My first blog mentioned exciting summer plans, so I thought I should follow that up with a quick update on the productions so far.  

Oddly, the apparent dead cert at the time of the first blog has proved to be the only slight disappointment – Kiss Me Kate at the very fine Chichester Festival Theatre was entertaining but, for us, it didn’t quite hit the mark.   There were a couple of fantastic numbers (Another Openin’, Another Show and Too Darn Hot) and the orchestration was superb.  We were, also excited to spot Warren Sollars in the cast: several years ago we thoroughly enjoyed watching Musicality, in which he was a winner (and Gareth Valentine, Kiss Me Kate’s excellent musical Director, one of the panel).  Overall, however, perhaps the mock Shakespeare is just too cumbersome, with the ever-present danger that, during a “play with in a play”, things are just a little too stagey.  Perhaps unfairly, we found echoes of the outstanding and breathtaking Sweeney Todd still lingering in the auditorium.  It was just too soon to try to watch another musical in that same space.

Perhaps Kate also suffered from being seen in the same week as The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui which is a fascinating, disturbing play, given a powerful performance by a very strong ensemble, with a bravura performance by Henry Goodman.  What can I say?  Go see – at Chichester if you can, but surely this production must move to London at the end of the season.   And on Saturday we saw Antigone at the National Theatre.  I thought it was fantastic – direct, fluid, absorbing.  Again, it is an ensemble piece within which each and every actor is absolutely spot on, with the Chorus perfectly detailed to become both individual and still corporate.  My first chance to see Chris Eccleston on stage and I thought he was immaculate:  all that Eccleston focus and intensity, familiar from outstanding television work, deployed in person.   A huge treat.

I have already mentioned the joy of Henry V at Globe in an earlier post;  Sadly, tickets for Twelfth Night sold out before I could get to them, but we are looking forward to Richard III in just a few weeks. Plus lots more to come at Chichester, and Simon of Athens, as it is inevitably known in our household, at the wonderful National .  

This blog isn’t intended as a review site:  I would be an appalling reviewer since I go to each and every performance willing it to be wonderful.  I am a live-performance addict and go in search of a fix.   We have a glass-topped table in our sitting room and under the glass I place the tickets for productions of which we want to be reminded.  On a slightly disappointing night, I may be heard to say “well, it’s not going in the table” (and, I have to admit, my family indulge me as the sole arbiter).  But so far this year, we have added Henry V, Arturo Ui, Antigone, Collaborators (both times!), Frank Turner and Tom McConville (a small gem of a folk performance).  So far, then, so very good.