MUCH ADO ABUT NOTHING at the Lyttelton, National Threatre - thin and crispy

Odd that in forty years of theatregoing at the National Theatre I have just seen only my fourth Shakespearean production at the Lyttelton - directors prefer the sweep of the Olivier or the intimate Cottesloe-as-was, Dorfman-as-is; the Lyttelton seems too 'contained' for the Bard.  Simon Russell Beale in HAMLET, Bill Bryden's A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM and Ian McKellen as RICHARD III can now be joined by Simon Godwin's lightweight MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

Imagine a Mitchell Leisen-directed MUCH ADO Hollywood screwball comedy starring Frederic March and Carole Lombard as warring lovers Benedick and Beatrice then imagine a National Theatre stage adaptation of it... then imagine it transferring to the West End... then imagine seeing the second replacement cast.  That's the impression I was left with.

The last MUCH ADO I saw was the bizarre Old Vic production woefully directed by Mark Rylance and starring Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones - relive the horror here - so I enjoyed the Babycham fizz of this production - just not enough...  All it did was remind me of the wonderful Branagh / Thompson film and the 2008 delicious pairing of Simon Russell Beale and Zoe Wanamaker at the Olivier - relive that here.

The setting is now Leonato's sprauncy Hotel Messina on the Riviera in the 1930s; in the rewrite, Leonato has lost a brother but gained a wife Antonia.  He still welcomes Don Pedro's batallion of soldiers which includes young Claudio who loves Leonato's daughter Hero, the militantly single Benedick and Don Pedro's illegitimate brother Don John, who is quietly seeking revenge on Claudio for gaining promotion instead of him.

Staying at the hotel already is Beatrice, Hero's cousin, who suffers no fools and had previously had a relationship with Benedick but now "There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit between them."  As the "merry war" resumes, the nasty Don John schemes to undo Claudio's love for Hero.

Something very odd happens midway through MUCH ADO: after Claudio is tricked into thinking Hero has been unfaithful to him and rebuffs her at the altar, a plot is developed to make him think Hero died through his actions and he has to publicly grieve for her before marrying a relative of hers.  Now we know it's a trick, the characters know it's a trick but every production I have seen suddenly switches from comedy to tragedy for this section of the play, with only the interminable "rude mechanicals" sub-plot of Dogberry and his night watchmen discovering the plot.  

Of course it is all eventually laughed off as - indeed - much ado about nothing but the questions always remain: if Claudio has already proved too quick to believe his intended is unfaithful why won't he do so again and if all it took to reunite Beatrice and Benedick was hearsay from others, how solid is their relationship?  Luckily no one has ever dared write a sequel so we will take Mr Shakespeare's word that they did, indeed, live happily ever after.

I just wish Simon Godwin has paused the relentlessly jolly production to have reflected the darker undertows of the capers but the National obviously wants a summer Shakespeare so a summer Shakespeare it shall have with a jazz band and choreographed company dancing to boot.

Anna Fleischele's palatial hotel set is impressive but ultimately all it does is sit there in the way while the costume design is colourful but also distracting: Beatrice's costumes also are very unbecoming on Katherine Parkinson's shortish stature.

John Heffernan is a charming Benedick but again doesn't really remain memorable while Katherine Parkinson again is a serviceable Beatrice but in a very studied ironical way...  it's a rare actress who makes no impression with Beatrice's glorious line "but then there was a star danced, and under that was I born."  As I said above, they felt like a replacement cast.

Of the supporting performers I liked the Antonia of Wendy Kweh whose anger at the supposed shaming of her daughter really woke up that scene, there was an intelligent Hero from Ionna Kimbrook and Rufus Wright's Leonato was impressibly quick to anger in the denunciation scene but that's about it.  Don't get me started on Claudio performing his lines like a footballer being inverviewed after a game or Margaret (the actress is making her first professional appearance after drama school) saying her lines like she was shouting them from the main stage at Glastonbury.

But Shakespeare was the star of the show, as is so often the case, with his 423 year-old words still making one laugh and sigh... and was there ever a better summation of a comedy than the lovely "...for man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion".

xt Signior Benedick and
her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit
between them.

This
a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and
her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit
between them.her. They never meet but there’s a skirmish of wit
between them.

DVD/150: ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (Elijah Moshinsky, 1981. tv)

Ian Charleson appeared in three of the BBC Shakespeare productions - and they are all killjoys: Fortinbrass in HAMLET,  Octavian in ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA and Bertram in ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

Typical, his biggest role is in one of my least liked plays!

Twelve years ago, I saw ALL'S WELL at the NT and, while I enjoyed that production, I have stayed away from it since - until now..

Directed by Elijah Moshinsky, the design is based on Dutch artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer.

The austere design helps you focus on one of Shakespeare's most confusing plots...

When Helena cures the ailing French King with her late physician father's potion, he allows her the husband of her choice.  She picks the Countess of Roussillon's son Bertram who she unrequitedly loves - but he dislikes her.

Bertam escapes, setting her two impossible tasks before he will marry her - but he doesn't know Helena...

