Othello: Rose Playhouse ***

Othello by Time Zone Theatre at the Rose Playhouse

Click here to read my review

.@TimeZoneTheatre 's #Othello is a brilliant example of how relevant and timeless Shakespeare's plays are when done right. @RoseTheatreSE1
— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) February 17, 2015

Impressed that despite how cold and intimate the @RoseTheatreSE1 is hardly anyone interrupted the 90 minute show with a cough or a sneeze.
— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) February 17, 2015

The Merchant of Venice ★★★★ All that glitters ...is marmite

Just look at the posters and banners of the production. It’s a neat photograph of a golden hamburger. What does this have to do with Shakespeare 16^th century play The Merchant of Venice? Zany as it may seem but artistic director Rupert Goold has rolled the dice and partook in some risky business by - somehow – merging Shakespeare’s Elizabethan script with the money gambling world of Las Vegas. Shakespeare purists and traditionalists may want to look away as this modern interpretation is more of a Goold special minus the literary flourishes and peculiarities of Shakespeare’s highly contentious play, known for its antisemitism.

Pop-culture and American accents take to The Almeida Theatre’s stage more so than Shakespeare’s own words. If you don’t like the idea of an Elvis impersonator interjecting - at random- Elvis’ best love ballads, or new hip club numbers or US rapper Jay-Z for that matter, then forget it! There are shades of Crime TV drama, The Sopranos at work too.  However, if you like modern experimentalism and something extremely different, then you’re in for an evening of entertainment and tacky American fun.

Despite exposing a tacky golden stage it’s quite accurate of real Las Vegas, which is, in actual fact, very filthy and cheap-looking. (Trust me! I've been there.) Tom Scutt’s set design is authentic and no stranger to Sin City’s superficial nature. He designs it as the fruit machine and commercial ridden television screens of Belmont Casino where Portia (think American sweet heart meets Alicia Silverstone from Clueless with a Southern twang), righteously played by Susannah Fielding, has to marry a suitor on the request of her father. The suitor who chooses the right casket out of three: gold, silver or lead, wins her hand in marriage, all of which is televised on a TV game show. Our Prince of Morocco is a boxer flaunted by Vinta Morgan who impressively manages to shadow box and speak in iambic pentameter at the same time. The buffoon Prince of Aragon (Vincenzo Nicoli) is freshly delivered from Mexico and can do many things whilst dancing his feet away to dodge bullets. He shouts ‘Viva España’ with a thick South American accent and welcomes a pantomime boo from the audience.  Yet it is her true love Bassanio (Tom Weston-Jones) who chooses the right casket but gets himself into a financial pickle with the supposed Jewish anti-hero Shylock (Ian McDiarmid), which puts his good friend Antonio’s (Scott Handy) life at risk, potentially losing  ‘a pound of flesh', literally!

McDiarmid, the former artistic director of the Almeida who is known for his role as Palpatine in the Star Wars films, portrays Shylock as a casino owner with a strong Germanized accent. Although a controversial and villainous character in Shakespeare’s play, notably for his devotion to Judaism, Goold’s production paints religion as a hypocrite - dialogue is brutally cut throat but doesn't make the production, on the whole, antisemitic. In the final scenes where Shylock is forced to convert to Christianity, there’s both a sense of cruelty from the Christian side and vulnerability from Shylock. The pity we first felt for the Christian Antonio, who’s inches away from losing his own flesh, is transferred to Shylock who is spat at and physically abused, which is an uncomfortable sight, repeatedly depicted in most productions of Shakespeare’s play. Yet despite bringing in an interesting version of Shylock, McDiarmid unfortunately leaves out the gravitas of Shylock famous 'hath a Jew not eyes' monologue, which is a distinctive part of the debate surrounding his character.

Nonetheless, the production has cast members who are a sight for sore eyes such as Rebecca Brewer as Stephanie, Emily Plumtree as Nerissa and Merry Holden as Conscience. Anthony Welsh as Gratiano and Raphael Sowole as Salerio play honourably on stage as well as Tim Steed as Solanio. And Jamie Beamish as Gobbo, aka Elvis, does his best at singing until his heart’s content.

Brewer and Fielding serve justice on a silver platter as they disguise themselves as male lawyers in the final act and together save Antonio’s life. Particularly with Fielding, she takes care in reinforcing Portia’s dissatisfaction with her own marriage dilemma and acknowledges fake from reality. As much as her life is showcased on television, she takes off her wig and stilettos to reveal her inner self to her true love.

There’s a lot to admire in Goold’s novel production, but it may be deemed as marmite for some – not everyone will like it. 

