Beautiful Thing

Beautiful Thing

By Jonathan Harvey

Royal Exchange Theatre, 14 November 2011

Matthew Tennyson as Jamie and Claire-Louise Cordwell as Sandra. Photo - Jonathan Keenan

Every scene has one or a few jokes, often in the form of a precarious situation, yet the action always reveals character and moves the story forward.

That is perhaps the main reason why Jonathan Harvey’s play is so enjoyable and works so well.  Like as not, another is the character of Sandra, here bringing forth an outstanding performance from Claire-Louise Cordwell, she is the kind of ballsy mother that any gay son would wish to have.

You don’t often get a happy ending in a modern play and, if you do, you rarely feel as though it has been earned or is warranted.  With Beautiful Thing, you strike gold on both counts.  This is a satisfying, feel-good play and has the kind of high-quality production values that we have come to expect from the Royal Exchange.

Beautiful Thing is at the Royal Exchange Theatre until 3 December, further details are here.

Private Lives by Noel Coward

Private Lives
By Noel Coward
Royal Exchange Theatre, 28 February 2011

Photo by Jonathan Keenan

The triumph of this play, undoubtedly Coward’s best, derives from the way in which the characters are both above and in the fray of life.

Elyot and Amanda (played admirably by Simon Robson and Imogen Stubbs) are sophisticated, chic, glamorous and oh so modern; yet they are also bruised by past experience, still very much in love, bewildered by emotion and have a vulnerability that they cannot shed.

With Coward’s writing, similarly, there is wit and superiority (even if its sometimes pasted on or is tongue-in-cheek) yet also genuine emotion.  He knows women, particularly a certain highly strung,  capricious, ever so slightly unreasonable sort of woman and he loves them, beauty spots and all.  Their flaws are adornments.

This Royal Exchange production does the play full justice.  It is an enjoyable and an immensely entertaining ride, as always, especially Acts 2 and 3.

Private Lives is running at The Royal Exchange Theatre until 9 April.  Details here.

The Lady from the Sea @ the Royal Exchange Theatre

The Lady from the Sea
By Henrik Ibsen
Royal Exchange Theatre, 20 October 2010

Neve McIntosh bathed in a caesious radiance. Credit: Jonathan Keenan

An unexpected recognition to start with: for anyone familiar with Joyce’s great story, ‘The Dead’, it will be clear that, in writing it, Joyce was heavily influenced by this play.

The Lady from the Sea is about a marriage and the soul of a woman. It addresses the uncertainties of the human heart, its shifting alliances. It puts forward a surprisingly modern conception of the relationship between men and women; or rather, a conception of what is possible within the bounds of that relationship. And it is a vital play, on the side of life and art; Ibsen shows a wonderful awareness of the fluidity of the future, the immensity of the world.

What strikes one at the end about the play is its grandeur, its depth, its continuing resonance. Little wonder that Joyce had such a high regard for the playwright.

This was a riveting Royal Exchange production. The cast were excellent and I’d commend especially Neve McIntosh as Ellida, the eponymous lady, Reece Dinsdale as her husband Dr Wangel, and Jonathan Keeble as Arnholm, a lonely tutor. The set was quite bare and barren, consisting in the main of a wooden floor to represent a pier or a ship. There’s some difficulty in depicting the sea on stage, but Chahine Yavroyan’s caesious lighting did the trick. The second time I’ve had occasion to use the word ‘caesious’ in as many days.

The Lady from the Sea is at the Royal Exchange Theatre until 6 November. Details here.