'Oedipussy' by Spymonkey
20 February 2012
One of the most difficult challenges for any artist is how
to respond to a particularly bad review. Australian comedian Tim Minchin
(reviewed here in November 2008) famously wrote a vitriolic song about the
Guardian reviewer Phil Daoust ("occasional Guardian newspaper
journal-oust"). Now physical theatre company Spymonkey’s response to a bad
review by Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman (and particularly her reference to
them as a “bunch of middle-aged actors”) is to create a gloriously silly
rendering of ‘Oedipus Rex’ in the style of a 1970s James Bond film which plays
on the theme of ageing. As they say at the beginning of ‘Oedipussy’ - “this
one’s for you Joyce McMillan!”. We were at the Royal Theatre in Northampton on
Saturday to see the last night of ‘Oedipussy’ – a Spymonkey production in
association with the Royal & Derngate Northampton, written by Carl Grose
and the cast and directed and adapted by Emma Rice. I had loved the visual
humour and stagecraft of two previous Emma Rice productions – ‘A Matter of Life
and Death’ at the National Theatre (reviewed here in May 2007) and ‘Brief
Encounter’ which I also saw at the Royal Theatre, Northampton and this show
(her first with Spymonkey) had a similarly inventive approach. Spymonkey are a
wonderful quartet of physical actors and clowns who spend much of the show
stepping out of character to complain about their aliments and moan about their
colleagues. Their re-telling of ‘Oedipus Rex’ (I loved that Sophocles gets a
biography in the programme which says he “has several projects in development
including a rock opera of his ‘Philoctetes with Einsturzende Neubauten and a
sitcom treatment for Baby Cow”) is chaotic and confused with the actors often
arguing amongst themselves. This is a physical theatre version of The National
Theatre of Brent. There were some great visual gags: why is there nothing so
funny as someone trying to walk through a narrow space while wearing headgear
that is too wide for the space?! And the show finishes with the most hilarious
suicide by hanging that you are ever likely to see on stage! ‘Oedipussy’ was
incredibly silly and I suspect most people would either love it or hate it but
I was grinning throughout, except for when I was laughing raucously – and many
of the audience ended the evening in unstoppable hysterics.
Labels: Comedy, Theatre
'Our Version of Events' by Emeli Sandé
17 February 2012
Another week, another eagerly-anticipated debut album by a much-hyped young female singer songwriter. But it's not every week that the young woman in question is a former medical student from rural Aberdeenshire with English and Zambian parents. As you start to listen to 'Heaven', the opening track of Emeli Sandé's album 'Our Version of Events', it's easy to leap to the assumption, guided by the rapid background beats, that you're squarely in dance music territory. But the emergence of brass chords, leading to an epic orchestral backing, seems to take you into more of an R&B feel. And Sandé's voice is a powerful, soulful instrument. The further you travel into the album the less sure you are of where you would pigeon-hole this music. It's a clever and impressive collection of pop songs, ranging from the delicate simplicity of 'Where I Sleep', to the whispered vocals of 'Mountains' to the piano ballad 'Clown'. There's a particularly strong strand of sad but gorgeous songs such as 'Daddy' and 'Maybe'. 'Our Version of Events' is a cool, varied and sophisticated first album: it will be interesting to see what Emeli does next.
Labels: Albums, Music
'The Comedy of Errors' by William Shakespeare
7 February 2012
‘The Comedy of Errors’ is a very early Shakespeare play and
not one of his best. Even within the parameters of silly farce, the plot doesn't entirely make sense and several of the characters you are meant to care about
are less than sympathetic. But it still provides solid material for an
enjoyable romp if handled well. Dominic Cooke’s new production for the National
Theatre is a very modern take on the play. Set in a seedy, urban, contemporary world
it makes good use of the massive stage in the Olivier Theatre, incorporating
three-storey buildings which use the full height of the auditorium. I loved the
way the passage of years was indicated by the changing sponsors’ names on
Dromio’s Arsenal football shirt! The star attraction here is Lenny Henry who
gives an impressively restrained performance as Antipholus of Syracuse, with
the occasional hysterical outburst, wide eyed astonishment and manic energy all
the funnier for their sparing use. Antipholus and Dromio are a classic
simpleton double act along the lines of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (though ‘Don
Quixote’ was published more than 10 years after the first performance of ‘The
Comedy of Errors’) and Lenny Henry and Lucian Msamati make a great team: it is fascinating
to see Lenny Henry more often playing the straight man. As the farce begins to
take off in the second act there are some great comic moments with crowds of
actors pursuing each other around the set. Claudie Blakley and Michelle Terry
deserve a particular mention for managing to negotiate the chase scenes in
vertiginous high heels!
Labels: Drama, Theatre
‘Born To Die’ by Lana Del Ray
3 February 2012
I’ve been listening to the most anticipated debut album of
recent years, ‘Born To Die’ by Lana Del Ray, which was released on Monday. I
haven’t really been following all the hype, which seemed to centre on outrage
in the media that Lana Del Ray turned out to be a character rather than a real
person – which doesn’t seem a terribly newsworthy scandal in the world of pop
music. I came to the music without much of the backstory and have been enjoying
the album on its own merits. This is incredibly catchy pop with a hint of dreamy
strangeness. It’s lusciously produced
with soaring strings, gentle piano chords, drums and electronic beats, plenty
of echo, some light rapping and Lana Del Ray’s haunting, very slightly slurred
vocals. It’s the tunes and their delivery that make ‘Born To Die’ addictive
pop. The lyrics don’t bear too much scrutiny but there are some great singalong
choruses. ‘Video Games’ is a wonderful song – slow, gentle, littered with harp
arpeggios and low, sultry vocals with a weirdly compelling melody that seems to
twist sinisterly in unexpected directions. ‘Diet Mountain Dew’ feels completely
different – trip hop meets cheerleader with a minor key feel that sounds a lot
like early Oi Va Voi. ‘National Anthem’ clearly borrows from ‘Bitter Sweet
Symphony’ by the Verve but takes us on into a memorable chorus. Cleverly
manufactured pop music.
Labels: Albums, Music
