Views From An Aisle Seat

This was the first show I saw at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-Upon-Avon. I have seen hundreds there since then but as a student in the first year of my English course at Birmingham University this show and one other (see a later post) made me an RSC fan for life. Judi Dench played both Perdita and Hermione with some clever trickery when both characters appear together for the first time in the final scene. The sheep-shearing festival was accompanied by a rock score and wild dancing. Derek Smith as Autolycus proved that, of course, Shakespeare’s clowns can still be funny today. An absolutely magical evening.

Here are ten clues to items which feature in comic plays. Name the plays and the authors.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.   ( sort of )

7.

8.

The missing parts of Sir Winston Churchill.

( Oddly, I couldn’t find a picture of these. )

9.

10.

Scroll down for the answers.

1. Noises Off    Michael Frayn . . . . . . .  A plate of sardines
2. Bedroom Farce   Alan Ayckbourn  . . . . . . . .  Some pilchards
3. Educating Rita   Willy Russell
4. The Importance of Being Earnest   Oscar Wilde . . . . . . . .  Cucumber sandwiches
5. Arsenic and Old Lace     Joseph Kesselring . . . . . . .  Elderberry Wine
6. Charley’s Aunt     Brandon Thomas . . . . . . . .  From Brazil where the nuts come from
7. The Lieutenant of Inishmore    Martin McDonagh . . . . . . .  A dead cat
8. What The Butler Saw    Joe Orton
9. Art . . . . . . .  Yasmina Reza  A blank white painting
10. A Comedy of Errors    William Shakespeare . . . . . . . . A rope’s end

Here are two programmes from nine years apart. As a student in 1971, I saw Peter O’Toole at Nottingham Playhouse. His performance was spellbinding. I have included a newspaper review at the end of the programme. Harold Hobson put it better than I ever could. One of my all time great nights in a theatre.

Ten years later I was at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester at a production starring Max Wall and Trevor Peacock. By now I was a teacher and studying the play with my A-Level group. They were bright students and liked the play but, whenever I suggested that it was at all funny, they would not have it. It was sad. It was tragic. It was full of despair. Definitely not funny. I couldn’t persuade them. So, I took them to see this production and, as these two superb comic actors had the Royal Exchange audience rocking with laughter, I turned to my students and whispered, “It IS definitely funny”.

This programme is from 1970. The play was Tom Stoppard’s first big hit. As a student in Birmingham I used to visit the Rep quite often. This was the old building in Station Street, not the current building next to the library. I remember the seats in the circle had an incredibly steep rake. Sitting there, you felt like a goat clinging to the side of a mountain. The programme cost 1/- ( 5p ). Most modern programmes are about one hundred times more expensive, although admittedly the quality is better today. It is interesting to see that the actors’ biographies refer to them as ‘Mr Gostelow’ and ‘Mr Drinkel’. This seems like the formality of an earlier age.

I’m a big fan of theatre tours and take one whenever I get the opportunity. Recently I have been on two which have been rather special. Chichester Festival Theatre, one of the best regional theatres in the UK, does not do tours very often but the one I experienced recently was outstanding. We were taken round every department with the head of each explaining how they work. I was particularly interested in the understage and backstage areas and how scenes are changed using only lifts and rails because the theatre has no fly tower.

Even better was my tour of the Gaiety Theatre in Douglas, on the Isle of Man. Here the tour was presented by a member of staff who had worked there for many years, including the period between 1990 and 2000 when an incredible restoration of the theatre took place. It is a Frank Matcham masterpiece. The tour lasted nearly two hours and covered every aspect of the theatre, including the last remaining operational Corsican Trap in the world ( too complex to explain here but look it up or watch the YouTube video ).

Both theatres are what they are today thanks to the efforts of one man. In the case of Chichester this was Leslie Evershed-Martin. He has written two books about his time at the theatre, The Impossible Theatre and The Miracle Theatre. The Gaiety owes its present success to Mervin Stokes. His book is called Saving The Gaiety. All three books are now out of print but second-hand copies can be found online.

Other tours I would recommend are at the National in London and The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford.

This is from 1968. Several of the songs were well known by the time the show opened in London. The delay was because the show had to wait for the removal of the archaic theatre censorship laws which were in place until then. There was nudity. There was a song called ‘Sodomy’. This would have been shocking in 1967 but in 1968 it was OK. Looking at the list of musical numbers I am surprised at how many of the songs are now completely unknown. There have been revivals but it was a show of its time and doesn’t speak to a modern audience as it did to us hippies back then. Some now notable names in the chorus – Elaine Page, Tim Curry, Murray Head. As usual, most of the ads are for fags, booze and restaurants, although I am wondering if you can still get hold of the pills advertised on page 5.

Hair

This post is about ice cream, the enjoyment of which, everyone will agree, is probably the most important feature of theatre-going. Some complaints about theatre ice creams are obvious. They’re too small and they’re too expensive. There is, however, a further problem. They are often too cold and rock hard. They seem to have been taken out of an industrial deep freeze just seconds before being put on sale. Chipping away at this rock face in order to get a sliver of ice cream on the spoon is not the best way to enjoy this treat. So, front of house staff, please take the ice creams out of the freezer in good time so that they are smooth and lovely when the interval begins.

How many of the twenty theatres below can you name ? Any helpful signage has been obliterated. Scroll down for the answers.

If you would like to make it easier, here are the names of all the theatres featured but in alphabetical order. If you just want the answers, scroll further down.

Adelphi

Aldwych

Almeida

Bridge

Gillian Lynne

Globe

Hampstead

Harold Pinter

Her Majesty’s

Lyceum

National Theatre

Novello

Old Vic

Prince of Wales

Royal Court

Sadlers Wells

Shaftesbury

Theatre Royal, Haymarket

Victoria Palace

Wyndhams

A.  Old Vic

B.  Sadlers Wells

C.  Aldwych

D.  Victoria Palace

E.  Novello

F.  Adelphi

G.  Hampstead

H.  Prince of Wales

I.   Lyceum

J.  Shaftesbury

K.  Bridge

L.  Harold Pinter

M.  Gillian Lynne

N.  Globe

O.  Wyndhams

P.  National Theatre

Q.  Royal Court

R.  Her Majesty’s

S.  Almeida

T.  Theatre Royal, Haymarket