Showing until the 14th February 2015. Click here to purchase tickets Photos courtesy of Almeida Theatre.

#TheMerchantofVenice @rupertgoold @AlmeidaTheatre If anyone can merge Jay- Z& Shakespeare then they have my respect pic.twitter.com/O7ERTuwK0I
— Mary Grace Nguyen (@MaryGNguyen) December 19, 2014

Lear at the Union Theatre - An enamoured mother downtrodden by maddness ****

Ursula Mohan’s Lear is the King’s widow in Phil Wilmott’s new production at the Union theatre that begs the question: “what if King Lear were a woman?”. In a stuffy and smoke-lit room, the audience is warned that ‘some of the immersive production is promenade’.  

The first scene is set in a black tie event where Cordelia (Daisy Ward) gently plays the piano as her self-controlled stately mother announces handing down her kingdom in return for lavish words of endearment. The older sisters, Goneril (Claire Jeater) and Regan (Felicity Duncan) although, insincere and secret plotters could have been a bit more sinister. Yet, it is only within a matter of minutes before Lear looses her head and all logic is lost as she throws her younger teary-eyed daughter at Burgundy (Riley Madincea, who also plays Oswald) and France (Alexander Morelli).

The subplot between the illegitimate son, Edmund (Rikki Lawton) and the real son, Edgar (Tom McCarron) couldn’t have been showed in any neater form. Edmund is a spitting, in-your-face and rough-around-the-edges type of fella who reveals his bloody endeavours in a zany manner. Yet, Edgar is fooled by his half-brother’s antics and is spurred on to leave his fitness regime, of push ups and sit ups, and to hide away, ultimately becoming the naked beggar of bedlam. McCarron develops Edgar’s character from hitting rock bottom to become a stronger and more clear-minded ‘Tom’ towards the end - the polar opposite of Lear.

Standing has its perks particularly for getting close to the cast during the torture scene of Gloucester (Richard Derrington). The cocaine addict, Cornwall (Stephen Harakis) and Regan use cigarette butts and a spoon to pluck out Gloucester’s eyes and it’s just as juicy and gory as Shakespeare would have liked. 

Madam Lear quickly becomes madder, hitting her head whilst asking members of the audience, ‘who am I? And ‘are you my daughter?’ It is an immediate sign of the bitter onslaught of dementia and her indecisive conscience. One moment she hugs Goneril, her sympathetic noble blood, and then hastily pushes her away calling her an ‘ungrateful hag.’ In the second part, her fool (Joseph Taylor), dressed in a NHS uniform, accompanies her through the rain with a trolley filled with a laundry bag. She is later hidden under brown cardboard boxes to denote her mental poverty and lack of royal sanity.

 By the final part, a large table is brought in and the audience can get near to the action. A light cheesy saxophone plays a lady’s love song whilst Edmund asks himself which sister to pursue sexual liaison with. His violent struggle with France ends with a loud neck crack, having a domino effect on everyone else’s death, besides the awakened Edgar and bystander, Albany, confidently played by John Rayment. 

Overall, the use of Lear’s widow has a more enamoured effect on the audience given the relationship subscribed to a mother and child. Yet, the intrigue of an interactive stage is an unnecessary gimmick. Often the audience spends half their time concentrating on the show and the other half trying to figure out where to stand to avoid a collision. Luckily in part two and three there’s opportunity to sit down.
Ends on the 28th June

National Theatre Live's showing of 'Sam Mendes' King Lear ****

National Theatre Live has provided live broadcasts of their stage productions since 2009 to over 500 cinema venues internationally. 250 venues of which are in the UK alone.  May 2^nd was the live presentation of Sam Mendes, director of James Bond: Sky fall and American Beauty, suspense driven production of ‘King Lear.’ The re-broadcast shows shall take place on the 15^th and19^th of May and considering that ‘King Lear’ has sold out at the theatre, itself, it is perhaps worthwhile grabbing cinema tickets for one of Shakespeare’s most notable tragedies; which although loses the frills of a theatrical experience allows viewers to see the action from closer angles, which can be equally beneficial.

Mendes relationship with Simon Russell Beale, who plays Lear, has been longstanding since 2000. Russell Beale’s Lear descends from an officious authoritarian leader, (who, although, is a short man has a powerful presence that speaks volumes beyond his height,) to an insane naked hospital patient who wears a straw hat and carries a bag of flowers; he suffering from dementia.


