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I loved this gravity-defying production so much, that when I saw the next day, via twitter, that they’d added an extra show, I grabbed myself a ticket.
Faust
Inspired by Goethe’s Faust, the play examines those big questions of life: What does it mean to be human? Is there a single moment so good that it’s worth giving up your soul for? Co-produced by the Reykjavik City Theatre and the Young Vic, with music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, it’s clear that there was much faith in the team behind this show. And it was justified. The writers – Gisli Örn Gardarsson, Nína Dögg Filippusdóttir, Björn Hlynur Haraldasson and Vikingur Kristjansson, founders of Iceland’s groundbreaking Vesturport company – went off to the Icelandic countryside for a few days to let their imaginations run wild developing a script that would be a worthy adaptation of the hefty original, but that they could pull off in a two-hour production. Gisli then directs the production, with Nína and Björn in two of the principle roles. The result is an other-worldy, witty script that grabs your senses by the throat and gives it a playful shake. Set in an old people’s home over Christmas with a seemingly sedate group of residents, the sole entertainment appears to be the daily exercise regime they’re forced to perform in their wheelchairs to George Michael’s ‘White Christmas’, in what become an almost sadistic routine. In the midst of this, one elderly man’s despair at the futility of his remaining years conjures the devil with alarming (but exhilarating) results.
Bjorn Hlynur Haraldsson in Faust at the Young Vic (Photo by Tristram Kenton)
The stage set is fabulous. Criss-crossed rope identifies the back wall, with windows marked out by red-tinsel. A small but pretty detail at the start, the rope is cleverly used later for the devil and his helpers to cling onto, as they leap across the stage and hang mid-air. That see-through wall also enables us to watch people outside in the snow, delivering an extra dimension to the setting. It’s complemented by a rope ceiling, which allows the action to spread out over our heads, as the cast deftly walks, crawls, runs and bounces across the sky above us.
Every bit of space is used. This, combined with more traditional theatre tricks that use trap doors to shoot the devil’s cohorts onto the stage or suck them down into the bowels of an unseen chasm down below, music that’s a mix of subtle humour and full-on mania and a well-paced and well-acted script, means that you’re bombarded with action throughout.
The cast are amazing, smoothly integrating great aerial acrobatics with wonderful and often comic acting. Their timing is superb on every count. In fact, so is their entire performance. When the wistful old man finds that he’s swapped bodies with the devil’s debonair side-kick, as part of the deal, the subtleties that the two of them bring to playing each other are priceless. Whilst the devil himself mixes evil with humour, beautifully. And that really is to name just a few of the outstanding cast.
The intimate nature of the Young Vic made it a great venue for this production. Performances like that, when you can practically touch the actors makes the atmosphere even more electric.
Although he trained as a film student, Mark Romanek first made his name as a music video director. He won critical acclaim for the controversial Nine Inch Nails video, ‘Closer’; spent $7 million making one the most expensive videos of all time for Michael and Janet Jackson’s, ‘Scream’; and received MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) credits for En Vogue’s ‘Free Your Mind’, Lenny Kravitz’s ‘Are You Gonna Go My Way’, and Madonna’s ‘Rain’, as well as for ‘Devil’s Haircut’ by Beck and ’99 Problems’ by Jay-Z.
En Vogue
Just as notable in his music portfolio is the intimate video portrait he made of Johnny Cash at home, to accompany the singer’s version of the Nine Inch Nails’ song ‘Hurt’, which became even more poignant when the music legend passed away soon after it was recorded.
While music videos will always been in Mark’s blood, he’s since gone on to the career he originally intended: making films. In 2002 he made his feature film debut with the critically-acclaimed ‘One Hour Photo. This creepy thriller, which he also wrote, saw Robin Williams star as the technician in a shopping mall’s 1-hour photo booth, who becomes obsessed with a family. Last night, his latest film, ‘Never Let Me Go’, starring Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield, received its European premiere when it opened the London Film Festival. Tonight, I’m excited to be at the National Film Theatre for a celebration of his inspiring career.
As Mark talks us through the showreel of his life, and we cheer his numerous highlights, you’d never guess that the modest man sitting in front of us is such a revered director. As we all sit there in awe of his talent, he rejects the title of ‘legend’ offered up by a member of the audience and instead describes his experiences and achievements modestly. Talented, self-effacing and lovely. If we weren’t all sure how much we respected and adored Mark Romanek before we got to the National Theatre, we left there in no doubt.
