Thee too… Measure for Measure, Donmar Warehouse

“…Dear Isabella,

I have a motion much imports your good;

Whereto if you'll a willing ear incline,

What's mine is yours and what is yours is mine.

So, bring us to our palace; where we'll show

What's yet behind, that's meet you all should know.”

To which Hayley Atwell’s Isabel turns to Duke Vincentio, and screams!

This was no ordinary Shakespeare and in taking such liberties with the text, was almost certainly not to the taste of many. Having no familiarity with the play, I was surprised – once again – about how the subject matter was so very now… almost as if, in the hands of a talented cast, the words find their true mark even in our contemporary minds, removed from their meaning by time and texting.

Measure for Measure is about justice and the casual ways in which access to the law can be traded for sexual favours: it’s a comedy but not really, this was a late-period play under a new monarch that opened the lid on the ways of the world be it legal, be it theatrical. Even Will may have had to turn a trick or two…

But, does this timeless tale of sexual give and take need much updating? The first half played things out in traditional period style with Hayley as Isabella fighting to save the life of her brother Claudio (Sule Rimi) who has been harshly sentenced to death for infidelity by Justice Frederick (Ben Allen) who has been placed in charge of legal judgement by Duke Vincentio (Nicholas Burns), who, for reasons of his owns, has opted to drop out of sight as a poor priest.

Nicholas Burns and Hayley Atwell

The Duke wants to see how things work without his wisdom and, sure enough soon finds Frederick being compromised by power as he suggests to the chaste Isabelle that the only way to save her brother is to sacrifice her honour to his lust. Now, hearing of this, the Duke/Priest hatches a plan to substitute the Justice’s former betrothed, Mariana (Helena Wilson), who willingly gives herself to the evil Fred in Isabella’s place, and the lecherous lawyer doesn’t even notice…

Now all of this will come to a head once the Duke reveals himself and there are neat Shakespearean ends all tied up as measure is swapped for measure but… are they? The ending of the play is left open and we never know if Isabella accepts the “reward” of the Duke’s love or, as here, throws it back in his face.

Now, this is where it gets troublesome as not only does Josie Rourke’s energetic production shift events forward to now, she re-runs the narrative only this time with a power-dressed Atwell as Justice Isabelle and Frederick as a meeker-than-Isabelle brother of Claudio. It works in part as Atwell is simply outstanding in both halves but, overall, it’s game over in that high-pressing opening hour with the cast overall far more convincing in their original setting.

Modern role reversal: Ben Allen and Hayley Atwell

You spend your time comparing before and after and whilst Sule Rimi is equally impressive and Matt Barock’s Lucio equally outrageous, the Duke and Frederick are a little lost in time. Isabelle is now the one with the power and I have to say that Atwell is most convincing in either role.

But, even before the trickery, the point is well made and that primal scream was powerful enough to have settled any play.

Overall a very enjoyable production but it was hard to reconcile the duality, however well-intentioned: I don’t feel that the view of the modern half added anything fundamentally dramatic to the story we had already watched.

IThankYouTheatre Rating: ***1/2 Ms Atwell is a player with huge charisma and stage power and I would, literally watch her in anything: she is magnetic.

Oh brother. Sule Rimi

Truth Politics… Saint Joan, Donmar Warehouse

Joan of Arc was found guilty in 1431, pardoned 25 years later and canonised in 1920 – the only saint killed by the Catholic Church – prompting George Bernard Shaw to finally write a play he’d been toying with since before the war.

I only know Joan through Carl Dreyer’s silent masterpiece, The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), which draws extensively on the remarkable primary source of the verbatim text of her trial although I have been to both Orleans – seen of her triumph - and Rouen where she was executed. They struck her down but she became more powerful than they could ever imagine (to coin a phrase).

Renée Jeanne Falconetti gave her all in the silent version, a theatre actor making her only film and here we have an actress known mainly for film but now maturing as a stage performer of tremendous power and sophistication. I’d previously seen Gemma Arteton in The Master Builder (Almeida) and The Duchess of Malfi (Sam Wannamaker, Globe) but here she gave a performance surpassing even the latter (reviewed on Catherine Joyce's A Play What I Watched blog) and one to savour from the close quarters of the stalls’ second row.

 Her Joan is full of teenage passion – Joan was only 18 when executed – and native wit working through her inspirational “voices” to establish her own cause and conscience: very much a creature of post-suffragette Britain and a transgressive vision of a woman freed of the need to dress and behave as a woman.

In the epilogue this new woman wonders if her time has finally come: “…shall I rise from the dead, and come back to you a living woman? …What! Must I burn again? Are none of you ready to receive me?”

"Must a Christ perish in every age to save those that have no imagination?

This confrontational element is underlined by Director Josie Rourke setting events in a modern world of perpetual motion governing stocks, shares and news. GBS would have been disappointed to see capitalism still reigning supreme but hey, George, have patience a change is going to come…

It would undoubtedly come that much sooner if we had more like Joan who sits through cabinet meetings and court arguments with the same simple agenda – a popularism based on the call of God and Nature to stride forwards through the constraints of self-interest to a firmer future based on belief and not convenience.

She strides through a team of men who can respect but not truly understand her and if she was a sexual anomaly in 1431 and 1923 she remains one now blasting through ceilings of stone, concrete and now glass to present a visionary leader society has to restrain through the combined complexities of religious procedure and political expedience.

