Theatre Compendium I - 'Two Noble Kinsmen' and 'My Name Is Lucy Barton'

I've fallen so far behind with my blogging that the only way to catch up is to do a compendium of theatre visits over the last month and then become more disciplined going forward. It's time to dive in ... here goes:

'Two Noble Kinsmen' at Shakespeare's Globe

'Two Noble Kinsmen' is rarely performed, and I can see why, but it's quite fun at the same time and I was very pleased to see this production since it brought it to life. Mythological figures mingle with Renaissance Italian city states and, let's face it, there aren't enough mythological figures on the London stage these days.

It opens with the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, who are persuaded to wage war to recover the bodies of three dead kings which they do and, in the process, capture two cousins Palamon and Arcite, who resign themselves to imprisonment and swear undying friendship. Then they see Theseus's sister who both fall in love with and they become bitter rivals. As you do.

The lovely Emelia has no idea they even exist when one escapes and is brought to the king and accused by the other so it comes to light they both love a puzzled Emilia. Her daft brother commands they fight each other and the winner will marry Emelia - first she's heard of it! After various plot twists they do fight and Arcite wins but is then thrown from his horse so Palamon gets to marry Emelia. Happy ending? I'm not so sure. There's also a sub-plot in which the jailor's daughter falls in love with Palamon and then goes mad (as you do when love in unreciprocated) but I'll gloss over that.

It's a rather fanciful tale co-written by Shakespeare and John Fletcher with the usual dodgy morality of the time (women are at the bidding of their nearest kin, etc) but I thought this production was great fun with some nice set pieces and I even liked the rustic scenes and dancing (I usually wish the rustic scenes in Shakespeare were cut out). The production brought it to life, blew the dust off and made it live again.

It was good to see Matt Henry on stage again (previously in 'Kinky Boots') and I liked Elloria Torchia as a bemused Emelia. Bryan Dick and Paul Stocker played our kinsmen, Mayo Akande was great as a statuesque Scottish Hippolyte and Francesca Mills was a great and irrepressibly energetic jailor's daughter. Thanks Globe, that's another win!

'My Name is Lucy Barton' at The Bridge Theatre

I've never read the book or even heard of it but this play is a one-woman play and starred Laura Linney in her London debut so it was well worth the trip over to Tower Bridge and the theatre. It's a strange tale of memories and the tricks they can play, of families and relationships and, most of all, parents and children.

The play is mainly set in a hospital room with Lucy is confined in New York. Her husband won't visit her because he doesn't like hospitals (says a lot about him) so he gets her mother to visit from out in the mid-west. They never got on for some reason but a bond grows between them as they talk and reminisce and Laura plays both characters. Then we start to whiz forward in time - it's the '80s so there's the inevitable mention of AIDs and then in's the 00's so we get 9/11. Her mother dies, and so does her father, she leaves her husband and becomes a successful author but still the tangles of family life continue.

I liked it well enough but I far preferred Laura's performance than the play itself. It's about 90 minutes long with no interval  and I just kept wondering how on earth she could remember all those words! There are a lot of words. I liked the lighting and projections onto the screen at the back of the stage so illustrate changing scenes while leaving the stage intact. There are few one-woman shows so it was good to see this one and to see Laura Linney on stage.

'Kinky Boots' at the Adelphi Theatre

We went to see 'Kinky Boots' at the Adelphi last week and, although it's in preview at the moment, it's obviously going to BIG and run forever. If you like a story that actually goes somewhere, great songs and great staging and lots of laughs - not to mention a troupe of drag queens - then you'll love it. Trust me on this one and book your tickets now! I couldn't help but smile throughout the show and shimmy along in my seat.

It's the tale of a shoe factory and how two young men find themselves and realise their dreams. There's Charlie from Northampton who's Dad runs the family shoe factory and there's Simon from Clacton who is better known as Lola in the drag clubs of Soho. Charlie was brought up to run the family business after his Dad but moves to London with his fiancé to escape and Simon is brought up to be a boxer but prefers red shoes and chooses a different life.

Charlie's Dad dies and he has to go back to sort out the factory but finds it's running at a loss and about to close. He grew up with the workers there and can't let them lose their jobs without a fight so goes to London to sell some of the shoes and he bumps into Lola. He finds out that a man's weight simply breaks the heels of boots made for women and enlists Lola to design boots built for men, a rather niche market that he intends to exploit at a shoe show in Milan. We follow the ups and downs in their lives up until Milan … but I'll let you find out the details when you go to see it rather than tell you here. Why spoil the surprise?

It's written by Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper - Harvey the book and Cyndi the songs - and they're a great partnership. Harvey wrote 'Torch Song Trilogy' and 'La Cage Aux Folles' so knows what he's doing. And Cyndi Lauper is Cyndi Lauper so enough said. There are some great songs in different styles from Cyndi. It's a great and imaginative production, using the factory as the backdrop but changing the front of stage to a drag club, a boxing ring and an old people's home as scenes change.  The photos in this blog are from the Broadway production since production photos haven't yet been released for London.

The show stars Killian Donnelly as Charlie and Matt Henry as Lola and, if this show doesn't make them big names, I don't know what will. I also liked Amy Lennox (especially with the fun 'The History of the Wrong Guy') and Jamie Baughan as the macho Don who learns acceptance. I also liked the troupe of drag queens who accompanied Lola for most of her songs - they were called the Angels but should've been called the Kinkettes (obv). It's been playing for a couple of weeks and hasn't properly opened yet so I suspect there's still bits to tighten up as the cast grow into their roles and learn where the laughs are but the whole cast was great.

I look forward to seeing it again in a few months time when they've all settled into their roles. It'll be even fabber then!