Roger Clarke looks back at 2018
There have been many memorable
productions in the past year and it is particularly noticeable how set
and lighting designers are realising the possibilities of the ever more
exciting developments in computerised LED lighting. The technical
side of theatre is often forgotten by audiences - unless it goes wrong -
but, allied to imaginative direction, it can transform a show.
Equally impressive was the high standard of many amateur productions
which can safely be regarded as serious theatre, as well as the courage
of amateur companies to put on less familiar works.
PROFESSIONAL
Picking the best can be difficult but if we
divide theatre up roughly into comedy, drama and musicals then there are
a number of contenders for best comedy, with Benidorm, at the
Alex, sneaking up in the rear, as one might say.
Then there was The Comedy About a Bank
Robbery at the Rep, Art and The Play That Goes Wrong
at the Hippodrome. All fine productions and all funny – but raise your
flagon of sack to the winner, The Merry Wives of Windsor at the
RSC.
Sir John Falstaff played by a well-padded David Troughton, wooing
the lovely . . . and rich Mistress Ford, played by Veth Cordingy in
The Merry
Wives of Windsor.
Picture: Manuel Harlan
Shakespeare purists were split; some saw it as it
would have been in the times of The King’s Men in 1604, bawdy and with
heckling the order of the day. Others saw it as devaluing one of the
Bard’s works with cheap laughs and even throwing in community singing!
Personally, I found it gloriously funny and chuckled all the way home –
I think it is a performance that would have delighted old Bill and will
certainly open the minds to the possibilities of Shakespeare of anyone
who thinks its old, dull and boring.
Drama saw some fine productions starting with the
National Theatre production of Hedda Gabler, which deserved an award for
making Ibsen accessible to a modern audience.
The Rep followed that with a revival of their
Brief Encounter production and an excellent tale of small time
gangsters, an adaptation of Grahame Greene’s Brighton Rock
It has been a fine season in Centenary Square
with a rich vein of productions which also saw an excellent Quartet, the
stage debut of grumpy detective Rebus and Rattigan’s 1946 classic The
Winslow Boy. In most years the winner would have been from the Rep and
it would have been a close run thing.
War Horse at Birmingham Hippodrome
But for shear theatre magic, innovation and
spectacle the National Theatre’s War Horse at the Hippodrome wins by a
head. It might be a second tour, but it is still a piece of
ground-breaking theatre.
Musicals has plenty of contenders; Madagascar at the Alex was a
delightful, colourful and charming family production while the Rep,
again, had a splendid Wizard of Oz which had me enjoying a stage
adaptation I usually hate. At the Hippodrome they raised the Titanic as
a spectacular, classy musical, while An Officer and a Gentleman was up
where he belonged in a faithful adaptation in early summer
When the fat lady sang, though, it had come down
to three contenders; the Hippodrome had the RSC’s Matilda, on her first
tour after eight years in the West End, while Fame at the Alex, had
injected new life and heart into a tired musical, and again, at the
Alex, we had Sting’s The Last Ship, about the decline of the
shipbuilding industry in Walsend. It’s a musical full of heart and
feeling, and good music which is not just there to separate the talking
bits but always takes the story forward. It’s new, it’s original
There were some delightful family shows from
Madagascar and Matilda on main stages through to studio productions with
Holiday at Derby, Emily Brown and The Thing at the Hippodrome to the
charming Penguins at The Rep.
Matilda takes the big stage honours for the
splendid adaptation of Roald Dahl’s dark novel while Emily Brown had all
age groups enthralled in the Patrick Centre.
BRB's Romeo and Juliet
Opera is really down to Welsh National Opera who
among the usual suspects also had a marvellous piece of all female
entertainment, laced with some facts, to mark the centenary of women
getting the vote – so give your votes to Rhondda Rips It Up! From WNO at
midland arts centre.
Similarly, with dance where BRB dominate with Romeo and Juliet a
favourite in last year’s productions.
As for Pantos . . . you have a choice of Peter
Pan at the Hippodrome and Sleeping Beauty at the Grand, both funny, both
entertaining with the Grand, with Sooty, probably having the edge for
younger children, and Pan winning out on the spectacle. We’ll call that
one a draw.
Finally, in professional theatre, a special award
to Roxana Silbert, Birmingham Rep’s artistic director since 2012, who is
leaving for the same role at Hampstead Theatre in Spring. She has been
responsible for either creating, commissioning or bringing in some
wonderful productions and will be missed.
