I haven’t posted in a while. The last two months I’ve been in London, doing a theatre internship for my NIDA Directing course, and seeing as much theatre as I can. My schedule was too hectic to write proper reviews at the time, but now that I’m back in Sydney, I’m consolidating my notes and writing about everything.

All up, I saw 16 shows in London: 2 musicals, 12 new works, 7 world premieres. Although I saw a few of the flashy West End shows, I tried to focus on discovering slightly smaller companies like the Royal Court, the Bush, the Almeida, the Donmar and the Yard.

16 shows is far too many for me to review with my usual depth, however I’d like to introduce a new segment: London Theatre Diaries. Here I will attempt to briefly review every single play I saw in my two months there. I’ll write these diaries chronologically, and today’s post covers show 1-3: The Human Body at the Donmar Warehouse, Witness for the Prosecution at London County Hall and Foam at the Finborough Theatre.

PLAY 1: THE HUMAN BODY by Lucy Kirkwood, Directed by Michael Longhurst, at the Donmar Warehouse

Outgoing Donmar Warehouse Artistic Director Longhurst directs this period drama about the inception of the NHS in England. This was honestly a pretty lacklustre start to my London theatre run. Kirkwood’s script is fairly pedestrian, a love affair between Iris (Keeley Hawes) and George (Jack Davenport). The main marketing draw was seeing the movie stars close up in the intimate Donmar stage (and I did like the small, intimate venue!). However, the story was boring and indulgently long. The experience was just salvaged by Longhurst’s genuinely interesting use of live cinema. As an audience, it feels like so many directors use live cinema for the gimmick, without clear dramaturgical justification. This was the rare exception, where Longhurst used cinematography to create a meta-fictional ‘romance film’ to show how the characters are romanticising their affair with the visual markers of old Hollywood love stories. I still wouldn’t recommend this, though.

PLAY 2: WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION by Agatha Christie, Directed by Lucy Bailey, at London County Hall

Another mediocre affair. I will admit, I fell victim to a London Tourist Trap here. The only thing interesting about this production was the main marketing gimmick, which is that its an Agatha Christie courtroom drama staged in the historic London County Hall. As a murder mystery thriller, its perfectly adequate. As can be expected, there are twists and turns, and the performances all have a flare of the melodrama. The site-specific venue was quite impressive for the first fifteen minutes, but then the thrill wears off and its just like any other play. Also not recommended.

PLAY 3: FOAM by Harry McDonald, Directed by Matthew Iliffe, at the Finborough Theatre

The first play that really interested me! This portrait of Nicky Crane, an infamous English neo-nazi who lived a secret life as a gay man in the 70s and 80s, was shocking and fascinating. I particularly appreciated McDonald’s choice to avoid the biographical route, and rather tell this story through five major conversations between Nicky and five men throughout his life. The play is entirely set in a men’s public bathroom, effectively designed for the intimate Finborough space by Nitin Parmar. The story starts with Nicky as a violent teenager, getting seduced into fascism by an predatory male mentor, and ends with his death due to AIDS-related illness in 1993. Iliffe directs a tight and tense production, and Jake Richards is particularly good and unnerving as Crane. Recommended (although closed now, as it was only a four-week season).

That’s all for me today! Stay tuned for my next posts as I cover plays 4-16. In my next entry: the Aussie’s hit the West End with STC’s The Picture of Dorian Gray transfer with Sarah Snook, the Bush’s West End hit Red Pitch, and the recent-Olivier award winning Operation Mincemeat.

Jo Bradley