Miss Nightingale - Hippodrome Casino

Miss Nightingale

Hippodrome Casino
Cranbourn Street,
Leicester Square,
London, WC2H 7JH

Wow! This has been a week filled with some amazing nights at the theatre and Miss Nightingale was a perfect finish to a lovely week, before we fly out for a short break.

A casino isn't the first place you would think of as a site for an evening of entertainment (which did not include some fun at the tables). I had however been to this venue before for an excellent brunch and was quite excited when Joanne of Love Pop-Ups London mentioned the opportunity to review Miss Nightingale at the Casino Theatre.

Friends who had watched Miss Nightingale at the vaults last year, had really enjoyed it, but I had missed the opportunity given their short run and my over-full calendar.

We arrived at the Hippodrome. This time, I wasn't asked for my id  (as this is a casino, it is one of the few places in the UK that does ask for id with age proof, so do remember to carry one). I guess I'm finally showing my age ;)

We headed up to the first floor, perusing the fascinating display cases of memorabilia from previous theatre performances at the venue.

We stood in line to get our wrist bands that would allow us entry and exit of the small theater. The tickets included a complimentary drink coupon. The drinks coupon was valid on some house wines, so the waitress was really surprised when 3 of us asked if we could use the coupon for a non-alcoholic beverage. She got permission to accept our coupons for sodas and orange juice and we were set.

This is a really small and intimate theatre. Seating for the show was arranged around 4 seats to a table. There were a few comfortable looking booths towards the rear. There are around 3 rows of tables, if you include the booths. We got a seat in the middle and this was the perfect distance to the stage. The whole seating arrangement fit in completely with the show which is set mostly in a nightclub.

The location and seats were good, the only criticism of the theater is that around half way through the play, it got really cold inside and we had to put our jackets back on and order hot coffee.

Miss Nightingale is set in an underground cabaret club in the heart of London in 1942. Maggie Brown, a nurse and aspiring singer and her best friend George Nowodny, a songwriter and Jewish refugee, become the headliners at 'The Cockpit', the newest night club in town, owned by wealthy socialite and RAF war-hero, Sir Frank Worthington-Blythe. Maggie’s married, black-marketeer beau Tom Connor, paves the way for ‘Miss Nightingale’ to be born, and the musical duo quickly find themselves with a West-End hit!

However, what the leading lady doesn’t know, is that George and Sir Frank are hiding a secret and as Miss Nightingale’s success grows, so does a forbidden love between the two men.

The play deals with so many pressing issues of that period. The rampant homophobia, where homosexuals were suspected of being spies simply because it was thought that their sexual preferences made them susceptible to be  blackmailed by the enemy. Class differences, Jewish refugees, Unwed motherhood are all themes that are touched upon in this cabaret musical by Matthew Bugg.

The six member cast is multi-talented. They act, they dance, they sing, they play multiple musical instruments. They sing like angels... even though a lot of it is double entendre.

While Lauren Chinery plays the lead as Miss Nightingale (also playing the piano, clarinet, flute & saxophone), for me the star of the show was Matthew Floyd Jones who plays Jewish refugee George Nowodny. His role was more nuanced and his voice is sublime.

Oliver Mawdsley as RAF war-hero, Sir Frank Worthington-Blythe and Adam Langstaff as Maggie’s conniving beau Tom Connor are also excellent. Matthew Bugg has researched WWII era London extensively and it shows, in every setting and all the lyrics of Miss Nightingale from Meine Liebe Berlin to Stand Up & Be Counted. From Let Me Play on Your Pipe to You've Got to Get Your Sausage Where You Can.

The lyrics may be double entendre, but they are so much more than that. They convey the hardships of war time Britain, the deaths of young men at war, women being compelled to step out into the work space, but still expected to look beautiful and well made up all the time, the lack of basic provisions like tea and sugar that were considered luxuries and the black market that grew up to supply these and clothing items like nylons and silk.

Overall, Miss Nightingale was a much better experience than Chicago, which I watched on Monday. And, I FINALLY got to see some tap dancing!

Miss Nightingale is playing at Hippodrome Casino Theatre until 6th May. Tickets start at £22.50. I would definitely recommend this one.

The Ferryman - Gielgud Theatre

The Ferryman

Gielgud Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue,
London, W1D 6AR

Northern Ireland, 1981. The Carney family prepare for the annual harvest with a day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebration ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor.

