian and writer. Heartbreaking and joyful in turns, she brought Shirley to life in front of us.
Jerusalem @ the Apollo Theatre 2011
I didn't see 'Jerusalem' on it's first run so I was pleased to see it when it was revived for a short season in 2011. It's a small tale with huge themes, extremely well written with some beautiful poetry in there and the performance and production was excellent. Mark Rylance played Johnny Byron, a teller of tales and mischief maker, a petty drugs dealer and a trouble for the local community but I believed he met the giant who built Stone Henge and I believed the giant would come when Johnny got into trouble. Sadly, the curtain closed before the giant appeared but he was there. A great play demonstrating the magic and wonder that theatre can evoke.
Much Ado About Nothing 2012
That Meera Syal again, this time as Beatrice in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 'Much Ado'. Before seeing this production I'd have said Zoe Wanamaker was the best Beatrice (seen at the National a few years earlier) but Meera topped Zoe in the Beatrice chart. It was staged as an Indian play set in a typical Indian compound as part of the World Shakespeare Festival and the London 2012 Festival in support of the Olympics. This is the production that actually had me laughing at a Shakespeare play, at a comedy no less (and I never laugh at Shakespeare comedies). The colour, the movement, the use of the auditorium as an extension of the stage, the excellent and subtle lighting, it all worked. I loved it.
Julius Caesar @ Shakespeare's Globe 2014
In 2014 the Globe put on Shakespeare's Roman plays over it's summer season - 'Titus Andronicus', 'Anthony & Cleopatra' and 'Julius Caesar' - what a great season that was. I'd never read the text or seen the play and I was astonished at how many phrases from it are still everyday sayings in the English language and his many speeches I knew. What a gift Shakespeare gave us with this play and what a great production this was, I sat watching as my jaw dropped time and again at the beauty and cleverness of the writing and the fantastic delivery by actors who knew how to speak in Shakespeare's verse. I left the theatre with the text in my hand, bought from the shop in the interval.
My Night With Reg @ Donmar Warehouse 2014
Ah yes, Reg, the man we never see but is rarely far from the thoughts and speech of the characters in the play. It's a serious comedy - serious themes about AIDS in the '80s and friends gradually dying through the play but with some enormous laugh out loud moments. There's love and lust, joy and tears, Julian Ovenden got naked and Geoffrey Streatfield went down on a tree (not really). It was great fun tinged with sadness and is rightly considered Elyot's best work. It transferred to the West End the following year and I saw it again on a bigger stage at the Apollo.
The Winter's Tale @ the Garrick Theatre 2015
Kenneth Branagh took over the Garrick for a year to put on a series of plays and the one that sticks in my memory was 'The Winter's Tale', yes, another Shakespeare play. I've seen a few productions of this play over the years, including the Royal Ballet's beautiful ballet of the play, but this is the one that sticks in my mind. It opens at Christmas time with a big tree and presents, which, given it's name, is quite right. Branagh gave himself the role of King Leontes and Judi Dench played brave Paulina and they worked really well together. It's not one of my favourite plays (why on earth would Hermione go back to Leontes?) but this was a worthy production.
Richard III @ the Almeida Theatre 2016
I'm not a great fan of Shakespeare's history plays about long-dead kings and family rivalries but this production of 'Richard III' stands out from the others. The last version of the play I'd seen had Kevin Spacey as some kind of steam punk Richard, but Ralph Fiennes Richard was far more chilling and scary, never knowing when he might explode in your face and that kept me on the edge of my seat. What's he going to do next? Vanessa Redgrave was also in the production but I kept worrying about how she'd manage the steps at her age ... I think I can give 'Richard III' a break for a few years having seen this production.
Angels in America @ National Theatre 2017
'Angels' was an astonishing theatrical event in two parts over different nights, over six hours of the play and it never got dull. I'd never seen the film so didn't really know what it was about other than it's set in New York in the '80s when the AIDS crisis raged. We see hallucinations brought to life as a result of the disease and the drugs, we see an angel with astonishing wings and we see a group of friends just trying to live their lives and find love. The run quickly sold out but I was lucky enough to win a ballot to get extra tickets later in the run and got to see both parts a second time and it was no less powerful the second time around. Andrew Garfield and James McArdle were excellent, as were all the small ensemble cast.
