Top Hat - Upstairs at the Gatehouse

Fred Astaire, who played Jerry in the film Top Hat

Upstairs at the Gatehouse's front of house nearly refused me entrance. There was some problem with their system, which meant that my name wasn't appearing on their records. I showed them the e-mailed ticket receipt on my phone, but they were determined to find the actual record on their system (which they never found), and insisted that I waited while they checked other peoples' tickets first. As UatG's seating arrangements operate on a first come first served basis, this was irritating. I was finally allowed in, sans apology, and managed to bag a good seat in spite of front of house's best efforts.

Seeing high energy, uber extroverted productions within the close confines of UatG is like watching a musical in your bedroom. You can see (and, in some cases, feel) every bead of sweat, every drop of spittle, every strip of tape holding mics in place on perspiring foreheads. You can't help constantly catching the actors' eyes, so you have to make sure you're always smiling in enjoyment...which generally isn't difficult to do.

This was another show set in the 1930s - 1935, to be precise - complete with art deco set designs. I seem to have seen a lot of 1930s productions at UatG, and will never tire of the costumes and sets. The storyline was simple and highly P.G. Woodhouse-esque, based around a misunderstanding over the identity of the male protagonist, Jerry Travers, on the part of the female protagonist, Dale Tremont, and involving a butler who adopted a number of different disguises. Dale thought Jerry was Horace, the husband of her friend Madge, leading to genuinely laugh out loud moments when Madge appeared to be encouraging Dale to pursue her husband romantically. Joshua Lay, who, incidentally, resembled a younger Daniel Craig, successfully captured the indefatigable exuberance and irritating overconfidence of Jerry Travers. Joanne Clifton, of Strictly Come Dancing fame, was suitably aloof (and rightly so, with Jerry), perplexed and glamorous as Dale. She had some beautiful costumes, including the white swooshy skirt one with (fake?) fur (or was it feathers?).

The humour was quite 'of its era', let me say - apart from the Woodhousian plot/s and wordplay, which were fine, the Madge/Horace plotline involved a lot of somewhat tedious 'isn't marriage awful' banter, and domestic violence against a man was played for laughs...which was discomforting.

The tap dancing was wonderful - I hardly ever see tap, so it was Top Hat's main draw for me. However, while I like seeing these kinds of productions at UatG, I thought, on this occasion, that some of the dancing would've looked better from a distance rather than up close. It amazes me that the front rows of audience manage to walk out without multiple facial injuries every night. Song-wise: it was good to hear familiar songs such as 'Puttin' on the Ritz' and 'Let's Face the Music and Dance' in the context of a show. Not so keen on the yodel-y 'I'm Putting All My Eggs in One Basket', though (not the actors' fault - just don't like the song). The finale/curtain call was one of the best I've ever seen, if not THE best. They did a medley and dance, and the members of the ensemble actually changed outfits JUST FOR THE FINALE. 

Next: Austentatious

photo credit: twm1340 Fred Astaire via photopin (license)

The Taming of the Shrew - Globe Theatre (+ mild rant)

Set of The Taming of the Shrew

I'd never been interested in seeing TTotS before due to its misogynistic nature (the wonderful 10 Things I Hate About You notwithstanding), but having recently made the momentous decision to see all of Shakespeare's plays, to the Globe I hied. I thought there was a decent chance that this production would be subversive, given Artistic Director Emma Rice's comment that she wanted it to be a version 'for the 21st century'.

Talking of Emma Rice...much as I would like to be supportive of her as new Artistic Director, I admit I'm not happy about some of the changes she's introduced at the Globe. Lights galore, speakers, amplification and, possibly most shockingly, fewer productions with Elizabethan/Jacobean costumes and music...

Is this the end of the world as we know it?

I'm hardly a traditionalist. I've seen and enjoyed plenty of modern/other era adaptations of the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. But isn't the Globe meant to be THE ONE place where you can see these plays performed with more or less the same appearance and feel that they would've had in Shakespeare's day? Isn't that the Globe's whole raison d'être? Other theatres very rarely put on Shakespeare's plays in Elizabethan/Jacobean garb, and one doesn't get many opportunities to hear music from that time, either. If the Globe no longer does this, it just becomes another modern theatre - putting on great plays, sure - but plays that would be equally suited to the National Theatre or anywhere else. I don't understand why Rice would choose to discard the features that make the Globe unique. She might as well encourage members of the public to fire paintballs at the Globe's white exterior walls in order to make it more colorful and friendly and less like a scary, stuffy old theatre.

