Nicole schreibt...

I promised this would be a slighty batty summer in the literal sense of the word and this trip was first proof of that: Despite having planned a trip for August a long time ago, I decided I had to do this weekend as well, as the initial booking period for Bat ended on 28th July and I figured that if it became a huge flop, I definitely wanted to be at the last performance. It wasn't ALL crazy though, since it also enabled me to catch two more plays, the first one I would have killed a cat for to see: Martin McDonagh's "Lieutenant of Inishmore". I'm a huge fan of McDonagh's pitch-black humour and none of his plays are blacker than this dark satire about Irish terrorists (which was written in the 90s, when the IRA and INLA were still active before the Good Friday Agreement was signed). And while I'm more Team Dr Enys, I really didn't mind them casting Aidan Turner in the lead, these days best known as Ross Poldark in the new BBC adaptation (and for you fantasy geeks: as the hottest dwarf in Middle-earth). Added bonus: When I had picked up my ticket at the box office and wanted to step out, who'd come in out of the downpour outside? The very man himself, almost bumping into me.
I really really enjoyed the play, which zipped along and was full of great performances all around, most notably Chris Walley as Davey and Denis Conway as Donny dealing with the accidental death of Mad Padraic's cat Wee Thomas and Charlie Murphy as trigger-happy Mairead, whose cat Sir Roger meets a sticky end - along with most of the human cast. Michael Grandage sure didn't shrink from creating a bloody mess on stage, but missed a trick by hardly showing Sir Roger's transformation from ginger to black (even if it was only a fake cat). As for Aidan Turner himself - maybe it's bad timing that the current season of Poldark is on the BBC right now, but it took me a while to forget his TV persona - and when things really got going in the second act, he was utterly brilliant and delightfully mad indeed. I definitely had a great time and my trip was off to a perfect start.
Meeting an online friend for the first time fell through the next morning due to scheduling problems, so instead I wandered around Oxford Street for a while until it was time for lunch and the matinee: "Tartuffe" at the Haymarket Theatre. It had been announced as an Anglo-French co-production with a mixed cast performing in a mix of both languages (with subtitles in the corresponding other one) and I did briefly wonder who the French would send over. Never in a million years had I expected them to send my girl crush, the beautiful Audrey Fleurot, who I've been loving and adoring in both Engrenages (Spiral) and Un Village Francais, so naturally I had to be there in the front stalls to see her.
Tartuffe ou l'imposteur is Moliere's best-known work and for this production they had relocatad the plot to modern-day Los Angeles where French gadzillionaire Orgon (Sebastian Roche) has fallen for the charms of televangelist preacher Tartuffe (Paul Anderson). It's outspoken servant Dorine (Claude Perron) and Orgon's wife Elmire (Audrey Fleurot) who see through Tartuffe's schemes and finally bring him down. To be honest, it was all a bit lame and didn't really engross me, but I could have listened to them speak French for hours (with subtitles helping me along) and the cast was as brilliant as you'd expect from such a high-profile production. My personal surprise was George Blagden, whom I had remembered as a great Athelstan on Vikings but found utterly dull and wooden as Louis XIV in Versailles. As energetic scheming son Damis he was really great, so I assume it really was the part of the Sun King that didn't do him any favours. Naturally I was more than happy to see Audrey live but honestly, I'd rather have watched her read the Paris phone book for two hours. And was that a wardrobe malfunction or what was up with that elaborate designer frock not being zipped properly? Ah well, I certainly don't mind going to see her and to add another "classic" to my canon, but either this production or the whole play just don't do it for me.
After a dinner break it was back to the Batcave for what should have been the icing on the cake, but alas Stage Entertainment is not content ruining German productions for me but also London by now, with a generous helping of British Airways offering the usual airline cock up. Long story short: While the two leads Andrew Polec and Christina Bennington should have been back from that idiotic show truck thing in Germany to perform that day, they were not, so I was facing a fifty-fifty situation: Delighted to see Georgia Carling as Raven, since La Bennington has always been the weakest link among the stars for me, not very happy to see Jordan Luke Gage as Strat, looking like a poor man's Johnny Depp with that awful undercut hairdo and guyliner. I'll say for him he's certainly adequate, has a decent rock voice, is dishy to look at, etc. etc. and if you have no one to compare him to, you'll probably be fine, but to me the difference between a "decent" performer and a truly outstanding performer with massive charisma and 110% dedication became glaringly obvious here. At least Georgia made up for it, being a very fine singer who knocked both "Heaven can wait" and "It's all coming back to me now" out of the park with a fabulous voice, so I'd hope for her that she gets promoted to first cast at some point. Acting-wise though she was just as bland, so I assume that it's really more the character than whoever plays her. Otherwise it was mostly the first cast with Rob Fowler, Sharon Sexton and Danielle Steers their usual fabulous selves, joined by understudy Christopher Cameron as Jagwire. Ultimately I don't mind having seen others now (and I wouldn't mind seeing Georgia again), but please give me my blonde yankee boy again next time, I can't deal with mediocrity in the best role. And luckily the next performance is only two weeks away... in the meantime, have a model action figure: