Our latest musicOMH theatre update features lots of lovely things for you on this damp April afternoon, including:
- Vanishing Point's enthralling Interiors at the Lyric
- The Gate stages the UK premiere of Juan Mayorga's Nocturnal
- Forced Entertainment marks their 25th anniversary with Void Story at Soho Theatre
- A revival of Michael Frayn's Alphabetical Order at Hampstead Theatre
- A glitzy but predictable showcase for Strictly Come Dancing's Anton de Berg and Erin Boag in Cheek to Cheek at the Coliseum
- Improbable's latest show, Panic, at the Barbican's Pit Theatre
- Steven Fechter's The Woodsman receives its European premiere at the Old Red Lion
Next time: the Globe kicks off its new season with Romeo and Juliet and the Stewart/McKellen Waiting For Godot opens in London. Plus all the latest openings in London and New York.
The theatre section is looking for new reviewers and features writers in London and New York. If you are interested in contributing, send a brief introduction explaining what you think you would bring to the section along with two sample article URLs to info@musicOMH.com with the subject line "theatre".
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Natasha Tripney Theatre Editor
A theatre update from theatre editor Natasha Tripney:
Hello there,
Welcome to another of our decidely irregular musicOMH theatre updates. Plenty of goodies for you this week including:
Angela Lansbury, Rupert Everett and Christine Ebersole in Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit on Broadway: read
Philip Ralph's powerful verbatim play about the deaths at the Deepcut barracks arrives at the Tricycle:
read
Ian Kennedy Marshall's Berlin Hanover Express at Hampstead investiagtes Irish neutrality in the Second World War:
read
Adam Brace's promenade play Stovepipe takes its audience on a journey through the West 12 shopping centre:
read
Jane Fonda returns to Broadway after a 46 year absence in 33 Variations:
read
Twins Harry and Luke Treadaway star in Mark Ravenhill's Over There at the Royal Court:
read
Also at the Court, Molly Davies' A Miracle continues the Young Writers Festival:
read
A hip-hop Pied Piper makes its mark at the Barbican:
read
Enda Walsh's New Electric Ballroom arrives at Riverside Studios:
read
The Hounding of David Oluwale tours to Liverpool:
read
Tanja Liedtke's compelling Twelfth Floor comes to the South Bank:
read
Next time: Judi Dench at Wyndham's, Kathryn Hunter at the Young Vic, Jez Butterworth's latest at the Almeida and plenty more from both the UK and New York.
As ever, if you have any tips, comments or recommedations of shows you'd like us to cover, then please get in touch.
Natasha
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Eartha Kitt, the singer, cabaret star and actress once described by Orson Welles as "the most exciting woman in the world", died on Christmas Day, aged 81, after a battle with colon cancer.
In a wildly varied life Kitt, born in the cotton fields of Carolina, played Catwoman in the Batman TV series, starred opposite Sidney Poitier on the silver screen, played both the Fairy Godmother and Wicked Witch Of The West in stage productions of Cinderella and The Wizard Of Oz respectively, voiced Kaa the python in a BBC radio adaptation of The Jungle Book, worked with Bronski Beat on the 1989 hit Cha-Cha Heels and gave several benefit concerts supporting HIV/AIDS organisations.
The woman who defined the term "sex kitten" performed her final London shows in 2008 at the Pigalle Club in Piccadilly.
So the fringe is almost over and exhaustion has set in. But just as you’re settling down to your cup of cocoa trying to beat off the festival flu along comes the hype of the if.comeddie awards nominations.
And I’m so plugged into the scene this year that I haven’t seen any of them. But I am very excited that I do have tickets to see the favourite for the main award, Rhod Gilbert. From what everyone’s saying he’s created something amazing and people aren’t saying that about much this year.
David O’Doherty is a lovely musical comic and I do normally try and catch him, but I’ve usually found his stand-up between the songs has taken the shine off the hour a wee bit, so typically this year I’ve missed the show where he’s, seemingly, got everything right.
