Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2018 17:37:45 GMT
Final part.....
PERFORMANCE - PLAY
Andrew Garfield – Angels in America
Victoria Hamilton – Albion
Joseph Millson – The Rover
Lara Rossi - Persuasion
Andrew Scott – Hamlet
The two Andrews will no doubt be the ones talked about when awards season comes around and rightly so, with both leading their shows with performances of great tenderness. In a year when empathy seemed to be under attack from certain areas of society, both were perfect examples of its importance in our retaining humanity. In a year where certainty was deemed a strength, also in certain quarters, here we also see the cast iron necessity of considered thought and contemplation. Hamilton, in Albion, could also have easily become an unwavering emblem of a position, whereas the anguish, the frailty and the mismatch of desire and reality made her character just as possible, and, I would suggest, necessary to empathise with. In such a year, the need to laugh is never far away and both Millson and Rossi parlayed that fragility of ego into mirth. Not just that, however, as shallow jokes for a society in turmoil is a poor match. Both essayed performances which made gender the focus, Rossi refracting Austen and the need/impossibility of relationships and Millson with his rampant masculinity covering the immature little boy beneath.
PERFORMANCE - MUSICAL
Carly Bawden – Romantics Anonymous
Janie Dee – Follies
Dominic Marsh – Romantics Anonymous
Imelda Staunton – Follies
Jamael Westman – Hamilton
I don’t always split the acting into two categories because, to me, they are exactly the same and should be subject to the same standards. The difficulty, in a musical, is in harmonising the sung and spoken text, so that they are seamless in terms of style and it needs great actors to do that. For me, each of the five chosen had an organic connection moving from speech, to song. Character was there in sung form, inhabiting each turn of phrase and no more was that the case in the sublime ‘Romantics Anonymous’. This showed how truth is key. Yes, the plot is silly, yes the characters are ridiculous but, for those two hours, Bawden and Marsh (and the excellent tiny ensemble) were the way the world is. No irony, no winking at the audience about how unreal it is, just truth, and laughs and smiles and tears. From an older generation a much darker, more cynical, yet just as believable truth, this time about the death of love instead of its beginning, was the heart of Follies. This is the first time I’ve seen it while I am at a similar age to the leads and it doesn’t half change it, especially with such heartfelt performances, built totally from the page, going back to first principles. Sorry guys, but this was the ladies’ show throughout and whether the mental breakdown of Staunton’s already fragile Sally or the seemingly bullet proof exterior of Dee’s Phyllis, held together by the sticking plaster of sarcasm, both triumphed. That they sang the way they were acted was particularly welcome and helped to bind together the whole of what is a fragmentary script. As for Westman, what a debut, towering (literally) over his compatriots he uses the gaucheness of his age well at the beginning and ages excellently, all whilst rapping, singing and dancing. The switch, from speech, to rhythmic speech, to song and back and forth is mesmerising, all of it at the service of what is a characterisation that holds firm from youth to old age.
SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Jessica Brown Findlay – Hamlet
Denise Gough – Angels in America
Shirley Henderson – The Girl From the North Country
Nathan Lane – Angels in America
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett – Angels in America
There were so many possibilities for this category that the appearance of three people from the same production gives a sense of the sheer depth of its ensemble. For Angels in America I could easily have chosen more performers but, in the end, for me they were just bubbling under. Lane’s portrayal of the odious Cohn is so all encompassing, so compelling, so fine tuned, that he seems to be in the play more than he is; that he even manages a degree of sympathy at times is a sign of what a masterclass he gives. Gough and Stewart-Jarrett, as well, both make every moment land. Both souls of infinite heart, both weary of the world that surrounds them but getting through it with humour, with wit and with reserves of compassion. It’s been a crazy year and Shirley Henderson’s performance in The Girl From the North Country is maybe one of the craziest too, she pushes it and pushes it but always with that sense of truth and when what lies underneath comes bursting through when she sings then hold on to your seats. Talking about madness, Ophelia is a nightmare of a part to get right yet Brown Findlay made it all fit together; the closeness to Hamlet, the love of her family, the breakdown.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
The Life – Southwark Playhouse
42nd Street – West End
Woyzeck – Old Vic
Road – Royal Court
Young Marx – Bridge Theatre
These tend to be ones that I’ve already mulled over on threads, so none are a surprise, but I dislike few productions and it’s interesting to work out why. Truth is a big one, as I’ve written about so far, so do I believe the performers? In the case of The Life and 42nd Street, the answer was a resounding no, cartoon cutouts in stories that should have a darker, more human, edge as well as singing that didn’t connect to that character. Above all, emptiness, as a result. At least the latter threw millions at it so the numbers stood out, I think I’d have preferred both shows without the scripts that dragged them down.
