People (National Theatre)

By tomorrow I'll've seen five plays in six days, I really regret not seeing the Mousetrap on Tuesday now, it might have been a record or something. The Mousetrap will have to remain a mystery for me, it's been on for 60 years I'm sure it'll still be on the next time I've got a Tuesday afternoon to kill!
I went to London on Monday to see Alan Bennett's latest, it opened in November so I was ready for the actors to be bored with it, and maybe they were but they hid it well as everyone was really good.
I was expecting the play to be rubbish to tell you the truth, I didn't enjoy the Habit of Art and the NTlive trailer for this one made it look absolutely cringeworthy and appalling. I liked the History Boys of course but preferred the lighter BBC-friendly film because a lot of the wheelchairs and paedophillia had been cut and it was essentially a showcase of handsome young talent!
People wasn't quite that.
But it was good, the showcase of older talent did not disappoint, good comic turns from Linda Bassett and Nick le Prevost and of course Frances de laTour was the best, a great play for her. Alison was taken with the hairdos and next morning went to work with her hair done up like Dorothy Stacpoole.
I'm not sure how I feel about the National Trust any more, I've had a membership card delivered to my house two years in a row now, it's not mine, It's Mrs Francis Williams', but I feel like I should use it because she isn't.

Dandy Dick, York Grand

Maria and I went for my burfday down the road to see Nick le Prevost doing his latest. I'd had to see the posters of his face all over the posh end of town for a month, we even had one up in the bookshop! "I must work in a middle-class shop, there's a picture of you on the wall. Arf arf." I quipped, he groaned. No, it was nice to have a silly show to see for my birthday and have a drink with the cast afterwards, that Irish boy who played the violin was a lovely chap. As for the play well the first twenty minutes were rather slow but after that Nick was in every scene, lighting it up, a joy. And it was a good giggle, I liked the Frankenstein bit where the vicar creates the horse tonic in the lightening storm, good and silly, that's what it was, good costumes and I really liked the music!

A Marvelous Year for Plums, Chichester Festival Theatre

A matinee in Chichester, I wasn't staying there again, two years previously I stayed in the kind of hotel people get murdered in, mismatched sheets on my twin beds and stains on the walls! Night terrors! I'm glad I managed to see this one, my favourite scene was probably the meeting between Anthony Eden and young John Prescott on board that cruise ship, apparently it's all true! Anthony Andrews was great, very emotional, liked the scene with the breakdown and liked Nick le Prevost and Imogen Stubbs smooching, I've always liked her loads. Don't remember much else, loads of coughing old people as it was a matinee and god it was hot in there, someone even had their westie with them, he looked like he was wilting, all fur in the boiling heat. May was about as hot as it got this year!

27 (Edinburgh Lyceum)

I actually saw a play the night before I went to see this play in York put on by a little group of local actors, I can't remember what it was called but it was about this girl who had an imaginary friend who she played sex games with, it was really weird and ticked every cliche in the book but the set design and the costumes were good.
Then I went on a day trip and saw 27 up in Edinburgh, my main memory from seeing it was that the set looked SO dangerous. There was a huge steep staircase, open on one side and the older actors who played the nuns kept running up and down it, I was on edge and uncomfortable watching it. Nuns vs Scientists. Not my cup of tea really, seemed more suited to being a Radio 4 play as nothing was said that needed to use that giant staircase, in fact I might have been more able to concentrate on it if the distraction of the idea of Maureen Beattie plunging to her death of the edge hadn't been there! Can see why Nick le Prevost was cast as the American, he's sort of old Holywood in his looks, not as camp as Cary Grant but almost.

Old Reviews 3: The Philadelphia Story ( Old Vic) Guys and Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre) The Woman in White (Palace Theatre) ( June 2005)

