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News: Ivo van Hove’s Age of Rage to play the Barbican in May

Internationaal Theater Amsterdam will return to the Barbican as an early birthday present for me, as they bring their newest epic production Age of Rage to London. Promising spectacular set design by Jan Versweyveld, choreography from Wim Vandekeybus and music from the contemporary music collective BL!NDMAN [drums], it is just the 3 hours and 45 minutes as opposed to the 6 hours of Roman tragedies so this’ll be a comparative breeze in the park. 

In Age of Rage, Ivo van Hove tells a primordial story of how revenge haunts and wrecks successive generations. This performance is in line with earlier large-scale social productions such as Roman tragedies and Kings of war. This time the history of the Trojan War and the royal Atrid family is the starting point. Ifigeneia in Aulis, Trojan Women, Hekabe, Agamemnon, Elektra  and Orestes are edited into one story. Age of Rage shows the mechanisms, inevitability and hopelessness of a circle of violence in Dutch with English surtitles.

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fosterIAN awards 2019

 WinnerRunner-upOther nominees
Best Actress in a PlaySarah Niles/Natalie Simpson/Racheal Ofori,
Three Sisters		Marieke Heebink,
Medea		Adjoa Andoh,
Richard II
Sharon D Clarke,
Death of a Salesman
Claire Foy,
Lungs
Leah Harvey,
Small Island
Chris Nietvelt,
De Kersentuin
Best Actor in a Play
Lucian Msamati, ‘Master Harold’…and the boysCary Crankson,
Country Music		Tobias Menzies,
The Hunt
Daniel Monks,
Teenage Dick
Wendell Pierce,
Death of a Salesman
Matt Smith,
Lungs
Zubin Varla,
Equus
Best Supporting Actress in a PlayMonica Dolan,
All About Eve		Jackie Pulford,
Karaoke Play		Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo,
Three Sisters
Janni Goslinga,
De Kersentuin
Pippa Nixon,
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Cecilia Noble,
Faith Hope and Charity
Gemma Whelan,
Pinter Seven
Best Supporting Actor in a PlayNick Holder,
Faith Hope and Charity		Hugo Koolschijn,
De Kersentuin		Rupert Graves,
Pinter Five
John Heffernan,
Pinter Seven
Martins Imhangbe/Natey Jones,
Death of a Salesman
Arinzé Kene/Sope Dirisu,
Death of a Salesman
Ken Nwosu,
Three Sisters
Best Actress in a MusicalAudrey Brisson,
Amélie the Musical		Kirsty Findlay/Bethany Tennick,
Islander		Lucie Jones/Katherine McPhee,
Waitress
Miriam-Teak Lee,
& Juliet
Samantha Pauly,
Evita
Joanna Riding,
Follies
Zizi Strallen,
Mary Poppins
Best Actor in a MusicalJamie Muscato,
West Side Story (Curve Leicester)		Keith Ramsay,
Preludes		Andy Coxon,
West Side Story (Royal Exchange)
Jordan Fox/Michael Vinsen,
[title of show]
David Hunter,
Waitress,
Charlie Stemp,
Mary Poppins
Oliver Tompsett,
& Juliet,
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical
Cassidy Janson/Melanie La Barrie,
& Juliet 		Jocasta Almgill/Emily Langham,
West Side Story (Royal Exchange)		Laura Baldwin/Marisha Wallace,
Waitress
Tiffany Graves/Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson,
The Boy Friend
Claire Machin/Claire Moore,
Mary Poppins
Rebecca McKinnis/Lauren Ward,
Dear Evan Hansen
Carly Mercedes Dyer/Victoria Hamilton-Barritt,
The View UpStairs,
Best Supporting Actor in a MusicalDavid Bedella,
& Juliet		Jack Butterworth,
The Boy Friend		Ricardo Afonso,
Jesus Christ Superstar
Rob Houchen,
The Light in the Piazza
Samuel Holmes,
Curtains
Cedric Neal,
The View UpStairs
Jez Unwin,
Amélie the Musical
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2019 Best Actress in a Play + in a Musical

Best Actress in a Play

Sarah Niles/Natalie Simpson/Racheal Ofori, Three Sisters
It’s practically a tradition now to split this award three years (2018, 2017) but it feels like a no-brainer once again, this trio of performances utterly reinvigorating the Chekhovian archetypes to make their characters speak compellingly anew.

Honourable mention: Marieke Heebink, Medea
Second time’s the charm, Heebink’s ferocious performance has deepened over the years and remained just as heartbreaking as before, if not more so.  

