Theatre Royal Bath Summer Season - Candida and King Lear

It was another exciting summer in the Social Programme Office at the University of Bath's English Language Centre - so much so that I feel like I'm only just recovering from it now! Like last year, I was lucky enough to meet some wonderful people from all over the world and enjoy sharing British culture and landmarks with them. One particular highlight for me was being able to take my students to the beautiful Theatre Royal twice this summer, even if I was underwhelmed by the two very different plays themselves: George Bernard Shaw's Candida and Shakespeare's King Lear.

Candida

Although in recent years it has been eclipsed by Shaw's triumph Pygmalion, Candida (1898) was quite the hit in its day, questioning Victorian ideas about love and marriage with a side order of socialism. The play centres around a love triangle: popular priest and orator, Reverend James Mavor Morell (Jamie Parker), whose seemingly perfect live unravels when a young poet who he had taken pity on (Eugene Marchbanks, played by Frank Dillane) arrives and announces that he is in love with James' beautiful young wife Candida (Charity Wakefield). While considerations of the practicalities of socialism rumble in the background, most of the action is the conflict between the two males, making it clear that neither affords Candida any agency in her own love life. The most interesting part of the play for me, therefore, was how Candida deals with this situation, eventually resisting the Victorian ideal of female passivity that both men unwittingly force upon her.

I expressed concerns about Jamie Parker in my review of Henry V and his performance in Candida left me with similar doubts. I can't work out if he's just a boring actor, or whether he is intentionally accentuating the staid nature of the character, making it clear why Candida might seek entertainment elsewhere. By contrast, Dillane (famous for playing Tom Riddle in Harry Potter), was very full on, to the point of being highly irritating at times, but it worked for the nervous, conflicted young poet. Of the main cast, I was most impressed with Charity Wakefield's (Land Fothergill from Any Human Heart) sensitive portrayal of the title character. Overall, Candida was at turns funny and thought provoking, but lacking the spark that makes Pygmalion such an enduring hit.

King Lear

Regular readers will know that I'm quite familiar with King Lear after following Cardiff University's Act One as they took their adaptation to Edinburgh. However, my students were happy to learn that even I struggled to follow every word of this incredibly dense tragedy. The main attraction for this particular adaptation was David Haig (Four Weddings and a Funeral) in the title role. The dramatic weight of the role was quite a departure from Haig's usual comedic roles, and at times he seemed to struggle with it - just one of the many let-downs of this production. A particular strength of King Lear is how the universal themes of greed and ambition can be adapted to an enormous range of settings, but for me the 1960s East End gangsters premise which had seemed so promising just didn't pay off. There were some strong performances and the notoriously difficult eye-gouging scene was impressively depraved and gory, but at a certain point the production just seemed to lose its way. Rather than the emotional punch the end is supposed to provide, this Lear's eventual denouement left us feeling only relief.

Find out more about the Theatre Royal and their upcoming attractions here.

Preparing King Lear for Edinburgh Fringe

Trained astrophysicist Piers Horner is now dealing with stars of a very different kind, those of Act One, as he prepares their production of King Lear for Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I pulled him away from his busy schedule to discuss what it takes to get a production to Edinburgh and how this King Lear has changed since its Cardiff première. 

Act One's dystopian take on King Lear made its début to critical acclaim at the Cardiff YMCA in February (read my original review here). Now, thanks to funding from the Students Union, it's off to a much more exciting venue at the Edinburgh Fringe, but not without a few changes. In case you missed it earlier this year, this is a King Lear for a modern audience, set in the aftermath of nuclear war, as rival gangs vie for power. What impressed me most about the original production was that it was thoroughly gripping, modern, and relevant, while retaining Shakespearian language. Key to the show's success is the incredible set design by Horner - graffiti-covered, dark and menacing - and music by Nick Cotton, a haunting blend of classical and contemporary, which both compliment the sense of foreboding and accentuated violence of the piece. As the stage in Edinburgh will be thrust instead of proscenium, dark corners and extremely graphic fight scenes will be more of a challenge, but one that Act One certainly won't shy away from!

A more arduous task will be cutting King Lear down to just an hour and 15 minutes - the time allotted by the venue. The February version felt succinct at about two hours, especially given how much happens in Shakespeare's original Lear. Many hours of rewrites by Horner and co-director Madison Fowler have been needed to make the play coherent with so much cut out, but the end result is a pacey Lear sure to attract new audiences, perhaps otherwise put off by the imposing length of the original play. 