Me and Anna have been funning it up in London this week.
We go to London every so often to see a bunch of shows, last time we went to see The Producers and before that I saw Round the Horne Revisited, Journey's End and The Goat, and before that My Fair Lady (starring Anthony Andrews without fat suit)...
Anyway, monday night we saw The Philadelphia Story with Kevin Spacey, who I wasn't that impressed with, though the supporting cast were good. Anna and I were in the front row, which was pretty painful on the old neck but great for being a metre away from Kevin Spacey- I tried to remember films I've seen him in and thought were excellent and all I could remember was American Beauty, and unfortunately K-Pax- which was awful, then I remembered Hey! What about Glengarry Glen Ross, I love that film! "You Fairy, You asshole."
Speaking of Jonathan Pryce, we were greatly amused to find the Pickering to his Higgins, Nicholas Le Prevost, in The Philadelphia story, I must say he stole that show and as soon as he came on stage me and Anna were in fits of giggles, nudging each other and the like, and at the end I swear he looked straight at us during the bows... Anna and I have whispered to each other in despair that we might have to go and see everything he's in from now on becuase he was so wonderful.
The Woman in White, had lovely music, we realise now, listening to the cast recording, but the sets were a big let down, it was all just cgi projected onto the backdrop, what a gyp!! Just like that Nigel Havers play!!! But Antoine was amazing! Anna and I were surprised!! When we saw him in MFL he didn't sing, he did a Rex Harrison, after Jonathan had sung it all, and that other guy, the guy who got the Olivier, I forget his name, sorry mate. Anyway, we were expecting another shouting performance but no, he sang, he sang excellent well.
Next day! We saw Ewan McGregor in Guys And Dolls, but we didn't get spat on, shame. He did not disappoint especially when singing Luck be a Lady Tonight, that was a great number- and that bird from Sex and the City was very good, and so was all the cast!! It was just a great show all round!! And good sets!! We got a great set on The Philadelphia Story.

2011 Author's Note: We did then go to see everything he was ever in and over the years I managed to befriend him and as it happens I was talking to him just yesterday. Funny old life, eh?

King Lear (York Theatre Royal)

Anna and I went to a fundraising event in York, it was a recorded reading of King Lear with a bunch of well known actors, they were there firstly to raise money for the theatre and secondly to celebrate the life and work of Freddie Jones -who played Lear.

Well, we certainly celebrated his life afterwards as I got to go after-partying way into the night and had far too much to drink! But I shall review the reading not the party, maybe i should have a separate blog for parties- though it wouldn't say anything because the best parties are the ones I'm too pissed to remember!

Freddie was great as Lear but the people I really enjoyed were Patterson Joseph as Edgar, the guy who played Kent and all the girls- particulalry Niamh Cusack's horrible flirty Goneril. I liked meeting her afterwards she was lovely. I told Freddie that he was my favourite Ghost of Motley Hall and that made him laugh, especially as I added "Don't tell Nick," who was of course there too, how else could I go to the after-party!? So Nick le Prevost played Gloucester and it turns out hearing someone get their eyes ripped out is still as horrific as watching it.

I will stick a picture up here when the theatre posts some- (edit: rubbish photo!)

HR, Series Two (Monday mornings BBC Radio4)

I say he has been providing it ever since, but in the second series of Nigel Williams' radio comedy HR Nick le Prevost is sort of the straight-man, well, gay, but still the straighter-ish-man to Jonathan Pryce's insane Peter.

I found out about this second series earlier in the month, I am now friends with Nigel Williams. Tell that to the me who eighteen months ago reviewed series one and praised his writing, I'd have a field day. I did have a field day. I'm still there- in the field.

Anyway, no longer in the office, Peter and Sam are living together and still getting on each other's tits but still clearly meant to be. I adore how ridiculous this show is. But it's all startlingly real! That's what's most ridiculous, Peter- the character that Jonathan plays- is appalling, but he is my father! My dad would do and say all the appalling things Peter does and says. Fuck sake!

So far the two of them have lost a boiler and gained a dog. Next week I think they're going on holiday. You'll never be rid of me now, Nigel, I'm sending you my Christmas Special script!

Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound and Sheridan's The Critic (Double Bill at Chichester Festival Theatre)

When I was seventeen I was almost in a production of The Real Inspector Hound, we rehearsed it and had a good time and it was the first play I'd been in since I was about five, but in the end it was cancelled because the school decided to go with another play and a less giggly bunch of actors. I have to admit that we were shite, me especially as I'd never kissed anyone and my character had to make out with two of my teenage friends in the play so I was a bit inhibited when those scenes came along. When I sat watching Chichester's current production and watched actors Joe Dixon and then Nicholas le Prevost make out with the character I had almost played I thought; now there's a couple of people I wouldn't have a problem with.

At Chichester this summer there's lots going on, Rupert Everett is in Pygmailion, there's a stage version of Yes Minister with David Haig, 42nd Street is the big musical and over from the main building at the smaller Minerva Theatre there is a double bill of one-act plays both along the theme of plays within a play- and their critics.

