The second box

I've finished the first box. 

It took me ten weeks. There were 89 theatre programmes in it. Of those I saved ten.

Things I've learned:

• Typing so many names makes me realise just how many uncommon names there are, although I suspect this is partly because people can't have the same name as another actor.
• I've forgotten so many things - sometimes I've forgotten that I've seen something, other times I've forgotten what it's about, and a lot of the time it's been both. It turns out there are people I was certain I hadn't seen who I have very definitely have seen. With dementia and Alzheimer's being such a worry for us all discovering how much I've forgotten is a bit scary.
• There are a lot less adverts in programmes now - the local theatre one used to include ones for local shops but that's all stopped. 
• It's interesting seeing other stuff advertised in programmes and makes me wonder why I made the choices I did because the other stuff, which of course I might have seen and forgotten, often looks more interesting than what I actually saw.

So it's time to open the second box:

I got a bit excited and started sorting through that before I remembered that I ought to take a picture so I shoved it all back. The lid used to fit.

This box seems to have a large amount of dance and Art stuff in in but there's still a big pile of theatre programmes to get through:

I'm already very excited about some of the stuff I can see in there.

Unhappy Birthday

Unhappy Birthday, Norwich Arts Centre, 2012

Cast: Amy Lamé

Writer: Amy Lamé

Director: Scottee

Amy used to be best known for being part of the Duckie collective that ran a brilliant club night at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern on Saturdays. I went a few times and always enjoyed it. Since 2016 she has been Night Tzar for the London Assembly (current salary: £116,925 - lots of transparency from the mayor's office). 

This was a show about Morrissey, who at the time I loved but since then he's become a right wing racist and it's just too awful to think about. This was a celebration. If you did a show about him now it would just be lots of shaking heads in disbelief mumbling, "why? how?".

I've seen a one man show by the director about men's bodies called Fat Blokes. I find him a bit tricky although I like the ideas behind what he does.

Thick as a Brick

Thick as a Brick, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2000.

Cast: Jo Theaker, Sally Carman, Charlie Mudie, Roger Butcher, Nicky Goldie, Gordon Kane.

Writer & Director: John Godber

Composer: John Pattison

Hull Truck does a musical! I suppose it had to happen eventually. This played a week in Norwich, and I wonder how well that sold out in such a big theatre (1308 seats).

Frankie & Tommy

Frankie & Tommy, Angles Centre, Wisbech, 1992

Cast: Charlie Dickinson, Steven Speirs.

Writer: Garry Lyons

Director: Damian Cruden

I don't think I'm interested enough in Tommy Cooper to go and see a play about him but he died in 1984 so I guess at the time he was fresh in people's minds and a big deal. Another long tour for Hull Truck - 41 venues over three months. I feel like those people who remember when actors used to work in Rep before it ended, mourning the death of small scale touring theatre.

 

Up 'n' Under

Up 'n' Under, Cambridge Arts Theatre, 1992

Cast: David Barrass, Martin Barrass, Malcolm Scales, Terry Melia, Robert Hudson, Susan Cookson.

Writer: John Godber

Director: Damian Cruden

Hull Truck were really on a roll at this point - this played in Cambridge for a week, I do seem to remember that it wasn't very well attended so we moved  forward a few rows from our cheap seats at the back (£7.50, expensive seats £9.50, next week their cheap seats are £20 and the most expensive are £35). I also remember that my late boss's sister (a silent partner in the company) was in the audience. I've possibly seen a play more recently about a gay rugby player but equally that could have been football - there's things are hard to tell apart.

Passion Killers

Passion Killers, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, 1995

Cast: Gordon Kane, Susan Cookson, Daniel O'Brien, Jacqueline Taylor, Charlotte Bellamy, Julian Knight, Richard Hollick.

Writer & Director: John Godber

I'm starting to think that the 1990s were a heyday for seeing new writing on tour in local venues. I can't remember the last time I saw such a thing recently - it's all bit productions or comedians, there's no money for anything else. How disappointing to realise that the Arts have been fucked up for good in my lifetime (not my fault!)

Kissing Sid James

Kissing Sid James, 1999

Cast: Hannah Smith, Paul McCrink, 

Writer: Robert Farquhar

Director: Simon Stallworthy

I can't be sure where I saw this - tow local venues are listed in the programme: Angles Centre, Wisbech and Corn Exchange, King's Lynn. It seems a bit small for the latter, although this was possibly before it was refurbished. It's a mystery. According to the programme it's not about Sid James at all but about a couple having a dirty weekend. I wonder what I made of it.

The Killing of Sister George

The Killing of Sister George, King's Lynn Arts Centre, 2002

Cast: Anna Ziman, Susannah Pilcher, Pauline Whitaker, Joy Roston, Jackie Skarvellis

Writer: Frank Marcus

Director: Michael Cabot 

I don't think I've seen the film version of this and I imagine that if I watched it now it might seem very dated and a bit clunky. I somehow doubt this was a fun evening out.

