Triumphant Vortex @ Kingston's Rose Theatre

Any play directed by Stephen Unwin has a head start, and the current production of The Vortex is no exception. On my way to the press night at Kingston’s Rose Theatre I was thinking "Hmmm, probably classic Noel Coward, heavy Edwardian furniture, people wafting about in silk dressing gowns, witty exchanges and cigarette holders." Well, I was right bout the cigarette holders, but not much else.

Unwin’s set is simply a square white canvas, slightly on a tilt, and furniture is minimal and far from Edwardian. The sofa taking centre stage is a pair of big red lips, very 60’s in fact. Immediately I felt excited by this fresh, minimalist approach to what was to be a very intense and let’s say, spirited play - a far cry from the middle-class light comedy so often attributed to Coward.

The Vortex is in fact fast-paced, raunchy, funny, sad, slightly frightening and absolutely gripping. It tells of the return from Paris of a creative, lively, passionate young man called Nicky, brilliantly played by David Dawson. Truly I could not take my eyes of him - his energy spitting forth with every word, his body tense with emotion. Dawson can convey a sweep of emotion by literally moving just an eyebrow.

There are flashes of Shakespeare in his acting, and his final scene, which I won’t give away, is incredibly moving, drenched in emotion and physically demanding. 

Equally engaging is his mother, Florence, played with flamboyant assuredness by Kerry Fox, whose intense relationship with men and her crippling need to be adored eventually brings her and Nicky head-to-head. Fox occasionally has a little Ab Fab about her voice which brought titters from the audience, sometimes in lines that I felt weren’t actually meant to be funny. But comedy is far from our minds in the final ten minutes when Fox puts every ounce of energy and passion into a heady, tumbling, psychological confrontation with Nicky. They are, as Nicky puts it: “Swirling around in a Vortex of beastliness.”

Bustling around them and trying to patch up their fractured lives are an assortment of family and friends, all truly believable in their roles, but the biggest surprise of all being James Dreyfus (from Gimme Gimme Gimme) whose sharply flouncing wit brings roars of laughter. Dreyfus is perfect for Coward’s dialogue - sharp, spikey and very witty.

Noel Coward was only 23 when he wrote The Vortex, and the year was 1924. His idea came when he was eating at a supper club and his friend’s mother was seen cavorting with a much younger man. Out of Coward’s speculation as to how his friend would re-act came the idea for The Vortex.

It is incredible that the young Coward could so compassionately put himself into the shoes of a much older woman who is definitely not ageing gracefully, and he completely captures the pain of the mother-son relationship. Along with themes of inappropriate parental behaviour and the frightening grip of addiction, we get a snapshot of middle-class post-First World War.

Life in England was on the cusp of massive change politically and socially - little does Nicky know this as he clutches his mother in desperation, clawing at her clothes and repeating again and again “Promise me you’ll change, promise me, promise me.”

Whether change brings Nicky the peace he so yearns for is left for us to decide.

Last few days! Don’t miss it - The Vortex is at the Rose Theatre Kingston until March 2.

Maurice's Jubilee - a play fit for a Queen

I was excited about going to see Maurice’s Jubilee, having watched the cast in rehearsal at the tiny Pleasance Theatre in London last month. (see January 21 blog post) Prior to that it had gone down a storm on the small stages and venues at the 2012 Edinburgh Festival so my main concern was how it would transform to the echoey vastness of the New Vic, Woking. More of that later....

At the outset, this seems to be a straightforward domestic play about a sweet old couple, one of whom, Maurice, is obsessed with the Queen. It is the day before his 90 birthday, and he remembers obsessively a magical day 60 years earlier when he met the young Queen Elizabeth, danced with her, and accepted with joy her promise to visit him on his 90th birthday.

For the last 59 years and 364 years he has looked forward to this day, planning, dreaming and driving his wife Helena to distraction. She admits to his new carer Katie that she has been consumed with jealousy all these years, and in consequence ‘can’t stand the Queen’.

This is much more than just a play about old age. Nichola McAuliffe, who both wrote it and stars in it as the carer, says she wanted to remind us all that old people still have dreams, still fall in love and still look forward to things. 
Julian Glover (Maurice) and Sheila (Reid) play their respective roles with great tenderness and their years of experience on stage on screen is evident throughout. They simply glide through the scenes and we are totally there with them, in their sitting room in their bungalow in Penge. There is humour and tenderness in equal measure, and McAuliffe’s dialogue truly captures the relationship between 2 people who have spent decades in each other’s company.

