Henry V - Merely Theatre

Henry V is known for being quite a masculine play: all war and bravado. So what was interesting about Merely Theatre’s production (which I saw at Eastbourne’s Devonshire Park Theatre on Thursday 17^th March 2916) was its gender-blind casting.

In the performance I saw (and the line-up changes, show to show), there were four female cast members and one male. As is often the case with all-female, all-male, or gender-blind casts, this sometimes made me forget about the gender of the characters entirely, and sometimes made me focus on gender even more.

What I found most striking in Henry V was that it was where female actors were playing female roles that it felt most like a caricature. I don’t know if this would have been the same had I seen male actors in those roles, but as it was, it was noticeable that the women were performing being women in a way that it wasn’t so obvious that, for instance, Zena Carswell was playing Henry as a man.

This put me in mind of a lecture I had at university about the performativity of gender. We were shown a clip of Some Like It Hot, with Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in drag – and then Marilyn Monroe sashaying along and putting on an unmistakeable performance of femininity.

It seems there’s something about men playing women or women playing men being juxtaposed with women playing women that makes you notice just how much of a performance gender is.

Aside from the gender thing, this production of Henry V had some interesting ideas around social class, some fine comedic acting, and some very rousing speeches (particularly the St Crispin’s Day speech). And that was just with the cast I saw – there’s a whole other line-up possible and I’m sure each version brings a different slant to it.


Merely Theatre are currently on tour with Henry V and A Midsummer Night’s Dream – see their website www.merelytheatre.co.uk for full tour details.

Sunny Afternoon - Harold Pinter Theatre

People are often a bit snobby about so-called ‘jukebox musicals’. But Sunny Afternoon is not one that shoehorns songs into an unlikely story. It uses songs by The Kinks to tell the (loosely factual) story of the band’s experiences in the 60s. And it does it really well.

A lot of The Kinks’ songs have a narrative style anyway, so these work well in a musical. The band within the story also play songs onstage as a band. So nothing here feels forced or shoehorned in.

The show’s clearly aware of the danger, though, and makes no bones about the artifice required for a musical. It’s established early on that Ray Davies often thinks and communicates through song, and there’s a great line mid-song where his wife asks him to stop singing so they can have a proper conversation. But, often in this show, the ‘proper conversations’ do take place in song. Just see the wonderful a capella ‘Days’ or the moment of rapprochement between the brothers. The songs fold into the story as if they were written especially for it.

All of the cast of Sunny Afternoon play instruments (guitars, drums, trombones) as well as acting and singing. And the band’s instruments and mic stands are at the back of the stage throughout, ready to be used at any moment. It makes it an exhilarating performance – part theatre, part gig. In fact, like Orpheus at BAC, some of the audience are sat at tables in the auditorium, and everyone’s encouraged to get to their feet and dance at the end.

I suppose it’s one way to ensure a standing ovation at every performance.

The great thing about the cast in Sunny Afternoon, too, is that they don’t sing as if they’re in a musical. They sing as if they’re in a band. They give high energy yet nuanced performances which fit the style of The Kinks perfectly.

I’ve always appreciated The Kinks’ music – the witty melancholy of the lyrics combining with that distinctive guitar band sound. To me, as a nineties kid, they sounded like Britpop 30 years early. At the mid-week matinée I went to (on 25^th November 2015), I was one of the younger audience members. Most people there were of the baby boomer generation. Maybe for them the show was powered by nostalgia, but for me it was an exciting new show. In jukebox musical terms, it’s probably closer to Buddy than to Mamma Mia, but better than either as far as I’m concerned.

Very much worth seeing. I’ve been singing Kinks song ever since. (All day and all of the night, you might say).

Macbeth - The Pantaloons

Film noir. Intrigue, suspense, guns, cars, darkness, saxophone music. Witches in bins? Shakespearean knock knock jokes? Stories from the audience? Why not? This is the Pantaloons, after all.

Their take on Macbeth (which visited Eastbourne’s Underground Theatre on 17/10/15) incorporated all of the above and much more in a tight, dramatic and inventive production.

I particularly liked the witches. Three puppets in a bin, like some kind of sinister Sesame Street, lit from beneath and swaying and cackling in the darkness. Brilliant.

The light (or lack of it) and sound throughout was really effective – atmospheric, suspenseful, and at times used for comic effect. The film noir homages, the shadows, the way many of Macbeth’s soliloquies were delivered in semi-darkness in the midst of the audience – all these combined to create a much darker show (literally and metaphorically) than we’re used to from the Pantaloons.

And it was great. There were some pretty powerful moments – from Macbeth (Chris Smart), Lady Macbeth (Alex Rivers), Macduff (Neil Jennings), and Malcolm (Hannah Ellis) as our narrator.

I heard several audience members afterwards comment on the dexterity with which the cast switched between drama and comedy. There’s not a huge amount of comedy in Macbeth, but the Pantaloons drew out and made the most of what there is. Kelly Griffiths, in particular, struck up a great rapport with the audience as the Porter: getting members of the audience to tell stories of strange goings-on and riffing on these; telling jokes; encouraging us to join in as guests at the banquet. The audience always becomes part of the play at a Pantaloons show, and Macbeth was no exception.

A packed house at the Underground Theatre all left the place buzzing and saying how much they’d enjoyed it. The cast may have sung about the curse of Macbeth, but luckily the curse didn’t seem to be in evidence on the night.


The Pantaloons are on tour with Macbeth until the end of November – see their website www.thepantaloons.co.uk for full tour details.