The Real Inspector Hound was acted exactly the way I had imagined when I read it at school, it was ridiculous, campy, silly and just brilliant fun. The Critic was a little longer than Hound and I think was much better, strangely spot-on despite being written so long ago and it was riotously funny. I wasn't drunk but I hadn't laughed that much in years, I laughed so much that I was actually in pain.

Both plays were wonderfully staged with beautiful costumes- especially in The Critic, I do like the old powdered wigs etc. everyone looked so beautiful while they were being so stupid! Excellent direction, brilliant physical comedy from all the actors. Yes, it is of course the combination of sharp writing, clever direction and excellent ensemble that made these plays really shine. Joe Dixon, who I saw two years ago in the RSC's A Midsummer Night's Dream was brilliantly OTT in both plays, I was pleased I got to tell him afterwards that he had really made that Shakespeare because he was really really excellent as Bottom. I also met Sean Foley who was just as good in these two! I really love silly. I think that would be the best word for the sort of acting I appreciate. Nick le Prevost, of course, was super silly but he disguises it well by being completely natural throughout the farce, this is very good acting- but I also know that maybe he's a bit of a cheat because he's naturally a very silly man in real life -which is why I adore him. Una Stubbs cracked me up constantly in both plays and the two girls; Hermione Gulliford and Sophie Bould were so sweet, but not sickeningly so- only in a very silly way!

Yes, it hasn't been a very critical review, but I'm not a critic, this is my diary so I can remember what plays I've seen and why I loved them. I don't think I've enjoyed myself at a comedy play so much for years, I actually can't remember the last time I laughed so much. The sight of Nick dangling from the rafters hanging off a giant globe while screaming was a brilliant high to end on, and if they'd have left him up there and I hadn't got to tell him how much I enjoyed it afterwards I don't think I would have minded too much, it was perfection.

The Misanthrope aka The Keira Knightley play (Comedy Theatre)

Keira has got a big head. Yeah she's got a small body but she has a big head too and that just emphasizes it more so! It's only when you see her head next to someone you know to have a massive head that you realize just how big it is. Next to Nick le Prevost, a thin man with a big head, Keira's head looked bigger. It was quite scary!

So enough about the diminutive starlet's stature. On with the play. I thought the actors all did really well with the parts they had been given, none of them very good parts let's face it, every single actor except Damien Lewis and Keira had hardly any time on stage but all tried extremely hard to make themselves noticed and of course it was the supporting cast who got all the laughs. They all did brilliantly but were not in it enough, however Tim McMullan did the best with his role and I have to say he was definitely noticed.

Yeah, that's Moliere for you, not new adaptations, just Moliere, that main part would have been for Louis IVX hence all the little cameos for whoever else was allowed to act along side the King. Damien Lewis didn't quite cut it for me, something lacking there, he wasn't tres believable. Keira did adequately but my favourite bit was when the sixth form group in front of me started texting each other as soon as La Knightley was not on stage.

The Chatterly Affair (2006) -And general Christmas round-up

As per usual the family got a load of porn for Christmas. Just kidding, but seriously, when am I going to see Rafe Spall with some clothes on?!

We've done loads of Christmas watching, and it's not over yet, we like to stretch Christmas out for at least a month so I guess we're only half way through. Telly: I enjoyed Michelle Dockery in The Turn of the Screw, I thought they gave her shit hair in Cranford but then that is Cranford... Tom Hiddleston and Jodi Whittacker were good but let's face it Cranford was written by Mrs Gaskell as a bet. Not really, but she did write it as a piss-take and now it's the most successful thing the BBC has ever done!? It's shite! And The Christmas episodes that weren't even written by her were even worse than her send up of country-types and happy endings. Ugh. But obviously if both Jonathan Pryce and Nick le Prevost (And Rory Kinnear- one of my absolute favourite actors to see on stage) are appearing I'm going to be watching. So I did.

Anyway, I enjoyed the final Gavin and Stacey and Tennant's final Doctor Who- though my favourite bits were remembering Bernard Cribbins voicing Orinoco the lazy womble thinking he was invisible when he got stuck in that net... "Bramble Pudding! Oh no!!!" I look forward to Stephen Moffat's writing and Matt Smith's big grave stone slab of a face in the next series.

