Theatre Review: Hapgood

It probably tells you all you need to know about my opinion of the Hampstead Theatre’s production of Hapgood that I'm writing this post less than a week after seeing it and am genuinely struggling to remember much about it.

I mean, if you’re short on time you can stop reading now really. I don’t know about you, but ‘almost completely forgettable’ is not one of the things I’m looking for in a production.

Image source.

Hapgood is a Tom Stoppard play which is ostensibly a whodunnit spy thriller where the British secret service finds a Russian mole in its ranks and works to expose him. Except because it’s a Tom Stoppard play it’s not about that really, it’s actually about particle physics. Obviously.

And here’s the major issue for me. If I’m watching a play where the main narrative device is a spy thriller, then I want a good spy thriller. This is not a good spy thriller. Instead, it’s a setup for many lengthy speeches about particle physics and associated philosophy. I hate it when Stoppard does his ‘I'm interested in this idea so you must hear about it, repeatedly, at length’ thing (see also: The Hard Problem and the fucking prisoner's’ dilemma). Partly because Stoppard and I don’t find the same ideas interesting, partly because I find it makes for very stop-start drama which is always just frustrating. In the case of Hapgood, about a minute into the first lengthy speech (about whether light is a wave or a beam or something similar that I didn't understand) I found myself mentally ranking my favourite Nakd wholefood bars*. The ultimate consequence of the many lengthy speeches was that I pretty much failed to engage with the plot or characters in any meaningful way. Which is kind of a big deal.

Unusually, at least for things I see, this production was also hampered by some distinctly average acting. I had a particular problem with Lisa Dillon in the title role, who I just didn't buy either as spymaster or, particularly, as slightly embarrassing mother of a small boy (though, to be fair, she was much better when pretending to be Hapgood’s wayward, fictional, twin sister). Miscast or just having a bad night, who knows. Few of her castmates faired much better, so at least she had some company.

The redeeming feature of this production is the always excellent Tim McMullen as Hapgood’s boss Blair, who is outstanding as the stuffy, laconic, polished Big Boss. He manages to wring a lot of comedy out of his part as well as the required amount of gravitas and casual malice when necessary. He also manages a quite extraordinarily consistent and unforced Posh accent. I missed him every second that he was off stage. He is, essentially, Ralph Fiennes' version of M in the Bond films, but better and more entertaining. Alec Newman as Russian double agent/Hapgood’s babydaddy Kerner is also pretty good, encumbered as he is by the bulk of the lengthy speeches. His Russian accent was largely bang on and surprisingly non-annoying.

The production also looks very stylish - all clean lines and Cold War grey. The use of doors and walls that recess into the side of the stage to portion off the action is unfussy, ingenious and highly effective. So too is the multiple video screen backdrop, used in lieu of any traditional scenery. I particularly enjoyed the transition from a leisure centre swimming pool to London Zoo because lions are always awesome.

Overall, very much not one for me and I can’t honestly recommend it. Which is a good thing really because its run has now ended.

This post was rather pointless really. Sorry about that.




*1 gingerbread, 2 bakewell tart, 3 orange cocoa

Theatre Review: Cymbeline

It’s funny the way Shakespeare plays go in and out of fashion.

A few years ago you couldn't move for productions of Othello. Then it was Macbeth. Right now it’s Cymbeline; soon to be seen outdoors at The Globe (in a reworked version) and at the RSC and currently playing indoors at the The Globe in the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

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Cymbeline tells the story of the titular legendary King of the Britons and his daughter Innogen/Imogen (this production uses the former so that’s what I'm using too, I'm not getting into that debate). More accurately, it tells Innogen’s story in which Cymbeline is a peripheral character; the title is a total red herring. I'm not going to try and explain the plot in any detail because I’d be here for days - it’s a bit of a beast. The main plot device is very familiar though: a loyal husband is driven to near-madness by his wife’s wrongly perceived infidelity.

I have to admit my expectations weren't high for this play - I tend to think that if I've not heard of a piece of Shakespeare then there’s probably a very good reason for that (because it’s all about me) - but I was exceptionally pleasantly surprised. A rarely performed (except at the moment) tragicomedy, Cymbeline is a fantastically engaging and affecting piece with some great characters and memorable verse. For me, it’s more effective as a comedy than a tragedy and as such it’s a surprisingly playful piece written, it seems to me, with a knowing wink in the direction of its convoluted plot and pantomime villains. It’s no Othello, but neither is it trying to be. It’s quite refreshing.

