London theatricals - your summer picks
What's on in London (and elsewhere) to bring you JOY
Screens. And more screens. On stage in our theatres. Now that directors and designers have actually got their brains around how to use them properly, they are a rather thrilling addition to live theatre. At least, most of the time. (I am still remembering David Haig’s Minority Report with fear). If you are interested in experimental theatre, London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), which is into its third week, is at the vanguard of how to do it, and screens are absolutely part of the mix.
LIFT in London with the experimental ECHO
Two years ago, there were screens, cameras and all sorts of digital trickery in LIFT’s audacious take on a fairytale, The Making of Pinoccho (currently touring across Europe), and we saw more digital meta-theatre last year in the magnificent 24-hour long The Second Woman, a world beating piece presented by LIFT which starred Ruth Wilson in London, and which is currently also touring Europe to huge acclaim.
ECHO, its latest presentation, is extremely screen-heavy and worth checking out at The Royal Court if you want to have a totally different, thought provoking night out. This is a play by the Iranian dramatist Nassim Soleimanpour who uses recordings, live streaming from his flat in Berlin alongside the notion of the “cold read” where the sole performer has no clue about what to expect, do, or say, during the performance. Everything is given to him or her via script or directions via headphones, with zero notice. The show has a different performer every night, and all the guinea pigs are well known actors. What fun!
I have seen it twice, firstly with British star Adrian Lester, whose rendition was as smooth and judged as if he had been rehearsing it all spring, and secondly with American playwright Jeremy O Harris who leapt into it headlong and was clearly emotionally shaken. The play deals with issues of exile, of loss and of home, all very much part of Soleimanpour’s background as a dissenting Iranian voice. It’s about theatre as a time capsule, but also plays with the notion of presence and absence, as the playwright himself appears live in the show via a video link.
As the text says, “ A play is a door to another universe,” and this show really is. It is also a rather brilliant answer to the question of how LIFT (where I spent a very happy three years as Chair), squares reducing its carbon footprint while remaining true to its original mission of bringing over companies and productions from abroad. Producing something from Berlin and Iraq via digital trickery, with a bit of celebrity uplift in the mix, is LIFT’s elegant solution this year. Performers in the hotspot still to come include Toby Jones, Meera Syal and Jodie Whittaker. Plaudits go to director Omar Elerian and Creative Technologist Derek Richards.
I had tickets for The Grapes of Wrath at the National Theatre tonight, but it has been cancelled due to some sort of technical calamity, perhaps the sort which has bedevilled the National almost since it opened over half a century ago. Maybe they ought to have brought in Derek Richards. Anyway, it should be worth going to see if only to find out how Steinbeck’s epic manages to be conflated into three hours worth of drama, and how on earth do you stage that astonishing ending?
If Treatonomics is your thing ( if you are not able to access this link from The Times, it is basically the art of spending money on having fun), I have three wonderful suggestions for you, all of which will provide a wonderful, uplifting evening.
Firstly the brilliant The Baker's Wife, written by the legendary Stephen Schwartz (Godspell, Wicked) and Joseph Stein (Fiddler on the Roof). It has a wonderful company, including Josepfina Gabrielle, Lucie Jones and the irrepressible Clive Rowe as Amiable the Baker. It’s on at the Menier Chocolate Factory and now that the National Theatre calamity means an empty Millard diary, which is of course illegal, I’ve just booked tickets for tonight.
Secondly, Hello Dolly at the Palladium has just opened, starring Imelda Staunton as the titular matchmaker. I have to admit I haven’t ever really really gone a bundle over this show, possibly because I am old enough to remember Carole Channing, who seemed to dominate it for basically ever. But it has had brilliant reviews.
If you want to see something totally feel good and also rather wonderfully 70’s retro before you go off on holiday, or if you are visiting London for a holiday, you could do worse than buy tickets for A Chorus Line which is coming down from Salford’s Lowry, and opens at Sadler’s Wells on July 31.
Deep, high-kicking joy
After a stint in London it then moves to Norwich, Canterbury, Birmingham, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Check the link for details and also check out the brilliant trailer. I saw a picture of the gold sequined high-kickers at the Angel tube station and bought tickets there and then for the first night. I’ve been humming “One! Singular Sensation!” ever since. I actually cannot wait. Experimental theatre is great, and important, but if you want something to bring tears to your eyes and a leap in your heart, and to take you off to a marshmallow world of pure joy then a big, splashy musical with big band sound and lots of high kicks cannot be beaten.