REVIEW - Measure for Measure, Young Vic

FOUR STARS

Romola Garai as Isabella, credit Keith Pattison

I’D wager that it’s not often that you go to the theatre and see in the opening scene a stage full of inflatable dolls.

Well, head on down to the Young Vic and that’s precisely what greats you in a new and highly charged production of Shakespeare’s Measure For Measure.

Director Joe Hill-Gibbins has set it very firmly in the 21st century and amplifies the excesses of Vienna from which the Duke wants to absent himself.

It is dark, seedy, anarchic, with unscrupulous characters, full of plotting and conniving, lechery and debauchery. No wonder Zubin Varla’s Duke wanted to escape – it is a cesspit of vulgarity and corruption.

Once the cast have extricated themselves from beneath the sea of dolls, the Duke bids farewell and entrusts his leadership to his deputy, the fiercely puritanical Angelo (Paul Ready) who interprets the law to the absolute letter. His first decision is to condemn one Claudio (Ivanno Jeremiah) to death for getting his girlfriend pregnant.

It falls to Lucio, played as a somewhat dour Scotsman by John Mackay to entreat Claudio’s sister Isabella (Romola Garai), a novice nun, to plead for his life.

The action takes place inside a rectangular box with a door at the back which leads to a space that looks like a rehearsal area. 

The company, credit Keith Pattison

It is here, behind the closed door that the blow up dolls have been thrown and where the worst of excesses happen – and we only get to see it when viewed on a screen on the back wall thanks to a video camera which follows the action in the back room.

The production is just under two hours straight through thanks to a prune of the original text and it is largely successful. However, I wasn’t keen on the use of the video camera and some of the humour that comes from Lucio was a bit lost, but that aside the actors were superb particularly Romola Garai who lit up the stage.

Measure for Measure is on at the Young Vic, The Cut, until November 14. Tickets from £10. Visit www.youngvic.org or call the box office on 020 7922 2922.

REVIEW - Volpone, Brockley Jack

THREE STARS

PEOPLE it seems have always been greedy and nowhere is this point proved more than in Ben Jonson's play Volpone.

Set in Venice it tells the tale of Volpone and his servant Mosca who pretend to all and sundry that Volpone is dying in order that he will get gifts and favours in return for being bequeathed his fortune.

A new production of this 17th century play is now on at the lovely Jack Studio Theatre in Brockley staged by Scena Mundi.

Director Cecilia Dorland has set it in the 1920s and has given it a judicious pruning.

What we are left with is a piece which is tight and funny and which shows Volpone's friends, the greedy birds of prey, Voltore, Corbaccio, Corvino and Lady Would-Be vie for his attention.

They visit him daily with expensive presents while delighting in the fact he appears to be dying.

However, things get a bit complicated when the old fox Volpone decides he wants to bed Corvino's virtuous wife Celia.

Things get further complicated when he is found with Celia and then hauled off to court. It is only the quick wit of Mosca which gets him out of the hole he's in.

It is an interesting production. Steve Hope-Wynne's Volpone doesn't strike me as particularly devious, rather just plain greedy - with wide bulging eyes and a leer when he thinks he's got one over on his friends.

They in turn are a rum bunch, each having their quirks. The funniest is Ava Amande as Lady Would-Be who talks nonsense most of the time, so much so that Volpone has to put his hands over his ears. He almost gives the impression he's a bit weary of his friends full stop and would just rather they all left him alone.

But the star of the piece is without doubt Pip Brignall as Mosca. With a fixed smile on his face he is both cunning and clever with a very sinister edge.

Volpone is on at the Jack Studio Theatre, Brockley Road until October 17. Tickets cost £14. Visit www.brockleyjack.co.uk or call the box office on 0333 666 3366

INTERVIEW - Helen Lederer

“I was just enjoying myself at my party and then it happened!”

Helen Lederer is recounting an incident two weeks ago in which she fell over and ended up in hospital.

In fact, the first thing she does when we speak is apologise if she sounds woozy during our conversation.

She explains she had been hosting a party at her Dulwich home for her birthday the night before our interview had been due to take place and had taken a tumble which resulted in her getting carted off to Kings and a set of stitches in her head for her trouble.

“You do feel as though you are invincible but vodka and fizz – it’s lethal,” she adds laughing heartily.

“The thing is that I don’t drink loads but I’m going to have to make a joke about it - how I got carried off to Kings! I like to find the humour in any given situation….”

Despite her obvious discomfort as we chat a few days later though now thankfully on the mend, she’s on good form, warm, friendly and very funny.

Known for her self-deprecating humour Helen needs no introduction. She is an actress, comedian, writer and now novelist, having this year published her debut comic novel Losing It.

Hilariously funny it is about Millie a middle aged divorced woman, an agony aunt for a magazine, who is in debt, over weight and so desperate to change her life that she agrees to be the front woman for a new diet pill.