Missed Hamlet but we got the dvd in the post this morning so I will see it soon.

And now the gifties! We've been working our way through series one and two of The Inbetweeners and I have to say I totally love it. So reassuring to see realistic teenagers in realistic situations, Anna spends her mornings in bed watching 90210, everytime I go in there I say "teachers or teenagers?" because all the cast look the same age; in their plastic botox thirties- HORROR. The Inbetweeners is a wonderful British tonic to American sitcom/soap teenagers, all four boys are hysterically well suited to their roles.

We've watched lots of shite of course; Wolverine, an utterly awful Fantastic Four movie (Turns out he bought it in Lidl on Christmas Eve- he should have resisted.) Bridge to Terabithia- Suzie's favourite book as a child, totally un-cinematagraphical material so a terrible film, etc.

And today me and Anna watched The Chatterley Affair. Anna said flippantly afterwards of Andrew Davies the scriptwriter "Pervert. Always writes a lot of filth!" which made me laugh an awful lot.

Lady Chatterley's Lover is I think a key part of my strange history, my grandfather was one of the blokes who smuggled it into the country long before the court case, he was proudly photographed for the paper as a "local pervert", Nana was reet pissed off... I love it though, Anna probably thinks I'm a pervert too.

Bedroom Farce (The Rose, Kingston)

So last night I went to Kingston which not including waiting for connections only took an hour and forty mins from Cambridge, not bad for a nice theatre! I have had the pleasure of seeing Bedroom Farce by Alan Ayckbourn before, possibly the worst production of anything I've ever seen, but I was not dreading it again because I know that under Peter Hall's instruction, in a nice theatre and with a good cast (almost completely made up of famous actors' children, Judie Dench's daughter, Ron Pickup's daughter and Richard Brier's daughter.) that all would be well.

And all was well!

Bedroom farce is very gentle comedy, it is comfortable comedy- maybe it's seeing all those beds... The stage is split into three bedrooms, a nice design from where I was sitting right in the middle of the front stalls, one bed has Tony Gardner in it throughout the whole play, the middle bed, at the house of Finty Williams (who is too cute for words) is full of everyone and all sorts and the final bed contained the heart and soul of the piece, the older couple played by lovely Jane Asher and lovely Nicholas le Prevost.

To be honest the two of them were in a league of their own, it seemed so much more natural than any of the other couples (or the other actors to tell you the truth) even the writing for their parts seemed tighter. I say it's just their masterful delivery, they were both brilliantly funny. And Jane Asher is just gorgeous. Oh, and of course you know how I feel about Nick.

There was a free Q&A afterwards and I cringed throughout all the questions- Lucy Briers got sort of furious a few times and I don't blame her, Q&As should not be allowed when the audiences are toffee nosed twats... The final question was a complete farce, horribly racist, Nick handled it perfectly. "Sometimes a West End theatre can be full of Spaniards or people who don't speak english and so miss the point, is it more rewarding doing a play somewhere like this where the audiences are-" Nick stood up at this point and looked out at the audience "WHITE?!"

PS Nick says 'The Keria Knightley Play' (as it's officially known) is going well.

The Last Cigarette (Trafalgar Studios)

Nice theatre, easy to find, opposite the National Gallery, under Nelson's Column, on Trafalgar Square (hence the name), you'd think easy to find so long as you remember which bloody tube stop all those things are at. Which I just couldn't!! But it was Charing Cross, I got there in the end- with ten minutes to spare, not even time to check where the stage door was (I'm not usually a lurker, only when what's-his-name is involved. He seems very well by the way.)

If anyone reads this journal of Matt Morgan style Cultural Reviews then hear this, You Can See the Hills finishes on Saturday so my review came too late, sorry I'm not actually invited to Press Nights, The Last Cigarette however opened two weeks ago and will be there until August. So go and see it, it's great.

I've read Simon Gray's Smoking Diaries, he wrote exactly as I would like to write, exactly as all my favourite writers write, full of cynicism and hatred and humor. The play was based I think (if my memory serves) on the first and the last book. I recognized it all as it was curiously and amusingly brought to life. In his diaries he argues constantly with himself, questions his memories until he answers himself with suggestions. The play was staged very cleverly and I did believe that all three actors were Simon Gray- even Felicity Kendal, well, most of the time.

