'A German Life' at the Bridge Theatre

The Bridge Theatre pulled off a coup last month when it managed to get Maggie Smth back onto the stage for the first time in over a decade to perform the one women play 'A German Life'. The play is by Christopher Hampton and is based on a documentary about the early life of Brunhilde Pomsel who was living in an old folks home in Munich and recounts the stories of her life growing up in Berlin after the First World War. A very ordinary girl who grew up to be close to the centre of very extraordinary times when she became a typist in the office of Joseph Goebells during the Second World War.

The play is basically one long monologue by Maggie, sitting in her room in the old folks home as she tries to remember what happened all those years ago. As such, it's full of pauses, of ums and ahhs as she tries to remember the past as accurately as she can but there was very little of significance for her to latch onto at the time since she wasn't interested in politics and her job was just a job. It's a very clever piece of writing. And, of course, a clever piece of acting.

She talks about her best friend Eva now and then, who was Jewish, and we hear about how her friend's life became worse with losing work, lack of food, no money for rent and other things. Towards the end of the play we hear how Brunhilde goes to the Holocaust education centre many years after the war to find out what happened to Eva to be told that she died in Auschwitz. There are lots of little tales and reminiscences, of Brunhilde going to great lengths to get back to Berlin as the Russians advanced rather than staying safely in the countryside, and that's how she was arrested and imprisoned for five years. There's very little directly said about the nazis or her job but a lot is implied and hinted at through her rambling chatting about the past.

The play was only on for a short run and has now finished but it was great to see Dame Maggie on stage again. She had a definite presence on that small stage, emphasised since she was the only one there so all eyes were on her.

'The Height of the Storm' at Wyndham's Theatre

We went to see 'The Height of the Storm' last week, the new play by Florian Zeller and translated by Christopher Hampton, The draw was, of course, seeing Dame Eileen Atkins and Jonathan Pryce on stage together, both actors worth seeing that I've seen in various productions in the last few years. It's a fashionably short play with no interval and is set in the kitchen of a large house outside Paris, so only needs one set.

The play opens on the morning after a big storm, with Andre looking out the kitchen window at the vegetable garden when his daughter walks in and starts chatting. He doesn't respond and something is clearly wrong  - is it shock? is it dementia? He gradually starts talking as Anne, the daughter, fills the silence. It seems like her mother, Andre's wife, Madeleine, has died and she's tip-toeing around the subject to avoid upsetting him. And then Madeleine appears, back from the shops where she's been buying mushrooms for lunch and Andre comes to life again. Later in the scene we see Andre talking to both his wife and Anne, but seemingly ignored, so is it he who has actually died?

The story develops as we meet their other daughter and her latest boyfriend, an estate agent, and a mysterious woman who knew Andre many years ago and has a grown son. Who's son is he? And there's a mysterious bouquet of flowers without a card. What's going on? I kept thinking it'll all become clear any moment, someone will say something and it'll click into place. But they don't and I'm none the wiser. And then the scene changes again. I think the best thing is to give in and go with the flow and it'll become clearer by the end (which I won't spoil).

There's some very complex writing here that takes some concentration to follow. It's not a linear story by any means, almost circular and picaresque, seeing the scenes from different perspectives and view-points. Who actually died? Who's is re-living scenes from their life? There's a clue from Anne when she gets upset and says she's having trouble understanding what's happening being back in the old family home. Particularly since she's reading her father's diaries at the request of his publisher. What is fact and what is fiction?

I really liked the relationship between Eileen Atkins and Jonathan Pryce, I think they really pulled off  the appearance of a long-term marriage where they're still in love after so many years. It's a good on-stage pairing with a text that offers them great opportunities to demonstrate their love, such as the ritual of mushrooms for lunch. It was quite touching to see them interact and react to each other, especially in the final scene when Madeleine says she'll always be with Andre, always, because she doesn't break her promise.

I really liked Amanda Drew as the older sister that takes the brunt of the situation, as is her job as the eldest and most capable in the family but whose personal life seems to be falling apart. She has the look of capable older sister about her. But I think it's the quiet scenes between Eileen and Jonathan that I'll remember, sitting at the kitchen table peeling mushrooms.

'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' at the Donmar Warehouse

The final theatre trip of the year was to see the new production of 'Les Liaisons Dangereuses' at the Donmar - you've probably seen the film but have you seen the play that started it all? No, neither had I so this was a first for me. The cast for this production are led by Janet McTeer and Dominic West and add in Una Stubbs and you know you're in for a treat. I've seen all of them on stage before (and on telly and in films) and enjoyed them every time.

It's set shortly before the French Revolution and demonstrates the morals of the time, with gossip and intrigue being king, sex a devalued commodity unless it is with the un-reachable and nothing matters more than winning at any cost. It's terribly cynical and the mores of the time destroys lives as innocents fall foul of the seducers who treat the encounters as meaningless. Until they discover it's not meaningless after all and that's when the consequences start mounting up.

