Starlight Express Review

Starlight Express

Tour - The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

Apart from a West End production I will be seeing for the second time, Starlight Express more or less rounds up the musicals I have seen this year. This is a musical I have not had the chance to see so I was looking forward to seeing this.

The musical revolves around a boy playing with his toy trains. When he goes to bed he dreams of the trains coming to life and taking part in a race to become the "fastest engine in the world". Competing are the American diesel engine, and reigning champion, Greaseball (Jamie Capewell), and the new electric engine, Electra (understudy Kris Manuel). A shy, naive steam train called Rusty (Kristopher Harding) dreams of taking part in the races and winning. He hopes to race with the coach he loves, Pearl (Amanda Coutts), yet she has doubts about his ability to win. Electra woos her to be his partner and she chooses him over Rusty.

The story is pretty simple. The brochure says that Starlight Express is basically the tale of The Little Engine That Could. The underdog story is a familiar one but one can not help but be impressed by the charm of it. The songs have their moments. According to the brochure, Andrew Lloyd Webber was influenced by different music genres and indeed there was a variety of different songs, from rap to western. Yet for the most part they are pretty forgettable, except for the title song, Starlight Express. There was something magical about the song, as the characters sang with wonder about this mystical steam engine.

The characters personalities are relatively basic. From the start the musical shows how tough the contenders of the race are during the song Rolling Stock. Jamie Capewell played a macho Greaseball, whilst understudy Kris Manuel was a cool and sassy Electra. Amanda Coutts was quite a ditzy Pearl, and Kristopher Harding was great as the steam engine with a heart of gold, Rusty.

It is clear however that it was the spectacle that made this musical popular in the first place, and the reality is that this can not be replicated on tour. Since all the actors were on skates, the original set stretched right out into the auditorium of the Apollo Victoria, so that they had enough room to pull off stunts and show the scale of the world of Starlight Express. Since that it is no longer possible the production is reduced a simplistic set in order to give the actors as much room as possible. Yet despite the restrictions, Arlene Philips' choreography is the highlight of the production. The 3D video projections were also amazing to watch as the audience watched the races that would not have been possible on such a small stage.

It is a good production with enough spectacle to stay entertained, However most of the songs are forgettable, the characters and story are rather basic, and I feel that I would have got more out of this if I had seen the original production. This is worth a Bargain.

The Spire Review

The Spire

Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury

The next production I saw at the Salisbury Playhouse was a new play called The Spire, an adaptation of William Golding's novel of the same name. Although it is never referenced, the book makes allusions to Salisbury and the Cathedral with the tallest spire in the United Kingdom. It therefore seems natural for the city's playhouse to adapt the book to put on their stage.

This production is rather hard to describe in detail because the biggest problem is that the playwright had taken so much from the book in telling the story of the spire being built, that he had forgotten to make the play emotionally engaging. It was split into three acts, and it was plain to see that each act ended with the only dramatic moments in the play, though they themselves lacked drama. The end of the first act for instance shows an uprising by the workers who were building the spire. Weirdly the production team decided to show the event in freeze frames, which took away any tension it may have had. Even the end of the second act was building up to a conflict that went by so quickly, with the climax happening offstage, which left me slightly confused. Yet, for the most part the play is telling the audience 'this happened and this happened, and he did this and she did that'. Whether or not it is actually based on the Salisbury Spire, it felt like a history lesson. It is however an interesting history lesson to follow.

The two main characters, Dean Jocelin (Mark Meadows) and Roger Mason (Vincenzo Pellegrino), are the only interesting characters in the play, since they are given the most attention to by the story. Dean Jocelin decided to have the spire built after receiving what he believed was a sign from God. From the start Mark Meadows displays the character's ecstatic enthusiasm for such a daring project. The story tells how Jocelin's faith is put to the test against reason, which is voiced by Roger Mason. Vincenzo Pellegrino plays the pessimistic builder as he tells the reasons why it is impossible to build the spire on swampy grounds without strong foundations. The audience gets to see the ideas and theories he puts into use in order to accomplish the impossible. Again the audience was not engaged emotionally with the play, yet it still showed how Jocelin's life spiraled out of control as he made every effort to complete the project, to the point where he was a broken man by the end.