The first half of the play is a lot of Gray's childhood and the second is him dying, but it is not a sad play, it is very funny, I didn't come out thinking "Oh god, he died," I thought, "oh good, a happy ending!" Strange really...

The three actors argue with each other as Gray, sitting at their identical desks talking to themselves- or should this be each other? Or is it the same thing?- But most of the time they are not all Simon Gray, they all speak Gray's thoughts, but usually there is just one Simon Gray and the others play the parts of the people he's talking about, they slip in and out of character, with particularly memorable characters. I'd read a lot about Felicity Kendal's nurse/aspiring writer, now I see why, very very funny (Try picturing Felicity Kendal playing a big 45 year old black woman from Barbados). And also about Nicholas le Prevost's chipmunk-faced consultant (people cheered when he returned!) He reminded me of someone I know actually, though maybe he just reminded me of Nicholas le Prevost...

Jasper Britton was very very good too, he played Si's father and at the beginning the electrician who wanted to see the cheeseboard. But I feel that he mostly played Gray while the other two- unquestionably character actors- made the very most of their talents. Together though, all three Simon Grays were extremely good, it was never confusing but always very clever.

The set was cute though the huge print of actual Simon Gray, grey ink on black screens creeped me out a bit, I'm sure it became more 3D at times, or maybe that was just my eyes...

It was a very enjoyable play, I mean, yes, it is about a man dying, no though, it's about a man's life, probably a very normal life, but that's why we can identify and enjoy these horrible embarrassing situations and feelings and not think "this is a play about cancer" it's not at all, it's a very funny play about an extremely talented writer.

Himself told me afterwards that there were parts in it he didn't like, and I was tempted to ask which bits, but I didn't because I liked it so much that I didn't want to have second thoughts and agree with him. Nick also didn't think it was a fitting tribute at all (self-deprecating handsome bastard!), and being a fan of the books I admitted I agreed, but said; "some sort of tribute though."

HR: A Roleplay (Friday Radio4)

So it's been three weeks since it began, two weeks since Peter and Sam accidentally killed their boss whilst drunk on a bonding trip, one week since Sam came out of the closet and now today Peter's wife has left him- not that he cares.

It is my belief (and deepest hope) that Peter is a chronic liar and has never had a wife- I hope he is also secretly gay. Next week's penultimate episode A Leaving Party is a bit of a clue to how this has to end I think. My boys have been horrifically incompetent, it's not going to end well for either of them, it's radio comedy so I don't think anyone's going to find out about the murder- one of the best bits about radio is that next week no one really cares that you killed your boss, I reckon this would be different if it was a television sitcom. Didn't Joanna and Alan end up walking naked into the sea in Green Wing after they killed a number of people? I hope Peter and Sam don't end up going the same way...

Anyway, I'm enjoying this series immensely, I mean, I know I mentioned before I'm the target audience, but some of my friends listen too, and they all love it without being weirdoes. It's so well written. Can you imagine how hard it is to write engaging and totally mad dialogues, six of them, it's hard. But these are good half hour shows, I'm also enjoying Andy Hamilton's Old Harry's Game on Radio 4 but after seven series we're beginning to hear the same jokes, and there are some bum-notes. HR is just what Radio 4 needs, new, inventive comedy. Role on series three of Fags, Mags and Bags! It is both amazing and great!

Listen again to episode four A Roleplay.

HR, Episode 1: An Apraisal (Friday Radio4)

So we knew I'd adore it. I'm the target audience, forget other frustrated office workers, the target audience is Amy, the girl who has for the last seven years listed Jonathan Pryce and Nicholas Le Prevost as her favourite actors and top two men of all time.

The first episode of Nigel Williams' HR was adapted from the original half hour TV script that the two boys performed a couple of years ago, it was almost word for word- except with that word being bleeped out many many times (It's 11.40 in the morning- as Sam says accurately). But there were some nice additions, tweaks, etc. I think it was even funnier on the radio, I was cracking up even though I knew the script already! The best tweak was that in the TV play we saw Peter fiddle with the recording while Sam was out of the office, on the radio you heard Sam ineptly attempting innocuous small-talk with his secretay/assistant/whatever... Then the punchline was a fab surprise for us (and a horrible surprise for poor old Sam) Also a nice bit of character development for Sam, as it's a series we need to see how incompetent and addled he is, I loved it.

It's so simple but so funny.

Please listen again folks, I promise you will like it.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hg6mz