'A Woman of No Importance' at the Vaudeville Theatre

A year of Oscar Wilde plays has started at the Vaudeville Theatre so it was time to jump in and get all Wildean. An additional draw was a cast headed up by Eve Best, Anne Reid and Eleanor Bron with the additional delight of William Gaunt having a small role as a local clergyman (I last saw him play John O'Gaunt, his namesake). With that cast and a Wilde play, what's not to like, especially when we were seated down the front of the stalls with perfect views?

The play opens at the country house of Lady Hunstanton who has invited a range of different people in the hops of having an interesting weekend. We have a young lady from America, various members of the aristocracy that seem to go from one country house to the next, a young clerk that Lady Hunstanton has taken an interest in, a politician and various others. A late Victorian play is, of course, full of morality and preaching and very so often you can clearly hear Wilde's Irish views spouted by the young American lady, a cypher for his own views on 'society' and the upper classes.

When Lord Illingworth offers the young clerk, Arbuthnot, a job as his secretary everyone is happy for him. It's a good step, after all. And his mother is invited to join the party for dinner. And that's where the tone changes since Mrs Arbuthnot ran away to live with Lord Illingworth when they were both young but he refused to marry her when she became pregnant. She doesn't want her son to have anything to do with the father who did nothing to help them all those years ago and we see her explain that Lord Illingworth is actually his father. That's where the twists and turns become ever more sharper.

It's a very enjoyable production, excellently delivered. Eve Best is a safe pair of hands as the 'woman of no importance', independent and strong whose only flaw seems to be her relationship with her selfish son. The son annoyed me - that's partly the writing of course, but mainly his stupid 'Ed Sheeran' hair style that was all over the place while everyone else was in character. It was a delight to see Eleanor Bron on stage who was imperious and, well, she played Eleanor Bron really well.

A very pleasant surprise was seeing Anne Reid on stage for the first time. Not only did we get a great performance but she came out in-between acts with some of the 'servants' to sing appropriate songs that helped the story move forward and she has a lovely singing voice. She was a friend of Barbara Cook so that's hardly surprising.

Once we got over young Arbuthnot's tantrums at the end of the play he finds a glove in his mother's drawing room, not knowing that Lord Illingworth had visited earlier and his mother had slapped his face with that glove. Her response to the question of whose glove it was was a very satisfying ending when she said it belonged to 'a man of no importance'. Take that!

Well done all, I really enjoyed this production and I'm looking forward to the next one now. Seeing a Wilde play every few months seems like a nice thing to do. Thank you Vaudeville for taking the plunge and committing to a Wilde year!

'Richard II' at Shakespeare's Globe

Last week we went to see 'Richard II' at The Globe and luckily the rain held off but there was still the inevitable helicopter sweeping low and drowning out some of the speeches. I've not seen 'Richard II' before so it was nice to finally see it and see it at The Globe.

It opens with priests coming on stage as the audience is still arriving, swinging incense and lighting candles ready for the coronoation of the boy-king Richard who soon leaves the stage to be replaced by the man-king. Richard is the annointed of God, the rightful heir and ruler of England. He doesn't have to fight for the throne, it's his by right, and that's how he rules. He gets whatever he wants and that turns him into a spoilt brat and not a very nice person. He has his sycophants that crawl around him and he has his ardent followers. Two of these, Mowbray and Bolingbroke accuse each other of treason and seek their king's permission to duel and bare the proof of their accusations on their bodies. The king refuses and exiles both of them.

Shortly afterwards, John of Gaunt, one of the king's advisers and uncles (and Bolingbroke's father) falls ill and dies, and the king takes all his lands and possessions to fund a new campaign against those pesky Irish. As the king leaves so does Bolingbroke re-appear demanding his inheritance and birth-right and gathers the nobles to his cause and against the king and so the king is overthrown and Bolingbroke takes the crown and becomes Henry IV. Richard is imprisoned and, hearing Henry say he wishes his problems would go away, he is slain in prison in a final fight. Henry rebukes the lords who did this but the scene is set for his own tragedy.

It's quite fast paced and zips along from scene to scene and the narrative is easy to follow as we see Richard come to more fervently believe in his own divine right to rule and his decisions becoming more erratic and hurtful to those he should love so that even the uncle of his queen sides with Bolingbroke. He floats round the stage in his long, flowing white and golden robes marking him out a s creature distinct from the soldiers and courtiers and towards the end his robes become greyer and less graceful. We're witnessing the downfall of a king. He's pragmatic enough - and not at all stupid - to be able to see the end coming but doesn't know what to do. How do you fend off a rebellion when you have no army?

It's a really good production of the kind I've come to expect from the Globe and once again the stage has been changed to make it unique to this production. I loved the burnished gold of the walls and columns, all very regal and other worldly. The costumes were great and I loved the minimalist brass band that came on every now and then for a quick blast. Charles Edwards was great as Richard, careless and carefree and knowing his every whim will be catered to until the end.David Sturzaker was arresting as Bolingbroke, grabbing every eye when he was on stage, just as he did with his charm in 'Merchant of Venice' earlier this year. I will also give a shout out to William Gaunt as John of Gaunt - William used to a Champion in the 1960s and still retains his mesmerising powers. He gets the most beautiful speech when, on his deathbed, he prophesies the end to the dream of the glories of Olde England when he talks about:

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall,

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.

It fair brings a lump to the throat - that wily old poet knew what he was doing with those words.

There is some lovely poetry in this play but, for me, some of it was missed by the over-long speeches, particularly by Richard. Sometimes less is more. But it's a grand production so go along and see it if you can.

'The Champions'

Do you  remember 'The Champions'? It was a telly series from the late 60s about a team of super spies with special powers that saved the world every week. Alexandra Bastedo was blonde with the beehive with super-strength and ESP and William Gaunt and Stuart Damon (the mandatory American) were her side-kicks that did a lot of fighting and stuff. And 'The Champions' popped into my head tonight when I saw William Gaunt play John O'Gaunt in Shakespeare's 'Richard II' at The Globe. He didn't use his superpowers though.

He's still recogniseable despite the white hair and beard and his voice is just the same. He delivered a magnificent death-bed speech that threw me back to 'The Champions'. I didn't realise he was in this production since I booked the tickets ages ago but it was lovely to see him again, and this time in the flesh.