Last 10 things seen at the theatre: #055

6th to 20th May.


List the last 10 things you saw at the theatre in order:
1. The Two Worlds of Charlie F (Wycombe Swan)
2. Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare's Globe)
3. Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare's Globe)
4. In the Heights (Southwark Playhouse)
5. The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable (Punchdrunk)
6. The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable (Punchdrunk)
7. Be My Baby (Drake Hall)
8. Other Desert Cities (Old Vic)
9. Fleabag (Soho)
10. All's Well That Ends Well (Shakespeare's Globe)

Who was the best performer in number one (The Two Worlds of Charlie F)?
The entire cast deserves mad praise for managing to do so well in the face of the rowdy group of pensioners I had the misfortune to sit beside. They treated the first half as a pantomime, spent the whole interval grousing about the non-disruptive school party behind them, very aggressively questioned me as to whether I was BOTHERED by the amputees onstage, then continued to shout "humorous" interjections and grumble for the entire second act. It was a real team effort, and they all did MARVELLOUSLY.

Why did you go to see number two (Much Ado About Nothing)?
Is it Shakespeare? At the Globe? Is it the joint birthday outing for two of my best beloveds? I think you'll find the answer to all of these is yes, and that, friends, is why.

Can you remember a line/lyric from number three (Antony and Cleopatra) that you liked?
With Shakespeare, I try to wait until I've seen the production so I'm not just cheating and tossing out a line I know I like without any thought to the particular production. Some lines will hit you in different ways depending on what the production does, and while I have existing favourite bits of Antony and Cleopatra, the line that hit me most this time was:
"The breaking of so great a thing should make
A greater crack: the round world
Should have shook lions into civil streets,
And citizens to their dens: the death of Antony
Is not a single doom; in the name lay
A moiety of the world."
Um, spoiler alert, if you don't know how Antony and Cleopatra goes...

What would you give number four (In the Heights) out of ten?
TEN. TEN OUT OF TEN OUT OF TEN. This show is very important to me, because of reasons, and this production absolutely knocked it out of the park. I only wish I had the time to go again.

Was there someone hot in number five (The Drowned Man:A Hollywood Fable)?
Oh gosh, this again! I don't think I even need to answer it any more, do I? If I did, I would certainly start to sound like I was maybe getting obsessed with this like one particular person, and I'm clearly NOT getting obsessed with this like one particular person, right? HAHAHAHAHA. ANYWAY. Also Stephanie Nightingale, who may actually be the most ridiculously attractive woman in the entire UNIVERSE.

What was number six (The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable) about?
Do you know something? For once, it was a contemporary retelling of Büchner's Woyzeck set in an early 1960s Hollywood movie studio! That's right, I FINALLY got around to following the main story!

Who was your favourite actor in number seven (Be My Baby)?
I can't choose! They were all excellent, it was a very entertaining but deeply upsetting play. (Also it was a local production, so naming names won't mean anything to anyone anyway.)

What was your favourite bit in number eight (Other Desert Cities)?
I didn't have a favourite bit. It was alright, but I thought it was all a bit too overwrought to have a favourite bit. Everyone just got very shouty and very upset very quickly, and it made sense once we found out why, but not enough sense to justify the constancy of it really.

Would you see number nine (Fleabag) again?
Maybe? It was BRILLIANT, don't get me wrong, but it really punched me in the gut emotionally, and not just the guinea pig stuff. I need to stop being emotionally devastated by things, but I'm not sure I know how.

What was the worst thing about number ten (All's Well That Ends Well)?
The woman who clearly wanted to stand where I was standing and so leaned ON ME for the entire duration. I wouldn't have minded so much, except the yard was half-empty and she could have stood literally ANYWHERE else.

Which was best?
In the Heights! Utterly!

Which was worst?
The shows were all great (well, a couple were merely fine), it was the audiences that were terrible.

Did any make you cry?
Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, In the Heights, The Drowned Man, and Fleabag.

Did any make you laugh?
Probably the same list, actually! It's not really a matter of crying vs laughing most of the time so much as it is "is this affecting you emotionally or is it just happening?".

Which roles would you like to play in any of them?
I would bite a stick to play Beatrice. I would wear a marshmallow for a hat on a rainy day, I would telephone your mum and tell her knock-knock jokes, I would climb a tree and hang pants off the highest branch I could reach. I am singularly ill-suited to the demands of Antony and Cleopatra or In the Heights, but I love both shows dearly enough to be sad about it. I still really would like to play Alice and/or Faye and/or the Drugstore Girl in The Drowned Man. I think Be My Baby would be a great play to be involved in no matter what role.

Which one did you have best seats for?
Gosh, erm... well, I liked my seat for The Two Worlds of Charlie F a great deal, I have sat there several times before, but it was tainted some by my seatmates. So I guess Fleabag wins by default!