The first morning of spring, chill reservoir winds and a grey drizzle, but there are daffodils defiant – in the garden and on the sill.
Daffodils bring for me memories of distant childhood St David’s days in Cardiff…and so, observing a decent respectful silence regarding the embarrassing points margin there last Saturday* let me pass on to chronicle two heart-warming excursions into the theatre world of yesteryear.
(*For non-sporting types, let me explain that two teams played a game of rugby at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, and one side achieved but 10 per cent of the total 33 points scored. They were called, er … England…)
First up, the estimable Arthur Wing Pinero. A graduate of Birkbeck College (nowadays a neighbour of RADA) he was only the second writer to be knighted for services to the theatre. Who was the first? Pinero wrote brilliant comedies, not often enough revived, so a visit to the Donmar Warehouse production of “Trelawny of the Wells” is a treat. The theatre is adjacent to Seven Dials, a London district notorious in Victorian days for sex-trade skulduggery, and the play is a shamelessly sentimental tale of the theatrical life of those days, with shrewd insights into the time’s class-ridden London society. It’s presented in glorious costumes and settings by Hildegard Bechtler, and acted with great gusto. Danny Mays and Susannah Fielding, as mentioned in the last entry, are both in terrific form, and all of the actors seize their chances with relish – Peter Wright splendid as the senior artiste of the troupe, and all kinds of lovely work from the likes of Ron Cook (in a frock), Amy Morgan as an appealing Rose and welcome RADA newcomer, Josh Silver.
Danny as the stylish Mr Ferdinand Gadd…a company toast to Miss Rose
A contemporary of Pinero, writing in a very different culture, was Anton Chekov, doctor, storyteller and dramatist, a key member of the Moscow Art Theatre team in the days when its director was a certain Constantin Stanislavski. One of today’s great novelists, William Boyd, has turned playwright to combine and dramatise two of Chekov’s short stories as a play called “Longing”at the Hampstead Theatre. One or two of the critics have said the result isn’t quite a Chekov masterpiece like “The Cherry Orchard” – but hey, for me, and the 26 students I went with – this was an unforgettable evening. Michael Billington in his Guardian review refers to the Hampstead Theatre’s “luxury casting”.
Not half! Tamsin Grieg, Iain Glen, John Sessions, Natasha Little, Tom Georgeson, etc, etc are all riveting, and the direction by Nina Raine and design by Lizzie Clachan serve this lyrical, funny, touching storyline with great distinction. It is, I believe utterly sold out, but they sell “returns” an hour before every show and there’s a place to sit and wait, so a trip to Swiss Cottage could well be worth it. You will not, I promise, be disappointed.
I guess there’s a strong chance the show will at some point transfer into the West End – as did “The Judas Kiss” – another production we’ve taken in this last month – but I understand Tamsin’s work diary for the rest of the year is understandably somewhat full, so it may be a while. No other actor I know creates quite such depth of insight, and takes you on quite such a poignant journey.
I have been a familiar sight scuttling about Swiss Cottage this last week. Just across the way from the Hampstead Theatre is the (now Royal) Central School of Speech and Drama. The class of lovely B.A. Acting students I directed there in “Absolute Hell” before Christmas is approaching graduation, and they’ve been on display in two productions – Charlotte Jones’s “The Lightning Play” directed by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart (a grad from my early days at RADA) and Philip Ridley’s “Moonfleece” directed by Angie Langfield. There’s some real talent there, going through the nerve-wracking process of seeking agents. As often happens in the top schools, the occasional student will escape to stardom before the final year is done, and the poor course director has frantically to re-organise casting. In this case Jack Finch, who played Nigel brilliantly in my “Absolute Hell” production, has been captured by the Up in Arms theatre company (associated with Max Stafford Clark’s Out of Joint) and is already in rehearsal for a major tour of a new play “Fear of Music” by Barney Norris.
Incidentally, I’m putting together a collage of fine photographs by Patrick Baldwin of “Absolute Hell”, and they’ll be on view shortly at www.teachyourselfacting.com. 
My local museum, the Vestry House Museum in Walthamstow Village, had an “Open Evening” this week, featuring a fascinating display about our High St, which hosts of one of the longest street-markets in Europe. It was a smashing exploration of a rich historical seam – the growth of the market from medieval times, the district emerging as a home of pioneering industry, including the first British petrol-driven car, and of great entertainment, centred at the sadly now long-gone Palace Theatre, hosting stars from Marie Lloyd to Morecambe and Wise.
An item featured in the “open evening” was a truly original, striking offering from a notable local – Auntie Maureen, an elegant, supremely costumed “disc jockey” (a term I’m sure she would reject as being both bewildering and vulgar) who simply offers a range of beautifully selected 78 rpm records, delivered via a classic wind-up gramophone, thus providing an appropriate period soundscape complete with opportunities for strict-tempo dancing. Pure class. All enquiries (no time-wasters please) to www.auntiemaureen.info
Finally on this, the first day of Spring 2013 a Happy 21st Birthday to a student at Bath Spa University, who added greatly to the gaiety of the nation with her appearance at the Whittington Hospital on this day in 1992. Happy Birthday darling Cressida from Dad xxx.
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