It helps that this production is ace - spry, wry and exceptionally clear. Director Sam Yates whips the action along with tongue appropriately in or out of cheek throughout. The plot, which would be difficult to follow if handled with less skill, is always front, centre and correctly paced. The verse is spoken with a uniformity of clarity that contributes to that too. And there’s no question that best use is made of the stunning Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and the full range of its period features (no spoilers, but the use of the upper trap door in particular is fantastically dramatic). The fight scenes are great too, despite the obvious limitations of the teeny tiny SWP. I think this is by some way the most authentically - and satisfyingly - Shakespearean Shakespeare I've ever seen.

The cast is also fantastic. First of all, can we all just note how cool it is that the King and Queen are played by Geoffrey the butler from The Fresh Prince (Joseph Marcel, who is excellent) and Mrs Doyle from Father Ted (Pauline McLynn, very funny but a bit too pantomime for my taste)? Good. It’s the younger cast members who own the show though, especially relative newcomer Emily Barber who is really exceptional as a righteous, funny Innogen. One to watch right there. Other highlights include Jonjo O’Neill, who is earnest without being boring as Posthumus, particularly affecting as the death seeking nihilist that the character descends into, and Eugene O’Hare (who deserves MAJOR PROPS for performing, on crutches, despite a broken foot) as an enjoyably slimy, villainous Iachimo whose ultimate redemption is very well handled - credible, touching, completely free of syrup. The whole cast is fantastic though - it’s a genuinely top drawer (and pleasingly diverse) ensemble. And crammed full of hotties with regional accents too, which is a thing that I for one wish to encourage.

Overall then, highly recommended. Ignore any preconceptions you might have about little known Shakespeare, go along and enjoy. Oh, and if you can have dinner in The Swan beforehand. Their pre-theatre menu is excellent. Look out for the treacle tart.

Cymbeline plays in rep at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe until April 21st.

Theatre Review: Macbeth

By the pricking of my thumbs, something pretentious this way comes…

I've come to the conclusion that when the creative team behind the Young Vic’s Macbeth were coming up with their concept for the show they went to see the Almeida’s Bakkhai. ‘This is a great idea,’ they clearly thought. ‘Take a classic text, cast two fantastic actors in the lead roles and then bury their excellent performances under a tonne of technically impressive but extraneous bullshit that adds nothing!’ Whereas Bakkhai had its endless songs about nets, though, Macbeth has something far worse: modern dance.

Image source.

Now look. I don’t object to modern dance, or any kind of dance, in principle. Quite the opposite. What I do object to is it being crowbarred into a production to which it adds nothing. There’s no attempt in this production to use the dance to tell the story, which would've been interesting, and only the most basic attempt to use it to add to character development. Instead, you have lengthy dance routines just forced into, or in between, scenes of dialogue which serve only to interrupt the action and break the flow of the story.

And, whilst most of them are at least aesthetically pleasing (and all are done really well by the small cast), some of them are straight up ridiculous. The most bizarre example is the transformation of Macduff’s soon-to-be-murdered son into two dancers with sheets draped over their heads, skipping. You could actually feel the audience thinking ‘what the fuck?’ and in many cases hear them quietly giggling. For such an emotive scene, with fairly large implications for the rest of the story, it’s a genuinely unfathomable, typically unnecessary, stylistic flourish.

The other thing that pissed me off the most with the production is some of the liberties taken with the text. Whilst I wholeheartedly and vigorously applaud the decision to cut the ever tedious, never funny porter scene, some of the other changes are just plain odd. The most jarring example is having the ghost of Banquo return in the final scenes to deliver big chunks of dialogue. I think I understand what we’re meant to think about this (that it’s further evidence of both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s respective declines into madness) but it just doesn't work in practice. Especially when a lot of this dialogue is delivered in the style of a grime MC. I also take issue with some of the updates to certain words (which in a lot of cases make sense) but leaving others unscathed. I'm 100% certain that there are more confusing words in the text than ‘hilt’ (which becomes ‘handle’) for example.

The cumulative effect of the unnecessary dancing, text fuckery and some not-as-clever-as-it-thinks-it-is design is a production where the creative vision takes primacy over the play itself. Which, for me, breaks rule one of theatre. The play should always be king.

