Cocktail Sticks

Cocktail Sticks, Lyttelton Theatre, 2013. 

Cast: Alex Jennings, Gabrielle Llyod, Jeff Rawle, Derek Hutchinson, Maggie McCarthy,

Writer: Alan Bennet

Director: Nicholas Hytner

Now I'm forgotten whole plays by Alan Bennett which will never do. But this was only an hour long so I forgive myself. It seems to be about his family and growing up, leaving them behind and writing about them. I saw it as a double bill with another piece called Hymn, to make the journey to London worthwhile. It was dramatised for Radio 4 more recently and you can get a CD of it so let's see what eBay turns up.

Hairspray

Hairspray, Theatre Royal Norwich, 2011.

Cast: Michael Starke, Micky Dolenz, Laurie Scarth, Liam Doyle, Gillian Kirkpatrick, Wayne Robinson, Danny Bayne, Emma Dukes, Clare Halse, Sandra Marvin, Yvonne O'Grady, Seliza Sebastian, Carl Sanderson, Shakira Akabusi, Kane Andrews, Richard Dale, Harry Francis, Darron Gifty, Natalie Kelly, Gemma-Knight Jones, Mia Lincoln, Emily Luke-Taylor, Abiona Omonua, Yohemy Prosper, Charles Ruhrmund, Spin, Lauren Stroud, Helen Ternent, Nyroy Dixon, Mark Hilton, Debbie Jenkins, Jennifer Saayeng, Laura Thorogood, Matt Thorpe, Dina Tree.

Book: Mark O'Donnell & Thomas Meehan

Music & Lyrics: Marc Shaiman

Lyrics: Scott Wittman

Director: Jack O'Brien

The second time I saw this and the second time I forgot I'd seen one of the Monkees. It's touring again but all the cheap seats have gone locally and after years of being spoilt by their cheap seats I'm reluctant to pay £35 for something I've seen twice. So I've just ordered the DVD instead.

Twelfth Night & The Taming of the Shrew

Twelfth Night & The Taming of the Shrew, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2013.

Cast: Ben Allen, Darrell Brockis, Joseph Chance, John Dougall, Finn Hanlon, Lewis Hart, Christopher Heyward, Vince Leigh, Chris Myles, Liam O'Brien, Benjamin O'Mahony, Gary Shelford, Dan Wheeler, Arthur Wilson.

Writer: William Shakespeare

Director: Edward Hall

I miss Propeller. I think they lost all their funding in one of the early rounds of government cuts which was a pity as I saw them several times and always enjoyed what they did. They always toured a pair of Shakespeare's plays at the same time I guess because selling a whole week of one would be too difficult outside of London and nobody wants to move a large cast every few days. There unique thing was that they were an all-male company, not with the point of excluding women although of course that's what they did, but because that's how the plays were originally performed. I'm not sure that would stand up so well now, but they were always well directed and performed so I'd welcome the chance to see anything Edward Hall does in future.

Black Watch

Black Watch, UEA Sportspark, 2013.

Cast: Cameron Barnes, Benjamin Davies, Scott Fletcher, Andrew Fraser, Robert Jack, Matt McClure, Stephen McCole, Adam McNamara, Stuart Martin, Daniel Portman, Richard Rankin, Gavin Jon Wright.

Writer: Gregory Burke

Director: John Tiffany

I remember going to this and liking it a lot at the time but details are vague now. It's about soldiers and it was staged in a sports hall rather than a theatre with audience on two sides of a long performance area. There's credits in the programme for movement and video so I imagine it was big and physical. There's also a long list of credits for music. A few years earlier it had won an Olivier award. I've not had much experience with the National Theatre of Scotland (unsurprisingly as I'm in England) but the ones I have had were a triumph.

Avenue Q

Avenue Q, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2011.

Cast: Matthew J Henry, Rachel Jerram, Edward Judge, Katharine Moraz, Adam Pettigrew, Jaqueline Tate, Chris Thatcher, Aveta Chen, Luke Kempner, Arina Li, Michelle Cornelius, Nicholas Duncan, Kayi Ushe.

Music & lyrics: Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx

Book: Jeff Whitty

Director: Jason Moore.

This was my second time seeing this and I wonder if I managed another one after that? I loved it and seeing this programme made me want to listen to a cast recording but the one I thought I had is missing from the cupboard so perhaps I imagined it. I was thinking it might be time for a revival but I wonder if it would work so well now, with some of the things they make jokey songs about having got an awful lots worse in the last decade or so, just off the top of my head, Everyone's a Little Bit Racist (basically the Conservative party theme tune) and The Internet is for Porn (sex crimes are worse than ever, coincidence?). I'd definitely watch a sequel although I suppose it would be about gentrification and zero hours contracts would be no fun at all.

Flare Path

Flare Path, Theatre Royal Haymarket, 2011.

Cast: Sienna Miller, James Purefoy, Sheridan Smith, Harry Hadden-Paton, Joe Armstrong, Jim Creighton, Sarah Crowden, Mark Dexter, Emma Handy, Matthew Tennyson, Clive Wood, Richard Beanland, Kate Colebrook, Jan Shepherd.

Writer: Terence Rattigan

Director: Trevor Nunn

I imagine the main reason I saw this was Sienna Miller who had been all over the tabloids for a long time at this point, but Sheridan Smith was surely the one with more experience and was probably better in this. I'm fairly certain I had a cheap seat in the highest circle.

In the programme it says that the play was written after Rattigan joined the RAF to help him get over his writer's block, a strategy suggested to him by a psychiatrist. Good God!

End of the Rainbow

End of the Rainbow, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2011.

Cast: Tracie Bennett, Hilton McRae, Norman Bowman, Robert Maskell.

Writer: Peter Quilter.

Director: Terry Johnson

This was so good it definitely needs reviving although you'd need someone as brilliant as Tracie Bennett to make it work and right now I can't think who that might be. She was so good I remember this as a one woman show, which it clearly wasn't.