Ajaxpost Plays: Beyond The Game

It appears that I like to spend the 5th of May in Bath, for example on this day Before The Lockdown: in 2001 At the Theatre Royal Bath to see Rent for the third, and so far final, time. This was mostly a new cast and the key character was played by, then hot TV property, Adam Rickitt coming straight from the famous cobbles of Coronation Street. There are good songs throughout and some powerful and affecting scenes but these don't necessarily feature the lead character. Having a popularly recognisable name on the poster is great for getting people into the theatre, they're not always the best actors in the cast. So, as with Joe McFadden in the earlier London production,Adam was fine and did a perfectly respectable job but it was scenes with the other characters that you remember. Interesting side note; one of the swings on this production was Daniel Boys in, I believe, his first professional role. I've seen him again perhaps only twice but he is now one of our bu...

Another triple hit day, I don't think I've found a day across four years yet ... but I'm sure there must be, y'know, probability and all that! Anyway, Before The Lockdown on this day ... in 1999 This is the furthest I have gone back so far and it's quite an interesting one. On this day I was in London to see Rent at the Shaftesbury Theatre. I would actually see this same production again later in the year, for the last performance and then again a couple of years later with a new touring cast. The main motivation for this trip was to see Joe McFadden who had so impressed in recent TV successes The Crow Road and Sex, Chip, and Rock'n'Roll . It had been a smash hit in the US but apparently didn't work quite so well  in London, but I remember enjoying it and although McFadden wasn't perhaps the most convincing lead he had enough charm to carry it off and I thought, as a whole it worked well, and there were certainly some very powerful and e...

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...