August 20th – 25th, 2016

STRANGE SHORE: London, England.

SUNDRY LAND: United Kingdom

WANDERING WAY: London Theatre Overview (Part One) – “The Seagull” (@ The National Theatre), “The Plough and the Stars” (@ The National Theatre), “Yerma” (@ The Young Vic), and “The Entertainer” (@ The Garrick Theatre)

Isn’t it delightfully ironic that I should visit Bath for the weekend – the classic destination to take “curative waters” – only to come down with an irksome sore throat? Ugh. Like Jane Austen, I blame the weather, which is damp and chilly even in August. Remember that scene in Austen’s Persuasion when Anne Elliot gets caught in a Bath rainstorm and then Captain Wentworth gallantly offers his umbrella? Well, I do:

[Wentworth] "But it rains."

[Anne] "Oh! very little, Nothing that I regard."

After a moment's pause [Wentworth] said: "Though I came only yesterday, I have equipped myself properly for Bath already, you see," (pointing to a new umbrella); "I wish you would make use of it, if you are determined to walk; though I think it would be more prudent to let me get you a chair."(Volume II, Chapt.VII.)

Unfortunately, there weren’t any handsome sea captains (who’d secretly been pining after me for years and years and years) to offer me umbrellas or get me chairs. Consequently, I was left to cope with Bath’s sogginess all by my lonesome. Like any unchaperoned heroine, I immediately came down with a little sniffle, Marianne-Dashwood-style. Oh, woe is me. 

But! Fear not, dear readers of “Strange and Sundry” – your fair Sharon is a modern woman who believes in medicating early and often. I have faith that the combination of namby-pamby organic treatments (ineffective), hardline over-the-counter Advil (more effective), and a generous helping of medicinal Calvados (quite effective) have set me on the road to a full recovery. Plus, I eschewed the sulfurous curative waters, and I haven’t let anyone bleed me with leeches either. Good choices, I think. Moreover, I’ve awakened from my three-hour nap. All’s well.

Although there’s plenty to relate about Bath, I absolutely must recount my past week of London theatre-going before I inaugurate another week of London theatre-going. (Yay!) Here are four short play reviews. They’re a bit brief because I should get some more rest. I’ve gotta take care of myself until I ride away from this infectious Regency germ-scape. (For more info on Austen and illness, see here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2337371/Jane-Austen-right-Her-characters-known-falling-ill--historians-say-19th-century-people-WERE-prone-disease.html)

1. The Seagull @ The National Theatre (https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-seagull)

To say that I was looking forward to this production is a bit of an understatement. Not only did The National’s marvelous Platonov (https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/platonov) raise my expectations, but I was thrilled that the amazing Anna Chancellor would be playing Irina Nikolaevna Arkadina. I adored Chancellor in 2010’s “The Creditors” (http://www.bam.org/theater/2010/creditors) and 2013’s “Private Lives” (http://www.digitaltheatre.com/production/details/noel-coward-private-lives/play), and I had every confidence that her Arkadina would match Kristin Scott Thomas’s wonderful performance in 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/theater/reviews/03seag.html?_r=0).

Oddly, Michael Billington’s glowing review of the “Young Chekhov” cycle playing at The National Theatre gestures towards the limitations of the company’s take on “The Seagull”. Billington writes, “[Y]ou see Chekhov move from farce (Platonov) and melodrama (Ivanov) to the creation of a symphonic realism (The Seagull)” (https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/04/young-chekhov-trilogy-platonov-ivanov-the-seagull-national-theatre). I agree that the play-texts themselves chart this progression, but the company’s broad acting (that relies on over-sized comic gestures) illuminates Platonov’s satirical farce while it undercuts the “symphonic realism” of The Seagull, which (quite frankly) is a problem.

Take the scene when Anna Chancellor’s Arkadina hangs all over Geoffrey Streatfield’s Trigorin as she begs him to not to leave; she wails and moans and wraps around him like a child, transforming this agonizing moment into bald comic farce. The interpretation doesn’t do justice to the text. In playing Arkadina’s desperation for easy laughs, it diminishes the character, an aging woman resisting a life alone. Here, Arkadina only comes across as an unsympathetic and silly narcissist. In good productions of “The Seagull”, the audience feels sympathy for Arkadina even though she’s a narcissist. In the best productions, Arkadina’s narcissism reminds viewers of their own narcissistic, selfish foibles. One of Chekhov’s many gifts was to render every perspective valid – there are no heroes and there are no monsters in Chekhov…only flawed humans. In great productions of Chekhov’s mature plays (The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard), one laughs to keep from crying. There are no easy laughs.

Upon reflection, all the actors fell into this broad interpretative mode (in which each scene is so comic or so tragic), and so I’d guess that this one-note “Seagull” – that resists the “symphonic” complexities of the text – must be a case of directorial overreaching by usually excellent Jonathan Kent. The directorial decisions that make the “farcical” Platonov shine diminish the “symphonic” Seagull, making it a wee bit…obvious. Dull, even.

2. The Plough and the Stars @ The National Theatre (https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/the-plough-and-the-stars)

Before I begin ripping apart this terrible production of “The Plough and the Stars,” keep in mind that I adore The National Theatre. Really! Why do you think that I try to see everything it produces?

That said, here we go.

Wasn’t there a single Irish person consulted about this production? Wouldn’t an Irish consultant have offered the handy note that several cast members can’t manage to do Irish accents? Wow.

