For those who don't know, I'm a sponsor of the Old Vic, so make a point of attending everything they put on. Before the matinee, I met up with Natasha Harris, the Old Vic's newly appointed Depty Director of Development. She has just replaced Tiffany Nesbit, who has returned to the US. We discussed various things, including the possibility of increasing my level of support, changes she's thinking about making to the perks supporters get and the future programme. As I already knew, they're putting on The Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard next summer, directed by Sam Mendes as part of the Bridge Project, which takes the same plays and performers to the US. I picked up some gossip about a Hollywood name who looks likely to be cast. While not a really famous actor, they are someone most people with a reasonable interest of movies will have heard of. And no, I'm not giving any clues, but I believe a press release is fairly imminent.
No word on what's filling the schedules after christmas. They announced last week that Alan Ayckbourn's The Norman Conquests is being revived between September and December, so there's no panto this year. Should be an interesting experiment. It's actually a trilogy of plays, starring the same cast, as the same characters, in the same location and at the same time. In effect, each play takes place in different rooms of the same house. Each can be viewed on a standalone basis, of you can watch all three and see the interconnections between them. The cast includes Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan and Paul Ritter and it's directed by the increasingly stellar Matthew Warchus, who recently did Speed-The-Plow. Interestingly, it's being performed in-the-round, necessitating a reconfiguration of the theatre which will leave it dark for about a month after the end of Pygmalion's run, but which will they also be able to roll out again for appropriate productions in the future.
Anyway, on to Pygmalion. It's not a play I'm really familiar with. That said, I'm not really familiar with many plays at all, but never mind. I won't go into the plot here, you can look it up, but in summary it concerns two men who make a bet that one of them (Tim Piggott-Smith as Professor Higgins) can transform a common-as-muck flower seller (Eliza Doolittle, played by Michelle Dockery) into a seemingly well-educated lady.
Being a Wednesday matinee, the audience was almost entirely full of pensioners on coach trips, one of whom, a lady from Wolverhampton, fell asleep next to me within ten minutes of curtain up. Fortunately, the play didn't have such a soporific effect on me. I thought the three pre-interval acts were the most entertaining and humorous, particularly the third where Doolittle is introduced to to Higgins' mother and other society figures. After the interval, it gets a little more serious as the questions are posed of what should happen to Eliza after her transformation, given the bet is over, and what are Higgins' true feelings for her.
Unfortunately, by this time I had been sat in my seat for 90 minutes and as anyone who has sat for any length of time in the Old Vic stalls will tell you, they're not the most comfortable seats in the world. The leg room is fine, generous in fact, but they're very narrow, so you can't alleviate discomfort by crossing your legs and so on. By the end of the play, my low back was suffering and I'm afraid it negatively impacted on my enjoyment of the play.
However, my discomfort couldn't diminish my enjoyment of Michelle Dockery's performance. Quite simply, it's the best female performance I've seen at the Old Vic so far. She's a truly phenomenal Eliza, pitch perfect in every way and if there's any justice in the world, must surely become a great star of stage and screen. Almost as good is Tim Piggott-Smith, clearly having tremendous fun in playing Higgins like an overgrown schoolboy. An absolutely class act.
Also notable are Tony Haygarth as Alfred Doolittle and newcomer Emma Noakes as Clara - a sublime little performance from her.
Overall then, a recommendation. If you feel you can endure the seats, please do go see Pygmalion and you will be rewarded with some fabulous performances.
After Pygmalion, I met up with my good friend Lotty and we headed to Hampstead for An Eligible Man, via a brief diversion to check in at my hotel in Belsize Park. The New End is a tiny little theatre of around 80 seats, handily situated next door to a pub in a quiet corner of Hampstead. It's a converted mortuary, apparently! [Insert gag about corpsing here]. We were here because the play stars an amazing friend of mine, actress Patricia (Tish) Potter...
Tish is best known for her five-year stint as Diane Lloyd in Holby City, before which she was in Brookside. She's also appeared in Extras, Jam & Jerusalem, The Bill and other shows, as well as the film Shakespeare In Love, for which she won a SAG.
An Eligible Man is a about a widowed judge (The Archers' Graham Seed as 'Topher' Osgood), the three women vying for his attention and his daughter (Tish!), who is trying to get him to move on, while still remaining very protective of him. It deals with the subject of moving on after the death of a loved one in a gentle and way with light humour. It's well paced with individual scenes never lasting more than a few minutes and its runtime - two hours including interval - is just right. It does feel like a play written for a middle-aged, Radio 4 audience, but that's not meant as a criticism.
Graham Seed is a seasoned actor and his performance is spot-on, investing his character with a likeable and handsome charm. The rest of the cast are mixed. Sonia Saville stands out as posh Lady Jo, Maggie Hallinan as neighbour Lucille and Malcolm James as Osgood's best friend are fine, if not outstanding, but Grainne Gillis tries too hard and fails to convince as osgood's new tenant, Sally. Tish aside, the only other cast member is Nina Kwok as a chinese shop assistant. She's fine, but the scene is ill-advised and a little embarassing.
As for the lady herself, Tish Potter brings the play's life and energy. The stage almost lights up when she appears, flowing locks, in her cycle helmet, miniskirt and boots, a sort of middle-class post-hippie chick. Hers is the only physical performance in the play and without it, it would risk becoming a staid parlour piece. As it is, she rounds it out beautifully and, indeed, with beauty. I am, of course, biased. You don't have to take my word for it though. Here's what other reviewers have said...
"Patricia Potter gives the outstanding performance of the piece" - Jeremy Austin, The Stage
"an excellent performance by Patricia Potter" - Jeremy Kingston, The Times
"There are stellar performances from Graham Seed... Patrica Potter, who plays Osgood’s troubled daughter" - Northwest Magazine
After that, we waited for Tish at the stage door, along with an older couple who I later learned were family friends of Tish. We all went off to a pub just down the road and the man, Stuart, got a round of drinks in. Turned out he was none other than millionaire Mr Stuart Wheeler, founder of financial spread betting company IG Index, erstwhile Conservative Party donor of no small significance and father of supermodel Jacquetta Wheeler...
He's currently taking Gordon Brown to court to try and force the government to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. A thoroughly lovely man he is too. His wife, Tessa, is a successful photographer and is about to have a book published containing her photos of Tangiers.
The Wheelers left and Tish, Lotty and I watched the conclusion of the Champions League Final. I was expected the pub to be packed, but there were about twenty people there tops, including none other than Lisa Stansfield and her noisy dog. We had one last drink and chatted, then went our separate ways!
The next morning, on Tish's recommendation, I headed for Hampstead Heath, Hill Garden and the Pergola. You can find the photos of this expedition here and here, but I'll finish this post with my favourite...
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