The beginning scene is a stately affair, in the presence of military men, where Lear divides his kingdom amongst his three daughters, yet Cordelia (Olivia Vinall) defies her father’s request for praise and love which drives him into a tantrum frenzy as he stomps across the stage. Vinall, however, plays an outspoken and unwavering Cordelia quite different to docile and self-effacing versions of Cordelia often portrayed, yet his parading of her on top of a chair to embarrass her is early signs of his sanity soon-to-be doomed.
Anthony Ward’s injection of digital grey cloud screens made the ominous tone of the play even scarier and his use of an elevated platform, which brought Lear and the fool towards the turbulent thunderous skies, was an innovative device necessary in any version of ‘King Lear.’

Goneril (Kate Fleetwood) and Regan (Anna Maxwell Martin) play the catty, evil sisters, similarly dressed in colour, sexiness and skintight wear to enchant and bewitch the men of power; Lear, their husbands, and their own half brother, Edmund, who they both – unknowingly – have affairs with to get their way. Yet there are other sinister and darker hues of immorality which pervade Mendes stage such as an incestuous relationship between Lear and Regan, as he often smack her bottom, and her husband, the Duke of Cornwall (Michael Nardone) use of a cork screw to pluck out the eyes of loyal and merciful Gloucester (Stephen Boxer) which left viewers gasping from the, somewhat realistic, blood as they hid behind their hands. A unique touch of Mendes was added when Lear killed his fool (Adrian Scarborough,) with an iron bar who delivered woeful singing to his Shakespearean lines of half-truths as he subtly warned Lear to be, ‘not have been old before thou hadst been wise.’ It is a unexpectedly shocking scene to see the innocent fool dead in a bath tub by the hands of the one he had most concern for, yet Russell Beale’s Lear is full of contradictions; he looks back at the bloodied body and whimpers as he had forgotten that he taken his fool’s life.

Sam Troughton as the bastard son, Edmund, plays an erudite half brother, but a hypocrite (no less,) whose charismatic monologues make him a great fit for the role. Yet Tom Brooke’s Edgar only becomes convincing towards the end of Act 2 with the accompaniment of his blind father, Gloucester. From the moment Brooke enters the stage, he presents a naive and uncertain Edgar; unsure of himself and, possibly, his own place in the play which is, sadly, felt by the audience. Gloucester and Edgar’s relationship is a parody of the lack of familial love shared with Lear and his daughters, and it is perhaps Brooke’s mistake to emphasise this as oppose to focusing, a little more, on the deeper elements of Edgar’s character.

The last scene where, like, most Shakespeare plays many anti-heroes are suicidal and bloodied, is rather unchoreographed and half-heartedly done. A much-anticipated brawl would have come in handy for such a taut and forlorn play. Nonetheless, the show’s sell-out status is thoroughly justified thanks to Mendes’ wickedly presented production.

Grassroots' Othello warrants a position in the West End, which so happens to take place on his 450th birthday *****

There are so many things to learn from Shakespeare. But Grassroots’ Siobhan Daly alludes to one of the most important lessons - the human soul and its fragility - in her production of Othello at the Leicester Square Theatre. With subtle sounds orchestrated by Tom Barnes, simple lights directed by Andy Peregrine and rich coloured fabrics that instill Venetian nobility and imagination by Rachael Vaughan and Suzi Lombardelli, much vision and craft can flourish in such intimate settings.   

Nari Blair-Mangat’s dramatic illustration of a young and good Othello tarnished by eating the fruits of Iago’s (James Alexandrou) words and tempting concoctions drive him into a pit of insane hell. Alexandrou’s plays a cool-under-pressure Iago sure of his deeds and intentions under a looming red light as he softly and slowly quotes Iago’s most famous soliloquys. He manages to retain east London characteristics as Eastenders’ Martin Fowler yet with keeping his boyish attributes at bay he successfully plays the most dangerous character. Iago is without a doubt a favorite villain not only for his Machiavelli cunningness and power to control the fate of feeble innocents but his undeniable tendency to make an audience question human evils and capability; can we plant the seed of manipulation to take life including one’s own? 

Blair-Mangat’s Othello however, is extraordinary. He is the most aggressive and maddest hothead but this does not put him at a disadvantage. Valiant and noble as the ‘moor’ must be, this lighthearted and loving husband is a sweet honeymoon bloom whose fortune is undermined by his naivety and gullibility. Blair-Mangat’s portrayal highlights an insecurity silently killing Othello as he tells the audience, ‘she loved me for the dangers I had pass'd, and I loved her that she did pity them.’

