My Year at the Theatre

[smallhobbit]

Because every year I like to look back at what I've seen.  By tradition this runs from my birthday.


Oct 2012  55 Days   Hampstead Theatre    (Mark Gatiss, Douglas Henshall)
Nov 2012   Our Boys   Duchess Theatre   (Laurence Fox)
Jan 2013   My Fair Lady   Sheffield Crucible   (Dominic West)
Feb 2013   Bull   Sheffield Crucible   (Sam Troughton)
Mar 2013   Macbeth   Trafalgar Transformed   (James McAvoy)
Apr 2013   Winter’s Tale   Regent Theatre, Stoke                  (RSC Touring)
May 2013   Two Gentlemen of Verona   Cheltenham Everyman   (SATTF Touring)
June 2013   One Man Two Masters   Theatre Royal, Haymarket   (NT)
June 2013   Hamlet   RST   (Jonathon Slinger)
June 2013   The President is Coming to See You  Royal Court   (Sam Troughton)
July 2013   The Hothouse   Trafalgar Transformed   (John Simm)
July 2013   Candida   Bath, Theatre Royal   (Jamie Parker)
July 2013   All’s Well That Ends Well  RST   (Jonathon Slinger)
Aug 2013   Henry VI, parts 1,2,3   Tewkesbury   (Globe, battleground)
Sept 2013   Candide   Swan Theatre   (RSC)
Sept 2013   Titus Andronicus   Swan Theatre   (RSC)

16 plays – or 18 if you count Henry VI as three plays not one.

An interesting combination, half of the plays were Shakespeare (6 more magnets on my fridge).  Four completely new plays plus two other recent ones.  Together with G B Shaw, Pinter and a musical (because My Fair Lady deserves to be on this list).

Six trips to London, four to Stratford-upon-Avon (technically five as I saw Hamlet twice), twice to Sheffield, plus Stoke-on-Trent, Bath, Cheltenham and Tewkesbury.  Of those it was the first time I’d been to the Regent Theatre in Stoke or Bath’s Theatre Royal.  Or indeed the field behind the council offices in Tewkesbury, although that’s probably not one I shall repeat.

Performances that stand out in particular:

• Mark Gatiss and Douglas Henshall in 55 Days, because the English Civil War is my favourite period in history and they were so convincing as Cromwell and Charles I.


• Laurence Fox in Our Boys, the first time I’ve seen him on stage.  The ending was so powerful and so sad.


• My Fair Lady, such a glorious performance, colourful, lively and a brilliant contrast to a snowy January.


• The President is Coming to See You, part of a season at the Royal Court in which the ensemble had one week to rehearse a play, whilst at the same time performing another one.  This was the only one I saw, I’d have loved to see more.  Sitting in the front row, with Paul Bhattacharjee sitting on the edge of the stage no more than two foot in front of me.  Such a colossal shame when he committed suicide just a few weeks later.


• Being on the front row of The Hothouse incredibly close to the action.


• Seeing all three parts of Henry VI in one day.  An amazing production which must have been totally draining for the actors.  It rained throughout Part 1 and the whole audience was wearing plastic capes.  The backstage crew had had to go out and buy mops and sponges to dry the stage before they began.  The weather improved, although by the end we were all swathed in blankets.


• And my number one favourite:  Sam Troughton in Bull.  The emotions he went through in that play were astounding.  Just awesome.

So yes, another good year.  I do love going to the theatre.