The Plastic Bag Awards 2018

The awards season is upon us again and it's no different in the Plastic Bag. It's been a very difficult years for the independent judging panel but, hey, that's their problem not mine. So here we have it, the Baggies 2018! The categories and nominees are:

Best Shakespeare

It's been a good year for seeing Shakespeare plays, particularly plays I haven't seen performed before like 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' and 'The Merry Wives of Windsor'.  The 'biggies' were produced as usual and I liked the Globe's version of 'Hamlet' with Michelle Terry as our prince and her bringing new life to Shakespeare's poetry. The nominees are:

Macbeth @ National Theatre
The Two Noble Kinsmen @ Shakespeare's Globe
Hamlet @ Shakespeare's Globe
The Merry Wives of Windsor @ RSC Stratford upon Avon
Anthony & Cleopatra @ National Theatre

The winner is 'Anthony & Cleopatra' at the National Theatre for the great performances and great staging. The two leads were excellent, particularly Sophie Okonedo, and I also really liked the two main supporting actresses of Gloria Obianyo and Georgia Landers.

Best Drama

A bumper year in the theatre with revivals and new works and I'm pleased to see that three new plays have made it into the nominations. I saw 'The Humans' in Boston earlier in the year and was pleased to see it again at Hampstead. 'The Lehman Trilogy' was a mammoth production with three actors and many, many words telling the story of the rise of the Lehman brothers in America. On the other hand, we had some great revivals of Oscar Wilde plays and my favourite was 'Lady Windermere's Fan'. The nominees are:

Red - Wyndham's Theatre
Lady Windermere's Fan - Vaudeville Theatre
The Lehman Trilogy - National Theatre
The Human's - Hampstead Theatre
The Inheritance (parts 1 & 2) - Noel Coward Theatre

The winner in this category must go to 'The Inheritance', a great piece of writing and acting over six hours on stage and spread across two performances. I never knew where the play was heading but it was a cohesive narrative and a thoroughly believable tale of modern life. Well done to everyone involved in the play.

Best Musical

It was a a bit of a mixed year on the musicals front with big names and new productions, some having a lot of hype built around them and not always living up to expectations. 'Caroline, or Change' was outstanding with its serious themes alongside a fun production and 'The King and I' was a glory from start to finish. The nominees are:

Caroline, or Change @ Hampstead Theatre
Hamilton @ Victoria Palace Theatre
The King and I @ London Palladium
Company @ Gielgud Theatre
Hadestown @ National Theatre

The winner is 'Hamilton' for it's novel approach, great songs and unbridled energy. Be prepared for a series of copycat musicals in the next few years until the next big thing arrives.

Best Entertainment

This category is for staged events that don't necessarily fall into any other categories. To show the diversity there's a great interview with Linton Kwei Johnson followed by Linton reciting some of his poetry; Zippo's Circus in a big tent; Bianca del Rio swearing all over the shop; a production of dance, music and words telling the tale of Elizabeth I;  and a political dance show by Scottee about what it's like to be a fat bloke.

Linton Kwesi Johnson @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
Zippo's Circus @ Figges Marsh
Elizabeth @ The Barbican
Bianca del Rio @ Hammersmith Odeon
Fat Blokes @ Purcell Room

This is a difficult category to judge since, by its nature the nominees are all very different, but the Baggie goes to Scottee's 'Fat Blokes' and their brave performances, sharing their personal stories, dancing and making the audience laugh as well as cry. Well done chaps!

Best Dance

I saw lots of dance this year, from experimental modern dance in Florence to a version of 'Romeo & Juliet' choreographed by John Cranko in Boston. The Royal Ballet feature strongly in their productions at the Royal Opera House with their one act ballets in triple bills as well as full length ballets. The classic 'Swan Lake' was updated by Liam Scarlett and Matthew Bourne updated his own great version of that tale.

Romeo & Juliet @ Boston Opera House
Manon @ Royal Opera House
Swan Lake @ Royal Opera House
Les Patineurs @ Royal Opera House
Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake @ Sadler's Wells

The winner is the Royal Ballet's new production of 'Swan Lake' which was a wonder to see. Great dancing, great staging, some beautiful scenes and the tragedy at the end. A very spectacular and engaging production.

Best Gig

I didn't go to many gigs this year but they were all very good and special in their own way. Kim Wilde was touring her latest album with as great band and stage show, Suzanne Vega delivered a set of hits and the Human League with synthtastic.

Kim Wilde @ The Sage, Gateshead
Suzanne Vega @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
The Dresden Dolls @ The Troxy, London
The Human League @ Hammersmith Odeon, London

The award for best gig must go to the Dresden Dolls for their first London gig in12 years, full of old songs and some new songs with the tease of a new record.

Best Performance

This award is for that one-off performance by a particular individual which could be acting, singing, reciting, just something a little bit special. Kelli O'Hara was magnificent as Anna Leonowens with her marvellous voice, particularly touching when singing 'Hello Young Lovers'. Jennifer Saunders was perfect as the Duchess of Berwick in 'Lady Windermere's Fan', coming out at the start of each act with the servants to do a comedy song. David Troughton was a formidable Falstaff, all fat and half-cut, especially when he demanded there was no pullet sperm in his drink. And Sophie Okonedo as Cleopatra delivering the Queen's final speech was spot on, she is an imperious queen, not some mere courtier.