Roxana Silbert
AMATEUR
In amateur theatre the word has unwarranted
connotations, confusing amateur with amateurish. True, there are some
productions and some performances which are worthy and commended perhaps
more for their dedication than talent, but there are also productions
which are amateur only insomuch as no one is paid.
Sutton Arts gave us a stunning And Then There
were None, a classy production of Agatha Christie’s most popular
thriller while Hall Green had the lady herself in Philip Meeks’ play
about Margaret Rutherford, who became the most famous Miss Marple, and
her relationship with Christie, in Murder, Margaret and Me.
And pushing up the body count even further we had
the quite, festive thriller At The Sign of The Crippled Harlequin at the
newly reopened Grange Playhouse, while Highbury have a three hander
which ends up as one man and a dog, or in this case one woman and a
ghost in Alan Aykbourn’s Snake in the Grass.
Mint Theatre Society, taking theatre out to the
people on social clubs and community halls, gave us John Godber’s Lucky
Sods about serial lottery winners and it was Godber’s turn again with
the trio of coach drivers in Men of the World from Swan Theatre Amateur
Company.
Another double up was Ronald Harwood’s Sir Donald
Wolfit inspired play The Dresser with two excellent productions, first
from Mint and then, as the first production in the newly refurbished
Playhouse, a five star version from Grange. Sutton Arts
contribution was a quite superb production of Birdsong which would have
been a worthy winner in most years.
All outstanding but two plays had that
indefinable something that lifted them to another plane, so much so that
they both deserve awards. The first was Highbury’s Beryl, the docu-drama
about cycling legend Beryl Burton. Never heard of her? Despite all the
Olympic and Tour de France cycling success by British riders in the last
few years, she was probably the greatest woman cyclist of them all.
Martin Bourne excelled as C S Lewis in Shadowlands
Maxine Peake’s play is funny, informative and
full of heart and a cast of four, with four bikes, brought it to
brilliant life. In any other country Burton would be a national hero,
here she is . . .who? The play in its small part redresses the balance
and wins the best little theatre play award.
The Swan Theatre in Worcester is a large stage
and a large 350 seater auditorium to fill for the Swan Theatre Amateur
Company but they managed it with a masterful and moving Shadowlands,
William Nicholson’s play about the romance between Oxford don C S Lewis
and American author Joy Gresham.
Lewis was best known for the Chronicles of Narnia
but was also a world renowned Christian apologist, defending
Christianity from its detractors, but at the same time questioning his
own faith and beliefs. I saw the play at Birmingham Rep a couple of
years ago and this amateur production was it’s equal.
The best musical had fewer contenders with Sutton
Coldfield Musical Theatre Company giving us a splendid The Full Monty,
the American version as the Sheffield based version has not yet been
licence for amateur use – which did confuse a few in the audience at
Sutton Coldfield Town Hall.
Living forever - the cast of Sutton Arts' Fame
But once again Sutton Arts Theatre came up trumps
again with a scintillating production of Fame, with an impressive number
of youngsters in the big cast.
As for comedy, Hall Green had two contenders with
One Man, Two Guvnors and The Vicar of Dibley at Christmas, Lucky Sods,
again from Mint and Men of the World for STAC.
For sheer please and enjoyment
it had to be Vicar of Dibley.
Only two pantos, Dick Whittington at Sutton Arts
shading Babes in the Wood, which can take heart from being the best
panto form Hall Green for some time.
All in all a great year – and here’s
to the next one.
AWARDS
Professional
Best Comedy
The Merry Wives of Windsor at the RSC
Best Drama
War Hose – Birmingham Hippodrome
Best Musical
The Last Ship – The Alexandra Theatre
Best Family Show (main house)
Matilda – Birmingham Hippodrome
Best Family Show (studio)
Emily Brown and the Thing – Birmingham
Hippodrome
Opera award
Rhondda Rips
It Up – WNO Midland Arts Centre
Best Dance
Romeo and Juliet – BRB, Birmingham Hippodrome
Best Pantomime (joint)
Peter Pan – Birmingham Hippodrome
Sleeping Beauty – Wolverhampton Grand
Special Award for services to West Midlands
theatre
Roxana Silbert
Amateur
Best Play (Little Theatre)
Beryl – Highbury Theatre Centre
Best Play (large Theatre)
Shadowlands – Swan Theatre Amateur Company
Best Musical
Fame – Sutton Arts Theatre
Best Comedy
The Vicar of Dibley at Christmas – Hall Green
Little Theatre
Best Panto
Dick Whittington – Sutton Arts Theatre
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