Nell Gwynn - Shakespeare's Globe

What a fab end to my Globe-going season this year! Nell Gwynn (which I saw at Shakespeare’s Globe on 11/10/15) is funny, bawdy, energetic, and fun, with a luminous star turn from Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the title role.

This is another Globe play about women and theatre (see also The Heresy of Love) – but Nell Gwynn has a much lighter touch, making serious points by making you laugh. The conversation about why Lady Godiva is famous being a case in point.

While based on real people from 17^th century London, the play is not afraid of including a few anachronisms and of speaking to the modern Globe audience through references to our own culture. For instance, Dryden describes the plot of Titanic when trying out ideas for plays – and King Charles’ resounding “Down with austerity!” got a big cheer from the audience.

Like most of my favourite Globe productions, Nell Gwynn does not go for all-out naturalism. During the performance, the ‘fourth wall’ was regularly broken – with Nell’s mother even taking beer from the audience at one point – and this created an atmosphere of inclusivity and spontaneity that made the whole afternoon great fun.

Probably the best thing I saw at the Globe this season.

The Oresteia - Shakespeare's Globe

So it’s been a summer of Greek theatre this year, what with the Alemida’s Bakkhai and now The Oresteia at the Globe.

The two productions were done very differently from each other, but you could see that the plays came from the same Ancient Greek tradition. It’s quite unlike any other theatre you see. It’s certainly very different from the Shakespeares and the more modern plays that you usually get at the Globe.

However, I thought The Oresteia (which I saw on 26^th September 2015) suited the Globe quite well. I liked the way the cast walked through the yard, and how the chorus merged with the crowd at some points.

Like the Bakkhai, The Oresteia is intense, gory, and morally perplexing. Perhaps in Ancient Greece it was obvious whose side to be on and what view to take of the characters and their actions – but, if so, it’s certainly not so clear today.

Most of all, the impression I was left with was that The Oresteia is a play that hates women. We may have been encouraged to laugh, in this production, at some of the outdated notions on display – parading a giant gold phallus at the end of the play doesn’t allow anyone to take the conclusion seriously – but it remains an uncomfortable story in terms of gender relations and hierarchy.

Even when Clytemnestra kills her husband, another man comes along and claims the credit for it! (I never thought I’d feel so indignant on a savage murderer’s behalf).

I feel like this would have been a good piece to study at A level. To really dig down into its problems and contradictions; to analyse the way they used the space, the visuals, and the sound; to work out how the meaning or meanings were pieced together.

But as it is, it was an interesting, enjoyably perplexing afternoon at the theatre. I may not be a student any more, but I can still appreciate feeling perplexed occasionally.

The Heresy of Love - Shakespeare's Globe

Well, the summer’s coming to an end, but there’s still time for a few more trips to the Globe yet. We’ve done some Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Much Ado About Nothing), and now we’ve started on the non-Shakespeare.

First up, The Heresy of Love by Helen Edmundson. I saw this at Shakespeare’s Globe on its last performance (Saturday 5^th September 2015).

Following Blue Stockings a couple of years ago, this is another play about the plight of intelligent women in a world run by men. It shares themes with this season’s Merchant of Venice too, dealing as it does with the more oppressive aspects of religion.

I found The Heresy of Love an interesting play because of its constant sense of deferral or displacement of the truth. You were never sure who was being honest with whom or about what. And while most of the characters seemed to be in the wrong at one point or another, none of them was ever really presented as being in the right. No straightforward goodies and baddies here – just lots of people, each with their own conflicting motivations.

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure the Globe was the ideal setting for this play. It’s difficult to conjure a sense of claustrophobia or being shut in or trapped when there’s a wide open roof and sky above you. But perhaps that would have been better at an evening performance (I saw a matinee).

It was a thought-provoking play, though. And very moving at the end. Not a play that gives you any easy answers.


On a sort-of related note, the playwright Helen Edmundson also wrote the musical adaptation of Swallows and Amazons with Neil Hannon, which is one of my favourite things I’ve ever seen at the theatre. Just wanted to give it a mention…

Much Ado About Nothing - Shakespeare's Globe

So this was my second Much Ado in a week. Hot on the heels of The Pantaloons’ version (my review here), I saw this production of Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe on 15^th August 2015.

This was one of the Globe’s touring productions, and it was noticeably different in style from a normal, non-touring Globe production. In fact, it was rather like a cross between a Globe-style and a Pantaloons-style production.

There was a smaller cast than usual for the Globe: just eight of them. Each actor played at least two roles and at least one instrument, as well as singing. (So far, much like The Pantaloons). They also did things like make references to overhead helicopters and throw oranges into the audience and encourage them to throw them back. (I have seen Globe productions that have done this kind of thing before, but it’s also the sort of thing The Pantaloons might do).

...That’s probably enough of the comparisons now.

The cast of this Much Ado, most likely used to playing in all sorts of different settings, made the most wonderful use of the Globe space. They drew in, spoke to, and acted towards every part of the audience – not just front and centre, which some recent Globe productions have had a tendency to do. And the cast were clearly exhilarated by the response they received from the sold-out Globe crowd.

Benedick (Christopher Harper) was undoubtedly the star of the show in this production of Much Ado About Nothing. His clowning in the gulling scene went down particularly well, and he was both funny and believable throughout. Beatrice (Emma Pallant) was also strong.

I like Much Ado About Nothing as a play. It’s probably up there with Twelfth Night in terms of Shakespeare’s comedies. I suppose it’s just as well I like it, as I’ve got to know it quite well in the last week or so.

Both enjoyable versions. Both worth seeing.