Ajaxpost Plays: Beyond The Game

The story of this particular day Before The Lockdown is of missed opportunity. in 2006 One thing you have to learn about advance booking for the theatre is that you are booking for the play and not the actor! On this day we had booked to see Paul Nicholls (building on his growing reputation as a skilled stage actor) and the estimable and already well established Clare Higgins in Phaedra at the Donmar Warehouse in London. Shortly before it opened it was announced that Paul Nicholls had to be replaced and his part taken on at very short notice by the slightly less experienced Ben Meyjes As I recall it was a  perfectly good play if somewhat prejudiced by the lack of one of our favourite up-and-coming actors, and as good as Ben was, he couldn't offer quite the same energy and intensity that Paul had developed through his previous work, which would have been supplemented by the fact that he had previously worked with Clare Higgins in Vincent In Brixton . Indeed, as one reviewe...

Ahh, and we have another busy day in history, Before The Lockdown: in 2002 My first visit, of admittedly few, to the National Theatre in London was to see Vincent in Brixton at the Cottesloe. It's strange what, if anything, you remember of a work. Sometimes absolutely nothing or, as with this production, an odd detail like that they actually had a working kitchen as part of the set! Though, to be fair, I do also recall an impressive performance from Clare Higgins as the landlady of the house Vincent van Gogh was staying in. Escaping a traditional Christian Dutch environment to the more progressive and permissive London, Vincent found a muse of sorts, someone who recognised his talent, and also a love interest or two. As I recall it, a gently paced tale of the two lead characters recognising their likely futures one bright and creative, the other returning to a hum-drum day-to-day existence after a brief moment of excitment. This production was also interesting in terms of...