William Shakespeare died 400 years ago, and theaters all over the world are commemorating the death of the Bard of Avon with productions of his works. This summer, London venues offered quite a variety of Shakespeare’s plays.
At the Garrick Theatre on Charing Cross Road in the West End, where the Kenneth BranaghTheatre Company is in residence, ROMEO AND JULIET reunited Lily James and Richard Madden after their successful casting in the Branagh-directed film CINDERELLA. Many Americans will recognize Lily James as Rose in DOWNTON ABBEY. She is a lovely young woman and proves to be a fine actress. Her Juliet has been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike – including this reviewer.
It was not so with Madden, who received less than enthusiastic reviews. By the start of August, Freddie Fox had taken over the role. While Fox worked very hard to make Romeo credible, his performance was overly effusive, and he wasn’t able to develop a romantic relationship with his beautiful Juliet.
The most creative touch of the production was the decision to cast seventy-seven-year-old Derek Jacobi (also in the CINDERELLA cast) in the role of Mercutio, Romeo’s pal and drinking buddy. As a friend of mine, Karen O’Hara, suggested, in this production Mercutio is not so much a buddy as a friend and adviser in the Falstaff manner. Jacobi made a great comical impression as he recited his lines much like a song-and-dance man.
Northward in the London Borough of Islington, Ralph Fiennes lead the cast of RICHARD III at the AlmeidaTheatre. According to the box office staff, the entire two-month run was sold out the first day tickets went on sale.
Shakespeare wasn’t the only anniversary being celebrated in London. At the Vaudeville Theatre in the Strand, Martin Shaw, whom Americans will know as TV’s Inspector George Gently and Judge John Deed, heads the cast of HOBSON’S CHOICE. HOBSON’S CHOICE by British playwright Harold Brighouse was first performed 100 years ago. Shaw takes the stage in a robust comic performance. He leaves his rugged good looks in the dressing room as he appears with a fake belly and a sot’s red nose. He blusters and bellows and really gives his all to the role. The entire cast is superb.
HOBSON’S CHOICE (which is an idiom for no choice at all) tells the story of a drunken, bullying father who attempts to run the lives of his three adult daughters. However, his eldest daughter outsmarts him and turns the tables on him. In the wrong hands, this play could easily turn into an obsolete old war horse. Fortunately, the current production in the capable hands of director Jonathan Church seems 100 years young.
The National Theatre on the South Bank of the Thames may not be celebrating anniversaries, but they have been reviving several significant plays in new treatments. Most notable is their Young Chekhov season with PLATONOV, IVANOV, and THE SEAGULL in new versions by David Hare. Hare’s SEAGULL is at times impressive, but I left the theater wondering why this particular play, first performed in St Petersburg Russia in 1896, is considered one of the most important milestones in the development of modern theater.
These artful revivals give evidence to the talent on the London stage this summer. It is worth the effort to cross the pond to see such interesting theater!
Audrey Kupferberg is a film and video archivist and appraiser. She is lecturer emeritus and the former Director of Film Studies at the University at Albany and has co-authored several entertainment biographies with her husband and creative partner, Rob Edelman.
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