It’s a shame because, exactly as with Bakkhai, strip away the nonsense and there’s some top class acting struggling for attention underneath. The reliably fantastic John Herffernan is, reliably, fantastic in the title role. His verse speaking is clear and straightforward whilst his characterisation of Macbeth is pleasingly nihilistic, brutal and understated. He is excellently supported by Anna Maxwell Martin as a ferociously unsympathetic, properly villainous Lady Macbeth. Her verse speaking is, with a couple of rushed lines excepted, also very clear and very modern in a non-arsey way. Both performances are incredibly powerful; I would happily watch them again in a better production. Credit also to Prasanna Puwanarajah who is a strong, ballsy and altogether cooler than usual Banquo, even if he does have far too many lines.

It’s the performances that redeem this production in the end, but it’s still not one I’d enthusiastically urge you to see. Worth a look if you’re a Heffer-fan with deep pockets and nothing better to do this week, or enjoy unnecessary modern dance (or skipping ghosts). Otherwise save your money.

Macbeth is at the Young Vic until Saturday (23rd January).

Theatre Review: Guys and Dolls

It’s generally - and correctly - accepted that Guys and Dolls is one of the best musicals, if not the best musical, ever written.

It’s been around the block so many times and with so many distinguished actors, directors and producers in its various creative teams (I last saw the Michael Grandage directed version in the mid naughties) that it’s always exciting when it comes back into town.

And there’s a particularly exciting new version in town right now. Produced by Chichester Festival Theatre - which is exciting enough on its own; it’s difficult to think of a more consistently excellent producer of musicals in British theatre (or indeed anywhere else) at the moment - this version has a killer cast, a superstar choreographer and the unenviable task of living up to CFT’s last West End transfer, the super smash that was Gypsy.

Image source.

If anyone involved is feeling the weight of Gypsy on their shoulders then it doesn't show. And nor should it, because Guys and Dolls is a triumph in its own right.

Telling the story of the various travails of two professional gamblers and their love interests, the score of Guys and Dolls is a particularly beautiful embarrassment of riches. Some of the best known and best loved songs in the musical theatre repertoire have their home in this show, including the quite literally show stopping Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat which, honestly, if you don’t love then you’re an idiot. It’s hard to go too far wrong with a musical production when this is your raw material and this production certainly doesn't - everything about the music, from the vocals to the orchestration, is immaculate.

Speaking of immaculate, let’s talk choreography. The dance numbers in this production are simply stunning. This is due in no small part I'm sure to the presence of one Carlos Acosta in the creative team as co-choreographer (with Andrew Wright). Yes, *that* Carlos Acosta. And his influence is clear to see in the beautiful, sweeping, ballet-tinged numbers. The Luck Be A Lady sequence is a particular highlight; stunning, physically demanding (three cheers for the ensemble who deal with it magnificently) choreography teamed with innovative lighting and one of the best songs in musical history. It’s impossible not to be swept away. Unless you’re, like, dead inside or something.

The cast, too, is top drawer. David Haig is a great choice for Nathan Detroit; witty, warm, slightly inept and with a surprisingly (I don’t know why I find it surprising) pleasing singing voice. Sophie Thompson (the superior of the Thompson sisters for my money) captures the underlying sadness of Miss Adelaide whilst losing none of the humour in the character. Jamie Parker and Siubhan Harrison are pleasingly slick and naive respectively and make for a plausible, touching and funny couple. Harrison in particular has an absolutely stunning voice too. Gavin Spokes is the lucky man who gets to play Nicely Nicely Johnson (AKA the best part) and thus belt out Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat, which he does with fantastic energy, suitable swagger and fewer encores than he’s probably entitled to.

I'm trying very hard to find something to complain about with this production but, honestly, there’s nothing. I love this show and I adore this production and, really, you should just go and see it. It’s funny, technically excellent and utterly joyous. And let’s face it, the way 2016 is going so far we could all use a bit of extra joy in our lives.

Guys and Dolls is at the Savoy until 12th March, after which the production (though presumably not all of the cast thanks to a certain Cursed Child…) will tour.

Top Ten Theatre Performances of 2015

As 2016 marches ever closer it’s time for another ‘best of 2015’ blog post. Hurrah, I hear nobody shout!

I've done plays, so this time it’s all about the people in them...

Images from here, here and here.

