The Light Princess

When: Tuesday 28^th January 

Where: National Theatre 

Why: Time Out ticket offer 
 

This was the first play I saw at the National Theatre. I had previously been in to the Philip Pullman talk about fairy tales and made use of the theatre bar to shelter in, but I was looking forward to a real theatrical experience. The Lyttelton theatre is functional, décor-wise, but very comfortable and spacious which my wriggly self appreciated (I am still emotionally, and probably physically, scarred after the Mack and Mabel seating hell at the Southwark theatre’s old location – let’s hope they didn’t take their chairs with them when they moved).

I was drawn in by the promise of music written by Tori Amos and the inspiration for the story from George Macdonald’s fairy tale (which is beautiful and which you can read here). The princess is basically anti-gravity, both literally and emotionally, and the plot follows on from this. It was ingeniously staged and I had been intrigued about how the princess would fly. I was initially irrationally disappointed to see it would mainly be via three royal subjects lifting and supporting Rosalie Craig as the princess, and assisting as she clambered over the vertically reaching set (the bookshelves in her tower were a triumph). But she was so confident and flowing that you really forgot she wasn’t flying, and also came to appreciate the supporting actors’ combined skill.

Having since seen the Oliviers, I can’t help feel that Rosalie was a bit robbed of the best actress in a musical award (especially since the winner was from devil-musical Once - shudder). Her stamina, elegance, and spirit really deserved to be recognised – and to sing so beautifully under such physically demanding conditions was masterful.

The play itself was perfectly balanced – dramatic and funny in turn, full of cheeky humour for both adults and children and with perfectly pitched emotion. The staging was some of the most creative I’ve ever seen – even the lake scene with the prince and princess swimming through various layers of fabric and encountering hopping water creatures was brilliantly done. It was all just charming and massively exceeded my expectations.

In conclusion – I discovered a new fairy tale and had a luminous evening. Good going. 

Brixpig x

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

When: Thursday 9^th January 2014

Where: Saddlers Wells

Why: FEATHERY MEN

All I can say is that we got into serious trouble trying to work out the story during this actual performance. Not trouble like ‘told off by ushers’ trouble, but mental trouble due to stupidity and over-detailed Wikipedia pages. I vaguely knew it was about people turning into swans and that this was an all-male version (FYI just the swans are all-male – there are in fact females in the rest of the cast, a point which caused us GREAT confusion in the opening scenes. “Are they… men dressed as women?”). My knowledge of the plot was essentially based on what Julie Walters tells Billy Elliott as they go over the river on the car ferry. I genuinely am not much better off now regarding the plot, but bloody hell it’s a great show. And much more humorous than expected – a real treat and proper festive. The power of the swans is undoubtedly shown off fantastically well by the male dancers, and their incredible skill and storytelling ability was perfection. I would go every year. 

Brixpig x

Turin Brakes

When: Wednesday 20^th November

Where: O2 Shepherds Bush

Why: Love of old skool

When I told my friend I was going to see Turin Brakes, she texted back with “Never heard of them. Is that a typo?” Admittedly, they’re not the sort of band I ever would have encountered either, if it hadn’t been for a friend’s collection of copied indie CDs in my first year of uni. Once I had found them however, they became fixed in my life as a firm napping soundtrack favourite (alongside bands like Nizlopi, Starsailor, and the Corrs). That sounds like a dig but it’s actually a huge compliment; I have to be able to relax into a band to be able to nap, and their sound welcomed me in and helped me to chill out and have a think, which is vital when most of the rest of your uni time is spent either in total denial about upcoming exams or stress-writing essays at the last minute (two of my key areas of expertise, I’ll have you know).