If Shakespeare were alive today this would be how he wanted it to be. Iago the frighteningly clever psychopath and Othello the easily swayed captain who regresses into a sickly and mentally unstable maniac. One may even say that Blair-Mangat’s Othello takes on another shade, a paranoid husband who believes he does not deserve the love from Desdemona, (Annabel Bates) the Venetian senator’s daughter.

Bates’ displays a pitiful and cherubic Desdemona whose unfortunate simplicity makes her submissively obedient to her jealous lover. Roderigo, (Adam Blampied) is Iago’s sad sideline but Cassio, (Boris Mitkov) is the complete antithesis as the handsome charming soldier who regards Othello highly.

Emily Jane Kerr was most notable for her embodiment of Emilia in the final scene showing the audience what a truthful best friend looks like. And Jim Conway’s version of Brabantio is ruthless. You would not want to mess with him nor his sword.

Shakespeare theatre is not dramatic unless its makes an audience engaged, gasping and introspecting the human condition and Daly’s Othello effectively does this. Othello can be produced in various ways but Grassroots ‘re-vitalised, re-imagined and re-examined’ work warrants a position in the West End as part of Shakespeare’s legacy, which so happens to take place on his 450^th birthday.

Scrawny Cat Theatre Company - Rose Theatre - Shakespeare's Richard III ****

By Mary Grace Nguyen

Richard III is about blood spill and a tragedy amongst the monarchy. Key themes like death and treachery of Shakespeare’s own Macbeth come to mind and with direction from Charlotte Ive of the Scrawny Cat Theatre Company only a small but unique presentation of Richard III is to be expected.

On a small stage overseeing the pit and courtyard of the original Rose theatre, the audience look onto a wooden stage with what looks like a black robe with a hand made metal crown and arm. Already the atmosphere is ominous. Jackets, satchels, cloths, and hats of different colours hang on the side and it is only 4 actresses, Rosemary Tross, Charley Willow, Victoria Allies and Marie Rabe who are left to demystify a condensed (90 minute) version of Richard III.

Dressed like Shakespeare himself with 15^th century cavalry boots and white-laced blouses the actresses manage to play 20-30 roles seamlessly by putting on clothes and taking off clothes in a quick and snappy pace. The stage is a fast moving one with hats and satchels being thrown at each other to be on cue for the next character. No one is Richard and no one is Lady Anne. The actresses play everyone and this is what makes the play even more interesting as it is almost like a teasing guessing game encouraging the audience to ask, who will play Richard next?  

Ive’s production is a refreshing take on Shakespeare but not one for a passive audience. There are dynamic interactions, movements and quick changes into characters that an attentive viewer must listen and look out for. Noticing the change in voice and change in personality is tough but surprisingly these actresses pull it off considering the constraints and challenges of being in a play with no intervals or scenery changes. Also, Elizabeth Graham’s sorrowful singing added enough atmosphere to suggest the gloom of Richard III in a dark lit theatre proving that good theatre can be made by a handful of artistic people.

Particular scenes with great talent include Allies and Rabe showing the audience four characters at the same time with the help of Jo Lakin’s puppets. From Richard and Buckingham to two high-pitched young princes, one could tell it was not an easy job learning all those lines but successfully executed it without confusion or mistakes.

Other interesting scenes included Willow’s conniving and seductive Richard whilst trying to win over Rabe’s interpretation of an innocent and ‘puppy eye’ Lady Anne. Tross’ representation of an anxious and paranoid Richard in the final act dwelling over the array of souls he's murdered is so woeful that is it almost sympathetic.

Little is known about the Rose theatre (1587), but given its current condition of being under construction, presented with red rope lights indicating a pit and courtyard, it is not at an optimum state to show what it is fully capable of.

Once a center stage for Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, Shakespeare’s Henry VI and Titus Andronicus as a fifth purpose-built theatre in what was once one of London’s most attractive area for the underworld (of brothels, gaming dens and bull/bear- baiting arenas,) it was overtaken by the popular theatres, the Swan (1595) and the Globe (1599) and eventually abandoned. However, it was discovered again in 1989 during a site clearance and re-development project, which leaves us with a theatre reviving itself from the rubble.  

Ive asks us to consider who was Richard III besides the obvious, ‘notorious villain, child murderer, hated despot’ but there is little to sway our mind. Richard was the lowest of low - A spiteful and ruthless king. How the 4 actresses portrayed him mattered very little to the audience. As the play progressed and Richard's character was played in different guises, the audience learnt to despise Richard more and more. "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" is a significant quote as Richard's last dying words in the play. As Patroclus would say in Shakespeare’s play 'Troilus and Cressida', I say Good riddance!