Blithe Spirit

Blithe Spirit, Cambridge Arts Theatre, 2010.

Cast: Jodie Taibi, Hermione Norris, Robert Bathurst, Bo Poraj, Charlotte Thornton, Alison Steadman, Ruthie Henshall.

Writer: Noel Coward

Director: Thea Sharrock.

This is probably top of my list of things I never want to see again and that's' because of this production. Alison Steadman really hammed it up as Madame Arcati in a way that was just annoying. Ruthie Henshall was probably too old to play the dead first wife. Perhaps it's time to look at some of Coward's other work or give him a rest completely.

Or You Could KIss Me

Or You Could Kiss Me, Cottesloe Theatre, 2010.

Cast: Adjoa Andoh, Basil Jones, Finn Caldwell, Adrian Kohler, Craig Leo, Tommy Luther, Mervyn Millar, Marcus Tilt.

Created by Neil Bartlett and Handspring Puppet Company

Director: Neil Bartlett

I went to see this because I was a fan of Neil Bartlett, a gay writer whose work I really liked (but which I feel a bit different about now - it maybe feels old-fashioned now). I remember there were puppets but I don't remember it being in the Cottesloe Theatre - in my head it felt bigger than that. It might have been set in South Africa.

dinnerladies

dinnerladies, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2009.

Cast: Shobna Gulati, Andrew Dunn, Laura Shepherd, Jacqueline Clarke, Liz Bagley, Stella Ross, Emily Butterfield, Barrie Palmer, Louise Dumayne, Joanne Lee Martin.

Adapted by David Graham from the TV series by Victoria Wood.

Director: David Graham

I assumed I'd seen this after she died because it feels like the sort of thing she'd have said no to because of her complete control over her work but I was wrong. Two people from the original cast can't make up for the complete band of nobodies playing the rest of the characters. I'm sure I liked it, and there was a second version of it so I wasn't the only one, but in retrospect Victoria deserved better.

The Little Dog Laughed

The Little Dog Laughed, Garrick Theatre, 2010.

Cast: Tamsin Greig, Rupert Friend, Gemma Arterton, Harry Lloyd.

Writer: Douglas Carter Beane

Director: Jamie Lloyd

I have fond but sketchy memories of this. I think Tamsin Greig played an agent in it and Rupert Friend was an actor. I was so wowed by Tamsin that I'd forgotten that Gemma Arterton was also in it. I'd love to see both of them on stage again. Possibly the only successful experience I've had at the Garrick which is a nightmare of columns if you're at the back and Tube trains running underneath it.

Les Misérables

Les Misérables, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2010.

Cast: John Owen-Jones, Earl Carpenter, David Lawrence, Jonathan Alden, Madalena Alberto, Laura Tebbutt, Victoria Farley, Rhiannon Sarah Porter, Rosa O'Reilly, Leigh Rhianon Coggins, Vanessa Leagh Hicks, Beth Davies, Rebecca McKinnis, Carl Mullaney, Alice Payne, Charlotte Nicholas, Sophie Downham, Lynne Wilmot, Emily Remer, Maia Hunt, Charlotte Cooper, Ashley Artus, Jake Abbott, Dylan Jones, Toby Prynne, Rosalind James, Katie Hall, Luke Kempner, Ian Caddick, Jon Robyns, Gareth Gates, David Covey, Owain Williams, Christopher Jacobsen, Rhidian Marc, Adam Linstead, Jamie Muscato, Joanna Loxton, Gemma O'Duffy, Michael Baxter, Peter Manchester, Leighton Rafferty.

Music: Claude-Micehl Schonberg

Lyrics: Herbert Kretzmer

Directors: Laurence Connor & James Powell

I hated this. The songs are shit and the best one - I Dreamed a Dream, the Susan Boyle one - is the fourth song in a three hour show. I saw the film thinking I might be wrong and hated that too and was glad to be proved right. Apparently it was a production of this that prompted Pet Shop Boys to write their own musical as they thought the songs were so bad, so at least something good came out of it.

Cause Celebre

 

Cause Celebre, The Old Vic, 2011.

Cast: Lucy Black, Timothy Carlton, Simon Chandler, Richard Clifford, Oliver Coppersmith, Niamh Cusack, Anne-Marie Duff, Rory Fleck-Byrne, Freddie Fox, Jenny Galloway, Patrick Godfrey, Nicholas Jones, Tommy McDonnell, Lucy Robinson, Tristan Shepherd, Richard Teverson, Sarah Waddell, Michael Webber, Tristram Wymark.

Writer: Terence Rattigan

Director: Thea Sharrock

I assume I went to this partly to see Anne-Marie Duff but also because Rattigan was having a bit of a moment (Flare Path was on in London that summer too) but without rereading the programme I'd have remembered nothing about the play.

What I do remember, far too vividly because that's how these things work, is that the singer Tracey Thorn asked for people's opinions on it on Twitter as she was thinking of going. I think I replied that the second half was stronger than the first and I enjoyed it. She hated it and stupidly I felt in some way responsible.

Jekyll & Hyde

Jekyll & Hyde, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2011.

Cast: Marti Pellow, Sabrina Carter, Sarah Earnshaw, David Delve, Mark McGee, Amira Matthews, Michael Taibi, Martin Dickinson, Matt Stevens, Jacob Chapman, Jon de Ville, James Gant, Daniel Robinson, Carolyn Maitland, Alexandra Grierson, Grace Gardner, Rob Copeland, Kerri Watt.

Lyricist/Librettist: Leslie Bricusse

Composer: Frank Wildborn

Director: Martin Connor

Marti's second appearance on here and it won't be his last. I remember nothing about this but wonder if it prompted me to read the book it was based on.