The men are like a malevolent Greek chorus mixed with a Pall Mall club who throughout underestimate this young woman, from their first encounter when she tells the French she must lead to fight to recapture Orleans and then crown the fey Dauphin (a marvellous turn from Fisayo Akinade), to her plan to re-take Paris. The new King decides he can’t finance her, the Archbishop (Niall Buggy) cannot support her theological drive and even her ally, Dunois (Hadley Fraser) cannot see how the expedition can work… she will be captured and he will not be in a position to use his forces to save her…

So, betrayed by such frail male hearts, Joan heads to her final battle in court… What is so impressive about Arteton’s performance is the way she paces her expression and the second half of this play is a masterclass in controlled explosions as Joan is swept up by hope and dashed by circumstance.

We believe in Joan’s rapture and her free-flowing tears and we share her impotent recognition as the fatal pieces fall into place: Arteton has emotional intelligence to burn and in the Donmar’s intimacy the sense of an audience holding their breath is palpable.

Some reviews have noted a drop in intensity when Gemma/Joan is not on stage and whilst some moments attempting to fit the text into modern corporate scenarios –  back-projected financial TV reporting on egg production and the battle-winning wind for Orleans – don’t entirely work, overall I really enjoyed the boys in support.

And, as Ms Rourke has realised, GBS’ Joan is still very much a story for all times: we must learn to differentiate those who act selflessly and not look visionary gift horses in the mouth. Now more than last January we face the task of democratically sorting the wheat from the chancers.

There is excellent support from Matt Bardock as in the dual roles of a cockney-spiv Baudricourt and northern hang-wringer D’Estivet, Richard Cant as the narrow-minded Poulengey and finally enlightened De Stogumber and Jo Stone-Fewings as the unacceptable face of proto-English colonialism, Warwick.

A tip of the many hats also to Hadley Fraser, Simon Holland Roberts, Arthur Hughes, Rory Keenan, Syrus Lowe and Guy Rhys. Elliot Levey is also good as the conflicted Cauchon who is ultimately devastated by the religious processes he hopes can bring salvation.

Joan runs until 18^th February and – if you can find any tickets – beg, steal or borrow to see this!

Ithankyou Theatre Rating: **** and for Ms Arteton *****

Visions of Angels… City of Angels, Donmar Warehouse

Rosalie Craig as Gabby/Bobby

From the very start City of Angels picks you up and takes you on a visceral journey of sex and ‘tecs to the heart of film noir.  I loved it from start to finish, and so did the people surrounding me. Superlatives like “beautiful”, “fantastic”, and “gorgeous” where muttered around me by an audience only just containing it’s enthusiasm: a near riot of approval!

Samantha Barks

It was a class act from tip to toe with an edgy energy that didn’t flag at any point!  Jazz song and dance, ‘smack!’, the writers letters dynamically added to the scene as he wrote, ‘biff!!’ and to cap it all ‘XXXXXX’ rewrites - actually - acted backwards by the cast whenever the writer did an edit.  “The best backward acting in the West End” as my wife ventured…

The writing by David Zippel was slick and pacey performing a difficult balancing act between two inter-twined narratives: both dependent on each other. Director Josie Rourke showed ingenuity and restraint in mastering the challenge of these parallel worlds, in which most of her cast had to perform two roles each. 

Tam Mutu & Hadley Fraser

The set design of Robert Jones showed once again how the limitations of the Donmar space can actually bring out the very best – his set had more hidden doors than a haunted house and was used as part of the narrative.

Robert Jones amazing set

Needless to say, the music of Cy Coleman was also positively beautiful – from uplifting jazz to stage-standards in the same league as his score for Sweet Charity. Add to that a cast of top draw actors who can also sing and dance and you are starting to get the picture: this was a production I’m sure Cy, David and Larry Gilbert would have been proud of.

The premise of the show is that the Writer is not only writing a Film Noir but crosses over the fiction, reality divide and interacts with the lead character within his own film.  Their relationship and how this impacts on the writers real life leads to both funny and poignant scenes and to the show’s conclusion.  

Rebecca Trehearn & Rosalie Graig

It seems unfair to single out any of this superb cast for special mention but Hadley Fraser as the conflicted writer Stine and Tam Mutu as his heroic alter-ego Stone were especially impressive whilst Rosalie Craig was a knockout as the writer’s long-suffering, wise-cracking wife and then the detective’s lost love; slinky singer Bobbi.

 

Katherine Kelly as Aluara/Clara

Katherine Kelly was an alluring Aluara/conniving Carla - a classy, classic noir blonde - whilst young Samantha Barks has talent to burn with looks and presence that seem sure to set her on course for a very long career. Nor should I neglect Rebecca Trehearn who alternated between Stone’s secretary and Stine’s studio assistant/bit on the side – another great voice with an, almost intimidating, stage presence… so much energy!

The Angel City Four: Kadiff Kirwan, Sandra Marvin, Jo Servi and Jennifer Saayeng

The Angel City Four also provided superb vocalisations throughout so a special tip of my new Liberty Hat to Kadiff Kirwan, Sandra Marvin, Jo Servi and Jennifer Saayeng: if you guys are planning any gigs at Ronnie Scotts… we’ll be there!
 

City of Angels is an emotionally clever, witty, stylish and a thoroughly uplifting theatrical experience. If you can get a ticket don’t hesitate and I really hope it gets the West End transfer it deserves! I feel privileged to have seen so much class in the intimacy of the Donmar but this show deserves a wider audience.

IThankyou Rating *****