The Ferryman @ The Gielgud Theatre 2017
Another great play from Jez Butterworth who wrote 'Jerusalem', this time set in a family farmhouse in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The play progresses and we learn about the extended family in the farmhouse, the little secrets all families have, then the wider links into the community and the links with the IRA. It's very well constructed and, as with 'Jerusalem' there are some moments of beautiful poetry. A great cast with some very sweary children led by Paddy Considine, a lovely set (I worried about characters falling down the steep stairs) and some clever lighting.
Anthony & Cleopatra @ National Theatre 2018
One of my favourite Shakespeare plays with some gorgeous poetry and I still regret not seeing Vanessa Redgrave play Cleopatra in the '80s. I've seen a few productions but none have been all that satisfying until this version. Anthony in loud Hawaiian shirts? Sun loungers around the pool in Cleopatra's palace? the National using the turntable under the Olivier stage every other scene. Um, OK, it had it's oddnesses but it's the acting that matters and that was fantastic. Sophie Okonedo was the best as Cleopatra, easily matching Ralph Fiennes as Anthony and Georgia Landers as the loyal Iras. And Sophie delivered Cleopatra's dying speech just right, a mighty queen to the end. I'd happily see this production again.
The Inheritance @ Noel Coward Theatre 2018
Only a year after 'Angels in America' we saw another two part play over two nights, another six hours plus telling a gay story but this time set right up to date with talk of the last USA presidential election, the death sentence of AIDS far behind them all but its shadow still falling heavily over a group of young friends in New York. There are similarities with 'Angels' but they are very different plays, both powerful in their own right. At one point, the older man is in an argument with the youngsters and angrily shouts out 'There are no gay men my age! Or not as many as there should be...' which totally shocked a silent audience with it's truthfulness and silenced the stage. The staging was minimal,a lot suggested by the lighting and the ensemble coming and going contributing their tales and the story develops. We even get a cameo from Vanessa Redgrave late in the second part of the play. It was a very powerful play.
Lady Windermere's Fan @ the Vaudeville Theatre 2018
The Vaudeville Theatre was taken over for a year to put on performances of work by Oscar Wilde, largely his plays but also a monologue of 'De Profundis' by Simon Callow and a new musical version of 'The Happy Prince'. My favourite was 'Lady Windermere's Fan' directed by Kathy Burke, the usual tale of mistaken identities, young love, bourgeoise morality and sheer daftness. Jennifer Saunders was excellent and did a special 'turn' at the end of the interval with the actors playing the servants in the play all playing musical instruments as she gave us a song standing in front of the curtain. Great fun and such a good idea to have a year of Wilde.
A German Life @ the Bridge Theatre 2019
Coming right up to date was a one-woman play starring Dame Maggie Smith. Brunhild is in an old folks home remembering her youth when she was a typist for the nazi party in Berlin in the '30s and during the war. She goes to great lengths to distance herself from the horrors - she didn't know anything, she was almost forced to go to rallies, yes she loved the Goebell's children, and so forth, but none of it was anything to do with her. Maggie Smith's performance was astonishing, a frail old lady remembering the the joys and sadnesses of her youth but set against such a backdrop. I'm so pleased I saw that performance.
I've found it interesting doing this bloggie and seeing which are the plays that have stood out for me. Two starring Meera Syal, two written by Jez Butterworth, five by Shakespeare, two six-hour gay plays, two with Ralph Fiennes, two with Vanessa Redgrave... my, it's a small world. I wanted to include Glenda Jackson's 'King Lear' when she acted everyone else off the stage, a vicious Imelda Staunton in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf', Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus' at the Globe with Arthur Darvil as Mephistopheles and Jenna Russell in 'Di and Viv and Rose' a show that ended prematurely in 2015 but I loved it. But no, you can't always include everything. It makes the above selection stand out even more.
All in all, that was a good decade for new plays and for revivals of old plays and classics. Wonder what the next decade will bring...?
