Marshland February:
my next-door neighbour’s forlorn weather-cock
Just because we’re at the very fag-end of the year, when the razor-sharp easterlies scrape the skin off your runny nose and the whole nation is on suicide-watch, don’t fret, hang on in there! There are still reasons to be cheerful.
This blog, we know, has followers in the far Antipodes, who even now ease their parched throats with tubes of amber nectar while watching cricket, but do we waste a drop of envy? Nay friends, the blitz spirit still lingers here in the windswept waste of the Lee Valley, we have fertile, restless imaginations fed by rich drama and unmatched entertainment. 
This week alone I’ve been twice bowled over by high-voltage song and dance, once in a basement off Piccadilly, and once in the plush velvet of a great and glorious iconic playhouse. At the Jermyn St Theatre Sophie-Louise Dann re-creates the defiant spirit of post-war vitality in Ivor Novello’s “Gay’s the Word”, supported in this tiny space by a company mixing youthful dash with rare, vintage skills brought by the likes of Elizabeth Seal, Gaye Brown and teachyourselfacting.com‘s very own Frank Barrie.
It’s a welcoming space: I look forward to re-visiting there when Sandy Marshall’s “And in the End: the Death and Life of John Lennon” appears in the spring.
The night I saw the Novello show, sitting nearby smiling broadly and soaking up every word and every musical note, was one of the great men of British comedy. How very, very pleasing to share an evening with Jimmy Perry, who with the late David Croft brought us “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum”, “Hi-di-Hi”, and of course the indestructible “Dad’s Army”. Meeting someone like that, whose wit has added so much to the gaiety of nations for decades makes you feel so grateful.
And so to the other musical treat this week – last night with the American students to the Old Vic and “Kiss Me Kate”. If you really want to escape this dismal weather, you couldn’t make a better choice. Directed by Trevor Nunn, the word from visitors early in the run was that this probably needed time to settle in. Well if it did, it has. The show’s only “bankable name” is its director – but the cast is made up of top-notch West End musical stalwarts like Alex Bourne, Holly Dale Spencer, David Burt and Clive Rowe, with a gutsy, mega-decibel but always wondrously tuneful Kate from Hannah Waddingham. Unlike most of the other big musicals in town, you can get into this without having to mortgage the house. For instance, if you don’t mind a bit of a side-on view, you can get a seat in the “slips” of the upper circle for £11. *
It’s been a busy couple of weeks: we’ve also been to see “Old Times” at the eponymous Harold Pinter Theatre in Panton St. Now there’s a word you don’t often get to use about theatres….Somehow an elegant word that sits well in the very street where the amazing Mr Foote ( see last entry) lived while running the Theatre Royal around the corner. Anyway, our visit was enriched by having watched the BBC documentary “Working with Pinter” with its maker Harry Burton, and the fascinating tales Harry told us of his close, touching friendship with the great playwright. You can buy the DVD at Amazon, and watch a clip from it at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DiwAbeYNhw
Another enriching experience was a seminar with the theatre producer Julius Green, whose achievements both as an independent and as senior producer for Kenwright Productions are legion. The world of producing is wonderfully challenging, and wondrously fulfilling, for those who can combine theatrical instinct with nerves of steel. Julius, who teaches the Creative Producing M.A. course at Birkbeck College, has distilled his experiences into a concise and helpful book, “How to Produce a West End Show.” I’ve got to know Julius in the context of my producing the London presentation of “Appetite”. If there are would-be producers out there – don’t venture into that uncertain world without this guide-book!
For those of you who might prefer to stay at home and practice reading poetry, news comes from across the Pond of a new work by the actor-poet, Tracie Morris. Tracie, whose poetry is written to be performed – often in the context of music – is keeping her acting honed by taking an on-line course at www.teachyourselfacting.com – so the least we can do is mention here her new poetic achievement, “Rhyme Scheme“.
* Actually, I just had some feed-back from students who bought £11 tickets and said the view was terrible – so probably best to go for 2nd price level!