Shelf or charity shop?  Despite my dislike of the play, it's a keeper. Moshinsky doesn't really bring insights into the text and some of the performers rattle through their lines like broken photo-copiers, but the design works marvellously well and most of the actors deliver their lines like they actually understand the meaning behind the words.  Among the strong performances are Celia Johnson as the Countess, Pippa Guard as Diana who helps Helena thwart Bertram, Donald Sinden as the King of France, Michael Hordern as The Countess' friend Lafeu and of course, Ian - yes he is a cad but a marvellous role for him to shine in.  Sadly Angela Down as Helena cannot bring the character to life, and Peter Jeffrey's Parolles sub-plot is just a messy distraction.

DVD/150: RICHARD III (Richard LoncraIne, 1995)

Richard Eyre's 1990 RICHARD III at the National Theatre starring Ian McKellen was set in the 1930s, finding a natural setting against the rise of Fascist dictators and five years later, Richard Loncraine based his screen version on this production using an adaptation by himself and McKellen.

As good as McKellen is, eventually he becomes wearing; being so close to the script-writing means few other characters get a look in.

Loncraine's film however is excellent: the action is wonderfully thought through to fit the 1930s concept and the production design and costumes won BAFTAs and were nominated for Oscars.

As I said, it's a struggle for the cast to get round McKellen but there is fine work from Annette Bening as Queen Elizabeth. Maggie Smith as the Duchess of York, Nigel Hawthorne as Clarence, Jim Broadbent as Buckingham, Kristen Scott Thomas as Lady Anne and Adrian Dunbar as Tyrell.

Shelf or charity shop?  Alhough McKellen's Richard is ruling from the DVD limbo of a plastic storage box, it is definitely one to keep for it's ingenuity, dazzling cast and the wonderful location use of Battersea Power Station. St Pancras Station, Brighton Pavillion, Senate House and the former Bankside Power Station, now the Tate Modern building.

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Exit Through The Giftshop - Postcards at an exhibition....

More bootiful booty from museum and exhibition gift shops...

1) TITLE PAGE OF THE FIRST FOLIO OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS (1623) - Martin Droeshout

I bought this in Stratford-on-Avon at Shakespeare's birthplace - it seemed the most obvious purchase really.  The First Folio was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death, by John Heminges and Henry Condell who were actors in The King's Men, the acting company that the Bard wrote for.  Although many of Shakespeare's plays had been published in smaller Quarto publications, these were cheaply produced and fluctuated in quality. 

The First Folio compiled 36 plays, 18 of which for the first time including THE TEMPEST, ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, MEASURE FOR MEASURE, JULIUS CAESAR and MACBETH.  It is believed about 750 editions were published and is now considered one of the most important publications in history.  A copy was sold in 2001 at Christies, NY for over £3 million.  21 year-old Martin Droeshout's engraving has become the one that most Shakespeare imagery is based on.

2) PLEIN AIR (1890-1) - Ramon Casas

I bought this in the MNAC Gallery in Barcelona which celebrates Catalonian art.  In 1890 the 25 year-old Casas was living and working in Paris and his painting 'Plein Air' shows the influence of the Impressionist painters on him.

Casas' painting has a haunting quality as a smartly-dressed woman sits outside at a table in the gloaming, staring at a man across the empty courtyard who is turned away from her gaze, looking out of the gate to the town beyond.  The white of the tablecloth and the red wine in the carafe is contrasted against the black of the woman's outfit giving the viewer a focus in the surrounding muted colours.

3) MAP READING (1932) - Stanley Spencer

I bought this at Somerset House when they recreated Stanley Spencer's 19 canvasses in situ as they appear at the Sandham Memorial Chapel in Burghclere, Hampshire.  The Chapel was commissioned to honor Lieutenant Henry Sandham who died in 1920 by his sister and brother-in-law.  They turned to Stanley Spencer to decorate the Chapel with the paintings for which he drew on his memories and observations while working as an orderly in the Royal Army Medical Corps in WWI.

Over his cycle of paintings we follow Spencer's experiences from the training hospital in Bristol where he was confronted with the injured and maimed from the Front in the benign surroundings of the hospital to being an orderly in the field in Macedonia.  In "Map Reading", an officer studies a map of the Macedonian terrain while his soldiers lounge on either side of the road, some clambering among bilberry bushes for food while one sits feeding the officer's horse who stares out at the viewer with an accusing stare.  As usual, what I love about Spencer's painting is the topsy-turvy lay-out, the humanity and gentle humour that he finds in the scene, and in particular the glaring horse - is he angry about being used as a desk by the officer or at the world that has made the situation happen?

4) THE ANNUNCIATION (CELL 3) (1438) - Fra Angelico

 

I bought this at the former Dominican friary San Marco in Florence which now houses many works by the Renaissance painter Fra Angelico who lived there from 1436 to 1445.  The first floor of the friary contains a number of frescoes by Fra Angelico that make it an essential place to visit for any art lover.  As you climb the broad staircase and turn the corner to the last flight up to the first floor you see ahead of you his magnificent fresco of "The Annunciation", one of the great works of Renaissance religious art, but the first floor also has a wonderful collection of frescoes that he painted for each of the monk's cells as subjects for contemplation during prayer. 