This is just the simplest possible introduction to this play directed by Oscar winner Sam Mendes. The writer of this play that has been nominated for EIGHT Olivier Awards this year is Jez Butterworth whose most recent work on television was the fantastical Britannia - which I quite enjoyed, but after being addicted to "Game of Thrones", that's a difficult genre for anyone else to measure up to.

The Ferryman however is a different matter altogether and here Jez Butterworth has hit it out of the park. The play lasts just over 3 hours, but the intensity is maintained throughout and there isn't a single moment where audience interest lags. It has a huge ensemble cast including some kids, a baby, a goose and a rabbit! I don't remember any play in the recent past which had live animals on stage...

Rob Howell's set is picture perfect and is literally a character in this ensemble cast.

The play is rooted in the tragedy of "the disappeared" during the Irish Troubles : where family members just disappeared with no body to be found, sometimes for decades. Butterworth has said When somebody disappears for 10 years time stops, which is what I really think the play is about.” Laura Donnelly (who originally played the role of Caitlin Carney) was just a child when her uncle was taken away by the IRA, shot and dumped in a bog — a story that is retold in The Ferryman.

While this is the heart of the story, the play is also about family dynamics and relationships, teenage angst, patriotism and how it can be twisted into radicalisation and the private devastation by wars.

When the play started, we were a little concerned about being able to follow the Irish brogue, but after the first few minutes, we quickly fell into the cadence and were thoroughly drawn into the family drama.

The acting is absolutely brilliant and as an audience member, it feels like you have stepped into a charged Christmas family dinner at the most inopportune moment, when you don't know if it would be politer to stay or go.

Rosalie Craig as Caitlin Carney, Owen McDonnell as Quinn Carney, Sian Thomas as bitter Aunt Pat, Justin Edwards as slow Tom Kettle, Stella McCusker as faraway Aunt Maggie, Mark Lambert as Uncle Pat trying to steer the conversation away from explosive topics are each outstanding. But for me, the absolute stand out in this fantastic cast was Alex Warburton as Declan Corcoran.

The Ferryman is very very powerful storytelling and definitely worth a full 5 stars. Its running at the Gielgud Theatre until 19th May. It has been extended a couple of times in the last few months, but if you can find tickets, don't wait, just go.

Disclainer : Images taken from The Ferryman website

The Marriage of Figaro - Hackney Empire

The Marriage of Figaro

Hackney Empire
291 Mare Street,
London,
E8 1EJ

After an initial disastrous experience at the English National Opera in 2016, the husband has been quite adamant against watching another live performance. So I've had to be content with watching recordings on Sky Arts of some of the performances that I was interested in. However, after visiting Opera: Passion, Power and Politics at the Victoria & Albert Museum in January this year, he was willing to give it another chance.

He said that he would be open to watching a live performance as long as it was in English and had subtitles and was preferably a comedy. His other addendum was that he didn't want to have to get 'all dressed up' for it. So I had been keeping my eyes open to find a live opera in London that fulfilled these criteria.

So I was very excited when I saw that the English Touring Opera was taking The Marriage of Figaro on tour, and would be playing at Hackney Empire on 28th February and 3rd of March.

Since I was familiar with this comedy, I knew this would be a much better introduction into Opera for him. Set in a single day, Figaro and Susanna have to overcome every obstacle put in their way by Count Almaviva and his cronies before they can finally be united as husband and wife.

We braved the melting snow and got to the theatre early and had time to admire the stunning building. We didn't have time to go to the Empire Bar next door, but there was a concession stand behind the seating area in the theater, where we were able to get some hot black coffee and chips.

When we got to our seats, we realised that the online chart was a bit misleading, what I thought were forward facing double seats were dual sideways facing seats with a table between them. What made it even more awkward was when another couple said they had the same seats and we figured out that the seat numbers were duplicated. Fortunately someone from management came over and sorted it out, giving them a different table and we could stretch out more comfortably to watch the production sideways.

The hall itself is beautiful and its one of the loveliest stage curtains that I've seen. The sets by Neil Irish were in a lovely Wedgwood blue and moved around a bit to keep up with the change in settings. The ensemble directed by Christopher Stark was lovely.

