The Madness of George III (twice!) - ramblings rather than a review - Nottingham Playhouse

Now here's an unusual thing for me - I'm not sure if it's a comedy of errors or a happy accident, but I'm inclining towards the latter - going to see a play twice, with only a week between performances. I frequently go out to the theatre (we have some brilliant productions here in the East Midlands) but generally I go to see a play once during its run. I might catch it a year or so later with a different company's production but I can only afford to go a certain number of times each year, and I'd rather see several offerings than one over and over again. But, more by accident than design, that's what I ended up doing this last couple of weeks at Nottingham Playhouse. And it's made even odder when you consider that initially I was a little sceptical about seeing it at all!


The play in question was Alan Bennett's The Madness of George III, directed by Adam Penfold, starring Mark Gatiss in a superb portrayal of the poor mad king, and one of the best pieces of theatre I've seen in a while (Was Steven Berkoff's Oedipus better? That was sooo long ago, it's hard to be certain. Interestingly, Louise Jamieson was in both)


So, why the initial caution ... well ... back in the day - early 1990s - Alan Bennett's play concerning the madness of George III was extremely popular in the West End and made into a film directed by Nicholas Hytner, starring Nigel Hawthorne, Helen Mirren, and Rupert Everett, and with the title changed, as allegedly some folk might wonder what had happened to Parts I and II of The Madness of George. Now I know you can't really compare film and stage productions but having seen Nigel Hawthorne's George III on screen I rather wondered if that performance would be fixed firmer in my mind than if I'd seen him on stage; that he might have somehow set a sort of bench mark to compare any other interpretation to. BUT Adam Penfold/ (directing) and Mark Gatiss have proved me wrong.
Also (hugest apologies to both actor and director) I was a little concerned about the casting of Mark Gatiss. I know him mainly from playing Mycroft in Sherlock, and Bamber Gascoigne in Starter For Ten, and rather thought he was just being bussed in as a big name that people would flock to see. I couldn't have been more wrong!

Despite these qualms, when my daughter talked about going we decided to make a mother/daughter evening of it, and bought tickets way back sometime in Spring with all the normal prevarication over price versus view, and such. Even then, seats were selling well but I got some good ones, down in the stalls (the circle wasn't open for sales at this point), not too far to the side. And then we waited.

The production opened, and Twitter was awash with praise. Another cause for scepticism on my part - perhaps they were so excited to see a famous person from the telly that they left any critical thoughts at home for the evening? I'm coming over as way too cynical but that's me. Anyway, I picked the tickets up the week before we were due to go ... and daughter fell ill. Crossing fingers, we assumed she'd have recovered in time ... but a couple of days before we decided that wasn't going to happen and I tried to change the tickets.
There weren't many seats left for the remaining performances (and even the vertiginous circle was nearly filled now) but the box office were willing to change my tickets, but needed the originals to re-sell them. If only I hadn't picked them up! Was it worth dashing down to Nottingham that night to return them? When I explained the predicament to him, my husband even decided to try some man-bargaining about cutting up the tickets we had, and I was rather pleased the box office backed me up and said no, they wanted the physical tickets back to use.

To cut this ramble short, I bought two more tickets, and took my husband along for the first trip.

And it was AMAZING!

Mark Gatiss was brilliant - from regal majesty to gibbering fool, and back. The rest of the cast were fab - the posturing Prince of Wales (Wilf Scolding) slipping in a moment from someone only interested in fashion and his own self-importance, to a distraught son reluctantly obliged to assume the role of regent to help his papa (as if!), the doctors jostling for importance, arguing that theirs was the best way to treat the king, and even the equerries and attendants - never underestimate the guys who have to stand strictly to attention and not move a muscle while things happen around them.
The costumes were gorgeous. The set wonderful. It was funny, and tragic. The story of one man's illness, and the government factions trying to make political gains from it.

 By the time the interval came around, I was delighted I was going back.