The second act accelerates into brilliant comedy, thanks to the talents of McAuliffe herself but to say why she’s so funny would reveal the plot. Just trust me - she has the audience peeling with laughter, and Glover and Reid do a remarkable job keeping a straight face.

So, we have good acting, a great script - but does it work in a larger venue? Not too well sadly. The intimacy at Edinburgh must have been a great part of it success. It’s such a tender piece that you need to be near this old couple, you need to hear their sighs, feel the flicker of pain on their faces and see the incredible joy of Maurice in the very end. And because the two main character are meant to be frail, those tender lines said with a thoughtful whisper are sometimes missed.

But go see it - it’s a great piece of writing and a wonderful play. Just book your seat as near to the stage as you can.

Maurice’s Jubilee is at the New Victoria Woking until this Saturday, Feb 16th. Box office: http://www.atgtickets.com/venues/new-victoria-theatre

The Joy of Life Drawing

Writing a blog about art and the arts is always satisfying, intriguing, exciting and often surprising and I feel incredibly lucky that I get the opportunity to see many art previews/exhibitions etc. But I often leave thinking "I must get out my own pencils/paints/charcoal and another week slips by and I have done nothing about it.
However, this year I am determined to make time for more sketching and painting and hope to do a couple of art sessions a month. So far so good. Earlier in January I went to the wonderful Lavender Hill Studios in Clapham and spent 3 very happy hours drawing at one of their Wednesday drop in life drawing classes. There is no tutoring as such but being amongst some very good artists with a brilliant life model is incredibly uplifting and it inspired me to do more.

Closer to home I spent yesterday morning down at the local village hall where a student of the above mentioned Lavender studios has set up a monthly drop in session for local artists, again with a life model. The light in the hall was wonderful yesterday, in fact it was the first sunshine for about 10 days and through drawing and observing the light I really noticed it. We had a beautiful model and over a dozen keen artists turned up, despite the still snow packed roads. Some people were clearly experienced artists and some had never tried before but the shared skills and convivial encouragement of the group resulted in a very creative and happy morning for all. 

Maurice's Jubilee begins UK tour

Maurice's Jubilee

What a real privilege to attend the press event for Maurice’s Jubilee, the surprise hit of last year’s Edinburgh Fest. Along with a cluster of other ‘press people’ I settle down in the front row of the tiny Pleasance Theatre in North London, and watch three esteemed actors rehearse a scene from this very funny play. My idea of a good afternoon’s work.

Maurice’s Jubilee is written by Nichola McAuliffe (who also stars in the show) and the final tweaks are under way before the UK tour begins next week. 

“What came first?” I ask Nichola, “the part or the play? Does she ever think of a part she’s desperate to play and then write a script round it?”

“Not at all,” she replies, “I never intended to be in ‘Maurice’. I had a wonderful actress lined up but she was offered a role in TV's Mr Selfridge and we said she must go for it. It seemed only fair to the other two actors to have someone they already knew join them, so that was me.”

The ‘other two actors’ are Julian Glover and Sheila Reid, both incredibly experienced and bewitchingly comfortable in their roles. I sit just yards away from them and watch their every move with a beady eye, noticing how still their hands are, how they are interact with one another. Within moments I am in the sitting room in their bungalow in Penge, totally absorbed with their story.

For 60 years retired jeweller Maurice has adored his wife Helena but there is another woman on this mind - Her Majesty the Queen. Having been entrusted with the Crown Jewels 60 years ago, he feels convinced she will visit him on his 90th birthday, which happens to be the day before her diamond jubilee. While his wife fusses around him and says the Queen will never turn up, the new, live-in nurse who has come to help with his ailing health has more faith in his dream coming true. 

Nichola’s wonderful script, which paints everyday life with a sensitive but dry wit, is about a love triangle with a twist. She is respectful of old age, or the third age as she refers to it.

“It’s a love story about hopes and dreams, and disappointment. The third age isn’t 'the end' as people sometimes paint it. Old people still have dreams and fall in love. Old age is a bit like thin air at the top of the mountain, still important, still very much present. I hope this play is moving and funny, but in no way depressing, which a lot of plays about old age tend to be.”

And funny it is, the dialogue between Maurice (Julian Glover) and Helena (Sheila Reid) is spot on in its depiction of a couple who are so familiar with each other that they appear both devoted and dismissive in equal measures. Their relationship with their new live-in nurse (Nichola McAuliffe) further reveals Maurice’s dreams and Helena’s jealousy of his love for the Queen.