Shirley Valentine @ Menier Chocolate Factory 2010
I'd seen the film but not seen the play, which was in rep with 'Educating Rita', but it was Meera Syal I wanted to see and she was Shirley. Alone on the stage talking to the audience about her life and the little sadnesses, the ordinariness of it all, you could've heard a pin drop. There were lots of laughs too and, even though I'd seen Meera in lots of things before, this is the performance that told me she was a great actress as well as comedian and writer. Heartbreaking and joyful in turns, she brought Shirley to life in front of us.
Jerusalem @ the Apollo Theatre 2011
I didn't see 'Jerusalem' on it's first run so I was pleased to see it when it was revived for a short season in 2011. It's a small tale with huge themes, extremely well written with some beautiful poetry in there and the performance and production was excellent. Mark Rylance played Johnny Byron, a teller of tales and mischief maker, a petty drugs dealer and a trouble for the local community but I believed he met the giant who built Stone Henge and I believed the giant would come when Johnny got into trouble. Sadly, the curtain closed before the giant appeared but he was there. A great play demonstrating the magic and wonder that theatre can evoke.
Much Ado About Nothing 2012
That Meera Syal again, this time as Beatrice in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 'Much Ado'. Before seeing this production I'd have said Zoe Wanamaker was the best Beatrice (seen at the National a few years earlier) but Meera topped Zoe in the Beatrice chart. It was staged as an Indian play set in a typical Indian compound as part of the World Shakespeare Festival and the London 2012 Festival in support of the Olympics. This is the production that actually had me laughing at a Shakespeare play, at a comedy no less (and I never laugh at Shakespeare comedies). The colour, the movement, the use of the auditorium as an extension of the stage, the excellent and subtle lighting, it all worked. I loved it.
Julius Caesar @ Shakespeare's Globe 2014
In 2014 the Globe put on Shakespeare's Roman plays over it's summer season - 'Titus Andronicus', 'Anthony & Cleopatra' and 'Julius Caesar' - what a great season that was. I'd never read the text or seen the play and I was astonished at how many phrases from it are still everyday sayings in the English language and his many speeches I knew. What a gift Shakespeare gave us with this play and what a great production this was, I sat watching as my jaw dropped time and again at the beauty and cleverness of the writing and the fantastic delivery by actors who knew how to speak in Shakespeare's verse. I left the theatre with the text in my hand, bought from the shop in the interval.
My Night With Reg @ Donmar Warehouse 2014
Ah yes, Reg, the man we never see but is rarely far from the thoughts and speech of the characters in the play. It's a serious comedy - serious themes about AIDS in the '80s and friends gradually dying through the play but with some enormous laugh out loud moments. There's love and lust, joy and tears, Julian Ovenden got naked and Geoffrey Streatfield went down on a tree (not really). It was great fun tinged with sadness and is rightly considered Elyot's best work. It transferred to the West End the following year and I saw it again on a bigger stage at the Apollo.
The Winter's Tale @ the Garrick Theatre 2015
Kenneth Branagh took over the Garrick for a year to put on a series of plays and the one that sticks in my memory was 'The Winter's Tale', yes, another Shakespeare play. I've seen a few productions of this play over the years, including the Royal Ballet's beautiful ballet of the play, but this is the one that sticks in my mind. It opens at Christmas time with a big tree and presents, which, given it's name, is quite right. Branagh gave himself the role of King Leontes and Judi Dench played brave Paulina and they worked really well together. It's not one of my favourite plays (why on earth would Hermione go back to Leontes?) but this was a worthy production.
Richard III @ the Almeida Theatre 2016
I'm not a great fan of Shakespeare's history plays about long-dead kings and family rivalries but this production of 'Richard III' stands out from the others. The last version of the play I'd seen had Kevin Spacey as some kind of steam punk Richard, but Ralph Fiennes Richard was far more chilling and scary, never knowing when he might explode in your face and that kept me on the edge of my seat. What's he going to do next? Vanessa Redgrave was also in the production but I kept worrying about how she'd manage the steps at her age ... I think I can give 'Richard III' a break for a few years having seen this production.
Angels in America @ National Theatre 2017
'Angels' was an astonishing theatrical event in two parts over different nights, over six hours of the play and it never got dull. I'd never seen the film so didn't really know what it was about other than it's set in New York in the '80s when the AIDS crisis raged. We see hallucinations brought to life as a result of the disease and the drugs, we see an angel with astonishing wings and we see a group of friends just trying to live their lives and find love. The run quickly sold out but I was lucky enough to win a ballot to get extra tickets later in the run and got to see both parts a second time and it was no less powerful the second time around. Andrew Garfield and James McArdle were excellent, as were all the small ensemble cast.
