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grondficThe Moderate Soprano (Duke of York's)
David Hare's play deals with the establishment, in the mid-1930s, of an opera house at Glyndebourne House in Sussex. It was the brainchild of Captain John Christie, a hugely wealthy patrician Germanophile with a passion for Wagner.
Christie is played Roger Allam (almost unrecognisable under a bald 'wig'); and Nancy Carroll his wife Audrey (the titular 'moderate soprano'). Both are actors at the very top of their game; and their interactions are probably the strongest parts of the play.
The story of what is now a well-established British institution serves to remind us that Glyndebourne would not have taken off at all in the mid-1930s without the aid of a talented trio of refugees from Nazi Germany.
Fritz Busch, conductor (Paul Jesson), Carl Ebert, actor/director (Anthony Calf) and Rudolf Bing, administrator (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) form an irascible, ego-driven trio; tempered amongst themselves by the fact that all three have had to sacrifice their careers for their principles before fleeing Germany. They are about to come up against the equally colossal ego that is Captain John Christie who, besotted by German culture and (especially) Wagner, doesn't initially listen properly to what he's being told. Nonetheless, it will be his whims and prejudices, backed by his wealth that will - eventually - prevail.
Moderating (quite literally) this contentious lot is Christie's wife Audrey, the soprano of the title. She is in an invidious position in several ways. The opera-house is the brain-child of her galumphing husband; but conceived specifically in order for him to hear HER singing in it.
This might be his attempt to compensate for the fact that she has given up her full-time singing-career (such as it was) in order to marry him. We get hints of the cost that has been to her in devastating little interpolated scenes wherein - much later - she is in the grip of a terminal disease (possibly leukaemia, though that isn't spelled out), and in her agony, turns on her doting husband with vague, half-articulated reproaches.
This is a strong play, with strong roles for everyone involved. If Allam and Carroll steal the show with their strong interactions, the three creatives present us with rounded characters, flawed maybe; but holding their fragile integrity in the face of unprecedented conditions.
The Best Man (Playhouse)
This 1960 play by Gore Vidal deals with a presidential-nomination contest at an unnamed Party Convention in Philadelphia. The Party contains elements of both the main RL parties - Secretary William Russell (Martin Shaw) appearing to be based on typical East Coast Democrats, whilst his opponent for the nomination, Senator Joseph Cantwell (Jeff Fahey), is more like a redneck Republican. Russell is the frontrunner for the nomination, but Cantwell isn't far behind; whilst the 'dark horse', Governor John Merwin, is so far behind in the ratings that he doesn't appear in the play (although he did in the 1964 film).
The play really deals with the desirability vs the morality of fighting dirty. Cantwell begins the scrap by getting his hands on Russell's medical records during the time he was suffering from 'strain'. Russell, who prides himself on his probity, wants nothing to do with a tit-for-tat; but his aide Jensen (Philip Cumbus) has got hold of a story from Cantwell's male-only army days ....
The play sags a bit in Act 1 whilst the whole dilemma is set up; but once things are set in motion, Act 2 is considerably tighter, and gallops to its final twist in fine form.
Martin Shaw and Jeff Fahey play a blinder as the battling nominees; but the show is nearly stolen by Jack Shepherd as ex-President Art Hockstader, a canny brain masquerading as 'the last Presidential hick'. Glynis Barber and Honeysuckle Weeks make the most of their skinny roles as the protagonists' wives; and Maureen Lipman storms a cameo-role as the Chair of the Womens' Committee at the Conference.
Whilst play is very much of its time, there are obvious parallels with some of today's political manoeuvring both in the US and the UK.
So - one to debate over.
In addition to the happenings onstage, something else occurred when we attended The Moderate Soprano. I suddenly realised (whilst loitering in the theatre bar) that I was staring at Joshua Higgott - Horatio to Andrew Scott's Hamlet - also attending the performance. Of course, I acted like an idiot - wasting time debating whether to go up and gush; and then losing the opportunity.
Still - his performance (as well as both of the other Hamlets I'd seen recently - Scott and Essiedou) was still very much on my mind when we saw a very early-in-run Globe Hamlet between the two plays reviewed here. I'm composing a review - honest! - but (as per usual with this particular play) I have so MUCH to say that I shall probably have to do it in 2 parts. Even so, I may still beat The Critics; the Globe press night hasn't happened yet.