This tour was to showcase their sixth album We Were Here which stayed true to their sound but with a bit of a “psychedelic edge”, which is almost never a bad thing. The concert was mild mannered but enthusiastic, with some epic jazz flute action and bass guitar flipping. During pauses between songs, the guys made sure to charm the crowd to keep them involved – “We tune because we care” – and it definitely worked, judging by the obvious affection for the band emanating off the crowd in waves. My favourite song of all is their classic track Painkiller which is a constant on any playlist I create, and always takes me vividly back to sitting in my tiny college room in Durham drinking a 50p pint of coke, leaning back on my chair and casually wasting my time in the most delightful way possible.

Thanks for a cracking evening boys.

Brixpig x

Barking In Essex

When: Wednesday 6^th November

Where: Wyndhams Theatre

Why: Hancock and Hawes

You haven’t lived until you’ve seen Sheila Hancock dressed in a shiny tracksuit screaming “Cunt!” at the top of her voice in an Essex accent. You simply haven’t lived.

This was not a good play, but it was a good cast. Hancock was disreputable and clearly relishing the role; Lee Evans was in his element as a sweating half-wit (not a fan of him in general, but this role was made for him); and it was hilarious to see the excellent Keeley Hawes playing something other than a beautiful period-drama classy bird. The play wasn’t hugely innovative or insightful, but they aren’t all, you know. God knows I’m not a theatre snob, and it’s just as well. Sometimes things are as straightforward as laughing at Keeley Hawes with a terrible spray tan, or Sheila Hancock raucously persuading an elderly hitman to take out an innocent stranger in her kitchen. Also, anything with excessive swearing – I’m in, no questions asked. This was a faux-dark, ridiculous gangster farce, and if you just went with it then it was pretty enjoyable. I also spent a joyful half hour reading audience reviews – the level of outrage at the language was hilarious. I’m not sure how people were so enraged – it was pretty damn clear what you were going to get. 

Not ground-breaking, but Hawes and Hancock retain their places in my heart as shiny, shiny stars.

Brixpig x

Much Ado About Nothing: Oldies at the Old Vic

When: Tuesday 29^th October

Where: Old Vic

Why: Mission to see every version of Much Ado that is produced – ongoing

I sort of can’t be bothered to give this production a scathing review, as somehow I feel like that would be expending energy on something which didn’t give me any energy in the first place. It doesn’t deserve my strong opinion either way.

The twist on this oft-performed play was that the ultimate Shakespearean couple Beatrice and Benedick were played by an older couple – here, the venerable James Earl-Jones (voice of Mufasa, who knew?) and Vanessa Redgrave. I say twist; I think that was the plan, but simply hiring older actors to play the parts and leaving them to it wasn’t really enough, in my opinion. There was much made of this unusual casting in the press, it was meant to be an intriguing new interpretation and a new perspective on a classic – but as far as I could see, it made no difference at all.

Redgrave and JE-J played the roles so straight that I lost all interest before the interval. Almost all the humour in the lines was completely lost due to JE-J simply reading his lines out in a monotone cascade while sat in a chair at the side of the stage (- for variation, sometimes he stood up at the side of the stage, legs splayed, and read out his lines in a monotone cascade). I can’t blame the main couple entirely for the production’s lack of dynamism and humour, but they were an essential part of it, and greatly contributed to my bitter sense of disappointment as I’d been expecting a lot from these greats. Not to mention the fact that this version was directed by the brilliant Mark Rylance, who is unquestionably an acting genius. I saw Rylance’s talk near the start of the run, and although generally fairly interesting, he didn’t seem hugely fired up about the production which I think carried through to the actual performances. It was set in the second world war for “no particular reason”, other than it allowed Rylance to incorporate an all-black regiment from the time, which fitted in nicely with the casting of JE-J. But there was a kind of reserved blankness in Rylance’s talk which disconcerted me at the time, then made total sense when I saw the play. Maybe he already knew it was going to flop.

There are some positives. This was the first version of Much Ado that I’ve seen where the comedy scenes (Dogberry, Verges, the guard) didn’t annoy me beyond belief – and yes, that includes the classic Kenneth Branagh film and the beauteous Eve Best version at the Globe. The guard were played by children which added the only energy to be found in the play and provided an interesting contrast to the elderly couple, and they did it admirably. There was also a brilliant moment with an old gardener doing some epic crazy dancing behind some tedious scene or other. Redgrave had a couple of nice moments of delivery (her voice is captivating), particularly during Beatrice’s softer moments, such as “and then a star danced”. And the music was good.