Sharon D Clarke for 'Caroline, or Change' @ Hampstead Theatre and The Playhouse
Kelli O'Hara for 'The King and I' @ London Palladium
Jennifer Saunders for 'Lady Windermere's Fan' @ Vaudeville Theatre
David Troughton for 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' @ RSC Stratford
Sophia Okonedo for 'Anthony & Cleopatra' @ National Theatre

The award has to go to Sharon D Clarke for her blistering final song in 'Caroline. or Change' when she lets rip and the anger and frustration of a lifetime pour out onto the stage, a masterclass in how to deliver a song.

Best Exhibition

There have been a lot of top class exhibitions this year and it's been very difficult to whittle them down to just five nominations, let alone one winner. From the variety of the collection of Charles I to the Burne-Jones exhibition - and it was a delight to see so many of his works for a change, rather than the two or three he gets whenever there's a Pre-Raphaelite exhibition - there's been so much to see. Travelling to Boston to see four reliquaries by Fra Angelico reunited for the first time in hundreds of years and the treasures of Mantegna and Bellini.

Charles I: King and Collector @ Royal Academy of Arts
Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth @ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Picasso 1932 @ Tate Modern
Mantegna & Bellini @ National Gallery
Edward Burne-Jones @ Tate Britain

After much deliberation, the Baggie goes to the Picasso exhibition at Tate Modern for the sheer range of works Mr Picasso produced in only one year, how experimental he was and the careful curation of the exhibition. I particularly liked dating each exhibit to the actual day it was created. Such a great idea for an exhibition.

Best Film

I've seen more films this year than i have for several years, both documentaries and blockbusters. I particularly liked 'McQueen' the documentary about Alexander McQueen which was a thing of beauty in and of itself.

Punk & The Pistols
McQueen
Black Panther
Avengers Infinity War
The Happy Prince

The winner has to be the blockbuster to end all blockbusters (until the next one, of course) in the shape of 'Avengers: Infinity War'. What big film and such great special effects and that ending ... ah yes, whatever can happen next?

So there you have it, the Baggies 2018! During the year it often didn't seem like it was all that good, but, looking back over it, there have been some spectacularly good productions and exhibitions with actors giving the performances of their lifetimes with lots of good memories. Thanks everyone and congratulations to the winners.

'Hamilton' at the Victoria Palace Theatre

The Victoria Palace hosted 'Billy Elliot' for years and then it closed for refurbishment. The re-opening show is Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Hamilton', a hot ticket guaranteed to pull in the punters. There's been a lot of hype about this show over the last year or two and, I have to say, it deserves it. It also deserves all the awards it's been given. It's one of those rare beasts that really is all-round good.

It's almost entirely sung/rapped with no dialogue as such and that keeps the momentum going. Scene piling on scene as we travel through the escapades of Mr Hamilton from being a young firebrand through the revolutionary war to becoming an elder statesman who's eventually cast out when Washington decides not to run for President again. I didn't really notice anything that signalled the passing of time - other than him suddenly having an adult child in a duel.

The songs are really good - there's no denying it - and they're delivered really well. But I'd also highlight the choreography and the lighting as a major contributor to the effect of the songs. Barely a song goes by without some sort of choreography and that's what really brought the show alive for me. Constant movement, dancers rushing on to almost make many of the songs into mini-videos and then dashing off. They must be exhausted by the end of the show.

I was very impressed with Jason Pennycooke who played Thomas Jefferson for all the world like an early version of Prince, haircut, purple clothes and everything. And why not? It really worked well. The character blithely asks what he's missed while hiding out in France while the revolutionary war was taking place. There are some lovely throw away lines in this play.

One of the few downsides to the show is that I don't really care about Hamilton the person and this play doesn't make me care about him. I don't have any real interest in American history or of the revolution so him being a 'founding father' means little to me. All I know about him is what's in the play (which may or may not be accurate) and he doesn't come across as a very nice person. He seems to care mainly about himself and what he wants to the extent of publicising an affair he had that ruins his family but ensures he can't be blackmailed about it in the future. I'm not sure if that's brave or stupid.

Jamael Westman was fine as Alexander Hamilton but I thought Giles Terera as Aaron Burr and sometimes the narrator was a more commanding presence on the stage. My favourite was Jason Pennycooke as Lafayette in the first act and Prince, um, sorry, I mean Thomas Jefferson in the second. He was fabulous as a fast talking, self-absorbed dandy (I recall Jason in 'La Cage Aux Folles' a few years back). Despite presenting them as a version of Destiny's Child, the ladies were less impressive but I did like Rachel John who sounded like she had a proper singers' voice rather than a stage voice.

I've mentioned the dancers before - an excellent and energetic bunch - and they were all dressed the same, all in white and cream so it didn't really matter who was dancing, they had great ensemble effect. But I noticed early on that the women wore skin-tight jodhpurs and a bodice-type thing showing cleavage while the men wore looser trousers and were covered up to their heads, including wearing neckerchiefs. With all the gender politics and #MeToo movements it seemed very noticeable - to me at least - the way that the dancers were sexualised in this way. How odd.

If you get the chance, go and se this show, you won't regret it. Oh, and as you're constantly reminded, don't throw away your shot (I'm not quite sure what that means).