The beginning was a bit disconcerting, with the music being accompanied by actors preparing for a play, rolling clothes lines along and taking selfies. But once the actual performance began, things settled down and we were able to enjoy the rest of it.

The absolute stand out performances for me were Ross Ramgobin as Figaro (especially when he continues singing as he performs push-ups) and Katherine Aitken as Cherubino. Rachel Redmond as Susanna, Dawid Kimberg as Count Almaviva and Nadine Benjamin as his Countess were also very good.

It was a good evening well spent and worth the multiple train changes in the freezing cold. The husband agreed that he did enjoy this performance much more, but given a choice, he would still prefer theatre any day.

The Marriage of Figaro tours to Truro, Poole, Chester, Buxton, Guildford, Snape, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Canterbury, Norwich, Bromley, Sheffield, Durham, Perth, Exeter, Leicester, York, Stoke-on-Trent, Ulverston and Blackpool until 9 June. Check dates and book on the English Touring Opera Website.

Dry Powder - Hampstead Theatre

Dry Powder

Hampstead Theatre
Eton Avenue,
Swiss Cottage,
London, NW3 3EU

Rick runs a private equity firm. The play begins with him caught in the middle of a publicity nightmare since his firm forced massive layoffs at a supermarket chain at the same time as he was celebrating a lavish engagement party, which even had a live elephant.

His two partners Seth and Jenny have completely differing views on how to salvage their reputation. Seth has brokered an opportunity to buy a firm called Landmark Luggage. Seth believes they need to do something to develop the firm and improve its market share, increase jobs within the country and which will bring them positive publicity to outweigh the negative, but Jenny is all about maximising returns, by any means necessary.

The title Dry Powder refers to marketable securities that are highly liquid and considered cash-like.

The set was different. The mirrors in the backdrop reflected the audience, very unique.

I originally bought the tickets blindly as a chance to watch Tom Riley (whom we loved in Da Vinci's Demons) and Hayley Atwell (who we admired in Conviction much more than in her role as Agent Peggy Carter - but then I also think that Captain America and Agent Peggy Carter are the weakest superheroes in the Marvel universe) live.

It was a thrill to watch them live and Hayley Atwell's performance as Jenny was brilliant. While it would be easy to turn Jenny into an evil caricature hellbent on profit at any cost, Atwell humanised her as a mathematical genius, albeit one for whom the human cost (jobs, emotions, families) is irrelevant to any calculations. In fact, it is Riley's Seth who ends up looking naive in the end, especially given Joseph Balderrama as Jeff's about face in the end.

Dry Powder has plenty of moments that make you laugh and others that make you think. We quite enjoyed Sarah Burgess script. I can't remember the last time we watched a play which felt like a dramatised version of office life. This hedge fund drama is a good peek into the life of private finance. Anyone who is fairly aware of financial markets would enjoy this performance. There are a lot of technical terms bandied about and if numbers and finance make your head spin, then you would lose out on a lot of the dialogue.

Given that the Hampstead Theatre is a newer theatre, the seats are all comfortable and have a good view of the stage. No pillars in the middle of seating to create one of those dreaded "restricted view" spots.

 

Edited to Add : Dry Powder has been nominated for Best New Comedy at the 2018 Olivier Awards

Blood Rite at Guildhall Courtyard

The show was advertised as A spectacular, digitally-animated new outdoor dance show. Set on the site of London’s Roman amphitheatre, an explosive fusion of urban dance, music and video projection transforms the facades of Guildhall Yard. Using the latest technology in motion tracking, combined with live dance and cutting edge hip-hop music, Blood Rite shows an unforgettable series of provocative scenes that both reveal the horror of the arena and celebrate the perseverance of the gladiatorial spirit. Commissioned by the City of London Corporation.

We had watched other digitally animated shows at this location and were quite excited about it.

This year (20 & 21 October 2017), the animation was beamed across 3 sides of the square rather than just one and there was a large stage erected in front of the museum for the dancers.

The information we saw was that the show would last 20 minutes, so we expected the show to be repeated at every 30 minute interval. However when we reached there at 7:30, the show was half way through, so we caught the tail end of it.

The dancing was nice, but I don't know how much it added to the experience. Plus there was very bright light from the side near the church, so all the ambiance and the magical feel of previous shows here was kind of missing. It felt like you had arrived at the rehearsals of the show rather than the show itself, if that makes sense. The animation wsan't very informative either.

