'While The Sun Shines' at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond

Terence Rattigan's war-time comedy of manners, 'While The Sun Shines' is on at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, cue problems with the District Line while we're trying to get out to Richmond. It always seems to happen when we visit the Orange Tree. I've seen quite a few Rattigan plays in the last decade or so and, while they're very old fashioned and often dated, I quite like them so this was a good opportunity to add another one to my list of his plays I've seen.

It's the tale of Bobby, a young sailor in the Second World War who's managed to get leave so he can marry his fiancé. Remember, of course, that this is Rattigan so Bobby isn't just any old sailor, he's an earl, the Earl of Harpenden to be precise, worth two million pounds and with three country estates.

Bobby's going to marry Lady Elizabeth who's come down from her WAF posting in Scotland. Bobby has rescued a drunken American soldier, Joe, from the street and offers him his plush apartment for his stay in London and arranges for him to hook up with a lady of Bobby's acquaintance, Mabel Crum. Lady Elizabeth turns up unexpectedly and Joe mistakes her for Mabel which makes Elizabeth wonder whether she's ready for marriage. All sorts of wrangles and mistakes follow which stretches out the day into the small hours of the wedding day, but what on earth can happen?

It's great fun and got laughs in all the right places from the largely older audience who easily got the jokes about spam (people told jokes about spam well before Monty Python). The play is set entirely in Bobby's apartment where everyone seems to end up, including Elizabeth's father (a duke and a general), a French lieutenant who fell for Elizabeth on the train journey form Scotland and, of course, the wonderful Mabel Crum.

Mabel is the best character in the play and gets most of the best lines. She's a secretary at the war ministry but is also man-hungry and delights in going out and enjoying herself, and that is how she's known Bobby for ages. She calls herself a trollop but in the best possible way. She has a heart of gold and a very modern view of love and relationships. She also has her own morals. Everyone should have a best friend in a Mabel Crum for some straight talking over a drink or two. Dorothea Myer-Bennett had the good fortune to be cast in the role and she milked it for all it was worth. Well done!

I must also give Michael Lumsden a mention since as soon as he came on I recognised him without knowing quite who he was. I've seen him at the Orange Tree before but it's his voice I recognised - he plays Alistair in 'The Archers'! That's how I knew the voice especially since he's been having a more high profile time in the series recently. He's got pompous old ass down to perfection in this play who gets deliciously conned by the clever Mabel at the end. Serves you right! I also quite liked Philip Labey as Bobby and John Hudson as Bobby's manservant.

Sadly, I left it late in the run to get tickets and the play ends tomorrow so I can't see it again. I think there are still a few tickets left for Saturday so if you haven't seen it and you fancy a laugh in Richmond, head on down to the Orange Tree.

'The Philanderer' at The Orange Tree Theatre

Last week we went to see the latest revival at the Orange Tree Theatre in the deepest, darkest suburbia of Richmond at the end of the District Line. It's 'The Philanderer' by a certain Mr George Bernard Shaw, a man renowned for fitting as many words as possible into any play. I'm always in two minds about Shaw - I ought to like him but there's always this little piece of dread in my heart whenever tickets are bought for any of his plays. I've seen a few of his over the years - the big beasts of 'Pygmalion' and 'Man and Superman' and some smaller versions such as 'Widowers Houses' at the Orange Tree a few years ago. I enjoyed these but there's still a little knot of fear.

It's the tale of a group of young people who are members of the progressive 'Ibsen Club' that wants to do away with 'manly men and womanly women' and treat people as people. Of course, emotions get in the way and our hero, the philandering philosophy professor, wants to marry one member (Grace) while another (Julia) professes her love and won't step aside. O dear, the problem is always people, of course. Gradually the extended families and fathers of each women are drawn into the discussions as well as a random doctor who ends up marrying Julia (to his later regret).

It's quite a fun play - surprisingly so, I must admit - and not really that dated. Some of the philosophical and theoretical arguments about gender are a bit odd from our 21st century perspective looking back at the 19th century but they rarely get in the way of enjoying the play. There's also an element of modern society that would probably benefit from being exposed to them. Placing the actors in modern dress helped, I think, but why the philanderer had to wear the same jacket and shirt as I was wearing in the audience is beyond me. My beard's better though.

Rupert Young was fun as the philanderer (but please stop tucking your shirt into your trousers throughout - that means your shirt is too short) and Helen Bradbury was suitably icy as the intellectual love interest. The flame-haired Dorothea Myer-Bennett was great as Julia, the clingy lover who doesn't want to let go and get's what she wants in the end (sort of). I saw her in 'The Merchant of Venice' last year at The Globe and was much impressed. Also a shout out to Michael Lumsden as Julia's befuddled dad, Colonel Craven (Michael is, of course, better known as Alistair Lloyd in 'The Archers').

The Orange Tree Theatre is doing something right to get us trekking out to Richmond so keep it up people!

