Nicole schreibt...

What? London AGAIN? Well, yea, it was only a quickie for one day. Having told myself repeatedly that I would stay away from London during the Olympic year with its slim pickings and that I would survive not seeing Sweeney Todd, my resolve broke down like a house of cards in a force ten-gale when I found out that my present TV-crush Harry Lloyd was starring alongside the wonderful Eve Best in "The Duchess of Malfi" at the Old Vic. So yea, I worked out cheap flights, a matinee day to cram in two shows and a cheap hotel in Earls Court, closer to Heathrow than my usual haunts - and off I went.

I had been surprised when I had booked my flights to see that Germanwings was suddenly flying to Heathrow and not to Stansted in the boondocks, but as it turned out, they had simply taken over the routes previously flown by Lufthansa - so quite amusingly, I was really on my usual flights albeit for a lower price now. And of course I had picked the day when London had received a "severe weather" warning due to torrential rains, but that, in the end, turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the streets were surprisingly empty and a treat to walk around on. So after quickly checking into my hotel and dropping my bigger bag, I headed on to the West End to do the usual walking tour around my favorite shops although even that turned out to be a bit boring since my last trip is not so long ago and I ended up buying only the Box Set of "Game of Thrones" and two play texts.

After a quick but nice lunch at Leon's in Old Compton Street I went to the Adelphi Theatre to fulfill my wish to see Sweeney Todd there - I had never seen this show before and I've always been a fan of Michael Ball, so I had been interested in this anyway and it received glowing reviews both in its initial outing at the Chichester Festival last year and now in London. And it sure was worth it!

Director Jonathan Kent and designer Anthony Ward have updated the setting to around 1930 with alot of gloomy metal and bleak neon lighting, but it worked pretty well, except for the unfortunate costuming choice for Judge Turpin and Beadle Bamford who looked like Thompson and Thomson out of the Tintin comic books. The high stage and the fact that many scenes took place on an elevated platform that represented Sweeney's first floor barbershop had caused many complaints from people in the front rows and I was pretty glad that I had decided to fork over for a full price seat in Row D which provided me with a pretty perfect sight on everything.

The show stands and falls with its leading performers and this production is blessed with two truly outstanding stars - in the end it was Imelda Staunton who convinced me even more as Mrs Lovett than Michael Ball did as Sweeney. She had proven in Vera Drake and in the Harry Potter-movies that she excels at playing harmless looking mumsy types with truly dark sides and that worked perfectly for Mrs Lovett, who was alternately hyper and chirpy and ice-cold menacing. For Michael Ball on the other hand this role was truly a departure - from charming crooner via comedy powerhouse in Hairspray to deranged serial killer, he's truly developed and matured in these last years since his full return to musical theatre. Oh and a honorable mention goes to Luke Brady as Anthony, a very promising young man and easy on the eyes too :)

Overall it still dragged in some parts, but it was good entertainment overall and a nicely gory end with fake blood all over the place.

From the Adelphi it was a quick walk up the Strand where I quite rightly remembered a Cafe Rouge to be, the faux-French brasserie chain I had quite enjoyed in Canterbury in January, that serves decent fare at decent prices and also offers free wifi, so it was a good place to chill for an hour before I headed on across the Thames to the Old Vic Theatre and the "Duchess of Malfi".

In terms or gore Webster's 17th century play can keep up nicely with Sondheims Demon Barber of Fleet street and it rather amused me to see two shows in one day where most of the cast meets a sticky end. The problem with Webster's play is though, that the heroine is killed off by her increasingly insane and jealous brother Fernando in the fourth act, leaving the audience to sit through another 45 minutes or so until the rest of the cast murder each other. But at least until then it was a pretty good, intense drama held up by a great cast. If there is one nag, then it's the fact that while Eve Best and Harry Lloyd are both fantastic performers separately, they never for one moment convinced me they could be twins. Eve Best can't pass for much younger than her actual 41 years and Harry Lloyd can't pass for older than his actual 28 years. Twins? Fernando the older brother raging jealously about his sister having a paramour? Not likely. But somehow it did work - just as it worked to see tall strapping Tom Bateman who I had only just seen as Richard Lionheart in "The Lion in Winter" in January as the Duchess's new husband Antonio, despite being younger than her.

Eve Best was a wonderfully proud and noble Duchess, while Harry Lloyd gave a very convincing live version of the crazy psychopaths he's played on Doctor Who and Game of Thrones already, so between the three of them, I was already completely won over. Extra kudos though to Finbar Lynch who's been playing the cardinal with his (real) broken arm in a sling since the opening night and to Mark Bonner whose Bosola - the spy with a conscience - is really the central character throughout and holds it all together.

It's probably not the greatest play in the world and wasn't quite up there with my best theatrical experiences, but just seeing these people live on stage was good enough for me and left me a very happy little camper who then returned to her little hotel in Earl's Court. It's a new "hotel area" for me, but since it's 20-30mins down the Piccadilly Line and I had a plane to catch early next morning, I figured it would be a good choice and the hotel pretty much did the trick for me. And now? Yes, now I'm -really- not going back till December. Promise!