Featured Post

Bit parts: Garry Starr Performs Everything @swkplay

Image
Garry Starr Performs Everything is a bare-bones (and bare buttocks) tribute to the theatre. Theatre may be in trouble, and audiences are down, but Garry Starr aims to save the theatre and bring back to the masses every style of theatre possible. As long as each style involves wearing a transparent white leotard or a skimpy thong. And tassels. It's part comedy, part physical comedy and part perv at Gary's physical prowess. The sentiment "if you've got it, flaunt it" applies here. So here we are with a show that has been around for some years and is having its first proper London run at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) through Christmas. The premise is that Garry Starr (played by Damien Warren-Smith) has left the Royal Shakespeare Company over artistic differences. He is now on a mission to save the theatre from misrepresentation and worthy interpretations by doing things such as a two-minute Hamlet, recreating scenes from a Pinter play using unsuspecting audience

Sex and violence: Private Lives

Private Lives, currently playing at the Gielgud Theatre, is a sexy and bitchy night out at the theatre that is hard not to like. With a strong cast that brings out the sexual tensions and a production that enjoys lingering in the sophisticated smuttiness of it all.

The central premise is that two recently remarried divorcees meet while they are honeymooning and pick up where they left off. But they soon discover that while they can't live without each other, they can't live with each other either. It's morally wrong and the characters should be unappealing but you root for them anyway as they ditch their spouses and head off to Paris.
This is a particularly physical production. The couples lunge at it each other, roll around on the floor, lust and slap each other about. Toby Stephens as Elyot Chase is sophisticated, good looking and full of sexual energy which probably helps win over the audience, particularly when he runs off with Amanda leaving Victor (played by a very uptight and restrained Anthony Calf) at the hotel. When the character wants to shock it still sounds surprisingly frank.

Anna Chancellor as Amanda has the presence and comic timing to look as if the part was written for her. She manages to get laughs from the slightest of gestures. The morning after a terrific row with Elyot she greets Victor as if nothing untoward has happened and offers to get coffee for everyone. The setup is so good that soon even the most innocent of words, brioche, elicits howls of laughter. Anna-Louise Plowman also manages to make the most of being Elyot's boring second wife Sibyl in the final act by delivering a few lines against Amanda with hilarious effect.

While the lines are sharp and well served and the pace is pretty good (the show runs under two hours including interval) there are the occasional lulls. Possibly the age and plotting of the piece begin to show. The mood swings and fight scenes sometimes seem to miss a beat, but overall this is a smart looking and sexy production that is hard to dislike. Private Lives is a show that regularly comes to the West End, but this time around it is worth a visit to see what all the sexual tension is about.

Directed by Jonathan Kent, the production originated at last year's Chichester Festival and is due to run through to September. The initial reactions with @Johnnyfoxlondon on the Audioboo follow...

listen to ‘Private boo: Private Lives’ on Audioboo

Popular posts from this blog

Opera and full frontal nudity: Rigoletto

Image
David McVicar's oddly modern production of Rigoletto is back at the Royal Opera House . This modern and minimalist dark production has evolved over the years. It is better lit now but there is still an orgy and full frontal nudity within the first thirty minutes. This enables anyone not in the stalls an excellent view of a flaccid penis and a nicely shaved bush. But as time goes it seems more and more superfluous to the main focus of this tragedy of a court jester who seeks revenge. Here is hoping that the production continues to evolve... Conductor John Eliot Gardiner keeps the music well paced. Dimitri Platanias in the title role sounded great and received a rapturous applause for his interpretation of the role. You get a sense more of the doting father rather than the court jester or cursed man here. Vittorio Grigolo plays the Duke and sounds too lovely to be the cad the role calls for, but it is hard not to like when he is on stage anyway. And it is easier to understan
Read more...

Fantasies: Afterglow @Swkplay

Image
Nowadays no self-respecting gay play can be staged without full frontal nudity of some kind. It feels like the default response for the modern gay play now that gay rights are no longer an issue .   Afterglow, currently playing at Southwark Playhouse , serves it up in spades. From the beginning, three men are in a bed, naked. There’s what appears to be a very brief exhalation of ecstasy, before the obligatory rush to the shower. But the gratuitous nudity and excellent performances can’t conceal this is a pretty conventional and predictable story about a fantasy couple.  The three men in the simultaneous orgasm at the start of the piece are Josh, Alex and Darius. Josh and Alex seem to live in a New York world where they can afford a rooftop apartment in Manhattan while holding jobs as a theatre director and a grad student in chemistry. As writer S. Asher Gelman based it on his own experiences, perhaps gay plays with full frontal nudity are the way to achieve financial security
Read more...

Play ball: Damn Yankees @LandorTheatre

Image
Damn Yankees at the Landor Theatre is one hell of a fun, sexy show. A great cast of dancers and singers give this show about a man who sells his soul to get on his beloved baseball team (and give them a chance of winning) new legs and balls. It also helps to up the ante with the sexiness with some healthy doses of cleavage and legs (and that's just the men). The musical is a retelling of the Faust story set in the 1950s when the New York Yankees dominated the game.
Read more...