Damned by Despair, 5 October 2012 (Preview)

Who's in it? Bertie Carvel, Sebastian Armesto, Leanne Best, Rory Keenan, Lorna Brown, Michael Gould, Amanda Lawrence, Pierce Reid and Alex Warren.

Where did you see it? Olivier, National Theatre

Occasionally the National Theatre put on productions that make you wonder what the director has on Sir Nicholas Hytner . Associate Director Bijan Sheibani must have something pretty major to bring Frank McGuinness' adaptation of Tirso de Molina's Damned by Despair to the biggest theatre on the South Bank.

It is a complete and utter car crash. The lack of big names means it isn't selling too well (I had complementary tickets) and when it does get an audience in they are quick to disappear at the interval. The story surrounds hermit Paulo (Armesto), who after receiving a message from 'God', goes to find his counterpart Enrico (Carvel), a violent man who kills for money and sometimes just for fun. Armesto and Carvel are badly miscast. Armesto lacks the charm or ability to keep the audience interested in Paulo and Carvel, 2012 Olivier Award winner for Matilda, is all charm and muscle (He looks fantastic, he reminded me of a young Gary Oldman when Oldman only played psychos) but his musical theatre past keeps cropping up, with limp wristed movements and all round campiness that ruins any belief the audience had in Enrico,violent gang-leader and killer. The brilliant What's on Stage forum suggested he wants baddie roles but Carvel will be lucky to get any roles after this.

Company in rehearsal

Add in the fact that is religious propaganda that sits uncomfortably with a 21st century audience. I hate to sound all Ricky Gervais but it feels out of place, in the same way 13's message of Atheism felt like being force fed marbles of issues that aren't done well at the best of times but feel particularly clunky in the theatre.

It is also doesn't seem to know when it is set, is it 17th century Naples as the original or is it a modern day setting (There's a really cringey bit with Carvel and his gang, shocking made up of mostly black men which really offended me, singing 'Stuck in the Middle' with you as they chopped off someone's ear) . The actual set is one of the cheapest, nastiest sets I have seen in a theatre.It looks like cardboard and the only pay off is a scene towards the end. It's staging means a lot of action takes places amongst the audience, which results in awkward shuffling as some realise they are both watching and they are also part of the action. There is also the poor supporting cast, only saved by Alex Warren and Rory Keenan, who provide actual charm and suitable acting in this poor production. Leanne Best plays Celia as smug, quite unnecessarily which makes me think she isn't necessarily acting the smugness and Pierce Reid, who was actually quite good in Collaborators, is reduced to ensemble.

I am not sure how the National can justify this dull play at any time, let alone during a recession. Offering during the Travelex season isn't justification for why it looks and feels so cheap and it isn't what you expect from the National Theatre.

My recommendation is don't go but if you do try to enjoy as campy nonsense rather than a serious play.

13, 2nd December 2011

Who is it? Too many to mention on here so take a look at the cast list on the NT website.
Where did you see it? Olivier, National Theatre.

Mike Bartlett is the writer-in-residence at the National. I say this to remind myself why this poor, self-indulgent mess of a play even got past the first draft, let alone the biggest stage at National. I won a competition to see it and dragged along a friend, who had never been before. She is now reluctant to ever see a National Theatre play again. Having just looked up Bartlett I am suprised he is young (only 30) yet this play feels like it was written by some 80 year old writer who had heard of You Tube but wasn't really sure what it did. It feels confused and it already feels a little dated.



Geraldine James in 13



There are too many characters, which would be okay if they all had strong roles but they don't. With 13 characters all having the same dream you need A LOT of understudies so you end up with these odd scenes, which have no importance just so the understudies know what is going on. At least that is why I hope they are there. It feels a waste of many good actors. Geraldine James and Danny Webb stand out in particular as a Thatcher-esque Prime Minister and her Richard Dawkins-esque friend from university. Webb delivers the only good line of the evening when he compares James' character (the fact I remember no names only a week on is very telling) that as she has no children (her son is dead) and no husband (he left her) she can dedicate herself to job, just like Thatcher. When pointed Thatcher did have children Webb's character hisses "but she didn't care about them!", though it could argued she was fond of Mark when got lost in some sand, somewhere.