Once again the Salisbury Theatre has done wonders with the set design. It is bare at first, comprising of towering grey stone walls. But as the building commences parts of the stage is removed, whilst the walls reveal the construction work of the spire. This and the story were worth seeing alone, but the story and the characters were not engaging. This play was average at best and if you are interested in history then it would have been worth a Low Bargain.

The Sacred Flame Review

The Sacred Flame

Tour - The Nuffield Theatre, Southampton

The Sacred Flame is an unfamiliar play to me and Director Matthew Dunster has decided to “strip away ‘the chintz and the chaises-longues’” to bring this to the stage. I was interested in seeing this being done by the company that produced a great production of The Hypochondriac.

The play is a whodunit story with a twist, where the mystery is solved before 'Poirot' or 'Miss Marple' turns up. The play discusses the consequences that would follow a murder investigation. Even the innocent are dragged in, culminating in revelations that make for an emotionally overwhelming ending. However at times the play felt convoluted as so many themes were brought up in a short space of time.

The cast is on the whole very good. For the short amount of time he has, Jamie de Courcey was a lively, but pained, Maurice Tabret. Sarah Churm also gives a fine performance as the frank and obedient, yet kind and faithful Nurse Wayland. Robert Demeger was a jovial Major Liconda, but he gradually takes a sincere and scrutinizing role in the mystery. Margot Leicester played a caring mother as Mrs Tabret, who was slightly in a world of her own and was therefore not as shocked by events as others.

Al Nedjari was a calm and firm Doctor Harvester, but as doubts are made as to whether Maurice died of natural causes he became strained with impatience and frustration.  Beatriz Romilly was an energetic and bright Stella Tabret, who gradually breaks down and becomes terribly distressed as the plot thickens. Yet her pronunciation was rather stilted as she attempted to project a received pronunciation accent.  

With all that happens the white and sterile set of an art deco house becomes an travesty of itself. At times of tension, the overall color scheme changes strikingly. Also to ratchet up the tension a humming sound can be heard during moments when the characters reveal events from the past.

The revelations that lead up to the end is worth seeing alone, and the cast is also very good on the whole. Just expect a few convoluted moments along the way. This is worth a high Bargain

The Mousetrap Review

The Mousetrap

Tour - The Mayflower Theatre, Southampton

This is a play that has broken records during its tenure in London. One of its latest records is that it has become the most successful play at the Mayflower. It has sold an estimated 17,800 seats, with two extra matinees added to its run at the theatre. Now though, after it has lasted 60 years in London, I was looking forward to adding The Mousetrap under my belt.

A couple called Mollie and Giles Ralston (Bruno Langley and Jemma Walker) convert Monkswell Manor into a guest house, and soon the guests begin to arrive. Later they take a phone call from the police and this is followed up by the arrival of Detective Sergeant Trotter (Thomas Howes). He announces that a murder in London is connected to someone in the Manor, and the murderer is on his way. He therefore starts to interrogate the guests to find out who is connected. Eventually the guests realise that the murderer is already there and is one of them.

It was engaging to watch these different characters arrive to the house during the first act, before Detective Sergeant Trotter starts searching for a murderer. The second half however did slow down as each character took time to confess to something in their background. My companions, who did not know the plot, also thought the play slowed down.

I also felt the script was talking down to the audience by putting in the play very un-supple false leads. At the start, when the London murder announcement is made on the radio, the description of the suspect's clothing matches that of a character who comes onstage in similar clothing. I have seen moments like these before in other mysteries like the Poirot TV episodes, but it felt a bit forced in this play. I am perhaps a bit surprised that this play has lasted so long, despite the fact that this is written by the greatest whodunit writer of all time.

However this is worth seeing for the cast alone. Bruno Langley and Jemma Walker were a cheery couple of lovebirds as Giles and Mollie Ralston. Karl Howman was an eccentric Frenchman (or Belgian), whilst Steven France was quite the camp, jolly Christopher Wren, and Thomas Howes was a firm and at times forceful Sargent Trotter. I was worried that Jan Waters would overact the fuss-pot Mrs Boyle but she did well as a weary old woman who cant stand things going amiss, to the point where she was likable. Graham Seed however felt insignificant for the most part as Major Metcalf, whilst the play did not give Clare Wilkie much to do as the tom-boy, Miss Caswell.

