Saturday 11 February 2012
Tuesday 7 February 2012
February the 7th in Theatrical History
On February the 7th 1753 'The Gamester' was produced at the Drury Lane Theatre. Essentially the play is all about the downfall that can be caused by the vice of gambling. The play is currently available from Amazon as a book in a translation by W. Reeve or on http://www.gutenberg.org/ (click on the title at the beginning of the article). It was originally written by Edward Moore and ran at the Drury Lane Theatre for ten consecutive nights with Mr Garrick in the lead role.
On this date in 1812 Charles Dickens was born. Dickens is perhaps the most prolific English writer since William Shakespeare. For more information on the celebrations of Dickens's 200th birthday please follow this link.
WLIIA: Weird Newscasters
Yes it is that time again, improv game Weird Newscasters done by the American Kings of Improv WLIIA.
Play Review: Gasping by Ben Elton
This review will be focusing on the book version of the play and not on a performance of the play.
Ben Elton is one of my favourite comedy writers, I love 'The Young Ones' and grew up watching 'Blackadder' and in more recent years have become more aware of his work as a satirist and author. Elton was arguably the number one stand up of the 1980s here in the UK famous for his swipes at the Tory government and Baroness Thatcher whilst she was Prime Minister.
'Gasping' is Ben Elton's first play and was first performed in 1990 at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. It is a satire based around big business in London. The dominant chairman of a multi million pound company is bored with making money from his current business and wants to find a 'Pot Noodle' which is described as a product that creates its own market and makes money without fighting for money from other markets. His idiotic toffy nosed subordinate Philip is asked to develop a new product that is a 'Pot Noodle'. Philip goes away with his own subordinate and finds this technology that is designed to help sufferers with hay fever by sucking in oxygen and cleaning it to make it pure and free of pollen. Philip surmises that instead of using it for its medical applications you could use it to create designer air, creating a market for branded air just like the market for designer water. There is one slight issue with the item, when it sucks in oxygen it outputs carbon dioxide to make sure the pressure in the atmosphere doesn't get ruined of course this also means that there is less oxygen available to breath. There is a side plot of Philip trying to pop his cherry with the executive ad woman that he hires to promote the 'Pot Noodle' which is branded the 'Suck and Blow'. Eventually a global situation of the rich being the only ones able to afford to breath leads to Philip suffering a breakdown before coming back in a tense dramatic final scene filled with black comedy.
I have read this play probably upwards of 20 times and each time I notice new things I never took stock of before. It is a very good read however I do have a few issues with the piece.
1. It has not aged well. Whilst the themes are still current the fact that it is set in the late 80s very early 90s means you really have to have lived or worked at that time to get all the references to yuppiness and fax machines.
2. The side story is distracting and not fully formed, whilst it does round out the play and add another dimension to the story I feel that in the end it does not entirely work.
3. The central character Philip. Philip is a fool who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has risen through the ranks for no apparent reason. He is a yuppie prat and when you look at the original casting for the play, he was originally played by Hugh Laurie, it looks like the part was written for only one actor. It also seems as if the character is a descendant of George from Blackadder, also played by Laurie, which makes it hard to read the script objectively.
Although I have these problems with this piece I have enjoyed it immensely and it did lead me to read more Ben Elton work in his novel 'Blind Faith' which is another piece of satire but set in a dystopian future England. I recommend it as a piece of business satire and as a starting point for anyone interested in seeing where the writer of 'We Will Rock You' began his stage writing career. I give it all in all a 3 out of 5 stars rating and would love to see it performed.
Monday 6 February 2012
February the 6th in Theatrical History
Sir Henry Irving was born at Keinton Mandeville Somerset on the 6th of February 1838. He was born to a poor shopkeeper. He started his working life as a solicitor's office boy before becoming a junior clerk with the East India merchants. His first brush with acting was when he joined an elocution class and discovered Sadler's Wells. Irving would spend every spare penny and moment going to Sadler's Wells to watch Samuel Phelps revive the original folio texts of Shakespeare. At the age of 16 he was introduced to William Haskins an actor from the Sadler's Wells company who helped teach Irving the art of acting and ultimately helped him gain his first job acting at the Lyceum Theatre Sunderland playing the part of Gaston in Lytton's 'Richelieu'. In 1857 he moved to Edinburgh where he worked for two and a half years before making his London debut at The Princess's Theatre in 1859. His first experience of the London stage did not go the way he wanted so Irving went back to the provinces for the next seven years. In 1866 he successfully appeared at the St James's Theatre. In 1871 he joined the Lyceum Theatre London under Bateman's direction and found great success. The legend of Sir Henry Irving then really began and hand in hand with his rumoured lover Ellen Terry revolutionised the theatre by attracting the Middle Classes to the theatres. Irving's lasting legacy maybe that he was knighted, the first ever actor to have the honour bestowed on them and brought a brand new level of respectability to the art. For more information there are numerous books available to read about the life of Irving although one of the most accurate is probably 'Personal Reminiscences of Henry Irving (1906)' by Bram Stoker one of Irving's friends and colleagues.
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