Kevin Spacey - Clarence Darrow
It takes a very special performance to be able to make a play work when your co-stars are literally furniture. Luckily Kevin Spacey delivered one. I'm not sure I've ever seen finer acting than this, anywhere, to be honest. A privilege to have seen.

Bertie Carvel - The Hairy Ape and Bakkhai
2015 was the year I ‘discovered’ Bertie Carvel and I feel that this discovery has enhanced my quality of life (if not my bank balance) greatly. It’s his versatility that I find so fascinating - and hence why I've cheated and included two performances for the price of one here. Whilst I found Bakkhai and its endless songs about nets tedious and forgettable overall, Carvel’s dual role as Agave and Pentheus is/are one/two of the most memorable performance(s) I've seen all year. And his turn as Yank in The Hairy Ape, a part I can’t think a single other current actor would be able to pull off, was just phenomenal - physical, dangerous, sensitive and sad all at the same time. Bonus points for being a genuinely adorable human being at the stage door also.

Imelda Staunton - Gypsy
Ok, the gender balance on this list is not great but quality over quantity, y’know. This was not just the finest performance in a musical I saw this year, it was the finest performance in a musical I’ve ever seen. Obviously Imelda Staunton is amazing in everything, ever, but this was next level stuff even by her standards. And her Rose’s Turn was perfect.

Ralph Fiennes - Man and Superman
I'm very much a fan of the post-Voldemort, comedy actor that Ralph Fiennes is currently embracing of which his performance in Man and Superman was a prime example. Watching his arrogant Jack Tanner rendered utterly helpless by a mere woman over the course of three and a half hours was an exceptionally enjoyable way to spend a Saturday night. And frankly you have to respect the skill of anyone that can deliver three and a half hours of Shaw dialogue multiple times a week without having some kind of breakdown.

Kenneth Branagh - The Winter's Tale and Harlequinade 
That Ken Branagh excels at Shakespeare is hardly a revelatory statement but no less true for that. That Ken Branagh excels at slapstick comedy is perhaps more noteworthy. He's gone and proved both of these things in the opening shows of his new theatre company's inaugural season - the very existence of which he also gets bonus points for. This man remains my hero.

Mark Strong - A View from the Bridge
Thinking about this performance still makes me feel slightly uncomfortable eight months after the fact, surely a fairly major indicator of quality. Full of quiet menace, this performance shone out of a really exceptional ensemble cast. Probably the best accent I've heard this year too.

Geoffrey Streitfeld - The Beaux’ Stratagem
And the award for the person who seemed like they were having most fun in their part goes to… A quite literally all singing, all dancing, joyously silly comedy turn from one of my increasingly favourite actors. There was a lot to do in this part, from high farce to wordplay to lots of skipping, and Streitfeld did it all with equal aplomb.

John Heffernan - Oppenheimer
One of the most consistently excellent actors around at the moment delivered again with a fascinating turn in the titular role of Oppenheimer. In a part covering a lot of emotional ground, Heffernan worked his arse off (technical acting term) to make Oppenheimer a three dimensional, sympathetic character. Rocked the circular sunglasses trend too.

Lucien Msamati - Othello
The first ever black Iago was also one of the best I've ever seen. Dripping menace from every pore as a really hard-edged, bitter Iago, Msamati absolutely owned this production. His performance was so intelligent and the subtle ways that the race card (for want of a better phrase) was played were incredibly effective.

Judi Dench - The Winter's Tale
A performance exactly as good as you would expect Judi Dench in The Winter's Tale to be. Which is really very good indeed. Scene stealer of the year, also.

Honourable mentions also to Assassins, undoubtedly the best ensemble cast of the year, and the RSC’s Henry V, Alex Hassell, who has the misfortune of having delivered my 11th favourite performance of the year for his humane and nervous King.

Top Ten Theatre of 2015

God knows how, but apparently it’s the end of the year. And nothing says happy end of the year better than the obligatory series of ‘Best of…’ blog posts!

Since I only have one interest these days (let’s be honest, I can’t really afford to have any more) I'm just going to squeeze a couple of posts out of my theatre going this year. And here’s the first: my top ten shows of 2015.

A qualifier before I start. I have been so spoiled with the range and quality of shows I've seen this year and this list was actually really difficult to compile and to put in some kind of order (except for the top three which were very clear). So kudos to London theatre for being excellent in 2015. And kudos to me for having such good taste, frankly. Anyway, onwards.