The Marquise de Merteuil (McTeer) and Vicomte de Valmont (West) are fomer lovers who challenge each other in their sexual conquests. Merteuil wants him to seduce the young Cecile (Morfydd Clark) before her marriage to an enemy but Valmont wants the bigger challenge of the virtuous Madame de Tourvel (Elaine Cassidy) who is staying with his aunt (played by Una Stubbs). Valmont ends up pursuing both - and gaining both - while Merteuil seduces Cecile's chaste young lover. While the intrigues are fun and the suggestion is that everyone is part of the same game, it's actually pretty unpleasant and that is what the play exposes. But it's the innocents that pay the price.

I enjoyed the play with it's sparse sets and constant movement keeping it fully energised throughout. There are some laugh out loud moments and some more thoughtful sections. The audience collapsed towards the end of the first half when Cecile naively asks Valmont if her husband-to-be would appreciate that she's been learning all the sex-tricks Valmont can teach her when someone in the front row broke out in raucous laughter at the absurdity of it and everyone joined in, including Dominic West! It's good fun with a darker underbelly.

The cast were excellent and I particularly liked Janet McTeer as the butter-wouldn't-melt Marquise who could out-cruel Cruella DeVille any day of the week. She was great fun with her tongue stuck firmly in her cheek for most of the play until it becomes deadly towards the end. Dominic West was also great fun as our debonaire seducer who always gets his woman but doesn't judge the consequences too well. I also liked Adjoa Andoh as Cecile's mother who came across as very realistic rather than a cartoon. Una Stubbs was lovely as the elderly, rich aunt who acts as a catalyst for her nephew's seduction of Madame de Tourvel. It's always a pleasure to see Una on stage.

The Donmar often sells out before the shows begin so I don't know if there are any tickets left for this production but, if you can, go and see it - it's well worth it!

'Stephen Ward' at the Aldwych Theatre

Last week we went to see the new Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical, 'Stephen Ward' and I'm still not sure what I think about it. If you'd asked me a few months ago, before the publicity for the new show started, who Stephen Ward was then I would've answered 'no idea' and moved on. And that's part of my problem with the whole show. Unless you're older than me or fascinated by the Profumo affair then where is the immediate audience for the show?

The Profumo affair is all about the top knobs saying one thing and doing another, of sex scandals and hypocrisy. Set in the early '60s as society, Britain and the world were changing, it is part of the whole sex and drugs thing. So far so good but why the focus on Stephen Ward as opposed to Christine Keeler or anyone else? At least I've heard of Christine Keeler. Now that I know who Ward is the portrayal doesn't really endear him to me in any way and, while he may not have been a pimp, he hardly comes across as a dashing hero.

The 'who is he?' thing is played on in the first scene when we see a row of waxwork figures of people like Hitler and out steps Ward telling us he's relegated to the 'baddies' room in a wax museum in Blackpool. That's where his once infamy and fame have relegated him. We then see how he met Christine Keeler and the story unfolds, mixing the great and the powerful with his ultimate downfall since a scapegoat is needed to bring closure. I quite liked the scenes in his flat with the wallpaper, spindly sofa and coffee table (someone has done their homework).

The songs all seemed a bit long to me. Granted, they're taking the story forward but they could have been shortened to reflect the songs of the time. Scenes are changed with a swirly curtain moving across and around the stage exposing a country house one moment and a nightclub the next, Ward's flat and a courtroom amongst others. Maybe there were too many quick changes? There's also a rather odd orgy scene with a comic song in which the old men get their kit off to cavort with the young ladies and with each other (farce anyone?). The scene does rather come out of nowhere.

The real oddity is the rather downbeat closing of the show with Ward sitting in his flat singing to us while swallowing pills with whisky and then stands up, dons his jacket again and walks back into the waxworks. Hardly the uplifting send-em-away singing ending you get from most musicals. That was followed by a rather lack lustre curtain call when it seemed like the cast were puzzled at us for not clapping more and louder and me wondering whether they knew something wasn't quite right. The back third of the seats in the stalls were empty and I'd got tickets half price so it's obviously having problems filling the place.

The cast were fine, led by Alexander Hanson as the urbane and gracious Dr Ward, osteopath to the rich and powerful. I enjoyed Alexander in 'A Little Night Music' (which I saw both in London and New York) but this seemed like a more black and white part for him and needed more shade. Charlotte Spencer was good as Keeler (and, as such, required to get naked a couple of times) and Charlotte Blackledge had a nice mix of rebellion and tartiness as Mandy Rice-Davies (who also reminded me of Joanna Lumley in AbFab every now and then). No-one else seemed to be on stage long enough to make a mark due to the continual scene changes. Except for the over-long police interrogation scene that I hoped would end sooner than it did.

The most touching song of the evening judging from the applause was 'I'm Hopeless When It Comes To You' sung by Joanna Riding as Mrs Profumo. She sings this alone on stage after her husband has confessed to the affair and in which she reconciles herself to staying by him because she's hopelessly in love. It's a genuinely good song that isn't really needed to take the narrative forward since we don't see her again but it was quite touching. I can see it being sung totally out of context which is possibly a good thing.

I still don't know what to make of this show. I don't think it's fully formed yet and suspect that we might see a new production in a few years time.