Nichola was amazed at the positive reaction the play received at Edinburgh. “I thought I’d have more success with a play about grunge, grinding, full-frontal nudity than a tender piece about a couple of octogenarians.”

Transferring Maurice’s Jubilee to nationwide venues six months later has allowed time for parts of the play to be developed. Director Hannah Eidinow says that changing from 90 minutes with no interval to two seperate acts has been liberating.

“There were scenes that were crying out for a bit more,” she says, ‘just some added information or a bit more precious dialogue. We’ve now had the luxury of adding more rather than being in that familiar and frustrating position of cutting back. We’ve been able to give the play some air.”

I watch Hannah during the rehearsal and notice she still laughs out loud at some of the lines, even though she’s seen it many times before - surely a very good sign. And Nichola, even though she’s on stage, has been listening too.

“I wanted to see if you people laughed at the new lines, and you did. You’ve been a very useful audience” she says with a grin.

Think nothing of it Nichola, the pleasure was all ours.

Maurice’s Jubilee will be at the New Victoria Woking from February 12 to February 23. The play is presented by Pleasance and PW productions in association with Wild Thyme Productions and the Ambassador Theatre Group. Full tour dates click here.

Mark Michael - brash and savage with velvet undertones

Mark Michael's paintings are satirical, striking and sometimes a bit saucy.  He says he likes the odd and unsettling, the banal and acute, the brash and savage. A bit light marmite, you will either love them or screw your face up and wince a bit.

A quote from Mark's artist’s statement caught my eye. It says:

“I draw inspiration from the darkness along with the well-lit areas of life”.

Armed with this information I strolled around his newly opened exhibition at the Lewis Elton Gallery  to see whether this is true.

Mark works mostly in acrylic on canvas - bold block colours, strong lines and a hearty scattering of type make up the majority of his work. He feels that the introduction of type and the repetition of familiar phrases helps people relate to some of the work.

It certainly made me linger longer over a painting of a youth telling his mum “I’m going out now”,  and her repeated retort “But you haven’t had your tea yet” struck a cord with me. There is something slightly sad about their communication and the simple silhouettes of the two figures combined with the random selection of copy works well.

On another wall, two scrawny chickens lean in towards one another, apparently having a row. The image is striking - the birds are set against a bold green background - and the random ramblings of each bird effectively adds to the image. There’s a story in there somewhere and it’s worth taking the time to work it out. Much of Mark’s work is graphic and clearly considered - I don’t get the impressive that he’s just thrown it all together.

Mark explained to me where his strong sense of order comes from:

“I studied sculpture at Winchester Art College,” he says, “and those solid, structural elements I learned on the course have been very useful in my painting. But I felt a bit restricted by sculpture. I love the freedom of paint and the wonder of words, combining the two has been a recent development for me and I am loving exploring it further. The current popularity of social media also opens doors in my mind about the use of words and text.”

Mark’s work is divided into 4 different categories, one of which is Satirical and another called Taboo. Here we see work that some might call ‘warts and all’ except that the warts are barely visible - but everything else is. His linear view of the female nude, viewed from the knees upwards, is spectacularly accurate in a wonderfully graphic style. I’m not how or why it could be offensive but Mark says he’s created his Taboo category because some people get easily offended:

“The images in my paintings and prints are stark and brief. I am drawn to the odd and unsettling; the banal and acute; the brash and savage. Creatures both human and animal fascinate me and play a large part in my work.”

I found the whole collection absorbing and refreshingly different and yes there is a mix of darkness and light. Not surprisingly The Art Investor recommends Mark Michael as ‘one of Britain’s best young artists’. Catch him at the Lewis Elton gallery before the end of this month.

Mark Michael’s The Society of Fickle Fingers will be at the Lewis Elton Gallery, University of Surrey campus, until January 31. Website: www.markmichael.com

He will also be exhibiting at the Aura Gallery, Mayfair in a one day show on March 26. 

Everett deserves an Oscar for portrayal of Wilde

The Judas Kiss - Richmond Theatre

How wonderful to be back in the Richmond Theatre. Relaxed, friendly and steeped in Victorian opulence, this theatre has old-fashioned charm, fine acoustics, and good seats - what more could you want? 

A play with Rupert Everett and Freddie Fox is a good start and their current performances in The Judas Kiss are outstanding. Everett plays Oscar Wilde and Fox his devoted but eventual perfidious lover in this revival of the play which was rather sniffed at when it premiered in London in 1998. The first production featured Liam Neeson as Wilde and was directed by Richard Eyre so one wonders why it wasn’t an outright triumph, but it is a very wordy play with little action and in the wrong hands it could lumber along.