All images from here.

Clarence Darrow (Old Vic)
I'm trying not to talk too much about individual performances in this post (there’s a whole other post coming that’ll be dedicated to that, I'm sure you’ll be excited to hear) but there’s no question that Kevin Spacey made this show such a privilege - and I don’t use that word lightly - to see. I mean, it was a one man show after all. Intelligent, emotional, passionate and beautifully staged, I doubt I’ll ever see much better in the theatre again in my lifetime. Mindbendingly good.

Gypsy (Chichester Festival)
Another amazing central performance, backed up by a pitch perfect supporting cast and the most gloriously old school staging made this the best production of a musical I've ever seen. And what a musical it is. You could do a Now That’s What I Call Musicals album just from this one show - even the overture is iconic. Imelda Staunton’s rendition of Rose’s Turn is my second most memorable theatrical moment of 2015.

The Hairy Ape (Old Vic)
My most memorable theatrical moment of 2015 is the moment that Bertie Carvel’s Yank gets murdered by a gorilla. The back breaking sound effect alone will stay with me for quite some time. Again, it’s difficult to talk about why I loved this show so much without talking about the phenomenal central performance that grounded it - 2015 will go down in my personal history as the Year of Carvel - but incredible brutalist staging, amazing sound design (and not just when bones were being broken) and a fab supporting turn from Steffan Rhodri certainly helped.

The Beaux’ Stratagem (National Theatre)
Hands down my most flat out enjoyable evening at the theatre this year; a fluffy period farce done with such energy and class that it was impossible not to love it. Fantastically acted, joyously written, beautifully staged, near flawlessly directed (Simon Godwin - see also Man and Superman - is one of my favourite ‘discoveries’ of 2015) and my face hurt from laughing so much when I left the theatre. You can’t ask for much more from a comedy.

Assassins (Menier Chocolate Factory)
‘Joyously creepy’ is not a phrase I often use but one that perfectly describes this incredibly evocative staging of the little known - and typically off beat - Sondheim celebration of murdering US Presidents. An outstanding ensemble cast sold it to perfection and the staging and design could hardly have been better or, frankly, more offputting. Bonus points awarded for taking the piss out of society’s endless obsession with the marches of Sousa.

Othello (RSC)
A history making production where the fact that made it a first - that the actors playing Othello and Iago were both black - was less noteworthy than the sheer quality of the production. As it fucking should be. I love this play so much anyway and this was a production of utter class; beautifully staged, immaculately acted, but still with the capacity to be shockingly powerful and contemporary.

Man and Superman (National Theatre)
The final play of Nick Hytner’s tenure at the NT was a perfect swansong: three and a half hours of classy, witty, immaculately acted and beautifully staged Shaw. Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma were both great and that man Simon Godwin’s perfectly paced direction made this dense and verbose text more fun and accessible than it really had any right to be.

The Winter's Tale and Harlequinade/All On Her Own (Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company)
Blatantly cheating here, but fuck you it's my blog post. I'm grouping these together because if you look at them as a repertory programme then there's been nothing close to this quality in London this year. I'm so excited to see the rest of the first season from this company. And if there aren't subsequent seasons to follow then something is deeply wrong with the world.

The Lorax (Old Vic)
A gloriously fun, inventive and visually stunning adaptation of classic Dr Seuss. Only the most hard hearted person could fail to be utterly charmed by this cute eco-fable. The incredible puppetry was the star, especially the Lorax himself, but everything about this show was perfectly pitched for children of any age.

A View from the Bridge (Young Vic)
Whilst I’m not as convinced of the genius of Ivo van Hove as everyone else in the world seems to be, there’s no denying that this production was incredible. A uniformly excellent cast (lead by an unforgettable Mark Strong) made the super minimalist staging their own and the river of blood finale was as beautiful and devastating as anything I've seen this year. If there was such a thing as an award for least surprising Broadway transfer of the year, this would surely win it.

A few honourable mentions for things that didn’t quite make the cut: since I stuck to London shows the beautiful, brilliant Broadway production of An American in Paris was excluded but man did I love this show (where’s the London transfer?), the NT’s Motherfucker with the Hat was as gloriously grown up and funny as its amazing title suggests, and whilst Oppenheimer, Henry V and Death of a Salesman (all RSC) were narrowly edged off this list I really rated all three - it’s great to see the RSC in such rude health with both bard and non-bard productions.