Of the newcomers, I’d guess Sarah Millican would be the best bet. Haven’t seen any of the actual shows, but I have seen Sarah a few times and she is brilliant. Pippa Evans’ character comedy has gone down well here, but, as with so many similar shows, hasn’t blown people away with the full hour of material. If you can prove your talent as a performer, however, the effort is certainly worthwhile and a nomination goes a long way.
Elsewhere I am taking it easy-ish, hanging out in my lovely pub venue and the Pleasance Courtyard. Had a lovely show yesterday – it looked like it was going to be quiet so I got everyone to move to the front and then it filled up, so the atmosphere was cracking. That buzz was followed by a lukewarm review of the previous day’s show which was very quiet, though not terrible by any means. If it is possible to have a nice two star review, then I got one, which sounds weird, but it’s true. So far I have discovered that I am either ‘well-meaning’ but not funny, have ‘a deal of charisma… (but) not yet all that funny,’ or ‘He’s funny…. If we were all Tiller boys and Tiller girls the world would be a lighter place.’ Make of that what you will, but I’m making the most of the last one, it’s the only thing a right-thinking man would do.
Tonight I may take in one fringe show, but am also off to see a band tonight, Paul Vickers and the Leg, which should be a welcome relief from fringe madness. I met Paul through his work on a project entitled Recording the Impossible, which combines beautiful soundscapes, music and comedy and is truly a work of art. I’m looking forward to the gig.
Ta for now.
Matt
At last, I’ve been to a proper theatre. I have found culture and it truly is beautiful. Okay, it’s a bit of a cheat it wasn’t a full play or anything... I went to see Daniel Kitson’s
66a Church Road: A Lament Made Of Memories And Kept in Suitcases.
It was a wonderful piece of comic melancholy, beautifully told. Touching and funny it reminded me of the love/hate relationship I had with my first car, a brown Vauxhall Nova saloon (with beige interior). It comes from the poetic heart of a pedantic, romantic personality that would much rather spew forth his feelings for a flat in Crystal Palace than any of his human loves. And to me this seems a more honest, credible and moral thing to do. Think of those artists who have left hearts already bruised, further battered by their one sided musings in songs, novels, plays and, probably even worse, in stand-up.
The staging, using beaten suitcases and an old rug is wonderfully lo-fi, though Kitson apologises at the end for their size and the fact that beyond the first few rows you can’t see the detail that’s been put into the design. But you can come down and have a look and take pictures at the end. I tried with my phone, but they came out blurry. But trust me they look very sweet.
I have to run off now… sorry. Will post more about other shows I’ve seen like Nick Mohammed (very good), Idiots of Ants (good performers, but style over substance) soon. Promise.
Lots of Love
xx
In a bid to conceal my social embarrassment at attending the Office Party alone, I tried to do one of those minute-by-minute, as it happens blogs from my mobile. Unfortunately I couldn’t work it out – started one and then it all went wobbly, so I tried to enjoy myself instead.
Had it worked, the blog would have gone something like this…
20:03 Enter the big room where the party is happening. Try to work out what’s going on. People are getting name badges. Head straight for the bar. It’s quickly dawning on me that this could be a great opportunity for me to chat awkwardly to strangers or stand in a corner swearing to myself. I’ve only got a tenner on me. Hope that will see me through.
20:07 Wander towards the table with the name badges and spot Cathy from Domestic Services (actress Janice Connolly, who is fabulous and absolutely meant for this type of show). She sorts my badge out and introduces me to two people. We exchange brief niceties. They wander off. I find a seat and try to blog. Fail.
20:13 It all starts to kick off. We are divided into groups – the different divisions of the company – Executives (boo), Creatives (tossers), Marketing (?), Accounts (avoid), Domestic Services (the lifeblood of this bleeding company!). There’s one other I’ve forgotten. We, the cleaners, are taken into the Gents where Cathy gees us up and gets everyone singing with one voice over a glass of sherry. One woman throws her sherry in the urinal. I give her a disapproving look – this is the office party, take any free booze you can get, madam.
And so it goes on. Actors lead each group and stand-up Glen Wool is fantastic as the arrogant Chief Exec. There’s guilty pleasure dancing, entertainment, games and stunts, which are generally good fun, though the attempt to recreate a real office party descends into some kind of horrific Swindon/Ibiza hybrid when we’re asked for a member of each group to strip off. Not my kind of thing.
