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.

Theatre Compendium II: 'An Ideal Husband', 'Swan Lake' and 'Hamlet'

Another compendium of things what I saw in June, this time Oscar Wilde, the glory that is the Royal Ballet and 'Hamlet'.

'An Ideal Husband' at the Vaudeville Theatre

The Oscar Wilde season continues at the Vaudeville with 'An Ideal Husband'. It's always fun to see an Oscar Wilde play, especially when it's well produced like this season is, but we've sort of seen it before. It's another morality tale of the upper-class high-minded wife and the not so high-minded husband, the problems with their friends,  deep secret that must never be spoken of that somehow comes to light and the inevitable fall-out of that secret becoming known to a few more people.

There are, of course, all the shenanigans that need to take place to make the play enjoyable and make the audience laugh at (not with) the characters with Wilde's authors voice coming through loud and clear at times. He is rather forensic with his digs at Victorian 'society' and morality and I suspect he would've been more scathing if he thought he could get away with it.

I really liked this production and even laughed out loud a few points (a rarity for me) but two things spoiled it - the Foxes, Edward and Freddie. Fun as it was to have a real father and son play the father and son, I just have to wonder if they were the right father and son. Edward's been around forever and knows his stuff but his accent was so impenetrably posh that I couldn't always make out what he was saying. Freddie is the (relatively) new kid on the block and I've seen him on stage, on telly and on film and I've never really liked his performances. He seems to do a lot of floppy-haired camp but I've yet to see any real and convincing acting. And I'd include this play in that - it's quite a central role but he seemed so lightweight for it. And too young if he's supposed to be a school-friend of the husband of the title.

Frances Barber was excellent as the trouble-making minx Mrs Cheeverley even though her costumes went over the top - too far over the top with the red dress! I also really liked Faith Omole as the sister and love interest for Freddie Fox's character - she had a real presence and confidence on stage and I look forward to seeing her again.

All of this season of plays have been very well produced and I'm looking forward to the next one - 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.

'Swan Lake' at the Royal Opera House

I saw 'Swan Lake' danced by the Bolshoi Ballet a couple of years ago when the Bolshoi did a short summer season at the Royal Opera House. I wasn't all that taken with it  at the time but when it was announced that the Royal Ballet would dance a new production of 'Swan Lake' I was determined to see it. I'm so pleased that I did because it was magical and marvellous.

A beautiful princess is cursed my an evil magician to be a swan by day and a human by night. The evil magician masquerades as the court adviser to the Queen and he menaces the young prince with the Queen's decision that the prince must decide who to marry. Distraught, the prince runs into the forest, to the lake, and meets a beautiful princess who, in the morning turns back into a swan. Scenes build upon scenes until the prince falls for the Black Swan who looks exactly like the princess but is actually the daughter of the evil magician. Tragedy builds on tragedy and, ultimately, the princess takes her life since the curse cannot be lifted. A sad end to a magical tale.

This was a marvellous production with new choreography added by Liam Scarlett, the number of ballerinas on stage together (at one point there were 28 in white tutus) and the astonishing and athletic  dancing. This is a production I'll remember for a long time and hope it is repeated frequently. William Bracewell was our prince and Akane Takada was the swan princess - I was particularly impressed with Akane's transformations into swan when we could see her arms ripple to become wings, a sight not easily forgotten.

All in all, it was a stunning production with sets, lighting, dancing and the wonderful music all coming together to provide the magic. Thank you Royal Ballet, that production has set the standard for all future productions I see of 'Swan Lake'. Please come back soon.

'Hamlet' at Shakespeare's Globe

There seems to be a never-ending supply of productions of 'Hamlet' with big production seemingly every year. The latest version is at the Globe under the new leadership of Michelle Terry who also took the lead role playing 'Hamlet'. It's one of my favourite Shakespeare plays and is full of beautiful poetry and 'sayings' we all recognise. So no pressure there then.

Like others in this opening season for Michelle Terry, casting is gender-blind so we have a female Hamlet and Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are half and half with a  deaf woman as part of the double-act and Ophelia is played by a man (of course) while her brother is played by a woman. None of this really matters since it's the quality of acting that draws you in to any production, not whether the actor is male or female. It was the same ensemble cast as I saw playing 'As You Like It' a month or so earlier and shared some of the same problems, particularly with Betrays Jones being largely unintelligible as Laertes throughout the play - you really really need to learn diction and how to project for a venue like the Globe.

The stage was sparse throughout and there was simple lighting as the evening drew in in the second half. I really like that approach since it's up to the actors to create the magic and make me see castle battlements that aren't really there and, y'know what? I saw pretty sturdy battlements. One of the things I really liked was seeing Hamlet dressed in white for most of the play - normally he's always in black and that gets so boring. Well done to whoever came up with that!