Adjoa Andoh, Richard II
Sharon D Clarke, Death of a Salesman
Claire Foy, Lungs
Leah Harvey, Small Island
Chris Nietvelt, De Kersentuin

8-10
Gillian Anderson, All About Eve; Nancy Carroll, The Deep Blue Sea; Gwendoline Christie, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bridge)

 

Best Actress in a Musical

Audrey Brisson, Amélie the Musical
I’ve seen Brisson leading this gorgeous musical three times now and her performance has lost none of its magic, literally so in the case of how she flies into her bedroom and figuratively so, in the otherworldly charm she brings to the role. Don’t miss your chance to catch the show as it continues to tour in 2020. 

Honourable mention: Kirsty Findlay/Bethany Tennick, Islander
One of the most inventive musicals of the year was born out of the collaboration between these two fine performers. Stupidly I left it until the last show to visit cos I’d love to see it again!

Lucie Jones/Katherine McPhee, Waitress
Miriam-Teak Lee, & Juliet
Samantha Pauly, Evita
Joanna Riding, Follies
Zizi Strallen, Mary Poppins

8-10
Janie Dee, The Boy Friend; Gabriela Garcia, West Side Story (Royal Exchange); Adriana Ivelisse, West Side Story (Curve Leicester)

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10 of my top moments of the decade

Ever behind the curve, I present 10 of my top moments in a theatre over the last ten years (plus a few bonus extra ones because whittling down this list was hard, and it will probably be different tomorrow anyway!)

© James Bellorini

Extraordinary Public Acts for a National Theatre

The establishment of the Public Acts programme at the National Theatre offered up something sensational in Pericles, an initiative designed to connect grassroot community organisations with major theatres, resulting in a production that swept over 200 non-professional performers onto the stage of the Olivier to create something that moved me more than 99% of professional productions.  A truly joyous and momentous occasion. 

Honourable mention: this year’s musical take on As You Like It proved just as heart-swellingly beautiful over at the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch. Continue reading “10 of my top moments of the decade”

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Review: De Kersentuin, Stadschouwberg Amsterdam

Of course a British director doing Tsjechov in the Netherlands makes The Cherry Orchard as watchable as it has ever been – Internationaal Theater Amsterdam’s De Kersentuin proves a real success

“Als ie echt verkocht moet worden verkoop mij er dan bij”

It’s not often that Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival make their way into Chekhov but it is precisely this kind of refreshing approach that makes this production feel so alive in a way that is rarely achieved (in the UK at least). So it is somewhat perverse that it is a British director responsible, as Simon McBurney directs Internationaal Theater Amsterdam in De Kersentuin, in an adaptation by Robert Icke.

Shifted to the Netherlands in the 1970s, a real sense of liberation permeates the production, and crucial details shine anew to substantively alter the emotional palette. I’ve never felt the presence of Amanda’s drowned son so strongly, which really makes you consider her feelings towards her former home. And as Miriam Buether’s design discards conventional representation, the focus falls as much on the relations of people as it does on property. Continue reading “Review: De Kersentuin, Stadschouwberg Amsterdam”

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11 of my top moments in a theatre in 2017

As ever, the wait for the end-of-year lists of favourite plays and performances has to continue until I’ve actually stopped seeing theatre in 2017. But in the meantime, here’s a list of 11 of my top moments in a theatre in 2017, the things that first pop into my mind when someone says ‘what did you enjoy this year’. For reference, here’s my 2016 list, 2015 list and 2014 list.

Continue reading “11 of my top moments in a theatre in 2017”

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Review: Klein Zielen, Stadschouwberg Amsterdam

“En de ziel begreep dat dat kleine stukje genoeg was”

Completing a trilogy of Louis Couperus adaptations for Toneelgroep Amsterdam, Klein Zielen (Small Souls) is the kind of magisterial theatre on which reputations – such as Ivo van Hove’s – are sustained. Couperus is a Dutch writer with a kind of Rattigan-like status as his work is revived here and Klein Zielen is no exception, a study of a family living under the same roof but shattered by the neuroses and traumas of the past that haunt every moment of their existence. 

This is about as lo-fi as van Hove gets, just the one video insert betraying any technological leanings, recalling the stark intensity of A View From The Bridge. And here again, you see the razor precision that he instils in his company and the way they relate to each other, interact with each other. As they each move around the wide open space of the Rabozaal carpeted in a ginormous rug, so much is said about their relationships in the juxtapositions they create. Continue reading “Review: Klein Zielen, Stadschouwberg Amsterdam”

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Notes on a second viewing of Roman Tragedies

“I arm myself with patience and await the higher powers”

Whilst sitting in the audience for Roman Tragedies on Friday night and before it had even finished, I took advantage of the free wifi and booked myself into Sunday’s show, knowing I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see this most extraordinary of shows again. And instead of writing another review in which I’d just end up repeating myself, I thought I’d just jot down some of the thoughts that came to me both whilst rewatching and on reflection afterwards. Continue reading “Notes on a second viewing of Roman Tragedies”