City of London puts up some amazing shows, but unfortunately this one, did not take our breath away like some of the shows that preceded this.

Graeme of Thrones @ Charing Cross Theatre

Avid ‘Thrones’ fan Graeme just wants to recreate his favourite fantasy saga on stage – aided and abetted by his best friend Paul and the girl he used to fancy at school – Bryony. He doesn’t quite have the same budget as the TV show, or as many cast members, or the performance skill required, but he’s sure George RR Martin would approve – and that’s what matters. But when news reaches them that an influential theatrical producer is in the building, Graeme decides that this could be his big break – as long as nothing goes wrong …

The reviews for Graeme of Thrones were great, the show had traveled to Chicago, Toronto and across Australia, the concept was alluring, we are HUGE Game of Throne addicts, and so without a second thought, I booked tickets for the show.

It was only after I had booked the tickets that I realised that the show started at 10PM! I have never attended a theater performance that started that late. But given that I had booked for a Friday night, I didn't foresee any trouble.

Let me mention right here, the post code to Charing Cross theater is WC2N 6NL. A lot of websites and links have it as WC2N 6NG and we wasted a bit of time getting lost. This location is behind Charing Cross Station and underground near a very popular nightclub.

By the time, we arrived at the theater it was 10:05, but the staff very kindly let us in and seated us in different seats than we had booked, so we wouldn't disturb any of the audience that was already in place.

We missed the first 5 minutes of the show, where the scene was being set, but we were able to follow on quite easily.However, you have to be a Game of Thrones fan to watch this play. If you aren't, you will not recognise the references or allusions and nothing will make sense. We saw a few people 4-5 people leave once the show started (in 10 minutes of us being seated) and I assume they were not familiar enough with the series / books to understand what was going on.

There is no interval. The show is quite funny in bits but not as hilarious as we expected from all the reviews. Ross Ali as Paul and the lady who played Bryony were really good. Sansa's first period was hilarious.

This show feels like more of a stand up comedy with oodles and oodles of props than a theater production per se.

Its still playing at Charing Cross Theater until November 11th. If you are a GOT fan with withdrawal symptoms, its worth a watch.

The theater itself is a very comfortable venue. Seats are much more comfortable than most theatres in London. Its a small theater and all seats have an unrestricted view of the stage. The sound booth is behind the audience. There's a good view of the stage, even in the 9th and 10th rows.

Be aware, that if you sit in front, you may get roped into some audience participation.

Charing Cross Theatre
10, The Arches
Villiers Street
London WC2N 6NL

Death of a Salesman at Noel Coward Theatre

Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. The play premiered on Broadway in February 1949, running for 742 performances. Death of a Salesman is often numbered on the short list of being among the finest American plays in the 20th century.

I had heard a lot about this play, but had never got the chance to watch it nor had I read it. When we realised that 18 July 2015 was the last performance of this run of the play at Noel Coward Theatre, we quickly booked tickets for the penultimate show.

I'm glad, I didn't read up anything about the play before I went to watch it, because I could enjoy the story line as it evolved. The problem with well known plays for me, is that I know how things end before a performance even begins. I personally prefer the slow reveal.

In the land of the free, each man is in charge of his own destiny. But as old age begins to take hold of Willy Loman, the dream of retiring with his loving wife and watching his handsome sons continue his legacy seems further away than ever. Directed by Gregory Doran, this production of the Royal Shakespeare Company marks the centenary celebrations of Arthur Miller.

The 4 main characters are Willy Loman - a salesman in his 60's, his wife Linda and his 2 sons - Biff & Happy.

The play opens with Willy returning half way through a sales trip unable to carry on his journey. His troubles start out seeming quite commonplace - burn out due to overwork and wishing his sons had achieved more in life. But as the play moves forward, you realise that there are much more serious issues involved, dangerous secrets to be revealed.

This is most definitely a tragic play, and we came away feeling quite depressed.

Almost 70 years have passed since Arthur Miller penned this play, but the social, moral and consumerist issues are exactly the same today too. The line between reality and illusion is normally very clear in the present, but it gets a bit hazy when thinking of the past and in the case of Willy Loman, he embellishes his memories so much, that it seems that he can no longer distinguish between the two.

It is difficult to find sympathy for Linda, because it seems like she enables Willy's behaviour, no matter how irrational.