I get the impression someone, somewhere thought this play was quite edgy; wars in Iran, atheist rhetoric that somehow attracts half a million followers despite sounding like what 15 year old might mumble to each other on the bus home from school and something resembling a story yet not actually being one. Oh, and there is the big black cube. That is the set in the National Theatre. A big black cube. There's a Boris Bike and some Rihanna. There is really nothing to this play and my respect grows for the acting profession. Getting a good part in a good play is easy. Getting a mediocre part in an awful play and not screaming "THIS IS SHIT, JUST GO HOME" at the interval in hard.

The story that is there is many interconnecting tales from the American diplomat, his wife  and their annoying daughter (who gets chopped into pieces and I think we are meant to be appalled but she really is annoying so you are quite glad she won't be in it anymore), the messiah-type figure (Trystan Gravelle), who may or may not have killed the Thatcher-like James' son and frankly who cares at 2hrs 45 minutes this play is too long with too much of nothing. I do worry when the National puts something like this on because it undos all the good work of what has been a good year for them. Part of me wants to recommend seeing it because it will never be performed again but the reason it will never be performed again is because it is so bad!

Comedy of Errors (Preview) 22nd November 2011

Who is in it? Lenny Henry, Claudie Blakley, Chris Jarman, Lucian Msasmati, Amit Shah. Michelle Terry, Daniel Poyser and Rene Zagger
Where did you see it? Olivier, National Theatre

For a first preview I think I made more mistakes than the cast, for some inexplicable reason (tiredness? I do have a proper job and everything believe it or not) I thought E came before G in the alphabet (My name has no Fs in so I don't register it) and sat in the wrong seat for about 15 minutes before the beginning. Such a fool.

Claudie Blakley (Adriana) and Lenny Henry (Antipholus of Syracuse)

In terms of audience this preview seemed to attract the rudest, most ignorant people. Next to me were two Japanese tourists. I think they both found the language a bit difficult, it is Shakespeare after all, so spent the whole play playing with their phone. They ignored the usher, either out of rudeness or they didn't understand. Is that behaviour acceptable in any theatre or is it just us British that get a bit angsty over mobile phones in theatres? THEN I had the most annoying family (I say family they all called each other by their first names but I can so imagine hemp wearing modern families doing that) who didn't understand what was going (and were British and English speakers so no excuse) and had to keep explaining to each other what Lenny Henry was doing.

Now I am not blaming Lenny Henry for attracting those sorts of audiences. I doubt Lenny has a big Japanese following and the children were about 12 and 16, does anyone under 21 know who Lenny Henry is? The issue is maybe a National thing. Cheap tickets and the inability to throw people out mean rude audiences will occur but hopefully not too frequently.

The play itself? Fabulous. I only went because I hadn't been to the theatre for a couple of weeks and Entry Pass tickets were released for the early previews. I didn't have high expectations because it wasn't a play I was familiar with and whilst I had heard good things about Lenny Henry (who won the Evening Standard Best Newcomer award) but I wasn't that excited about it. The play is about two sets of twins, who become separated. Antipholus and  and his Dromio of Syracuse set out to find their Ephesus counterparts and the confusion that arises from their arrival.

Lucian Msamati (Dromio of Syracuse) and Lenny Henry (Antipholus of Syracuse)

Henry is excellent as Antipholus of Syracuse and as a comedian in his natural home, as opposed to his Othello but Jarman (the more experience Shakesperian actor playing Antipholus of Ephesus) of the two is more straight, more serious and thus quite unlikeable. Claudie Blakley and Michelle Terry are the stand out performances as Adriana (Antipholus of Ephesus's wife, who finds herself "dining" with both twins) and Luciana, Adrianna's twin. They play them as TOWIE-esque new money, all high heels and short dresses but it works brilliantly. I now want to see Shakespeare done by Essex only actors but it works so well. I would argue the double act of Blakley and Terry rivals Henry and Lucian Msamati (Dromio of Syracuse) for theatrical double act of year (even beating Alex Jennings and Simon Russell Beale in Collaborators).

Grace Thurgood (Courtesan), Claudie Blakley (Adriana, wife to Antipholus of Ephesus) and Michelle Terry (Luciana, her sister

I think the play's strength is its wonderful set (has there ever been a rubbish set at the National) and strong performances. Comedies are damn hard and this play pulls it off wonderfully.