The Ferryman @ The Gielgud Theatre 2017
Another great play from Jez Butterworth who wrote 'Jerusalem', this time set in a family farmhouse in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The play progresses and we learn about the extended family in the farmhouse, the little secrets all families have, then the wider links into the community and the links with the IRA. It's very well constructed and, as with 'Jerusalem' there are some moments of beautiful poetry. A great cast with some very sweary children led by Paddy Considine, a lovely set (I worried about characters falling down the steep stairs) and some clever lighting.
Anthony & Cleopatra @ National Theatre 2018
One of my favourite Shakespeare plays with some gorgeous poetry and I still regret not seeing Vanessa Redgrave play Cleopatra in the '80s. I've seen a few productions but none have been all that satisfying until this version. Anthony in loud Hawaiian shirts? Sun loungers around the pool in Cleopatra's palace? the National using the turntable under the Olivier stage every other scene. Um, OK, it had it's oddnesses but it's the acting that matters and that was fantastic. Sophie Okonedo was the best as Cleopatra, easily matching Ralph Fiennes as Anthony and Georgia Landers as the loyal Iras. And Sophie delivered Cleopatra's dying speech just right, a mighty queen to the end. I'd happily see this production again.
The Inheritance @ Noel Coward Theatre 2018
Only a year after 'Angels in America' we saw another two part play over two nights, another six hours plus telling a gay story but this time set right up to date with talk of the last USA presidential election, the death sentence of AIDS far behind them all but its shadow still falling heavily over a group of young friends in New York. There are similarities with 'Angels' but they are very different plays, both powerful in their own right. At one point, the older man is in an argument with the youngsters and angrily shouts out 'There are no gay men my age! Or not as many as there should be...' which totally shocked a silent audience with it's truthfulness and silenced the stage. The staging was minimal,a lot suggested by the lighting and the ensemble coming and going contributing their tales and the story develops. We even get a cameo from Vanessa Redgrave late in the second part of the play. It was a very powerful play.
Lady Windermere's Fan @ the Vaudeville Theatre 2018
The Vaudeville Theatre was taken over for a year to put on performances of work by Oscar Wilde, largely his plays but also a monologue of 'De Profundis' by Simon Callow and a new musical version of 'The Happy Prince'. My favourite was 'Lady Windermere's Fan' directed by Kathy Burke, the usual tale of mistaken identities, young love, bourgeoise morality and sheer daftness. Jennifer Saunders was excellent and did a special 'turn' at the end of the interval with the actors playing the servants in the play all playing musical instruments as she gave us a song standing in front of the curtain. Great fun and such a good idea to have a year of Wilde.
A German Life @ the Bridge Theatre 2019
Coming right up to date was a one-woman play starring Dame Maggie Smith. Brunhild is in an old folks home remembering her youth when she was a typist for the nazi party in Berlin in the '30s and during the war. She goes to great lengths to distance herself from the horrors - she didn't know anything, she was almost forced to go to rallies, yes she loved the Goebell's children, and so forth, but none of it was anything to do with her. Maggie Smith's performance was astonishing, a frail old lady remembering the the joys and sadnesses of her youth but set against such a backdrop. I'm so pleased I saw that performance.
I've found it interesting doing this bloggie and seeing which are the plays that have stood out for me. Two starring Meera Syal, two written by Jez Butterworth, five by Shakespeare, two six-hour gay plays, two with Ralph Fiennes, two with Vanessa Redgrave... my, it's a small world. I wanted to include Glenda Jackson's 'King Lear' when she acted everyone else off the stage, a vicious Imelda Staunton in 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf', Marlowe's 'Doctor Faustus' at the Globe with Arthur Darvil as Mephistopheles and Jenna Russell in 'Di and Viv and Rose' a show that ended prematurely in 2015 but I loved it. But no, you can't always include everything. It makes the above selection stand out even more.
All in all, that was a good decade for new plays and for revivals of old plays and classics. Wonder what the next decade will bring...?
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