Death of a Salesman is a tragedy and depressing, but it is also thought provoking and covers topics that need to be discussed amongst the youth of today.
What is Success?
What is acceptable behaviour on the path to success?
What are the responsibilities of parents towards their children and children towards their older parents?
Should you follow your own dreams or those that others think you are capable of?

Its a lot to think about...

Peter Barnes - Noonday Demons - @King's Head Theatre

We absolutely loved James McAvoy in The Ruling Class, so when we heard that King's Head Theatre was putting up a performance of another Peter Barnes Play, we were really excited.

The fact that this play was being put up in a Theatre within a pub, just made the whole concept more interesting. This was our first visit to a Theatre within a pub and it was only later that I learned that there are more such Pub Theatres in London.

The idea behind the play was simple:

St Eusebius is living as a hermit in the Egyptian desert, alone but for a tower of his own excrement, and the maggots that live in his festering flesh.

With nothing to do but self-flagellate, he is quite content surviving on olives, water and self-righteousness until a second hermit arrives with an order from God. And so begins a contest as to who is the holiest.

The script itself is that of an anarchic black comedy. Sadly the performances couldn't match up to the script. It is an extremely difficult script and what we saw where the early previews, so I do hope that the group can tighten the performance and bring in more of that manic energy needed to portray characters in a Peter Barnes play. Or maybe our expectations were too high for expecting a James McAvoy level of performance.

The sudden appearance of a third hermit at the end of the play just for the curtain call threw us all for a loop, none of us could figure out where he came in from and what his role was.

The themes of religious zealotry, violence in Gods name, clash of extreme egos are all very relevant and current, but somehow this performance didn't manage to strike the right note for us.

The King's Head Theatre is a tiny theatre with free seating. The front row is literally on the stage itself. And the advantage was that we got a close look at the make up which was excellent. Torn knees, covered in dust from the desert, it was all very well put together.

The Twelfth Night @The Actors Church / @IrisTheatre #iris12thnight

A Shakespearean Play set in an Actual Garden in the heart of the City with multiple locations and the audience moving around the garden with the actors? Whats not to love about that?

The minute I heard about the concept (from Anne Marie's twitter feed - We LOVED her in These Trees are Made of Blood), I knew we had to catch this play.

And so we found ourselves on a Friday evening, among a select group of people with access to St Paul's Church (also known as The Actors Church) in Covent Garden, while others contented themselves with street performers in the piazza.

The play by Iris Theatre was set out in 6 locations across the church and the gardens, each one more atmospheric than the other.

The Twelfth Night is a typical Shakespearean comedy with mistaken identities and love triangles / quadrangles etc. We had watched a recording of the play performed at The Shakespeares Globe on Star Arts, but that was so pale and insipid compared to this version.

This version, directed by Vik Sivalingam was light and airy and fun and even the young kids in the audience seemed to be loving Shakespeare. The music by Anne Marie Piazza and Nick Howard Brown was perfect at setting the atmosphere. The open air settings, the fairy lights, the minimalistic sets, the gorgeous church.

The cast was stellar - Anne Marie as Maria, Nick Howard as Feste, Henry Wyrley-Birch as Sebastian /Aguecheek, Pepter Lunkuse as Viola, Olivia Onyehara as Olivia, Tony Bell as Malvolio, Robert Maskell as Sir Toby and Julian Moore-Cook as Orsino.

I loved the costumes and how beautifully they were transformed from clothes that could be worn on the streets today with just a few touch ups.

I would heavily recommend this play to everyone, especially if you believe that Shakespeare is too heavy to enjoy.

And in case you were wondering why St Paul's Church in Covent Garden is called the Actor's Church :
It was designed by Inigo Jones in 1633 and is regarded as the masterpiece and focal point of his piazza. Inigo Jones was an architect, but also a set and costume designer to the court. Hence the name.

Gina Bellman in "Orson's Shadow"

Thanks to Antony from London Meetups, we caught another brilliant play at the Southwark Playhouse.

This one was again inspired by true events surrounding Giants of Stage and Screen Orson Welles (John Hodgkinson), Sir/Baron Laurence Olivier (Adrian Lukis), Vivien Leigh (Gina Bellman), Dame Joan Plowright / Baroness Olivier (Louise Ford) and Kenneth Tynan (Edward Bennett). Although its more in the realm of speculative fact based fiction.