Guys and Dolls

Guys and Dolls, Piccadilly Theatre, 2005

Cast: Martin Ellis, Cory English, Andrew Playfoot, Jenna Russell, Niall Buggy, Nicola Keen, Jo Servi, Kelly Price, Patrick Brennan, Douglas Hodge, Norman Bowman, Sebastien Torkia, Graham Macduff, Spencer Stafford, Darren Carnall, Matthew Cole, Jane Krakowski, Ewan McGregor, Lynsey Britton, Elizabeth Cooper-Gee, Charlotte Gorton, Zoe Hardman, Summer Strallen, Suzanne Toase, Gaye Brown, Sevan Stephen, Spencer Soloman, Ben Clare, Madelaine Marland.

Music & lyrics: Frank Loesser

Book: Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Director: Michael Grandage

The main reason for seeing this would have been Ewan McGregor who has only been back on stage in this country once since (Othello, the following year). I can't imagine he'll feel the need to do anything any time soon. But now I wonder if Jane Krakowski wasn't a bigger deal - she's big on Broadway but this might have been the first time she performed in something big here. 

There's a hugely successful production of this at the Bridge Theatre at the moment which I really should see but I tend to think of the slightly unlikeable Frank Sinatra film first and it puts me off. This might well be the only time I've been to the Piccadilly Theatre.

Company

Company, Southwark Playhouse, 2011

Cast: Rupert Young, Leigh McDonald, Matthew White, Adam Venus, Cassidy Janson, Greg Castiglioni, Siobhan McCarthy, Julia J Nagle, Mark Curry, Steven Serlin, Laura Main, Katie Brayben, Poppy Roe, Michelle Bishop.

Music & lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Book: George Furth

Director: Joe Fredericks

I think Company was my first deliberate exposure to Sondheim when I saw the 1996 Donmar Warehouse production on TV on BBC2 one evening, back when they did plays on the telly. Before then I might have seen some American (PBS?) recordings of shows which often turned up on TV over Christmas but didn't necessarily mean much to me. Company did and it remains the work of his I've seen most, and I think I've amassed four different cast recordings of it. As a perpetually single person who is friends with couples it was bound to resonate.

This was on at the Southwark Playhouse's original home, in a vault under the railway at London Bridge. It was the only time I've ever been there but since then I've been to their other place in Elephant & Castle a lot and it's become one of my favourite theatres because of the interesting stuff they put on. I must go back soon.

I remember finding the leading man very attractive although this doesn't even get a mention on his Wikipedia page now. I remember the set being a series of boxes on wheels that got pushed around the stage to suggest different locations.

The Three Penny Opera

The Three Penny Opera, Studio 54, 2006

Cast: Alan Cumming, Jim Dale, Ana Gasteyer, Cyndi Lauper, Nellie McKay, Christopher Innvar, Carlos Leon, Brian Charles Rooney, Adam Alexi-Malle, Terry Burrell, Brian Butterick, David Cale, Romain Fruge, John Herrera, Nehal Joshi, Christopher Kenney, Deborah Law, Valisia Lekae Little, Maureen Moore, Brooke Sunny Moriber, Kevin Rennard, Lucas Steele.

Writers: Bertolt Brecht & Kurt Weill

Director: Scott Elliott

The first professional theatre production I ever saw outside the UK (and since then there's only been two others). I didn't go because of a love of Brecht & Weill but because at the time it was the only way of getting into Studio 54. Having gone through a phase of being obsessed with Andy Warhol it was a New York must-see, although I don't think I went in search of the buildings that were his studios. Apart from the name on the door I think it was unmemorable - it just looked like a building that had been turned into a theatre space.

Look at the cast! Not only had I forgotten that I'd seen Cyndi Lauper but also Jim Dale. I'd like to see Alan Cumming in more stuff but he lives in America now and does a lot of TV. Another interesting name is Carlos Leon, who is the father of Madonna's daughter Lourdes. I seem to remember the cast wore orange boiler suits. I don't think I feel the need to see any Brecht & Weill in future.

And of course it was my first introduction to Playbill - a programme you don't have to buy and which people routinely left behind in the theatre afterwards, like you would a free paper. I wonder why they do this in America while here we sell programmes as an extra. Surely knowing who is in the cast is a fairly minimum requirement so you'd think a free cast list would be the obligatory.

Smaller

Smaller, Lyric Theatre, 2006

Cast: Dawn French, Alison Moyet, June Watson

Writer: Carmel Morgan

Director: Kathy Burke

I tagged along to this with some friends who'd booked tickets, something I don't think I'd do now. Inevitably I remember nothing about it. There are songs listed in the programme but I wouldn't have confidently said I remembered that. At that point I'd seen Alison Moyet live twice but not Dawn French - she'd probably only done French & Saunders stuff which would have been impossible to get tickets for. I've seen her twice since in one woman shows. This was the writers first, and it turns out so far, only play, apparently commissioned by Dawn. With Kathy Burke directing I do wonder if it was a slight waste of everyone's talent and maybe they could have found something else to do that would have been more memorable.