This show should come with a warning. It’s not a brilliantly crafted interactive theatre show. It’s the kind of thing that English people attend to loosen their ties after a few drinks and embarrass themselves. If that’s what you fancy then go, you will enjoy it, if not don’t. It is an office party. I didn’t spot a photocopier, though - I think they missed a trick.
xx
Hello again. Since I last checked in things have been hectic and indigestion-inducing. But you don’t need to know about that.
I’ve just come out of Freeze – the new show by Tim Key and Tom Basden of Cowards (coming to BBC 4) and Tim Key and Tom Basden fame. Tom was if.comeddie best newcomer last year and Tim is getting his own back by treating him like dirt in this double-act comedy show that fuses their material. Add extra cans of beer and a very funny youtube dance routine and you get the kind of show you can only catch at the fringe. They can be either excellent or excruciating, but with performers this strong it could only be the former and even if there’s a wee bit of self-indulgence, it’s forgivable.
Yesterday’s shows included the hottest sketch group of the moment, Pappy’s Fun Club. This was really energetic and funny – you can’t help but enjoy it. The only thing that might have stopped me was a pre-show social faux pas involving Pappy’s Matthew Crosby. We had a moment of recognition, said hello and I mumbled ‘I don’t think we’ve met properly, I’m…,’ ‘Matt Tiller’ he interjected, ‘we met at a Carey Marx gig with Joe Wilkinson three years ago.’ Finally, I have met a man with a more anal memory than mine. Luckily the encounter didn’t affect his performance. Or mine. I was a fantastic audience member chuckling away without checking my texts once. (And I did receive one, so there).
Richard Herring was phenomenal, as ever. Just brilliant. His hour is about growing up as a boy in the school where his dad was the headmaster and is called The Headmaster’s Son – the man’s a genius. It’s the way he takes this and spins a web of funny, touching and challenging stand-up that makes you both sit back in awe and still want to give him a cuddle, but not in a weird way.
Also saw a play, Be My Baby that a friend of mine is in – it’s about single girls getting pregnant in the sixties, which was bad. The narrative was simplistic, but the songs and the energy of the performances made it an enjoyable show, very funny in places.
James Sherwood, like me, is doing an hour of comedy songs and musically inspired stand-up. Enjoyable it was too – he’s very Radio 4 friendly and revels in it.
John mentioned Scott Capurro in a previous comment – some friends who are staying with me went to see him and hated it. They were appalled and they’re not sensitive souls, so John’s assessment was strikingly accurate.
Meanwhile, I’ve been having lots of fun singing songs at people and was even asked to sign a CD by two groups in today’s audience. Amazing. I write a song every day for the show and we have a vote to see which is the best (the winning song will get a spa voucher) and you can see some of the entries so far here. I really like the one about the Invasion of the Jellyfish (about Portuguese Man O’ War invading the South coast) but it lost to a ditty about Madonna adopting another Malawian baby and the Daily Mail’s socialist revolutionary take on the story (no really).
Looking forward to the interactive comedy play, Office Party, which I’m booked to see tomorrow….
Nighty Night.
x
… Dan Antopolski was… okay. He’s had really good reviews and is back on
the fringe after a few years off. Saw
him several years ago and he was good, but, as with many things in Edinburgh, unable to live
up to the hype. He was amiable and good
fun, but the material (the sandwich rap and a few other bits aside) was fairly
uninspired. Maybe I’m bitter, but comics
in their thirties going on about their kids leave me a bit cold.
I saw an enjoyable sketch show at midday
today – If You Like – part of the Free Fringe. Energetic young performers who got away without seeming too studenty, onlyjust
on occasions, but even that’s quite an achievement when you’re a bunch of
middle class young people doing sketches.
My show went really well today. Thanks for asking. And now I’m rushing off to have drinks with
Isy Suttie and others…. I know she’s not big yet, but still it’s nice to hear
some kind of name clunk heavily on the floor in this blog. Adrian Edmondson offered to buy me a drink on
Friday. But he didn’t know who I was and
Isy does, so it’s a more acceptable name drop, I think you’ll agree.