My second evening out was the night of a very special Gala Evening celebrating Nottingham Playhouse's 70th birthday. A long list of actors, directors, playwrights associated with the theatre over the years would be there, and for a higher price you could mingle with them, but we were in 'common' seats so no champagne or hob-nobbing with celebrities for us. The play's the thing, though, as someone said :)

I'd wondered if I might feel a bit, not bored, but less involved the second time - but no, easily as enthralled as the week before. It's a bit like watching your favourite film for the tenth time - you pick up a snatched bit of dialogue you might not have caught before, you understand the importance of a minor character, you're ready for the one-liners. A slight mishap with a chandelier in a scene change only served to underline how brilliant the cast were - carrying on without batting an eye.

It's an experience I wouldn't mind trying again, but the question would be how to fund it ...

Meanwhile, The Madness of George III has been transmitted as one of the NTLive screenings, so maybe I could catch an 'encore' of it ...

Time and the Conways - Nottingham Playhouse

I can go for weeks, even months, spending every evening curled up with a book or watching crime thrillers on TV, then I have times like the last couple of weeks when I seem to be out every night - well, once a week at least!  So after a night at the movies and a trip to Derby Theatre, it was time to visit Nottingham Playhouse to see J B Priestley's Time and the Conways.

Now there's half an idea lingering at the back of my mind, probably from as long ago as my schooldays, that Priestley's plays are very worthy but a little dull with the emphasis being on  social and political matters, not individuals and their lives. Time and the Conways proved to be very different; a play primarily about people, their hopes, and the dashing of them.
The play opens in 1919 with the Conway family celebrating daughter Kay's 21st birthday, and an end to all the restrictions and worries of war. They all see the future as bright and rosy - whether they're looking forward to an advantageous marriage or a new social order - but the second act set 19 years later shows a family torn apart through their own weaknesses and pride. Whether you liked the characters or not (and some definitely fell in the latter group), they all felt so very real; people I could relate to and recognise. Both entertaining and thought-provoking, I loved it!
All the cast were amazing but it was especially nice to see (Bergerac's) Louise Jameson back at Nottingham Playhouse;  last time she was playing an entirely different role - Jocasta in Steven Berkoff's Oedipus

A Night At The Theatre - Oedipus

Nottingham Playhouse - Oedipus by Steven Berkoff

For me, Steven Berkoff will always be the evil villain Victor Maitland from Beverly Hills Cop, so when I saw a few years ago that he was directing a stage adaptation of On The Waterfront at Nottingham Playhouse, I went to see it mainly out of curiosity - and was amazed!! Imagine my excitement then, when by a lucky fluke, I won tickets to see his version of Oedipus there last week!
Coming from down the road in Derby, we're not used to much in the way of traffic jams but even so, were rather surprised at how busy Nottingham was on a weekday evening and began to wonder if we really had left plenty of time for getting to the theatre. It turns out everyone was going to see Justin Bieber - why did he have to pick this night of the year to be in Nottingham?

Anyway, on to more interesting things than Bieber -

I've not seen Oedipus performed live before so wasn't sure what to expect. I've read it and I think I may have seen it on TV a long while ago with the main characters standing stiffly delivering their lines and the Chorus coming in en masse but imagined that Berkoff's presentation would be very different.
From start to finish I was spellbound - as were most of the audience, though unfortunately not the gossiping woman behind us. I'd wondered if the play would be changed or reworked away from Sophocles' original but apart from some updatings of language it remained the same - 3 main characters, various messengers and the chorus.
It was presented on a very minimalist set - a long table and bench were all the props. Simon Merrells, Vincenzo Nicoli and Louise Jameson were excellent in the main roles of Oedipus, Creon and Jocasta (the presentation of Jocasta's hanging was eerily realistic) but the Ensemble, as Chorus, were the real show stealers, bringing the main characters' words to life. It's difficult to describe what they do. I suppose 'mime' goes someway to covering it - whether depicting horses rearing or frozen in tableaux listening to the messengers recount their tales - but doesn't fully cover the impact they had on the whole performance. The eye putting out scene at the end was horrific despite Oedipus' back being to the audience - the reactions of the Ensemble really said it all! I gather that they're a general feature of Berkoff's theatre productions and saw a review of Waterfront basically saying 'Oh no, not again'. Maybe some love them, some don't. If so I'm firmly in the 'love them' camp.


If I had one criticism, it would be the lack of interval - how one could be fitted in I don't know but by the end of the performance I was feeling stiff and cramped.