Set around 1960 in Dublin and then subsequently at the Royal Court Theatre, Hollywood giants Orson Welles and Laurence Olivier have been persuaded to work together for the first time - in a production of Eugène Ionesco’s masterpiece "Rhinoceros" - the inspired idea of legendary theatre critic Kenneth Tynan.

But with Olivier’s eccentric wife Vivien Leigh and girlfriend (later wife) Joan Plowright added to the volatile mix, legendary egos collide both on stage and off.

The play was nominated for Outstanding Play of the Year in the Lortel Awards on its New York debut.

While most theater & movie goers would know the main actors/directors in this play, Orson's Shadow gives us a peek "behind the scenes", so to speak.

Rather than the perception of the individual in popular culture and the media, we see their insecurities, their egos, their frailties... We get to see the "person behind the image"

The dialogues, insults and barbs flew thick and fast. If you are familiar with that era of film and stage, there's a much deeper level of understanding, but even if someone has never heard of any of these names before, the play can be enjoyed for what it is.

Even though the theater was hardly occupied today (because of the tube strike), the cast performed as though it was to a full house.

John Hodgkinson as Orson Welles was absolutely brilliant. and Claran O'Brien as Shawn was great comic relief. I was wondering why Gina Bellman looked so familiar as I have never watched "Coupling", I then realised that I have watched her in "Leverage"

A surprise bonus was suddenly coming face to face with Charles Dance (Tywin Lannister) when buying a coffee at the bar during interval - who was in the audience :)

Picture Credits : 
Antony from London Meetups
Southwark Playhouse

Jonathan Pryce as Shylock - Merchant of Venice - Shakepeare's Globe

I've always wanted to catch a performance at the Shakespeare's Globe, but hadn't got around to it for awhile. When Antony from London Meetups, said that he had tickets for Merchant of Venice, for the first time ever, I booked tickets THREE Whole MONTHS in advance.

Back in India, booking in advance means 24 hours before. With our crazy travel schedules, we rarely commit ourselves to anything more than a week away. This is one of the changes we are slowly adapting to, in London.

Anyway, Antony said that Olivier Award Winner Jonathan Pryce was playing Shylock in this performance. This is one of the Shakespearean plays we are familiar with - both of us have also acted in excerpts of this play during our school days. Since we had opted for the standing tickets in the Yard to get the authentic experience, tickets were a paltry 5-6 pounds each. For London, these prices are dirt cheap.

For most of you TV watchers, Jonathan Pryce may be more familiar as the "High Sparrow" in Game of Thrones or Cardinal Wolsey from "Wolf Hall". For the Bond Fans,  you would know him as the Media Baron villain  in "Tomorrow Never Dies" - Elliot Carver. And Johnny Depp fans would know him as Governor Weatherby Swann from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. Since I'm a fan of all of these, I HAD to go watch this Olivier Award Winning Actor (for Hamlet) perform live.

Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames that was originally built in 1599, destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt in 1614, and then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic approximation based on available evidence of the 1599 and 1614 buildings. It was built about 230 metres (750 ft) from the site of the original theatre and opened to the public in 1997, with a production of Henry V.

There are some balcony style seats in this circular theatre at multiple levels for those with more money. But Shakespearean theatre was meant for the masses and masses stand in the yard (open to the sky) right up close to the stage (maybe thats where the concept for screaming fans standing near the stage at award functions comes from). Standing and watching the play was quite an experience, I asked an usher if they had a facility to shut the rof if it rained or if performances were cancelled. With typical British style, she said 'The show goes on' and what about those standing in the yard "well, they get wet"

So there you have it! Book your tickets weeks, nay, months in advance and if it rains - you just get wet - while watching an amazing show.

The Performers were phenomenal. Launcelot (the Jester for the purpose of this play) grabbed a couple of audience members to get on stage with him and play the 2 sides of his conscience (like a comic performance and pretty unusual for Shakespearean performances as far as I've heard) Also the female roles were played by actresses (most Shakespearean theater had female roles played by male impersonators)

The play was slightly rewritten to make the dialogue more contemporary and easier to follow, but the original language was retained for some of the more poetic sections. However, the way it was portrayed, I came away much more sympathetic to Shylock and felt that he had been unjustly treated throughout (he seems logical and just throughout his dealings with his own code of honour - except when he insisted on his pound of flesh). Was Shakespeare trying to prove the superiority of Christianity over Judaism? (I'm not a Literature scholar, so I'm not sure about this)

The singers were amazing, their voices in the background went perfectly with the developments on stage.

