Think I'm becoming a bit of a Eugene O'Neill fan. After Anna Christie at the Donmar last year, A Long Day's Journey Into The Night last month and now Hairy Ape I think he can slot in nicely with Miller and Williams for writing with an eye for the rawest of human emotions.
The Southwark Playhouse's production of Hairy Ape, while not without its flaws feels epic, bringing to life the sights and sounds of its ocean liner engine room and New York settings while never detracting from what it essentially an introspective piece on identity.
Yank (Bill Ward) is a fireman on a passenger ship. He toils away in the hellish bowels of the ship to keep the engine fires stoked. He belongs, he tells us. What he doesn't tell us about is his life before and outside the ship which makes this simple admission, of where he feels a sense of place, all the more saddening.
When a Mildred (Emma King), a rich, privileged young woman passenger requests a visit to the engine room her sense of disgust by what she sees and specifically the look she gives Yank knocks him for six. It is a rude awakening and his 'place', where he feels he belongs is permanantly and devastingly tainted by having been 'put in his place' by an outsider.
The Southwark Playhouse has surpassed itself with this one with the use of simple lighting, choreography and sound effects the production oozes atmosphere. Ward puts his heart and soul into his performance with a great effect but my only grumble is with his diction. His physical performance can't be faulted but at times the words get lost in the growl of the accent which is a shame because O'Neill writes so beautifully.
Nonetheless it is definitely worth seeing and runs at the Southwark Playhouse until June 9. And I'm giving it a very solid 4 stars.
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Mitchel Mullen who plays two different characters was also in Made in Dagenham which starred Andrea Riseborough who's trode the boards with Mr W in The Pride on Broadway.
Titus Andronicus was Shakespeare's answer to the popular blood and guts tragedies his contemporaries were churning out; the Jacobean theatre equivalent of Slasher Films I suppose.
It has a typically complicated plot but all you really need to know is that it is all about revenge. Stabbing, hand-severing, tongue removing, raping, grinding up your enemies bones and feeding them to their mother revenge. The usual type.
So setting it among the turf wars of 1980s skinhead gangs feels like a natural fit right down to the street-accented delivery of the bards words. There is sarcasm, contempt, facing off and jostling aplenty in the delivery of the initial confrontations and a particularly puffed-up petulance from the younger characters which works nicely.
Shakespeare plays aren't known for having small casts and Titus is no different - there are 14 actors in this production which seems extraordinary for a tiny pub theatre. I confess I was concerned when I saw how small the stage is and whether they would all fit on but by keeping set and props to a minimum (a sofa and a St George's flag) it never felt over-crowded which is testament to Zoe Ford's direction.
I've commented before about how some actors in small spaces have a tendency to perform as if they are on a big stage which can feel a little over blown and hammy but Titus is such a big, brutal story with lots of angry characters on the verge of violence it kind of gets away with some chewing the scenery.
Honourable performance mentions go to David Vaughan Knight who manages to add some depth to the vengeful Titus and Stanley J Browne as the manipulative and machiavellian Aaron. And also Maya Thomas who plays the tricky role of Lavinia for keeping the character present, giving her a silent voice after she is rendered dumb by the tongue 'incident' about half way through.
Yes with such a physical production you lose some subtlety in the character development and motives and the dialogue did get a little swallowed up in shouting occasionally but main plot points shine through, even if they are typically outlandish at times (the dressing up as revenge, rape and murder scene is always going to be tricky to make believable).
This is good solid pub Shakespeare and I'm going to give it four stars. Titus Andronicus runs at the Etcetera Theatre in Camden until May 27.
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Yes there is one, Adam Henderson Scott was in A Moon For the Misbegotten at the Old Vic which starred Kevin Spacey who famously spotted Mr W when he was a RADA student and then interviewed him for the Guardian when he was playing Hamlet.
Detroit is a play about the decay of the suburban dream. Ben and Mary live in a nondescript suburb. They are ordinary. Take pride in their home but like their own lives it has its flaws - a patio door that sticks and a garden umbrella that collapses randomly.
Ben (Stuart McQuarrie) has been made redundant and is setting up his own business and website and is always on his first drink when Mary (Justine Mitchell) gets home from her paralegal job. Mary resents the fact that Ben is already drinking when she gets home and is frustrated by the speed of progress with Ben's business start up. She too likes a drink when she gets home.
When a young couple move into the tatty house that backs onto theirs, a neighbourly friendship begins. Sharon (Clare Dunne) and Kenny (Will Adamsdale) have been moving from place to place and have just come out of rehab for drug addiction. Their new found take on life is attractive to Ben and Mary.
Sharon and Kenny see the neighbourhood in a different light. They notice the woman jogging past every day and wave whereas Ben and Mary never have. They seem to like the stability - and not being shunned.
As the friendship blossoms suburban ideals are challenged and the frayed edges begin to appear. There is an underlying tension: Will Sharon and Kenny fall off the wagon, will Ben and Mary's relationship withstand their own drinking and will Ben ever finish his website?
"Should Sharon be drinking that?"
"A beer is fine, freebasing heroin was her problem"
It is a destructive friendship but not quite in the way that you think and I liked that.
Detroit is at times funny - there are some great lines from Ben about his impression of the English - and quite sad. It is really well acted and imaginatively staged - I certainly haven't seen them do that in the Cottesloe before (not going to spoilt it).
The party scene did feel like it went on too long, it was exhausting just watching the actors jumping around to music. The final scene too did feel a little long for such a dramatic change of pace.
Ultimately it is a difficult play to sum up. I thoroughly enjoyed it at the time but the play itself is quickly fading from memory. What will stick in my mind when I'm looking back at the end of the year is that staging. I'm going to give it four stars.
Detroit runs at the Cottesloe in rep until July 14.
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Quite pleased with this one because I don't think I've used this film of Mr W's before but Will Adamsdale was in Stoned. And one I have used before, Nathan Barley, which Stuart McQuarrie appeared in.
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