Theatre Review: Harlequinade / All On Her Own

I'm not sure I've ever been so in love with a theatre company that I've bought a snowglobe to advertise the fact. Thank goodness the Kenneth Branagh Theatre Company has come along to remedy that!

All joking and snowglobes aside, I'm just staggered at the quality of this company. Whether on or off stage it’s mindbending and the potential range of work that they can do fantastically as a result is ridiculously vast. Their opening double bill is a pretty audacious - and, spoiler, altogether successful - statement of that fact.

Terrence Rattigan isn't a playwright I know a huge amount, or indeed anything, about and to be honest I’d never heard of either of the plays that KBTC are staging to comprise the second part of their aforementioned double bill: All On Her Own and Harlequinade. Which I suppose actually makes it a triple bill, or at least a double-and-a-bit bill. But I digress.

Image source.

The Rattigan double header opens with All On Her Own which is a slightly odd addition to the bill. It’s an interesting yet bleak twenty minute monologue, where a widow getting slowly pissed as she struggles to cope with her husband’s death questions whether she drove him to suicide, which Zoe Wanamaker acts beautifully. All well and good, but I'm not clear by what logic it sits as a warm up act to the raucous theatrical farce that follows. Presumably the logic of ‘look, we've got Zoe Wanamaker so let’s give her something meaty to do’ which, to be fair, is difficult logic to argue with. There’s nothing wrong with it at all, as with everything KBTC so far it’s immaculately done, it’s just a bit unnecessary. And as you can probably tell by the fact I've reviewed it in a paragraph didn't make a lasting impression on me!

If my praise for All On Her Own is qualified though, my love for Harlequinade is not.

A short (#WarOnIntervals) and silly farce, Harlequinade tells the story of a hapless theatre company touring a production of Romeo and Juliet to the provinces ‘for the public good’ when it transpires that their legendary (and legendarily idiotic) actor/manager leading man is an accidental and longstanding bigamist.

To put it bluntly, this play is fucking funny. It doesn't have a secret agenda and there isn't any hidden depth to it, and that’s completely fine. It just makes you laugh; loudly and consistently. Rattigan’s writing obviously deserves a big ol’ chunk of the credit for this, as does Christopher Oram’s convincingly amateurish design and Rob Ashford’s pleasingly daft choreography (there’s a gloriously poorly done fight sequence, which made me laugh an undignified amount, that deserves particular credit).

But the majority of the humour is derived from the acting. As with The Winter’s Tale there are almost too many notable performances to mention but Hadley Fraser’s excitable halberdier (with an excellent Brummie accent) and Tom Bateman’s constantly-close-to-a-breakdown stage manager are personal favourites. Zoe Wanamaker is an unapologetic scene stealer (in what is essentially a cameo) as the unhinged and ferocious Dame Maude, and her rants at the expense of the Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells are catnip to any theatre geek.

This is Ken Branagh’s show though. His Arthur Gosport is a glorious creation; preening, ridiculous, ego-maniacal yet at all times staying on the right side of the credibility line. It’s not a revelation (to me anyway) that Branagh can do comedy very well but the fact that he can do slapstick comedy very well is something new and fabulous. And there is some big slapstick in this too - both his elaborate fainting and his ‘natural’ Romeo death which involves about the same amount of flailing about as what I do to get out of a beanbag chair are belly laugh funny. In many ways the smaller slapstick (is slapstick quantifiable by size? I'm going with it) is even funnier though. Both his much mocked “little jump” onto a bench during the balcony scene and repeated sequences in which he wanders earnestly around the stage moving an obviously fake fancy plant pot about are genuinely hilarious. And the extent to which he’s prepared, implicitly or otherwise, to send himself up is so refreshing. I love him. As you might have noticed.

Here’s a controversial opinion to end with: I liked Harlequinade better than The Winter’s Tale. I'm not saying that it’s a better production or a better play (though I think you can make a strong argument for the latter) but I found it more enjoyable. And what’s more there are actually a smattering of tickets left so if I were to say ‘you should go and see this play as a matter of urgency’ you actually can. Hurrah! Now, go and see this play as a matter of urgency.

Oh and in case you thought I was joking about the snowglobe...

Image source.

Harlequinade and All On Her Own are playing (in rep) as part of the Plays at the Garrick season until January 13th.