Reviews: Charles III @ The Almeida

Charles III

A Future History Play

Almeida Theatre, April 7, 2014

            Mike Bartlett imagines the future in a world where Queen Elizabeth II has shaken off her mortal coil and after a lifetime of waiting, her son, Charles, is the new King. Commissioned by The Almeida and directed by Rupert Goold, Charles III has been one of the most anticipated plays of the spring in London, not only living up to but surpassing all of my expectations.

            We begin with the entire company entering in black, the stage a simple raised platform with two steps, entirely covered in purple velvet, similar to the alter on which St. Edward’s Chair sits. This funeral procession segues into the opening dialogue revealing Charles III’s insecurity in his new role. Meeting with the Prime Minister, Charles is severely disturbed by a newly pass bill placed before him – government regulation of the press. Uncomfortable with the implication, he refuses to sign the bill, but lacking the dignity and force of his mother; he tries to take control with tyrannical displays of power in the form of tanks and guns. While William is trying to keep the peace and take control of the English Monarchy before Charles causes its permanent dissolution entirely.

            When one opens the pages of a Mike Bartlett play, it quickly becomes evident that he writes in his own style of verse, but here he takes on something closer to Shakespeare’s style. With rhyming verse, shared lines and a unique sentence structure, this truly lives up to the subtitle that Bartlett added on. More importantly, who speaks in verse or pros is a very carefully utilized as the royal family and their equals speak in verse, whereas those of markedly lower classes, such as a man working in a kebab shop, speak in pros. And on even closer inspection, the action even falls into Shakespeare’s five-act structure.

            As the confused and grieving heir to the throne and now new English Monarch, Tim Pigott-Smith delivers an older and more malleable ruler than England is used to seeing. With a sense of desperate egotism, Charles is easily swayed by the words of Camilla (Margot Leicester) and the Leader of the opposition (Nicholas Rowe), who steer him towards thoughts of definitive authority. A perfect rendition of what can happen when one is left too long in waiting for power, Pigott-Smith tells the story of a older man suddenly lost as he is thrust into the seat of power he may have long ago given up hope of ever achieving. Bartlett address head-on the question on the mind of many English citizens, will Charles be fit to rule in his old-age once Elizabeth II eventually does pass from this world?

            Supported by a cast of Royals who look eerily like their true-life counterparts, these men and women give a deeper insight into a very public family. William (Oliver Chris) is in every way the young and dignified ruler his role demands, while Bartlett’s Kate (Lydia Wilson) has an ambition that will either solidify or destroy William’s chances of being King. With the famous recklessness that we expect from the now 4^th in line to the throne, Prince Harry (Richard Goulding) falls in love and starts to explore a more civilian version of London, looking for ‘greasy spoons’ and wondering into Kebab shops late at night. While just outside of royalty, the Adam James as the Prime Minister, displays an expert calm as an uncommonly difficult monarch constantly challenges his authority.

            With all the drama and structure of an Elizabethan history, Bartlett and Goold have created a disturbing piece of futuristic history. A brave and bold piece of language, while occasional sounding awkward in the modern context, is expertly structured by Bartlett to emphasize the detachment of royalty from the plain speech of the average citizen. In less than three hours, a magnificent and somewhat terrifying what-if is placed before the audience, and unfolded; Bartlett give a fair argument to both sides, neither condoning nor condemning the English Monarchy.

Reviews: 'Goya' @ Gate Theatre

I’d Rather Goya Robbed Me of My Sleep Than Some Other Arsehole

Gate Theatre, March 10, 2014

A title with one letter per minute of the show, Roderigo Garcia’s whirlwind piece takes us through one man’s mind-fuck of a mid-life crisis. A play originally written in Spanish and translated by William Gregory, Stefan Rhodri simply and honestly interprets this odd one-man drama back to us.

His character, unnamed, is a father looking to get unstuck and give a life-changing experience to his two young sons. Determined to give culture to boys who would rather be in Disneyland Paris, Rhodri takes us through the journey of a man spending his life savings of €5,000 in one night, breaking into the Prado to stare at Goya all night. 