By the time we went to see this, the reviews were long out and it wasn’t looking good. We went along with some trepidation – especially as Rashmi, my mate Almira’s husband and also a long-time friend of mine, was joining the four of us on one of our traditionally girls-only theatre nights. If it was just us and it was rubbish, we could laugh it off. But now our collective taste was going to be under scrutiny.
The fact that Bush Theatre is above a crap pub, next door to Shepherds Bush Empire, didn’t do anything to allay our fears. Its theatre bar is literally the bar for the Walkabout Pub that houses it. Home of many a drunken Australian stereotype.
But from the moment we walked into the actual theatre, I was hooked. A tiny space, those sitting stage right, like us, had to walk across the only open space, presumably ‘the stage’ to get to their seats.
When some hairy, dreadlocked hippy swayed into the space and sat down at the table in the middle, it took me a good five minutes to clock that it was Ralph Little, best known for the Royale Family and (my guilty pleasure…) Two Pints of Lager & Packet of Crisps (before you judge me, have you seen the Gaz-sturbation episode where Gazza tries to loose weight to win back Donna? Crap TV Gold, that is!).
The Aliens, by Annie Baker
Ralph is Jasper. He’s soon joined by KJ, another longhaired hippy, played by The Office/Pirates of the Caribbean’s, Mackenzie Crook. It transpires that they’re sitting in the backyard of a restaurant, getting wrecked and generally shooting the breeze. When Evan, the 17-year old bus boy, comes out to dump the rubbish, his concern about getting into trouble for letting these two wasters use the backyard as their sitting room, turns to wonderment at the insights they give him into life, music and drugs. Set over a summer in America, with Evan working to save money before college, what unfolds in front of us is the life of two happy-go-lucky, professional slackers. As Jasper and KJ tempt Evan with spliffs and magic mushrooms, they reminisce about life, talk about their old band, The Aliens, and Jasper plays guitar. Gradually, Evan gets drawn into their stories and their world and you can feel the youngster looking up to them and their worldy experience. But then things change. When Evan meets a girl he likes, his reaction to the crass advice that he gets from Jasper and KJ begs the question of who’s really the youngster and who’s the adult. As things unfold further, there’s a realisation of the unfulfilled, unhappy lives that Jasper and KJ live.
I really enjoyed this play – from the script and the theatre, to the production and the acting. The close proximity of the actors added to the sense of realism, making you feel like a fly on the wall in the midst of the action, rather than a detached audience. The script is really cleverly written. You learn about the lives of all three subtly but effectively. And there’s great attention to detail, even down the songs supposedly written by The Aliens, which are played and sung well by Ralph. Halfway through, Rashmi nudges me to point out that even the song about equations that KJ sings is mathematically correct.
Olly Alexander makes his stage debut in The Aliens at the Bush Theatre. (Courtesy of the Curtis Brown agency.)
Whilst I do really like Ralph Little as a rule, my gut instinct usually tells me that I like him because he seems like a good bloke, rather than because he’s a good actor. But here he proved any cynics wrong, stepping up to the mark against Mackenzie Crook to turn in a really believable performance. So, it must be a bugger to be overshadowed by the talents of a young pup like Olly Alexander, who played Evan. He pulled off just the right balance of nervous-young-kid- trying-to-find-his-feet-in-the-world, and someone approaching adulthood and realising that sometimes your idols aren’t as perfect as you think.
Welcome to the first instalment of my blog. I’ve wanted to set this up for ages. During my school days, I kept diaries religiously. Recording every wonderful, joyous, painful and confusing moment of growing up. It was great! But like so many things, that fell by the wayside in my late teens when I discovered boys and alcohol. Whilst my interest in alcohol and boys remains, I’ve realised that too much of a good thing can get you into trouble and so have learned to spread my interests a bit wider.
And there’s a lot competing for my attention. From music and fashion, travel and photography, media and politics, I get a buzz from all the goings-on in this stimulating and every-changing world we live in. I’m lucky to have many creative friends, work with lots of dynamic people, and organise and attend loads of great events. This blog aims to record at least some of that, so that life doesn’t just pass by in a whirlwind! Think of it as the diary of Janet Awe, aged 39½.