Tell me on a Sunday

Tell me on a Sunday, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2011

Cast: Claire Sweeney

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber

Lyrics: Don Black

Director: Tamara Harbey

The story of a single young woman revived I would imagine after the success of Bridget Jones's Diary. I perhaps hoped it would resonate with me as a single person but I don't remember that it did. And now I can't help feeling that it might have been better if this story had been told by two middle-aged men, but can you name a woman writing musicals now? Shocking isn't it.

Stone in his Pockets

Stones in his Pockets, Cambridge Arts Theatre, 2002

Cast: Malcolm Adams, Hugh Lee

Writer: Marie Jones

Director: Inn McElhinnery

Something else that I don't remember and I find myself wondering if this was the thing where a mystery celebrity was part of the cast every night. I know I could Google it but I'm hoping the answer will present itself. I don't think it was this though. It does make me realise that this kind of thing doesn't get made anymore, at least not in theatres of this size or on long tours, because who would take the risk.

Heroes

Heroes, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2006

Cast: Michael Jayston, Christopher Timothy, Art Malik.

Writer: Gerald Sibleyras

Translated by Tom Stoppard

Director: Claire Lovett

A play with three characters translated from French - do you think someone was hoping this might have been as successful as Art? It wasn't and I couldn't tell you anything about it although I have a suspicion they were soldiers. 

Round the Horne ...revisited

Round the Horne ...revisited. Norwich Theatre Royal, 2004

Cast: Stephen Critchlow, Stephen Boswell, Paul Ryan, Jonathan Moore, Sherry Baines, Benedict Martin, Andrea Sadler.

Written and adapted by Brian Cooke

Director: Michael Kingsbury

I imagine I went to this because it was something I recognised even though I hadn't listened to it. I'm guessing it was a radio play on stage.

A Chorus Line

 A Chorus Line, London Palladium, 2013

Cast: Lucy Jane Adcock, Georgie Ashford, Ed Currie, Frances Dee, Segun Fawole, Harry Francis, Rebecca Giacopazzi, Victoria Hamilton-Barrit, Katy Hards, Simon Hardwick, Rebecca Herszenhorn, James T Lane, Marc Leslie, Daisy Maywood, Alice Jane Murray, Genevieve Nicole, Ashley Nottingham, John Partridge, Alastair Postlethwaite, Andy Rees, Adam Salter, Alexzandra Sarimento, Michael Steedon, Scarlett Strallen, Vicki Lee Taylor, Jon Tsouras, Gary Watson, Gary Wood, Leigh Zimmerman.

Book: James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante

Music: Marvin Hamlisch

Lyrics: Edwards Kleban

Director: Bob Avian

I imagine this was spectacular but all I remember about it is that they had sold so few tickets that they closed the circle we were in and moved us to better seats. I'm seeing a touring production next year which I'm really looking forward to.

Peter and Alice

Peter and Alice, Noel Coward Theatre, 2013

Cast: Judi Dench, Ben Wishaw, Olly Alexander, Ruby Bentall, Stefano Braschi, Nicholas Farrell, Derek Riddell.

Writer: John Logan

Director: Michael Grandage

Olly Alexander (singing with Years & Years) played Peter Pan, which I'd forgotten and when I saw it written down I almost tutted and thought, "oh course he did" because he still is a little. This is the second of the plays from the season when Michael Grandage took over the theatre and I imagine was the one I most wanted to see because of Judy Dench. She played the woman who had inspired Alice in Wonderland and Ben Wishaw played the man who inspired Peter Pan, an imaginary meeting. I have a feeling Ben's character through himself under a train at Sloane Square station. I'd see either of them again any time.

Sunday in the Park with George

Sunday in the Park with George, Wyndham's Theatre, 2006

Cast: Daniel Evans, Jenna Russell, Christopher Colley, Simon Green, Sarah French Ellis, Kaisa Hammarland, Alasdair Harvey, Anna Lowe, Steven Kynman, Mark McKerracher, Ian McLarnon, Joanne Redman, Liza Sadovy, Gay Soper, Lauren Calpin, Georgina Hendry, Natalie Paris, Alex Gaumond, Rachel Grimshaw.

Music & Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim

Book: James Lapine

Director: Sam Buntrock

I felt certain I saw this at the Garrick Theatre but clearly not. I do remember that I bought my ticket for it at the half price ticket booth in Leicester Square and had a seat at the end of a row in the stalls. That seems surprisingly spontaneous of me - I wouldn't go all that way without a ticket for something now. I feel like Jenna Russell is going to turn up a lot. I saw an amateur production of this earlier in the year but otherwise don't think I've seen it since - the Savoy production with Jame Gyllenhaal that I had tickets for during Covid seems to have vanished so maybe that moment has passed.