The last week has been one of drama. Admittedly, not mine, but rather I have watched others' dramas unfold before me on London stages.
First up was Life is a Dream, with Dominique West, which G and I saw at the Donmar. It was excellent and has received glowing reviews from people whose tastes are far more credible and reliable than mine. The Donmar is a tiny theatre in the West End and is one of our favourites. It's a not-for-profit theatre with seating for only 250 people. The seating is set around a small stage, and no matter where you are seated, you are close enough to the actors to be able to see every drop of sweat fall from their brows. The Donmar also gets excellent plays with terrific actors on its stage and the tickets are well-priced. The downside, of course, is that for these reasons it is a very popular theatre and you have to be on the telephone queue for tickets for shows the very minute the telephone lines open. Getting on that telephone queue is one of the few things that can make me get up early in the mornings, and so G and I are often fortunate to see plays at the Donmar.
One of the things that never ceases to entertain me about the Donmar is the sheer Englishness of its audience. No matter how amazing a play or actor, you will never, at the end of a show, hear a whoop, over-enthusiastic applause or see someone give the cast a standing ovation. The applause is always moderate and controlled, as is the audience. The last play we saw before Life is a Dream (a Streetcar Named Desire) had Jude Law in the audience, just four or so seats to the left of us. It was obvious from the ever-so-slightly raised eyebrows that the entire audience recognised Mr Law, but no one did anything to draw his attention or that might indicate to Mr Law that he had been noticed. This sort of behaviour is in stark contrast to the audiences of the big musicals, which are mostly comprised of tourists. From my experience (gained when I first arrived in London - now I avoid musicals like a plague) you can usually hear and feel the emotive nature of the musical audience the moment you take your seat. Seemingly each performance, no matter how appalling, is treated with whoops, whistles and standing ovations. This is particularly so for those musicals containing a "star". No matter how wooden an actor's acting or monotonous their monologues, if they have graced the cover of Hello! magazine, the audience seems to applaud and shout for them at the end of each show with rapturous delight. Were Mr Law to be spotted amongst such an audience I suspect he would soon find himself signing the body parts of various strange females from around the world. Although, judging from recent media reports, he doesn't seem adverse to fondling strange females' body parts.
Moving on from the Donmar, the other play I saw last week was Speaking in Tongues (better known as the play that was turned into the movie Lantana). Sadly, G decided he had had enough thespian delights for the week, and so declined an invitation to attend this with C and me. He missed out! It was excellent, especially for the price paid for the tickets. Taking advantage of the recession deals, for £20 each C and I had dinner and saw the show. Our cheap "restricted view" seats were upgraded to stalls and so we got to see all of the stage rather than, as we had been expecting, simply half an actor and a pillar.
Having sated my desire for theatre, I will be having a bit of a break now, as G and I head off to Perth tonight. Expect the blog to be silent for the next couple of weeks - with any luck, I will be having so much fun that I simply won't have an opportunity to update it!
First up was Life is a Dream, with Dominique West, which G and I saw at the Donmar. It was excellent and has received glowing reviews from people whose tastes are far more credible and reliable than mine. The Donmar is a tiny theatre in the West End and is one of our favourites. It's a not-for-profit theatre with seating for only 250 people. The seating is set around a small stage, and no matter where you are seated, you are close enough to the actors to be able to see every drop of sweat fall from their brows. The Donmar also gets excellent plays with terrific actors on its stage and the tickets are well-priced. The downside, of course, is that for these reasons it is a very popular theatre and you have to be on the telephone queue for tickets for shows the very minute the telephone lines open. Getting on that telephone queue is one of the few things that can make me get up early in the mornings, and so G and I are often fortunate to see plays at the Donmar.
One of the things that never ceases to entertain me about the Donmar is the sheer Englishness of its audience. No matter how amazing a play or actor, you will never, at the end of a show, hear a whoop, over-enthusiastic applause or see someone give the cast a standing ovation. The applause is always moderate and controlled, as is the audience. The last play we saw before Life is a Dream (a Streetcar Named Desire) had Jude Law in the audience, just four or so seats to the left of us. It was obvious from the ever-so-slightly raised eyebrows that the entire audience recognised Mr Law, but no one did anything to draw his attention or that might indicate to Mr Law that he had been noticed. This sort of behaviour is in stark contrast to the audiences of the big musicals, which are mostly comprised of tourists. From my experience (gained when I first arrived in London - now I avoid musicals like a plague) you can usually hear and feel the emotive nature of the musical audience the moment you take your seat. Seemingly each performance, no matter how appalling, is treated with whoops, whistles and standing ovations. This is particularly so for those musicals containing a "star". No matter how wooden an actor's acting or monotonous their monologues, if they have graced the cover of Hello! magazine, the audience seems to applaud and shout for them at the end of each show with rapturous delight. Were Mr Law to be spotted amongst such an audience I suspect he would soon find himself signing the body parts of various strange females from around the world. Although, judging from recent media reports, he doesn't seem adverse to fondling strange females' body parts.
Moving on from the Donmar, the other play I saw last week was Speaking in Tongues (better known as the play that was turned into the movie Lantana). Sadly, G decided he had had enough thespian delights for the week, and so declined an invitation to attend this with C and me. He missed out! It was excellent, especially for the price paid for the tickets. Taking advantage of the recession deals, for £20 each C and I had dinner and saw the show. Our cheap "restricted view" seats were upgraded to stalls and so we got to see all of the stage rather than, as we had been expecting, simply half an actor and a pillar.
Having sated my desire for theatre, I will be having a bit of a break now, as G and I head off to Perth tonight. Expect the blog to be silent for the next couple of weeks - with any luck, I will be having so much fun that I simply won't have an opportunity to update it!
No comments:
Post a Comment