One innovation of hers with which I do agree, however, is her introduction of gender-balanced casts. This innovation is obviously as unElizabethan as a prominent lighting rig, true. But, unsurprisingly, I favour the balancing of Globe authenticity with modern ideals of equality and diversity. There's nothing that contravenes such ideals in dressing up in Elizabethan garb (especially if women can play men's parts and vice versa) and playing music from that time. Plus, if a character is played well, it's easy to forget the sex of the actor playing him/her. Equality arguments aside, women playing men and vice versa is arguably a less visually obvious departure from Elizabethan ways of doing things than a prominent lighting rig.

Lights, speakers...unauthentically Shakespearean action!

OK, enough about the New Globe Regime. This production of The Taming of the Shrew was set in Ireland in 1916, at the time of the Easter Rising. So...the costumes reflected that era, the music was played by an Irish band, the cast was Irish (or did very convincing accents) and there was the occasional Gaelic phrase thrown in. Katherine (Aoife Duffin) was such a force of nature in the first half it was impossible to imagine her becoming downtrodden. Her face was incredibly mobile and capable of admirable feats of gurning. The first half was extremely funny, involving slow motion wedding slapstick amongst other things. I hadn't expected it to be that funny. My favourite plot line was that involving Vincentio (Louis Dempsey) and his servant, Tranio (Imogen Doel), who pretends to be Vincentio while the real Vincentio pretends to be a teacher in order to get close to and woo Bianca (Genevieve Hulme-Beaman), Katherine's petulant younger sister. Tranio was both very cute and very funny, clearly delighted at assuming the role of master and full of amusing mannerisms.

The second half was predictably depressing as, following her marriage to Petruchio (Edward MacLiam), Katherine immediately became downtrodden; a shadow of her former self. I have to say, I'm impressed at Shakespeare's having created such a believable, cleverly emotionally abusive character at a time when the concept of 'emotional abuse' can't have been well-developed. It seemed pretty clear to me that Katherine went along with Petruchio's demands in this production purely because she knew that unless she did so she would get no food or rest. So...I suppose that's more subversive than Katherine having a complete personality change and genuinely growing to believe that women should be men's doormats. However, even with this interpretation, her final lengthy speech extolling female subordination was a bit much. I would've preferred it if the guests at the party at the end were revealed to be humouring Petruchio, having recognised him for the abuser that he is, and for the police to come and take him away during Katherine's final speech.

There was a lot of spitting in this production. I don't mean ordinary actorly spitting; I mean deliberate spitting as part of the play.

Next: Titus Andronicus

Globe Theatre Groundling Etiquette

The first blast of the trumpet against the monstrous
regiment of impolite groundlings

The one, cardinal rule of groundling* Globe etiquette is, as far as I am concerned, the following: 

If you would like a good stage-leaning position, you must be prepared to queue for it. 

Nothing annoys me more at the Globe than a person who didn't bother to queue, sidling up behind me as I stand in my excellent leaning position FOR WHICH I HAVE SPENT AT LEAST THE LAST HOUR AND A HALF QUEUING, and imploring me to squeeze up in order to grant them leaning space beside me. 

Usually the person who does this is short and thinks that they are entitled to a good leaning position by virtue of their height. But no, sorry, short people with entitlement issues - if  you would like a good leaning position you must queue for it just like anyone else. If you are capable of standing for two and a half hours to watch a play, you are capable of queuing. And if you can't be bothered to queue but still feel you desperately need to lean, you can generally obtain leaning positions at the less desirable sides of the stage. 

Another annoying thing is when groundlings try to save leaning positions at the stage for their fellows. This happened recently on the famous three-plays-in-a-day day for Henry VI Part 2. Someone tried to save leaning positions for two or three other people when we were actually inside the Globe, at the stage. I didn't know whether the people for whom she was saving places had even queued at all, or whether they had gone to the toilet at the critical juncture of groundling entry into the Globe, or what. But whatever the reason, it's not fair to expect groundlings who have unambiguously queued to have to pass up their long-awaited places for people who aren't there at the moment of entry into the Globe. 

Summary: Queue, queue, queue if you want a good stage-leaning position. And don't leave the queue (apart from at moments when the queue is not about to go into the Globe).

*audience member who stands rather than sits in an Elizabethan-style theatre