Lear (James Davies) gets angry

As any student knows, May and June is probably the worst time to have any other commitments, what with final essays, exams and then preparing to move out for the summer. It's certainly not ideal for putting together a play for Edinburgh. Act One, however, are an industrious bunch and won't let a little thing like getting a degree get in the way of preparing to take Edinburgh by storm. They have been beavering away on their futuristic King Lear, culminating in a week long 'Lear Camp'. From practising projection in the park to make-up sessions, every aspect of Lear must be worked out before the cast go their separate ways for the summer. Characterisation has always been of utmost importance for the cast and creators of this production, and the focus of intense work during Lear Camp. For Horner, it is imperative that the characters suit both the actors and the dystopian setting. In the original production, the Cornwall just wasn't quite right, so he has now metamorphosed from a thug to a sharp, sexual sadist. Within the context of the production, I'm sure this will make for a much more engaging character. Sadly Oliver Ferriman, who was so impressive as Edgar, has prior commitments preventing him from going to Edinburgh. Edgar has therefore been reworked to suit Nick McAndrew who takes Ferriman's place - instead of an intensely physical, feral Edgar, McAndrew will bring out the vulnerable side of the character.

Emily Barden gets made up

When they get to Edinburgh, the will have just one day to get set up in the theatre before performing to the demanding Fringe crowd. It's not just any theatre that King Lear is going in to either, but the Monkey House, part of the prestigious Zoo. It's a location any Edinburgh Fringe play would dream of. I'm a complete novice when it comes to how Fringe works, so Piers explained to me that there is no central booking system, rather you contact each venue individually and hope for the best. Having asked for a 60-seat venue for their five-day run, Act One were instead offered a 90-seater, a clear indication that Zoo believe King Lear can draw a crowd. Back in February, it was already a bold and exciting piece. Now with all the extra work of Lear Camp and the added spark of being in Edinburgh, I'm sure it will be a real treat for any festival-goer.

Cambridge (James Paine) and Gloucester (Dom Gwyther) get gory

King Lear is showing from 12-18 August at 12:15 in Monkey House, Zoo (full details and tickets at here). Act One are also bringing two other productions to Edinburgh:
Wuthering Heights, 13-18, 21:05, the Space on the Mile (tickets), and The Institute, 13-19, 12:45, The Fiddler's Elbow (tickets).


Photos courtesy of Ségolène Scheuer who plays Goneril.

The Globe presents Henry V @ New Theatre Cardiff

‘Touring was in Shakespeare’s blood’, director Dominic Dromgoole reminds us as he launches this new production of Henry V which starts its tour here in Cardiff. Since 2007, Shakespeare’s Globe has been sending its productions out around the country, and now, as the Olympics approaches, it is keener than ever to celebrate the great British icon around the country.

Following Dromgoole’s critically-acclaimed 2010 production of Henry IV, expectations are high. Jamie Parker, who played young and wild Prince Harry in that production, has now matured into a responsible king. RADA-trained Parker is most famous for playing Scripps in The History Boys (in the West End, on Broadway and in the film), and the shy school-boy is still present in a King Henry who is more like our modern princes than a bloodthirsty warrior. In his supposedly rousing speeches – including the famous lines ‘Once more into the breach dear friends’ and ‘We band of brothers’- he is convincing, but not burning with passion as expected. I’d like to think Parker is hinting at Henry’s reticence towards war, an aspect of the play that has been increasingly forefronted in recent years. It is not until the final scene, where Henry tries to woo the French Princess Katherine (Oliver Ross, who has perfect French pronunciation), that Parker really comes into his own. He is charmingly flustered and bashful, utterly engrossing. It’s a shame that we have to wait until the end to really connect with the character. Yet, even if the title character isn’t particularly engrossing, as a whole Henry V still has a lot to offer.

The play opens with the chorus (the charismatic Bríd Brennan) apologising for this attempt to present a great historical subject in the theatre. We are told we must use our imagination to create epic battles and sea voyages. However, the lack of sets and small (but talented) cast are counterbalanced by the variety of characters and range of emotions in the play. While the opening scenes laying out the reasons behind the Battle of Agincourt, around which the play centres, are a little dull (despite the toilet humour), there follows plenty of drama, humour, suspense and even a little romance. For a historical play, it gets a lot of laughs. As well as a generous helping of Shakespeare’s famous bawdy humour, the Welsh Captain Fluellen, who takes enormous pride in King Henry’s Monmouth origins, certainly tickled this Cardiff audience. Whether he would have the same effect elsewhere, I’m not sure, although Brendan O’Hea is clearly a talented comic actor.

Capt. Gower (Matthew Flint) and Capt. Fluellen (Brendan O'Hea).
Photo from Stephen Vaughn  at liverpool-live.info

All in all, Henry V is not the most captivating of Shakespeare’s plays, but still an enjoyable watch, especially in such a high-quality production from the Globe. Just like plays in Shakespeare’s time, this production will now head around the country before arriving in London in time for the Olympics.