My Nights Out At London Theatre

Jussi Kangas: Pyynikki Summer Theatre, Tuntematon Sotilas 12.7.1961
(Tampere Museum picture archive)

One of my real passions in life is theatre. Ever since I was a little girl and my mother dragged me and my sister to the summer theatre in Tampere (a revolving stage in Pyynikki which is still going strong and which you absolutely must visit if you're in central Finland during summer), and later to the grand Swedish Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, I've loved the stage. As a little girl I wanted to become an actress (who doesn't?) and then a theatre critic, but as often happens life got in the way, we moved to the country, and I became a novelist instead.

Now that I'm finally living in London, the capital of good theatre, I'm taking every opportunity to see as many plays as humanly possible (and my back and wallet allows…) I've seen great performances on all the notable theatres such as The Donmar Warehouse, The National Theatre, Hampstead Theatre, The Almeida as well as some famous West End Theatres (too many to mention!) and some small stages such the Arcola and The New Diorama Theatre. There are so many stages, so much on offer here in London that some time ago I decided to set up a designated blog for my reviews.

Me as aspiring actress during my Dr Zhivago phase.

If you like theatre, and want to find out if a play is (in my humble opinion) worth seeing or not, go and visit my theatre site, Strindberg's Daughter. There you'll find stories on all my nights out at the theatre, the good, the bad, and the totally disastrous ones when the only option is to walk out of the theatre…and get a headache.

London Life: Becky Shaw at The Almeida

Well, my wish to have a jolly play next came true. Becky Shaw, a modern, witty play by Gina Gionfriddo, was just what I needed. (Don't be fooled by the poster above)

The play, which is set in New York and Boston among other places, centres around the fall-out from a father's death in a dysfunctional family. Sounds gruelling? But the play is above all a comedy, and a sharp and quick-witted one at that.

The marvellous Daisy Haggard, who's currently starring in BBC's 'Episodes', in the title role is as gormless as she is intense, totally meeting the challenge of being the desperate, funny singleton a la Bridget Jones.

Daisy Haggard

Haydn Gwynne (I remember her best from 'Drop the Dead Donkey') as the cynical mother of the family is also excellent, but the performance I most enjoyed was by David Wilson Barnes, who as the dry, realistic, un-emotional step-brother of the highly-strung Suzanna (Anna Madeley) really hit the mark, igniting many belly laughs from the audience. 'My date is Amish?' he comments on hearing Becky doesn't own a cell phone.

From left to right: Anna Madeley, Vincent Montuel (Andrew) and Daisy Haggard

David Wilson Barnes who I find myself having a tiny, tiny crush on this morning (though not my type at all!)

Haydn Gwynne

In spite of the gags, the play still tried to examine the state of the modern family and marriage. Here I must say it failed, trying to go deep into the psyche of the characters in a play, so littered with excellent comic dialogue, is not advisable in my view. It goes too near TV sitcom territory, which this play really didn't need to do. Ignoring the final scenes where attempts at some seriousness met with a stone-walled silence from the audience, the majority of the play was incredibly hilarious and with the casts' unfaltering American accents made a throughly enjoyable night out at the theatre.

Can't wait for Children's Hour later today, though after this weekend I think I might need to got to some kind of clinic to dry out from an overdose of art - the gym perhaps? Now that's an idea...

How (Not) to Have a Night at the Theatre

Firstly do not book the theatre for the same night (and exact time) as the first England football match in the World Cup. With Husband who's so mad about sports he'd watch extreme ironing from Dubai if it existed (please don't tell me it does..?) 

In my defence I'll say that these tickets to see the late Swedish Film Director Ingmar Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly were booked over six months ago by our friend and no way could we have known that the game was on at the same time. Also the cast included the rather lovely Ruth Wilson, an actress who most recently adorned our screens in a new BBC cop series, Luther, and who's artistic merits Husband was quite looking forward to inspecting more closely.

Secondly, when booking a restaurant to eat in pre-theatre, do make sure you a) know how long it takes to walk to the chosen venue (The Almeida), b) DO NOT trust the pretty but wholly useless map provided by your chosen eatery (Fredrick's), c) do keep an eye on the time when in said eatery, because invariably however much time you have you'll run out of it, d) do not trust any taxi drivers who might helpfully point you in the opposite direction.

Thirdly, when you finally arrive at the theatre, panting, suffering from a stitch caused by the post-food-jog, be graceful when the staff tell you that the play has started and make you sit outside the (closed) bar watching a teeny screen from which you can't even decipher the language the play is performed in.

Fourth, be grateful when, after quarter of an hour, you're given seats in the corner of the Gods, in seats which would have cost you about half of what you paid for yours, and you can only see half of the set and the cast.

Fifth, be glad that Husband when realising the futility of the situation, takes his chance and flees to the nearest big screen pub to watch the game. Also be happy, when at the end of the night he's elated for having been able to watch the match even if he's disgusted about the complete muppetry shown by the England goalkeeper. (This is worthy of another post; don't let me get started on the subject)

Finally, do not fret that you can't actually write a comprehensive review of the play because by definition you only saw half of it. The bits you saw were brilliant, particularly Ruth Wilson's portrayal of a young woman, Karin, who suffering from mental illness, seemed so sincere and natural it upset you even if for the most part you couldn't really catch her facial features. Dimitri Leonidas, who played the young Max, Karin's brother, was also excellent. His confusion at witnessing the agonies of the grown-up world, and his belief in the goodness of people brought tears to my eyes. I hadn't seen this actor before, but hope I'll see a lot more of him in the future.

He does look rather fine (for a young man that is), doesn't he?


There will now follow a two-month summer break before the next theatre review. That one I'm hoping to carry out in the traditional manner after actually having seen the whole of the play from my own, pre-booked seat.