The set was nicely detailed as the Great Hall of Monkswell Manor, with wooden paneling, medieval-esque walls, a stained window and a lit fireplace to boot. Shadows would gradually grow as nighttime fell, whilst the howling of the wind could be heard outside, adding to the atmosphere. A nice addition was the falling snow that was seen outside the window, whilst the characters would arrive with snow coated on their clothes. Also, whilst the cast of The Ladykillers struggled to make themselves heard, this cast did well to project their voices.

It was great to see this for the first time. The set was atmospheric and the cast was strong. This should be seen at a low Top Price, though one has to wonder why this production has lasted so long in the West End.

Timon of Athens Review

Timon of Athens

NT Live - Olivier Theatre, London

For me, 2012 has been quite a year in terms of Shakespeare plays. Thanks to the World Shakespeare Festival I have been able to see three of the Bard's plays for the first time. I then added a fourth at the RSC which I saw outside the festival. They have varied, one being one of my favorite productions of the year, and another being one of my least favourite productions. One of the final productions of the festival was the National Theatre's Timon of Athens, one of Shakespeare's lesser plays that is considered to be two plays in one. But how did it fare for me.

The title character is a wealthy and generous Athenian. He gives money to his patrons, who want to please him so that he will give them more. Eventually Timon discovers that he is heavily in debt, so he sends his servants to his closest friends to ask for money. When they all decline, he invites them to a feast where all he offers are disgusting substances before he flees from his house. He becomes a vagrant and curses world for what it has done to him. He soon discovers a trove of gold, which he gives away when people ask for it

The play certainly feels like it is split into two plays. What I liked about the first half of this production was its almost episodic structure, in which the audience observes different encounters between Timon and his suitors, between the suitors themselves and between other characters. Each encounter seems to become a discrete scene on its own. This allows the audience to ponder whether money buys friendship. A particular highlight occurred at the beginning when a poet, a painter, a jeweler and a merchant shows off their gifts, which they confidently expected Timon to buy, thus showing him as the patron with a bottomless purse. Timon's decline was compelling to watch as everything falls apart for both him and his followers.

The second half mostly comprises of one long scene in which Timon becomes the vagrant. Now I would like to apologise in advance that I have not being sending out my reviews sooner but the last few months have been busy. This is also affecting my opinion on this play because I had no time to read up on it beforehand and therefore had mixed feelings about the messages being conveyed. I understood the message about Timon's charitable character and whether friendship can be bought. I could see that as Timon handed out the gold during the second act, he knew that people will ask for more with nothing to give in return. Indeed when Flavia returns with the leaders of Athens, who want the gold in order to deal with the economy, one can see the sense of betrayal etched on Timon's face. However I felt that this theme of charity and friendship was over-emphasised. Other issues including the rioting and the economy were merely background issues and very underwritten whilst the issues of charity and friendship were stretched out in the second act.

This production was really relying upon the acting itself which was top-notch. Simon Russell Beale, as Timon, basked in the supposed infatuation of Timon's supporters. During the 'nasty' banquet scene he gradually transformed into a malicious lunatic. However, the second act was where Simon really shines as he becomes the dejected and embittered vagrant cursing humanity. Hilton McRae stood out as a sour Apemantus who mirrors what Timon becomes in the second act. Deborah Findlay played the faithful servant, Flavia, and it was interesting to watch her play the mother figure as she reveals her growing concerns for Timon. Timon's friends are really stereotypes of people who are hungry for money and the cast did well to present these characters.

Nicholas Hytner made every effort to make the play relevant by setting it in the present, making references to the state of the economy, the Occupy London encampment, and the London Riots. All of these issues were constantly in the background whilst Timon holds dinner parties with his friends, after opening the 'Timon Room' in the equivalent of the National Portrait Gallery. The sets were on the whole simple, which allowed objects like a large dinning table and chairs to move on and off using the Olivier Theatre's revolving stage.

This was a well acted and firm production, with great performances from Simon Russell Beale, Hilton McRae and Deborah Findlay. However I would like to see this play again and gain a better understanding which sadly I did not get from this production. Once again the production was screened on the last performance, but for newcomers to the play this would have been worth a high Bargain.