The austere beauty of these works is reflected in this fresco of The Annunciation.  Only a few doors down from the more-well known and larger fresco that greets you as you turn the stairs, this one has a stripped down beauty which highlights the Fra's use of perspective and his genius for distilling a deep tension between his figures:  Mary kneels in a pale pink gown, disturbed from her reading by the Angel Gabriel whose multi-coloured wings hide the lurking figure of Saint Dominic who bears witness to what is about to happen.  The glowing simplicity and held moment in time dazzles.

5) SUPPER IN EMMAUS (1861) - Augusto Betti

I bought this at the Medici Chapel in Florence.  I can find no reference to this anywhere online so guess I will just have to describe why I like it!

Betti gives us a reduced almost geometric look to the scene where Jesus appeared to two of his Apostles days after rising from the dead and their rapt attention is offset by the servant who is pouring water out of a jug and the dozing, scruffy dog under the table.  Outside the evening falls...  I like the unfussy painting which stood out against some of the more florid works in the Medici Chapel.

Dvd/150: THE HOLLOW CROWN: THE WAR OF THE ROSES - RICHARD III (Dominic Cooke, 2016)

The second cycle of THE HOLLOW CROWN ends with Benedict Cumberbatch murdering his way to the throne as RICHARD III.

Starting with a tracking shot around Richard's grotesque twisted spine, Cumberbatch gives a subtle portrayal of evil shot through with a sense of murderous fun as he colludes with the viewer in his treacherous plans.

Ben Power's adaptation keeps the plot moving fast but in this part of the trilogy, some poetry is lost - Queen Elizabeth's plea to the stone walls of the Tower to protect her captive sons and, more unforgivably, Clarence's dream of drowning.

This is Dominic Cooke's first filmed work and the trilogy has an assured, cohesive vision.  Again Sophie Okonedo is marvellous as Queen Margaret, cursing the royal family who learn too late she is right, and in a relatively minor role as Richard's mother, Judi Dench is magnificent in her final denunciation scene with him.

Shelf or charity shop?  Ruling from the shelf, the final death toll incidentally is 25... farewell Clarence, Edward IV, Lords Hastings, Grey and Rivers, Princes Edward and Richard, Queen Anne. Buckingham, Catesby and of course, you know who...

Dvd/150: THE HOLLOW CROWN: THE WAR OF THE ROSES - HENRY VI PT 2 (Dominic Cooke, 2016)

The plot - and spilled blood - thickens as the balance of power seesaws between the houses of Lancaster and York in Dominic Cooke and Ben Power's adaptation of HENRY VI PART 2.

Nearly all Shakespeare's original PART 2 is jettisoned - Irish wars, Jack Cade's revolt - to concentrate on his PART 3: the clamorous battle in the narrow streets St Albans results in York forcing Henry VI to disinherit his young son in favour of York's children. 

Furious Queen Margaret wreaks bloody vengeance on York and his youngest son, leading to his other three sons, Edward, George and infamous Richard, seeking revenge on her and the mentally-unstable Henry.

Allegiances change and change again and all the time, bodies keep falling - and Richard inches nearer and nearer the throne.

Standout performances include Benedict Cumberbatch as the murderous Richard, Sophie Okonedo as Margaret, Geoffrey Streatfeild as Edward IV and Stanley Townsend as Warwick.

Shelf or charity shop?  Fighting it out in gory detail on the shelf - the death toll is now 14...buying the farm here are the Dukes of York, Exeter and Suffolk, Prince Edward, Henry VI, Somerset, Warwick, Edmund Plantagenet, Young Lord Clifford - and you know there are more to come in RICHARD III...

Dvd/150: THE HOLLOW CROWN: THE WAR OF THE ROSES - HENRY VI PT 1 (Dominic Cooke, 2016)

What again??  Yes, after the BBC's THE AGE OF KINGS (1960) and the RSC's THE WAR OF THE ROSES (1965), I plunge again into the 30 year civil war with the BBC's second cycle of THE HOLLOW CROWN, four years after their version of The Henriad.

Luckily Dominic Cooke has a cast of well-known actors; all the better to keep track of the countless Dukes - Somerset, Winchester, Exeter, Suffolk, etc. - fighting to control weak Henry VI and secure their way to the crown.

Cooke and Ben Power have condensed one and a half plays into this version but keep the plot moving, from Henry V's burial to the murder of the Duke of Gloucester, which triggers the Yorkist rebellion.

Notable are Hugh Bonneville as the doomed Gloucester, Ben Miles as sly Somerset, Sophie Okonedo as devious Margaret of Anjou and Tom Sturridge's blankness works remarkably well as Henry VI

Shelf or charity shop?  a definite shelfer - oh and by the way... the death toll is currently five - the Duke of Gloucester, Sir Edmund Mortimer, Lord Talbot, John Talbot and Joan of Arc - watch this pile grow!