Fringe stalwart (at the tender age of
twenty-something, the precocious b*st*rd) Mark Watson is on my list for
tonight….. Cheerio for now from Edinburgh,
Matt
x
Hello. I am up at the Edinburgh festival and have persuaded the lovely people at musicOMH to let me send my thoughts up, down and across (both ways) to you
via the internet, which is almost as amazing, crazy, wonderful and irritating
as the festival itself. You get bombarded with information, most of it factually incorrect, editorialised and written in overblown prose by someone who likes to use long words for the sake of them. Welcome to my Edinburgh Festival Fringe blog. If I use a long word I
shall probably have had to use a wiki-dictionary to find the meaning before
confidently using it in a spontaneous fashion.
Shows. There are lots of them, so it’s confusing. Theatre-wise everyone’s talking about Deep
Cut. I haven’t seen it, so I can’t.
I have seen lots of comedy and a wee bit of
theatre, so here goes. Go and see
Michael Fabbri because he is wonderfully stupidly funny and made me laugh
loads. He’s been steadily rising up the
comedy ladder for a while and has always had a great comic voice that has
sometimes been shackled by his own shambolic nature, but the fact that he is so
funny that he makes you snort should be enough.
An all female sketch show, Ladygarden, was
pretty good with an excellent bunch of young performers. Some of the sketches didn’t quite hit home –
I won’t flag them up in case you see it – but the standard of writing was high
and the performances were bang on. I
loved the p*ss-take of vintage clothes-loving types and lots of other ones too.
The main reason I’m up here is to watch
lots of shows, but I’m also (whisper) doing my own little show (it’s shambolic
musical comedy if you’re interested, or just to clarify), so I am experiencing
the highs and lows that all the other performers go through. Today was my second as I’m just here for two
weeks and it was ‘okay’ although I have an interactive element to the
experience and my main interaction involves dragging someone on stage to help
proceedings. He was, of course, a reviewer. I need to be more aware of these things –
though the sneaky blighter didn’t even get a notepad out and sat in the second
row, so how was I to know?
Other shows that were good were… Stand Ups,
Dave Longley – challenging and funny, Seymour Mace silly and funny, Mick Sergeant – a character, played by Lee Fenwick,
who is an amazing character comedian and will do really well, I confidently
predict.
Theatre-wise, I’ve seen You
Don’t Need To Know That a surreal, well-performed and staged three-hander play
where one character is trapped by two other actors playing loads of other
characters. Does that make sense? Good. It was brilliantly
performed and staged, I thought, though the pace dropped a wee bit before the
end, but the performers then pull it up by its bootstraps and finish on a
high.
I am just settling in to my Edinburgh routine. It is, as usual, mental and hectic. I have had precisely one celebrity encounter
(Adrian Edmondson – not bad on the scale of things, particularly as Neil and
Christine Hamilton were high up the list last year). Hang on, Jerry Sadowitz bought an apple
before I was about to buy some strong mints – not as good as the other one, but
memorable nonetheless.
I’ll end this first blog now and will attempt to contextualise everything a bit
better next time, but I’m a bit rushed and running off to see Dan Antopolski,
so forgive me....
Yours
Matt Tiller
Eagle eyed thesps among you may notice some changes to musicOMH.com's theatre section already. More will follow.
Two new sections have been added.
Firstly, we're now covering New York theatre productions, both Broadway and Off-Broadway/Fringe, with five reviews added so far.
Secondly, by reader (and writer!) demand, we have also added a Cast Recordings section.
Natasha, our theatre editor, is actively seeking more NYC correspondents and writers worldwide who fancy giving an ear to cast recordings. Contact her on natasha.tripney@musicOMH.com if you're at all keen, or if you have any comments or suggestions on the changes taking place.
The formatting of the section is also gradually changing as it will be the site's first area to get a new, improved design. As our technology is rather antique, this is not a quick job and is being slotted in around the day-to-day running of the rest of the site, with lots of back-end changes in addition to the more obvious design embellishments.
But needless to say, redesigns mean excitement, at least for editors. We hope when it's all rebuilt, you'll be excited about it too.
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