Relatively Speaking @ The Wyndhams Theatre

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	Matthew Taylor (@matthewtaylorx)
04/08/2013 09:37 Relatively Speaking@The Wyndhams. Play that got Ayckbourn going. Soon to be engaged girl tries to sort her sugar daddy past. Cue farce. 8/10

Four hander with Felicity Kendal and Kara Tointon drawing in two generations of audience, possibly for the same reason. Both good in their own right but Kendals experience showed with her better stage presence and delivery. 

Just like there is supposed to be one original joke there is also just one original farce. Having recently seen the very good Private Lives and not too long before that the excellent Magistrate and before that....and before that...one could conclude that all farce is based on a small number of characters and one big misunderstanding?  

In this case a concealed affair leading to mistaken parental identity. 

The first scene was a little laboured, but I was assured by the person in the seat next to me, glory shine upon her, that this was necessary to set the story up. Now I understand that setting the comic traps  and bating the hooks for our funny bones is needed but I am sure it could be done in a less wooden staccato way and with more humour along the way. 

Once we get to scene two and Felicity Kendal joins the play the pace picks up and the fun begins. Wave upon wave of misunderstanding build and soon we are drawn hook, line and sinker into the turbulent surf of Ayckbourns plot. 

Ok. Ok. Too much fish. 

Jonathan Coy and Max Bennett are the husband of Kendal and soon to be fiancé of Tointon. Coy and Bennett had their moments when script and performance came together perfectly, but you were left with the impression that Kendal could make more of an average line (script not fishing) than Coy (actor not carp), Bennett or Tointon. 

A funny, light hearted, play, better in my view to Privates Lives. A farce that did what it said on the tin. Not Ronseal. Sardines!

The Audience @ Stratford Picture House

	Matthew Taylor (@matthewtaylorx)
22/07/2013 07:40 The Audience @stratford Picture Hse. Fact & fiction. Real events & imagined humdrum used to recreate Queen & PMx7 private wkly meetings 9/10

A Season in the Congo @ The Young Vic

	Matthew Taylor (@matthewtaylorx)
08/07/2013 09:20 A Season in the Congo@TheYoungVic. Belgian missionaries, Sierra Leone & Egypt meant play (4 mths in 60s DRC) held interest but too long 7/10

First visit to the Young Vic. Great versatile venue. Nice restaurant. Friendly staff. 

My own family history (maternal grandfather was a british baptist missionary in the Belgian Congo), my work (where I have and am offering support to the Sierra Leonian Parliament), the recent Arab Spring and even more recent Egyptian 'coup' meant I was always going to find this play about the first few months of the Congo's independence interesting and personally engaging. 

However without those connections this  play failed to truly entertain. It could have been sharper and therefore shorter. The director and writer could have done better. The cast, acted, danced and sang well and the set, blended former opulence with years of tropical decay perfectly. The audience in the stalls sat in an empty swimming pool on plastic patio furniture. The play was punctuated with 39 steps esque props. Life size puppets, vultures, model plane and a moving, manual, micro conveyor belt of belgian exodus....Glad I went. Lots to think about. 

Private Lives @ The Gielgud Theatre

	Matthew Taylor (@matthewtaylorx)
05/07/2013 06:45 Private Lives @ Gielgud Theatre. Transferred from Chichester Fest it did not quite hit all the farce buttons for me. Still entertaining 7/10

Fences @ The Duchess Theatre

	Matthew Taylor (@matthewtaylorx)
21/06/2013 07:43 Fences @ The Duchess. Lenny Henry 9+/10. 2nd preview of this play so there is time to make Act 2 as good as Act 1 before opening night. 8/10

Very good first half in which Lenny Henry shows what a fine actor he is. The character he plays - a proud, failed baseball player, now dustman in ?30s US where race still defined life prospects - is full of life, passion and fun, but with a darker authoritarian side that demands the obedience and respect of his children. The first half was captivating and the on stage chemistry between Henry and his wife, and Henry and his co-worker Bono is wonderful. When it is their turn to take centre stage after Henry's demise in Act 2 they are left wanting - possibly because of the script or perhaps the staging. 9+/10 for Henry? It could so easily have been 10/10 but there are micro moments when a mannerism, a look, an intonation reveals the Henry we know going back to New Faces, Tiswas and Stand-up and you wait for a Katanga to slip out. This is so unfair. Many thoroughbred actors build successful careers on being themselves and being expected to be themselves in whatever role they take. Lenny has broken free from this and does not want to trade on past winning formulas. This is bold and brave and is paying off. New scores have just come in. Lenny Henry 10+/10!

The Green Music Fair @ Valentines Mansion

@matthewtaylorx) The Green Fair @ Valentines Mansions. Warm rain & a picnic. Good music from 10 String Fever & the charming trio Riverbird.net 8/10

The Who @ The O2

The Who @ The O2. Quadrophenia 8/10 Singalong a Who 9+/10 Rogers voice still in good nick & Petes windmill arm still goes round.Overall 9/10