David Hare's play deals with the establishment, in the mid-1930s, of an opera house at Glyndebourne House in Sussex. It was the brainchild of Captain John Christie, a hugely wealthy patrician Germanophile with a passion for Wagner.
Christie is played Roger Allam (almost unrecognisable under a bald 'wig'); and Nancy Carroll his wife Audrey (the titular 'moderate soprano'). Both are actors at the very top of their game; and their interactions are probably the strongest parts of the play.
The story of what is now a well-established British institution serves to remind us that Glyndebourne would not have taken off at all in the mid-1930s without the aid of a talented trio of refugees from Nazi Germany.
Fritz Busch, conductor (Paul Jesson), Carl Ebert, actor/director (Anthony Calf) and Rudolf Bing, administrator (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) form an irascible, ego-driven trio; tempered amongst themselves by the fact that all three have had to sacrifice their careers for their principles before fleeing Germany. They are about to come up against the equally colossal ego that is Captain John Christie who, besotted by German culture and (especially) Wagner, doesn't initially listen properly to what he's being told. Nonetheless, it will be his whims and prejudices, backed by his wealth that will - eventually - prevail.
Moderating (quite literally) this contentious lot is Christie's wife Audrey, the soprano of the title. She is in an invidious position in several ways. The opera-house is the brain-child of her galumphing husband; but conceived specifically in order for him to hear HER singing in it.
This might be his attempt to compensate for the fact that she has given up her full-time singing-career (such as it was) in order to marry him. We get hints of the cost that has been to her in devastating little interpolated scenes wherein - much later - she is in the grip of a terminal disease (possibly leukaemia, though that isn't spelled out), and in her agony, turns on her doting husband with vague, half-articulated reproaches.
This is a strong play, with strong roles for everyone involved. If Allam and Carroll steal the show with their strong interactions, the three creatives present us with rounded characters, flawed maybe; but holding their fragile integrity in the face of unprecedented conditions.
The Best Man (Playhouse)
This 1960 play by Gore Vidal deals with a presidential-nomination contest at an unnamed Party Convention in Philadelphia. The Party contains elements of both the main RL parties - Secretary William Russell (Martin Shaw) appearing to be based on typical East Coast Democrats, whilst his opponent for the nomination, Senator Joseph Cantwell (Jeff Fahey), is more like a redneck Republican. Russell is the frontrunner for the nomination, but Cantwell isn't far behind; whilst the 'dark horse', Governor John Merwin, is so far behind in the ratings that he doesn't appear in the play (although he did in the 1964 film).
The play really deals with the desirability vs the morality of fighting dirty. Cantwell begins the scrap by getting his hands on Russell's medical records during the time he was suffering from 'strain'. Russell, who prides himself on his probity, wants nothing to do with a tit-for-tat; but his aide Jensen (Philip Cumbus) has got hold of a story from Cantwell's male-only army days ....
The play sags a bit in Act 1 whilst the whole dilemma is set up; but once things are set in motion, Act 2 is considerably tighter, and gallops to its final twist in fine form.
Martin Shaw and Jeff Fahey play a blinder as the battling nominees; but the show is nearly stolen by Jack Shepherd as ex-President Art Hockstader, a canny brain masquerading as 'the last Presidential hick'. Glynis Barber and Honeysuckle Weeks make the most of their skinny roles as the protagonists' wives; and Maureen Lipman storms a cameo-role as the Chair of the Womens' Committee at the Conference.
Whilst play is very much of its time, there are obvious parallels with some of today's political manoeuvring both in the US and the UK.
So - one to debate over.
In addition to the happenings onstage, something else occurred when we attended The Moderate Soprano. I suddenly realised (whilst loitering in the theatre bar) that I was staring at Joshua Higgott - Horatio to Andrew Scott's Hamlet - also attending the performance. Of course, I acted like an idiot - wasting time debating whether to go up and gush; and then losing the opportunity.
Still - his performance (as well as both of the other Hamlets I'd seen recently - Scott and Essiedou) was still very much on my mind when we saw a very early-in-run Globe Hamlet between the two plays reviewed here. I'm composing a review - honest! - but (as per usual with this particular play) I have so MUCH to say that I shall probably have to do it in 2 parts. Even so, I may still beat The Critics; the Globe press night hasn't happened yet.