I've seen a number of Hamlets over the years, from Jude Law to Dominic Cumberbatch, Rory Kinnear and Andrew Scott - and my first Hamlet was Derek Jacobi way back in 1978. And you know what? With the possible exception of Mr Jacobi, I think Michelle Terry's Hamlet is the best I've seen. She really knows how to speak verse and she brought it to life by treating some lines as almost off-the-cuff quips rather than venerated lines of poetry. I was most impressed. Not everyone in the production was as excellent but she lifted the whole thing for me.

Another plus was Tanika Yearwood playing various parts, minor roles, but still there and influential. She had excellent diction and great projection, sending those words effortlessly to the back of the balcony and instantly appearing as a different character to the one she was just playing. I was most impressed.

The production wasn't perfect by any means but it's up there with the best for me, particularly Michelle Terry's Hamlet. She deserves flight of angels.

'Mr Wonderful' at Sadler's Wells

Jonathan Ollivier died last summer on his way to his last performance in Matthew Bourne's 'The Car Man' at Sadler's Wells. Monday evening saw the gala performance of his friends and colleagues to celebrate his life and raise funds for a trust fund for his children. 'Mr Wonderful - A Celebration of Jonathan Ollivier's Life In Dance' was held at Sadler's Wells and hosted by Sir Matthew Bourne. I hope his wife and children were there since it was a great night and a great tribute to him.

It was hosted by New Adventures and Northern Ballet with Sadler's Wells so we were treated to scenes from various productions, some of which Jonathan had danced in. The title of the show - 'Mr Wonderful ' - came from a short piece that Matthew Bourne choreographed 25 years ago ( and danced in) to the song of the same name sung by Peggy Lee. Out of the six dancers, four were former Princes from 'Swan Lake' and one was the Swan - that's a great ensemble in anyone's book! It was great fun to see it, funny and precise, and it should be seen often.

There were scenes from some of Matthew Bourne's shows including 'Sleeping Beauty', 'Play Without Words' and 'The Car Man' with a film of Jonathan in 'Spitfire', Rambert did two brilliant pieces 'Hidden' and 'Gypsy Souls', Marcelo Gomes danced to the thrilling violin playing of Charles Yang in 'Paganini' and Northern Ballet gave us the terribly romantic 'Wuthering Heights' and a scene from 'Saphire'. A great piece from the Michael Clark Company was the edgy 'come, been and gone' to 'The Jean Genie' by David Bowie with Mick Ronson's guitar shrieking at the walls as the dancers strode around the stage. There was a lot more and we even had the Temptations from the new show 'Motown' singing 'My Girl'.

The evening ended, of course, with 'Swan Lake', with the Swan and the Prince, the daft swans dancing to the Sugar-Plum Fairy sequence and getting great laughs and applause and it was lovely to see those excerpts from a great work. It ended with the swans all sitting on the stage with their backs to the audience and we saw Jonathan dance on the screen at the back of the stage, ending with his triumph. How touching. And when the swans started clapping and giving their tribute, so we all stood for a standing ovation as the other dancers joined them on stage and it went on and on.

Sir Matthew Bourne had mentioned earlier in the evening that tickets sales had already raised £65,000 to set up a trust fund for Jonathan's sons and invited us to text donations and you can donate at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fund/inmemoryofjonathanollivier.

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at Sadler's Wells

My final pre-Christmas treat was, as has become traditional in recent years, a trip to Sadler's Wells to see the annual Christmas production of a Matthew Bourne show. This year it was the turn of 'Swan Lake' again which is one of my favourites. I'd originally booked tickets for Saturday night but had to change them to the Sunday matinee when Kim Wilde announced her Shepherd's Bush Christmas party (well, I had to didn't I?).

I've seen the production four times before and was lucky enough to have seen the lead performers in those productions. Jonathan Ollivier as The Swan/Stranger, Simon Williams as The Prince, Kerry Biggin as The Girlfriend and Michela Meazza as the cold Queen. Despite having seen it before I still forgot some of the scenes and it was nice to be reminded of them, such as the ballet scene with the butterflies and the hunter (and the Girlfriend dropping her handbag!).

The storytelling is excellent and the dancing even better. One of my favourite scenes is when the Prince and the Swan first meet at the Lake and, from discord, gradually start dancing together over a long scene in which we see the swans enjoy themselves with their own group dances. At the end of that scene the Prince and the Swan are in total harmony, a great uplifting and joyful moment to see them together.

If you haven't seen it yet then you really should - it's a great work of art that needs to be seen to be believed.

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