To Float on the Wayward Wind

31 October 2013 Criterion Theatre        4.5/5 If the the term “comic timing,” is often used to evaluate the effectiveness of comedy in theatre, then Patrick Barlow’s The 39 Steps can be appropriately described as “like clockwork.” Adapted from John Buchan’s novel The Thirty-Nine Steps and tracking closely with Alfred Hitchcock’s 1935 film The 39 Steps , the play proceeds riotously as four actors play myriad characters, switching off in a perfectly rehearsed slapstick shtick. The play focuses on Richard Hannay, falsely accused of murder and drawn into an international conspiracy, played by Adam Jackson-Smith, and the three women he encounters, played by Jennifer Bryden. The comedic geniuses, however, are Stephen Critchlow and Andy Williams, each billed simply as “Man” but playing countless characters. Critchlow and Williams rollick through the show, whether interacting with each other or with the other character...

Stourhead The purpose of Lawrence London Centre's journey to Stourhead was to support the theatre class, of which I am a part, in seeing how theatre can play out in a garden and to generate discussion off on that basis. On top of that, though, the place is  just beautiful . It also put us in easy reach of Bath, so they rolled that in as a bonus for the program. I took the option to stay the night to give myself more time in Bath and so I could take an excursion out to Stonehenge. The gardens are intended to track the story of Aeneas, his journey, the characters he encounters, the places he visits, and to touch on Greek and Roman mythology more generally. For instance, there are recreations of monoliths and of the Pantheon, as well as a cave which might depict the descent into hell, complete with statues that can be interpreted as Hades or Charon and looking out over the lake (Styx?) on inaccessible paradise. It's quite a journey. I could see how it was theatrical and...

31 October 2013 Duchess Theatre 4/5 Under Jonathan Church’s direction, Henry Goodman embodies Arturo Ui, crafting a performance of Bertolt Brecht’s allusion to the rise of Hitler with uncannily focused energy. Even if it strays from Brecht’s original intentions and only truly blossoms in the play’s final moments, the production’s genius is its subtlety as it proceeds from unsettling comedy to dark poignancy. Design by Simon Higlett and lighting by Tim Mitchell engage partially with Brecht’s philosophies, using a runway, tableaux on stage, and sparse set to remind the audience of being in a theatre performance. Sometimes this technique lacks a clear purpose but eventually draws the audience powerfully into the performance by designating swaths of seats as either Chicago or Cicero. Unfortunately, the absence of the signboards Brecht envisioned, which list the precise historical connections between the play and Nazi Germany, undermines the performance’s relatabilit...

Dover It's taken me quite some time to get this blog post up, but I'm dedicated to cataloguing each of my excursions. This one was a whirlwind, as they all are seeming to be to date. I went to Dover Saturday morning and planned to head to Canterbury that night, stay the night in Canterbury, see Canterbury Sunday, and return late Sunday night. It was a slog, but well worth it. When I arrived in Dover I was fortunate to be able to store my luggage at a pub across the way from the one train station in Dover. I wandered for a bit until I found the center of town and a tourist information center. This was a good thing because on my way I noticed... a huge castle... that I hadn't known about at all! After receiving instructions from the tourist office I proceeded right up to the castle since they told me that was the first thing to do and it did look impressive. It was a surprisingly easy hike compared with what I would have expected given how imperiously the castle towe...