'The Merchant of Venice' at Shakespeare's Globe

The summer season at the Globe is really good this year. I've already seen an excellent production of 'Romeo & Juliet' and Friday night was the turn of 'The Merchant of Venice', another Shakespeare play I hadn't seen performed.  It had been raining on and off all day and was getting a bit chilly as we took our seats in the open air theatre but I was looking forward to seeing it for the first time. And then on came musicians and actors dressed for a masked ball to set the scene in old Venice.

There's a lot of storytelling going on in this play and the stories merge and become one as the play progresses. We've all heard of Shylock but it's not solely about Shylock. There's Bassanio who wants to marry Portia and Lorenzo who elopes with Jessica, Shylock's daughter who takes some of her father's riches as a dowery. In order to pursue his suit of Portia, Bassanio needs to borrow 3,000 ducats and he approaches his good older friend, the merchant Antonio who is short of cash but says Bassanio can use his name as surety for any loan he can find. And that's where Shylock comes in as the money-lender who agrees to a pound of flesh as the bond if the loan is not repaid. But he is pressured into this by Antonio's sneers about usury and charging interest on loans so Shylock waives interest in favour of a straight forward deal.

Through all the twists and turns of the play we get to know the characters, their strengths and weaknesses. As the plot goes forward it'sever winding and developing and taking new turns. Clearly, Bassanio must win Portia's hand but who would guess that he wouldn't recognise her later when she appears as the young male doctor of law in the court scene (I suspect that young Bassanio needs glasses). Jessica's eloping with Lorenzo doubles Shylock's determination to stick to the letter of the law and claim his pound of flesh when Antonio fails to deliver the cash on time, despite being offers more ducats by Bassanio. And who would guess that it's Portia, as the young doctor, who finds the solution to Antonio's dilemma and saves him at the last minute by a legal twist just as Shylock is about to extract his pound of flesh. There's a lot going on...

There's also a lot of very subtle and some not so subtle scenes of anti-semitism, something the play is famous for and this production brings out very powerfully. We have the good Antonio that everyone loves because such a nice and generous gentleman and yet as soon as he sees Shylock his demeanour totally changes into cold hate with vitriolic language and he even physically attacks Shylock by grabbing his throat. Why Shylock still agrees to loan Bassanio the money is a puzzlement after this treatment. Even the lovely lady Portia can't help but treat Jessica as a lowly person by handing her a wineglass to hold like a servant and slightly hesitates before including her in her kind words to Lorenzo. It's an oddity of the play really, since there were - according to the historical notes in the programme - only about 300 Jews in the country in Elizabethan times so the vast majority of the audience is unlikely to have met any Jews.

The court scene at the end of the play keeps you on the edge of your seat - obviously Antonio won't die or give up a pound of his flesh but how do we get there through the wtisting and turning arguments? This was performed very well indeed and you can almost see the inspiration strike as Portia hits upon the solution to save Antonio. And then the cruelty comes in by pushing and pushing against Shylock so he loses all the money but then also loses all his private wealth and house, to be left with nothing. Antonio declines his share of Shylock's wealth in favour of Shylock signing it over to Lorenzo and Jessica and provided Shylock converts to Christianity. What chance has Shylock?

The very final scene of resoltion with all the lovers present and the farce of the missing rings ends with Lorenzo and Jessica hearing of their bounty by inheriting wealth from Jessica's father, Shylock, and that should be end of the performance with their future secured. But this production goes one step further with Jessica on her knees wailing at the edge of the stage at the news of her father having to convert and a procession of churchmen in white robes coming on stage with Shylock to baptise him while chanting in Latin. There was a stillness and silence about this scene, with Shylock quietly moaning, almost as if in pain, with each cup of water covering his head as betrays his faith to keep his life. Powerful and shocking.

The staging is quite simple but very effective with a grille backdrop boxing in the centre of the stage for most of the play to represent Venice with sections opening as doors and windows. This changes with the addition of a gauzy silken curtain coming out from the sides to represent Portia's home in Belmont. Bits of furniture are carried out for some scenes, such as tables with elaborate boxes for Portia's suitors to choose (only one casket holds her portrait) and chairs for the final court scene.

The cast were excellent and, as you'd expect, Jonathan Pryce was a powerful Shylock with his real life daughter, Phoebe Pryce, playing his daughter Jessica in the play. She had a nice presence, wild and rebellious with her father and sweetly romantic with Lorenzo, her lover. David Sturzaker was great fun as Gratiano with his one-liners and comic gestures, just like any young man who thinks too much of himself. I also liked Rachel Pickup at Portia going through a whole range of emotions when dealing with her suitors and quietly confident playing the young doctor of law, especially that moment of inspiration when she announces that Shylock may have his his pound of flesh, but only the flesh. Dorothea Myer-Bennett was also great as Nerissa, Portia's hand-maiden with some great comic timing and sardonic looks. I'd also single out Stefan Adegbola as the daft servant Launcelot - can this be the same actor I saw in 'Widower's Houses' earlier this year? He was great fun and full of devil may care energy!

This play is a masterpiece of storytelling with some great set piece speeches ('The quality of mercy...') and this production is excellent. If you're in London (and it's not raining) then you could do a lot worse than head on down to the Globe to see it.