Mystery Play is No Sell Out

London Shows Love for Leigh

Bit by bit, over recent years, London’s West End has witnessed the rise of the celebrity-led play.

Picture the scene…

[10.55 pm. - A brightly lit bar in Soho]

Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Fancy coming to see a powerfully moving and uniquely evocative 16-hour re-working of Chekhov’s greatest works communicated through the medium of mime?”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “Hmmmmm. I think I’m busy”
Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Whitney Houston’s in it…”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “Ooooo, sounds great. Count me in”
Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Bacardi Breezer?”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “Please.”

It seemed to me that as long as there was someone recognisable in the cast (preferably recognisably good-looking and preferably recognisably American) with a string of sell-out films / records / long-standing comedy sitcoms (preferably all three) behind them the British public would be there in their droves, clogging up the aisles with “Do you remember that episode where so-and-so did something hilarious?” interval reminiscences.

The fact that London’s West End stage has the kudos to attract such attention from the Hollywood elite is undeniably positive, I told myself. But I just couldn’t get my head around the fact that London’s theatregoers seemed to have been so heartily taken in by this “sweetening of the pill” approach.

I began to fret that we’d sold out - that, as a nation, our love of theatre, direction and true drama had been eclipsed by our love of glamour and glitz, that we’d been dazzled by the pearly white-toothed smile of Hollywood’s silver screen starlets.

But then out of the blue came…

[Cue eccentric, bearded British director stage left]

‘A New Play by Mike Leigh’.

Picture the scene…

[7.30pm - A brightly lit bar in Soho]

Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Mike Leigh’s got a new play coming out”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “What’s it about?”
Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Don’t know”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “Who’s in it?”
Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Not sure”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “What’s it called?”
Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Um, don’t think it’s got a title”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “Guess we’d better book soon”
Potential Theatre-Goer #1: “Definitely. Bacardi Breezer?”
Potential Theatre-Goer #2: “Please.”

And suddenly, all’s right in the fickle world of British theatre.

If 16,000 people are fighting it out to buy tickets for a play simply because the reputation of the director as a producer of gritty, touching, yet often tragic human drama warrants it, then I’m a happy girl. And, if Leigh’s esteemed back-catalogue is anything to go by, his latest project is likely to be a challenging work – more grit than glitz – as he typically seeks to depict in true down-to-earth fashion the dogged drama inherent in the everyday lives of regular folk.

The play’s poster (a black-and-white shot of a solitary palm tree set against a backdrop of rolling sand dunes) seems to hint at a stark world of contrasts – black versus white, good versus evil, the individual versus society, the straight versus the undulating, and the short and narrow versus the infinite.

Is the play about Iraq? The poster, along with Leigh’s vocal opposition to the war, both seem to back this up. Or is it about being Jewish? Actress Miriam Margolyes, who unsuccessfully auditioned for the play, has suggested as much to the press. Maybe, it’s about both. Maybe it’s about neither. Maybe it just doesn’t matter.

What does matter, however, is that more than 16,000 of us want to find out.

And I, for one, am a happy girl.

John Peel Day

The BBC has recently announced that a string of gigs will kick off across the UK to mark the anniversary of DJ John Peel’s untimely death. ‘John Peel Day’ is the innovation of Peel’s colleagues at Radio 1 with the co-operation of his wife Sheila Ravenscroft. Featuring bands reflecting his eclectic taste in music, Radio 1 bosses hope venues countrywide will organise gigs as part of a day-long music festival. The largest gig will take place in London and will hopefully become an annual event in which new bands are given the chance to be heard. Sources say the support for the initiative has been phenomenal. Peel died, aged 65, last October after suffering a heart attack.

South Swank

Another wave of regeneration has swept across the South Bank. A £91 million makeover of the Royal Festival Hall will see the welcome addition of a raft of restaurants, shops and a snazzy new park. Foyles, the landmark book shop based on Charing Cross Road, has just planted a super new store next to the hall. It’s the first new branch in over a century. Flanked by MDC Music and Movies and a host of affordable restaurants, the face of Festival Hall continues to be transformed. Eager to open up arts on the South Bank to families and local people, it is hoped the new developments will attract a broad mix of folk. A new public space, with trees, benches and a forum for performing artists has been created on the riverside promenade and is bound to be a crowd-puller. Our beloved South Bank just gets better and better.

All a load of Croc?

Rumours are rife that a roving crocodile has set up home in East London, just upstream from the future Olympic stadium. Mysteriously large holes and the disappearance of dogs and Canadian geese have left everyone guessing as to what is lurking in the depths of the Old River Lea. Conservation officers in the local area are adamant that whatever is guzzling geese must be big, fast and vicious. Visible holes of up to one-metre wide have been sited as ideal basking spots for a croc. The river’s overhanging branches and shadowy shallows provide adequate camouflage for a snappy, scaly creature to stalk its prey. Red-eared terrapin have been discovered happily dwelling beneath the river’s surface. The question remains, if these small exotic reptiles have found their way into our waters, could something much nastier be skulking about?

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