However. The staging was totally rubbish and a bit bizarre – a large wooden canopy dominated the stage and was impossible to use to good effect. It was all but ignored during the gulling scenes, when it might have been somewhat useful, and it broke up the stage in an unhelpful way. It was used to good effect only during the funeral scene where it created a shroud and some dynamism with Claudio stood on top delivering his eulogy to Hero. The canopy just seemed to always be in the way and was overly modern for a self-proclaimed old fashioned telling of the story. When you’re playing it straight and your two main characters don’t do much other than sit in a chair or stand in one place, maybe a more interesting stage would have helped to lift the mood.

One review has called this version of Much Ado a “misdirected oddity” and I think that’s exactly right. It was baffling because it seemed that no thought or logic had been put into how or why this couple were older and how they fitted in with the rest of the characters. There was little attention to detail and it was lacklustre in a way I haven’t seen since that fateful Lana Del Rey concert.

Disappointed by Rylance, Redgrave and JE-J, and the Old Vic.

Brixpig x

Boomtown Rats

When: Saturday 26^th October

Where: Camden Roundhouse

Why: DO THE RAT

I had seen Bob Geldof perform once before, at the North Shields fish quay music festival in 2003 (the same year that Hear’Say were at the height of their fame and were flown in by helicopter to perform, and the same year I also saw Lindisfarne... Such company). Not the rest of the Rats, just Bob, in the middle of a thunderstorm and a crowd full of umbrellas, yelling “Yer all feckin’ mad!” as the rain poured down. But he was clearly grateful and glad to be there, staying on-stage as long as possible until the risk of actually being electrocuted became too great – standard Bob. It was all about the gig and pushing the boundaries of what was sane.

I have no idea how I got into the Boomtown Rats. I think I knew I don’t like Mondays by the time I’d seen them in North Shields, and I remember buying their Greatest Hits album and locking myself in our utility room and listening to it on repeat while I was painting photo frames for my friends before I went away to uni. Eventually I knew every word and bought their entire back catalogue in one go from HMV before I went off to Durham, and had a poster of Bob and a white tiger on my college bedroom wall for quite a long time.

This gig was the first time with the whole band reunited (and their old guitarist came back at the end – won’t lie to you, no idea he was missing but they were happy so I nodded along). I love Geldof’s strutting arrogance – he really doesn’t give a shit, but he’s funny and self-aware too. And he has a massive, huge stage presence – that you just can’t deny. They sang all their classics, and I have never danced so much at a gig by myself before – you just can’t help it. I was also definitely one of the youngest there, which I always love. The Rats are definitely underrated as a band, and if you’re at all interested in sort of melodious punk, definitely give them a listen. Bob’s also a hero – I recently read his autobiography (written in 1985 so slightly out of date), which is insightful and yeah, a bit up itself, but often funny and massively inspiring and shows you what an attitude and a determined fight for what’s good and right can achieve (I’m talking about Live Aid guys).

This was also my first trip to the Roundhouse, which is an awesome venue. Genuinely impressed. Another one ticked off the list!

Brixpig x

Ellie Goulding

When: Wednesday 16^th October

 

Where: (A newly renovated) Hammersmith Apollo

 

Why: We made a drunken decision to go

 

Short review: Ellie Goulding was ok. She’s clearly a nice person, she has some good tunes and an intriguing, skillful and sometimes impressive voice, but not much of a stage presence. The set list was a bizarre mixture of her old, more acoustic stuff, and new dance-inspired songs, and although they’re all good, the way they were mixed up was often jarring and didn’t quite work. I’ve been more inspired at a concert, that’s all I’ll say. But you know, good work Ellie for bringing us your voice and nice hair.

 

Brixpig x