However, standing for 3 hours is not the best way to enjoy a performance of this magnitude. We will return, but next time, I'm buying tickets for the seats.

These Trees are made of Blood @ Southwark Playhouse

Thanks to Anthony of our Meetup group, we caught another brilliant play at the Southwark Playhouse. This time the play was held at the smaller of their 2 stages and walking in was such a pleasant surprise.

The entire theater had been converted into an Argentinian Night Club - The Coup Coup Club - the perfect setting for "These Trees are made of Blood" by Theatre Bench The performance was a combination of musical, cabaret and hard hitting drama.

I have never before seen such a powerful piece of Political Theatre.

Recipe for every Fascist Regime -> Self Righteous High Decibel Discourse + Religious Support of Actions + Oppression of Free Speech & Expression. This play was about the disappearance of 30,000 people in Argentina between 1979-1984. But the lessons are every bit as relevant for the World and especially India of today. This was art of a transcendental nature.

The band members welcomed us with some beautifully haunting music and I was completely mesmerized by Anne Marie Piazza's voice and musical capabilities. I finally understood the term "a voice like melting honey". However, hitting the high notes was left to Rachel Dawson who also played a CIA operative and a prosecutor. Josh Sneesby on guitar and keyboards, Neil Kelso on keyboards and doubling up as a magician and mind reader, Eilon Morris as percussionist were all wonderful.

This is definitely a multi-talented cast. Greg Barnett as the Argentinian General was amazing. His justification for his actions was so convincing, that even while hating what he did, his reasons still seemed so compelling as he held forth on why the worst parasite is an idea. Val Jones as Gloria - the frantic yet powerless distraught mother is spot-on. Alexander Luttley initially came across as awkward and then the comic relief, but it takes guts and conviction to put on a performance like his.

Tickets are just 18GBp and the play is on until the 11th of April. I highly recommend watching this one.

James McAvoy in The Ruling Class @ Trafalgar Transformed

I have never laughed as hard as I did today watching James McAvoy play Jack Arnold Alexander Tancred Gurney, the 14th Earl of Gurney.

The Ruling Class is a 1968 British play by Peter Barnes and centers on attempts to cure the new Earl of Gurney of insanity.

The 13th Earl of Gurney accidentally hangs himself during his nightly autoerotic asphyxiation ritual. Having only one surviving son who has been committed to a mental institution, the Earls half-brother Sir Charles hopes to inherit the title and Estate. But is shocked to see Jack at the reading of the Will and even more horrified to learn that his brother has left it all to Jack. Jack is a paranoid schizophrenic who also believes that he is Jesus Christ.

Charles tries to discredit Jack and to prove that he is insane, so he can inherit the tile, but Jack manages to beat him every time through sheer luck and circumstance. Charles even gets his mistress to pretend to be a fictional character "La Dame aux Camelias" (from the novel by Alexandre Dumas / the Opera - La Traviata) because Jack claims that he is married to this character.

Another marriage ceremony is conducted with Charles hoping that Jack can beget an heir and then he can relegate him back into an institution and control the new heir. However, his plan falls apart when his mistress falls in love with James.

Jack then has another psychotic break and begins to think of himself as Jack the Ripper and murders Sir Charles Wife for trying to seduce him and frames the butler for her murder.

The play ends with Jack murdering his wife and taking his seat at the House of Lords.

James McAvoy was brilliant from start to finish, never flagging, his intensity is what carries the entire play.The script by Peter Barnes is fantastic, but you need a talented actor to play the manic lead role and James McAvoy did it to perfection. We were exhausted just watching his energy on stage, how he manages to play this role 6 days a week and twice on Thursdays and Saturdays is nothing short of amazing.

The play is a brilliant mix of satire hilarity and horror which happily directs its barbs towards English nobility.

The first West End revival of this classic cult comedy is directed by Trafalgar Transformed Artistic Director, Jamie Lloyd.

The Trafalgar Transformed Studio is such a lovely, warm intimate theatre, We would love to watch more shows here. The audience is so close to the stage, that it really doesn't matter which seats you get.