It needs poke and panache and Everett and the cast in this new production deliver with confidence and energy, even down to the butler, waiter and chambermaid who introduce humour and warmth in the first act, set in the Cadogan Hotel in 1895.

Wilde is avoiding the public following the collapse of his libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. He faces arrest and inevitable imprisonment but has the chance to escape to exile, aided by his former lover Robbie Ross, brilliantly played with devoted and quiet restraint by Cal MacAnich. Everett, with his towering stature and strong features, convincingly portrays the lumbering Wilde, teasing and frustrating his friends with his apparent nonchalence about his fate, his desire to enjoy lobster for lunch and his obsessive delight in giving the hotel staff generous tips.

In contrast to Everett’s lumbering Wilde, Freddie Fox as Lord Alfred ‘Bosie’ Douglas, is like an excited puppy, eager to please and full of optimism. With wonderfully clear diction and great energy, this role could have been written for Fox. He uses the whole stage, moving around his often static lover, getting energy and different moods from hidden corners or the light from a window. I was enthralled by the Neil Armfield’s ingenious direction, squeezing every ounce of potential from a simple yet glorious set and employing occasional slowness of pace to give poignancy, but never tedium.

David Hare’s script is wordy but wise - so many wonderful observations and thoughts spill from Wilde’s lips and Everett delivers them faultlessly. For the whole of Act 2 he sits heavily in his chair in a Naples guesthouse, while Bosie flirts and cavorts with his new lover, an Italian fisherman with a scant wardrobe. Observing with fond interest, Wilde ruminates on his life and his fate and we listen intently to his every word until he finally heaves himself to his feet to bid farewell to his beloved Bosie. Left alone in his room, settled once again in his chair, Wilde is shrouded in a leaden coat of despair. His despondency permeates through the theatre and, as a single light fades, we wonder if he will ever find the strength to move again.

The Judas Kiss is at The Duke of Yorks, London from January 9th 2013

Driving Miss Daisy

at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre

Somehow I missed the film when it came out in 1989, so it was good to go and see this production at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre without any preconceived expectations. 

People often think the film came first but in fact Driving Miss Daisy was first written as a play by Alfred Uhry in 1987.

It tells the story of two very different characters living in the southern states of America at the height of the Civil Rights Movements in the 1050s and 60s and how, despite their social differences, they are drawn together. They come from very different sides of the American race divide. Hoke, played by Rising Damp’s Don Warrington, is a gentle, black, poor widower. Daisy, played by Gwen Taylor, is a rich, white, retired Jewish school teacher and she is growing old. They are both fiercely proud and apparently independent and when Daisy’s son (Ian Porter) appoints Hoke as her driver she is outraged and adamant that she does not need his help. She holds out for 6 days then reluctantly agrees he can drive her to the Piggley Wiggley store.

“Well, well,” says Hoke in amazement, “It took 6 days for her to agree to that - same time as it took God to create the world”. 

Between 1948 and 1973, while enormous upheavals go on in the world, the relationship between these two reflects political and social changes in America. For those who know the name Matin Luther King, but can’t quite recall what he did, director David Esbjornson has kindly employed the use of projections to help clarify events and many of them are very moving. The set is minimal but effective. A bench and a couple of chairs simulate the car, indeed cars, where many of Miss Daisy and Hoke’s most important conversations take place.

And this brings us to a flaw in this production, the often inaudible dialogue ie; the conversations that we couldn’t hear. Maybe it was because our seats were at the rear of the stalls but for the first 10 minutes I couldn’t catch a word of what Hoke said. And I so wanted to - the lines are precious in this piece. Ian Porter as Boolie delivered his lines well and up to the audience but both Hoke and Daisy often turned away or dropped the volume and this was frustrating.

However, in this 3 handed production the characters are endearing and charmingly portrayed. I did expect more initial friction between Miss Daisy and Hoke, mainly to emphasize the journey from their initial introduction to their final scene where there is true tenderness and, maybe even love. A bit of spice would also have added to the humour which was occasionally there but slightly restrained in a rather British way.

After 25 years together, Hoke and Miss Daisy grow together without realising how much they need each other. When she finally begins to lose her mental capabilities, Hoke is there for her and it is apparent that he is the only person she really cherishes spending her time with.

Driving Miss Daisy plays at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford until Saturday October 13.