How do I know? Well, firstly, I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Ireland; moreover, you wouldn’t believe how many real-life, genuine Irish actors come to New York for productions at The Irish Repertory Theatre and Origin’s 1^st Irish Theatre Festival. New Yorkers love the Irish. Love them.

As I sat in the half-empty auditorium, I couldn’t believe the atrocious accents. Hearing English people murder an Irish accent is almost unbearable. (Couldn’t The National have ponied up the dough for more Irish actors to perform? Ireland’s pretty darn close, after all.) A terrible chain effect takes place when key cast members don’t bother to master the Irish accent when mounting Seán O’Casey’s “The Plough and the Stars”:

-       -Without the accent, you lose the language’s music.

-       -Without the language’s music, you lose the text’s timing.

-       -Without the text’s timing, you lose the human comedy.

-       -Without the human comedy, you lose the first half of the play.

The first half explores how mundane, quotidian concerns don’t disappear even when revolutionary violence threatens to sweep across a city – people still laugh and bicker even as bullets whiz by. It’s a profound insight considering the importance of liberation and The Easter Rising to Irish society. In losing O’Casey’s observation that ordinary people’s lives continue (unless they come to a violent end) in times of political tumult, the characters’ actions seem off-note, off-putting, and inexplicable. In short, no one associated with the production appeared to “get” Irish humor, which can be pretty dark. Well, no kidding. 

To be fair, the performances (if not the accents) improve when the play becomes a blatant tragedy in the second half. Apparently, tragedy is easier to do than tragicomedy. When Judith Roddy’s character Nora Clitheroe descends into full-Ophelia mode, I imagined that the actress might make a pretty good Ophelia, actually.

There’s another big problem with mounting “The Plough and the Stars” at The National – I wouldn’t say that the audience was particularly open to the whole idea of The Easter Rising. (To be fair, the cast so garbled the text that the audience might’ve been confused what the play was even about.) However, the guy seated next to me said, “I read the play this morning. Can you believe they rioted during the war?” His dismissive attitude to the idea of Irish independence left me a little breathless, and I only said, “Well, it was The Easter Rising…not a little riot.” He sorta shrugged.

Oddly, the conversation made me wonder how well Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” will play in England. It’s a question that’s occurred to me several times on my trip. I’ve been listening to the “Hamilton” soundtrack incessantly, and I have to imagine there are some plans to mount the successful juggernaut on the West End. “Hamilton” is so concerned with the rectitude of revolution, the American linguistic/musical/hip-hop idiom, and lampooning the old British Empire -- could it be possible that "Hamilton" will sink in front of a half-empty auditorium, too? Hmmmm….

3. Yerma @ The Young Vic (http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on/yerma)

Yerma is brilliant. It may be the best play that I’ve seen this year… It’s certainly in the top five alongside Charles III, A View from the Bridge, Hamilton, and Eclipsed. Billie Piper is astounding as “Her”. If you’re in London, go see Yerma. I hope it transfers to Broadway so all my New York friends can see it.

I almost don’t want to write anything because it should just be seen.

However, I’ll just say that the play offers a wrenching portrait of the torment experienced by women who desperately want children and cannot conceive. I’ve known so many women who’ve experienced similar feelings, and I found myself recognizing friends in the searing details of Billie Piper’s brave performance. (Note: Over the years, it’s been startling and rewarding to watch Piper develop into such a strong actor.) The play deals intelligently with this timely issue, and I hope it reaches a wider audience. 

4.The Entertainer @ The Garrick Theatre (http://www.branaghtheatre.com/the-entertainer/)

I’m not positive why I bought a ticket to a preview performance – it isn’t my wont to make such a mistake, but there you have it. Ever so occasionally, I make mistakes – gasp and faint!  

Since there’s a slim chance that Kenneth Branagh, Rob Ashford, the production team, and the cast might solve the myriad problems with this troubled production of John Osborne’s “The Entertainer” before Press Night on Tuesday, I’ll stop my poison pen for splashing too much acid and arsenic.

Instead, I’ll share some ancillary reflections that occurred to me as I sat through the performance – I had a lot of time for daydreaming:

- “Gosh, I should watch Laurence Olivier in the movie version again. I watched it over and over and over in high school, and I remember it being so good. I’ll definitely need to figure out why I used to like this play so much. I’ll watch the movie soon.”

- “Who would make a good Archie Rice? I used to dream about a production with Christopher Walken – he can tap dance, and he’s pretty much the Archie Rice of cinema. (The performer who stays on the job even as his act ages and grows crusty.) But maybe Nathan Lane? Because Archie Rice needs to get a few laughs even as he shows his inner torment. Hmmm… Olivier really was excellent as Archie Rice, wasn’t he?”

- “Golly, I love Joan Plowright. Watching an execrable performance like this one really makes me appreciate talented actors like Joan Plowright. It makes sense that Plowright played Olivier’s daughter, actually. It was creepy since they were together, but the casting highlights the inappropriateness of Archie’s behavior. Brilliant choice, actually.”

- “Too bad that John Hurt had to drop out of this cast. Who would’ve made a good replacement as Billy Rice? Hmmm, I might cast Ian McDiarmid (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001519/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1)  – he was so brilliant in that 2006 production of “Faith Healer.” Or maybe Alun Armstrong! I love Alun Armstrong (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0035605/?ref_=tt_cl_t5). He would blow this role out of the water.”

- “I wish that I hadn’t been seated next to the production’s tech guys. Sure, they need to take notes for the tomorrow’s rehearsal, but their groans are really getting irritating.”

-“Huh, I remembered that monologue being a lot more moving and a lot less racist. Really gotta watch the movie again.”