Director Jude Christian keeps our focus on the story, opting for a blank box-set of white tiles with a rotating kitchen unit on the back wall – spinning in time with the bleak rotation of an unchanging life. Add Rhodri’s ragged clothing, a thick layer of grime upon the kitchen, along with a greying pillow and we receive the full effect of stagnation before the monologue even begins. 

Making their stage debut, two piglets are brought on to portray the man’s two young sons. With well-timed, though unintended grunts and squeals, these two trotters give us (and Rhodri) a focus whenever he references his sons. Truly capitalizing on her unique cast, Christian even has Rhodri eating a bacon sandwich when he’s being stern with his ‘children’.

The props used throughout range from childlike toys being splayed across the stage as Madrid to a Winnie-the-Pooh cab driver. The effect of which emphasizes Rhodri’s character’s state of confused recklessness that drives the action. After all, his reasoning for all his choices is ‘because I fucking feel like it’.

Not an average piece of theatre in London, Garcia’s non-traditional story and structure is an enjoyably concise exploration of an issue we all face: the overpowering fear of a mundane existence. While not a piece to lift spirits, Rhodri and his hooved costars keep the audience engaged, at times laughing, and left with a lot to consider at the end. Not a long piece of theatre, clocking in at just forty-five minutes, ‘Goya’, gives a full picture of a man who needs to do something, lest stillness of life suffocates him.

Reviews: A Study in Scarlet @ Southwark Playhouse

A Study in Scarlet

Southwark Playhouse, March 21, 2014

            Defying the contemporary trend of updating Sherlock Holmes in television shows such as ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Elementary’, Tacit Theatre delivers Holmes’ first adventure in Doyle’s original setting of Victorian London. With a cast of just seven actors, Director Nicholas Thompson, uses double casting as a way to tell the two stories going on, of both Holmes’ investigation as well as the events leading to murder.

            A Study in Scarlet is the title of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first Sherlock Holmes novel. Personally unfamiliar with the novel, I can’t say how close the stage adaptation follows the text, but it is easy to understand without the context of the novel. The play begins with two pioneers in the US, a dying father and daughter, saved by a traveling group of Mormons on their way to Utah whose only condition is that these two must join their new religion. Then we are quickly transported to London, where Watson meets Holmes for the first time, and is quickly dragged along to help with the murder investigation of an American man. Over the course of the play we see the story of the young girl and her father play out in this Mormon community, while also watching as Holmes and Watson work to solve the murder of two men from the aforementioned community in Utah.

            We first meet Philip Benjamin as a dust covered, smooth tongued Elder Drebber, leading a community of ‘Latter-day Saints,’ or Mormons. His eyes are wide and alert, and his vocal pattern carries a distinct drawl, oddly mechanical with a false air of warmth within it. Then in the next scene, Benjamin appears as the errant ‘Consulting Detective,’ Sherlock Holmes. With a scarlet neck-tie, flourishing gestures and a crisp English accent, he is able to differentiate between his two roles perfectly. Also surprising us with his skillful playing of the violin as Holmes, while also adding to the dramatic tension in a number of moments.

            Rhys King was also another actor displaying two very different characters in his role as the deeply unsettling Elder Drebson, son of Elder Drebber, and then as the bumbling Detective Gregson. Our first impression of King is that of the wild-eye, trigger-happy Elder Drebson, suspicious of anyone outside of his immediate circle. Later he appears as the confused detective who, funnily enough, is investigating the murder of his other Drebson. It is a relief to see King as the Detective after seeing him as Drebson, who’s wide and roving eyes matched with twitching physicality are very unsettling in the small space of Southwark’s aptly named ‘Little’.

            This was very much an ensemble piece though, with every actor playing an instrument, even if it is just the Triangle by Edward Cartwright as Watson. Each actor plays multiple roles, keeping the story clear with every new character very distinct in voice and mannerisms. The design is that of a beautiful Victorian House by Katherine Heath, who also made apparent the distinct differences between dusty American Pioneers and stiff Victorian Londoners within the design of the costumes. Theatre’s production of A Study in Scarlet at Southwark Playhouse offers audiences a classic retelling of Sherlock’s first adventure in the original setting with just as much flare as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle himself.