Woyzeck and Road? Writers and/or directors who didn’t trust, or maybe understand fully, the material. With Woyzeck the anti-naturalistic grotesquerie of Buchner’s original was watered down into a limp naturalistic psychodrama. With Road, by taking a warm hearted, rude, confrontational play and placing it in a cold environment, with the audience at a safe (Royal Court) distance, literally making it a gallery piece, with scenes in a glass box. The Court may be ahead in terms of gender issues but its ignorance and patronising attitude to class ones, exemplified in recent weeks, remains a stain on its character.
Young Marx just wasn’t ready. You aren’t going to get away with a play on this without a point of view and Bean just didn’t seem to want to take one. A more political play, an angrier play, even a play which attempted to demolish Marx would have been preferable to the colourless end product served up here.
SPECIAL MENTION
Lesca & Voutsas – Palmyra
Seen in Edinburgh, not really a play, not anything that could be categorised, a deadly serious clown show maybe? Two men, gradually fall out and become violent in tit for tat retaliations as they both try to get the audience on their side, culminating in a stage full of broken crockery. The title gives it away (as did their previous Eurohouse), this is the state of the world and its conflicts reduced to two men’s petty squabbles.
AND FINALLY…..
Finally, in another artform, I can’t go without mentioning two, for me, stunning pieces of Television. Early this year the last series of the underwatched ‘The Leftovers’ ended in the most human, moving way possible. After a tough first season followed by an incredible second and third one you were left, in the last scene, with a long two person conversation skirting around its central theme of faith. Someone tells you what they did, do you believe them? Does the world go on in bad faith or with tentative connection? The show chose the latter and I hope we do too. With ‘Twin Peaks’ David Lynch is about to send forth a new generation of storytellers who will be seen on our screens and our stages in the coming years. Television changed with Twin Peaks and now it changes again, with his ignoring the tropes of style, narrative and everything that ‘Peak TV’ aims for. Deliberately obtuse acting? Okay. Long silences and bemused reaction shots? Fine. Characters who show up and who never appear again? Great. A final episode that gives the fans their desired ending then deconstructs the whole thing over the next and final hour? Perfect. To anyone who watched it, mention the words ‘episode eight’ and watch them turn into a gibbering blob of astonishment. For me, one of the most incredible moments of, not just television, but of anything I’ve ever seen. I rewatched it straight away, then again the next night and again and each time I was transfixed.
I won’t miss you 2017, but even years like you can birth amazing art.
PERFORMANCE - PLAY
Andrew Garfield – Angels in America
Victoria Hamilton – Albion
Joseph Millson – The Rover
Lara Rossi - Persuasion
Andrew Scott – Hamlet
The two Andrews will no doubt be the ones talked about when awards season comes around and rightly so, with both leading their shows with performances of great tenderness. In a year when empathy seemed to be under attack from certain areas of society, both were perfect examples of its importance in our retaining humanity. In a year where certainty was deemed a strength, also in certain quarters, here we also see the cast iron necessity of considered thought and contemplation. Hamilton, in Albion, could also have easily become an unwavering emblem of a position, whereas the anguish, the frailty and the mismatch of desire and reality made her character just as possible, and, I would suggest, necessary to empathise with. In such a year, the need to laugh is never far away and both Millson and Rossi parlayed that fragility of ego into mirth. Not just that, however, as shallow jokes for a society in turmoil is a poor match. Both essayed performances which made gender the focus, Rossi refracting Austen and the need/impossibility of relationships and Millson with his rampant masculinity covering the immature little boy beneath.
PERFORMANCE - MUSICAL
Carly Bawden – Romantics Anonymous
Janie Dee – Follies
Dominic Marsh – Romantics Anonymous
Imelda Staunton – Follies
Jamael Westman – Hamilton
I don’t always split the acting into two categories because, to me, they are exactly the same and should be subject to the same standards. The difficulty, in a musical, is in harmonising the sung and spoken text, so that they are seamless in terms of style and it needs great actors to do that. For me, each of the five chosen had an organic connection moving from speech, to song. Character was there in sung form, inhabiting each turn of phrase and no more was that the case in the sublime ‘Romantics Anonymous’. This showed how truth is key. Yes, the plot is silly, yes the characters are ridiculous but, for those two hours, Bawden and Marsh (and the excellent tiny ensemble) were the way the world is. No irony, no winking at the audience about how unreal it is, just truth, and laughs and smiles and tears. From an older generation a much darker, more cynical, yet just as believable truth, this time about the death of love instead of its beginning, was the heart of Follies. This is the first time I’ve seen it while I am at a similar age to the leads and it doesn’t half change it, especially with such heartfelt performances, built totally from the page, going back to first principles. Sorry guys, but this was the ladies’ show throughout and whether the mental breakdown of Staunton’s already fragile Sally or the seemingly bullet proof exterior of Dee’s Phyllis, held together by the sticking plaster of sarcasm, both triumphed. That they sang the way they were acted was particularly welcome and helped to bind together the whole of what is a fragmentary script. As for Westman, what a debut, towering (literally) over his compatriots he uses the gaucheness of his age well at the beginning and ages excellently, all whilst rapping, singing and dancing. The switch, from speech, to rhythmic speech, to song and back and forth is mesmerising, all of it at the service of what is a characterisation that holds firm from youth to old age.
SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
Jessica Brown Findlay – Hamlet
Denise Gough – Angels in America
Shirley Henderson – The Girl From the North Country
Nathan Lane – Angels in America
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett – Angels in America
There were so many possibilities for this category that the appearance of three people from the same production gives a sense of the sheer depth of its ensemble. For Angels in America I could easily have chosen more performers but, in the end, for me they were just bubbling under. Lane’s portrayal of the odious Cohn is so all encompassing, so compelling, so fine tuned, that he seems to be in the play more than he is; that he even manages a degree of sympathy at times is a sign of what a masterclass he gives. Gough and Stewart-Jarrett, as well, both make every moment land. Both souls of infinite heart, both weary of the world that surrounds them but getting through it with humour, with wit and with reserves of compassion. It’s been a crazy year and Shirley Henderson’s performance in The Girl From the North Country is maybe one of the craziest too, she pushes it and pushes it but always with that sense of truth and when what lies underneath comes bursting through when she sings then hold on to your seats. Talking about madness, Ophelia is a nightmare of a part to get right yet Brown Findlay made it all fit together; the closeness to Hamlet, the love of her family, the breakdown.
DISAPPOINTMENTS
The Life – Southwark Playhouse
42nd Street – West End
Woyzeck – Old Vic
Road – Royal Court
Young Marx – Bridge Theatre
These tend to be ones that I’ve already mulled over on threads, so none are a surprise, but I dislike few productions and it’s interesting to work out why. Truth is a big one, as I’ve written about so far, so do I believe the performers? In the case of The Life and 42nd Street, the answer was a resounding no, cartoon cutouts in stories that should have a darker, more human, edge as well as singing that didn’t connect to that character. Above all, emptiness, as a result. At least the latter threw millions at it so the numbers stood out, I think I’d have preferred both shows without the scripts that dragged them down.
Woyzeck and Road? Writers and/or directors who didn’t trust, or maybe understand fully, the material. With Woyzeck the anti-naturalistic grotesquerie of Buchner’s original was watered down into a limp naturalistic psychodrama. With Road, by taking a warm hearted, rude, confrontational play and placing it in a cold environment, with the audience at a safe (Royal Court) distance, literally making it a gallery piece, with scenes in a glass box. The Court may be ahead in terms of gender issues but its ignorance and patronising attitude to class ones, exemplified in recent weeks, remains a stain on its character.
Young Marx just wasn’t ready. You aren’t going to get away with a play on this without a point of view and Bean just didn’t seem to want to take one. A more political play, an angrier play, even a play which attempted to demolish Marx would have been preferable to the colourless end product served up here.
SPECIAL MENTION
Lesca & Voutsas – Palmyra
Seen in Edinburgh, not really a play, not anything that could be categorised, a deadly serious clown show maybe? Two men, gradually fall out and become violent in tit for tat retaliations as they both try to get the audience on their side, culminating in a stage full of broken crockery. The title gives it away (as did their previous Eurohouse), this is the state of the world and its conflicts reduced to two men’s petty squabbles.
AND FINALLY…..
Finally, in another artform, I can’t go without mentioning two, for me, stunning pieces of Television. Early this year the last series of the underwatched ‘The Leftovers’ ended in the most human, moving way possible. After a tough first season followed by an incredible second and third one you were left, in the last scene, with a long two person conversation skirting around its central theme of faith. Someone tells you what they did, do you believe them? Does the world go on in bad faith or with tentative connection? The show chose the latter and I hope we do too. With ‘Twin Peaks’ David Lynch is about to send forth a new generation of storytellers who will be seen on our screens and our stages in the coming years. Television changed with Twin Peaks and now it changes again, with his ignoring the tropes of style, narrative and everything that ‘Peak TV’ aims for. Deliberately obtuse acting? Okay. Long silences and bemused reaction shots? Fine. Characters who show up and who never appear again? Great. A final episode that gives the fans their desired ending then deconstructs the whole thing over the next and final hour? Perfect. To anyone who watched it, mention the words ‘episode eight’ and watch them turn into a gibbering blob of astonishment. For me, one of the most incredible moments of, not just television, but of anything I’ve ever seen. I rewatched it straight away, then again the next night and again and each time I was transfixed.
I won’t miss you 2017, but even years like you can birth amazing art.