Describing it as “mid lit”, Helen insists it is not autobiographical but acknowledges the similarities between herself and her heroine.

“I don’t know many women who haven’t had to face the things she has to,” she says. “Intelligent women who have that whole mother daughter relationship, or losing weight or ambitions to change her body somehow, or divorce – women can relate to that.

“I’m not the kind of person to write an autobiography but Millie is modelled on me as I’ve done everything including trying to lose weight.

“I suppose my concern is to find humour in these situations just as I would find in real life when I get myself into odd situations.

“Of course it shouldn’t matter what you look like but it does.”

Does that depress her I ask?

“Yes of course but it’s the way it is I suppose.

“It’s written to make people laugh,” she adds. “A few people have said they laughed out loud when they read it which is great.

“In fact, people have been very kind about the book – I think it’s because they can relate to her and her journey.”

Helen will be discussing the book at this weekend’s Dulwich Literary Festival, organised by Dulwich Books’ Sheila O’Reilly, and says she’s looking forward to having a chat with her audience.

“The book shop is a really good one and so when they said they were organising the festival and asked if I’d like to be on the list I said yes,” she says warmly.

“They do lots of talks and interesting, exciting events and activities and the line-up is quite special.

“Also it’s in Dulwich and as I live here it’s quite handy.”

For audiences who come and see her it will also be a chance to listen to Helen talk about her long career which has included stints in hit comedy TV series Ab Fab and Bottom, as well as performing as one of the country’s top comedians.

“I will go with the flow and talk about the 80s and 90s and my route into comedy which isn’t conventional and then do a Q&A which can be very amusing,” she says.

“I have got a section with a series of photos of jobs I have done over the years which looks like a duvet cover – it looks rather good and is quite fun. So we can always talk about one of the photos on it.

“Sometimes people want to know about the process of writing or just about what has happened recently in the world I have been inhabiting. It doesn’t matter, it will just be agreeable banter.

“I will of course be talking about the book and will be interested to see if they’ve read it and what they thought."

Given that she has been making people laugh for more than 30 years in a career that has been on both stage and screen not to mention the many scripts she has penned, how did it take so long to write this novel?

“Life,” she says simply. “Life has a habit of getting in the way. I have wanted to write this book for about seven years but things just happen, whether it’s a job or something else.”

And she is genuinely surprised and delighted Losing It has been nominated for not one but two literary prizes.

“It’s delightful but a total shock,” she says. “I can’t quite believe it but just to be nominated is amazing because you don’t go into this expecting it and I’ve never been nominated for anything in my life.”

So what’s next for Helen I ask? Her second novel is being penned as we speak, the first draft of which she hopes to have finished by Christmas, and she is filming Ab Fab in which she has a “small role”, before going up to Scotland to do a “scary thing” of teaching about comedy novel writing.

“I will be open about only having done one,” she laughs. “I will enjoy that experience although it’s well out of my comfort zone.”

And then of course now that she is a fully fledged novelist there are all the literary festival to do.

“It sounds exhausting,” she admits. “But I love it all and don’t like not having anything to do. I like to be busy although a lot of it is about me making things happen.”

And then adds, “so please come and see me in Dulwich at the festival – it’s going to be fun!"

Visit www.helenlederer.com or www.dulwichliteraryfestival.co.uk or call 020 8670 1920 for full listings.

INTERVIEW - Gary Wilmot

WHEN Gary Wilmot was growing up in Lambeth he had no ambitions to become a performer. Indeed he recalls being more interested in playing football and competed in the Sunday Sportsman League for a time.

But his general good humour, twinkly smile and ability to make people laugh eventually persuaded him to make a career in the entertainment world.

And what a career it has been. He rose to fame as a contestant on New Faces in the 1970s which led to numerous television appearances on shows such as Copycats, Knees Ups, Cue Gary!, and The Keith Harris Show before being chosen to host Showstoppers in 1994.

Since then he has graced both stage and screen, more recently making a name for himself as a musical theatre man.

Indeed this year has seen him in Oklahoma! and West End show The Pajama Game and is this week back treading the boards in what he describes as a "brilliant" play, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Currently on tour it is spending this week at the New Wimbledon Theatre and in a chat between shows he says he's having a ball.

“It’s a fabulous story and such a lot of fun,” he enthuses. “It’s brilliantly written, is cheeky, very funny and mischievous and the songs are terrific.”

Gary plays Andre, the chief of police in the French Riviera who takes backhanders from high class con man Lawrence Jameson as he tries to fleece the rich women who holiday there.

However, things get complicated when a rival con man, the American Freddy Benson, known as The Jackal, arrives in the Riviera and sensing it to be rich pickings, he decides to stick around and swindle money out of all the well off ladies.

The pair begin to compete with each other to hoodwink a millionaire heiress but discover there is only room for one of them.

“My character Andre tells Lawrence when rich women come to town,” explains Gary. “He’s a handsome man of course, charming and gorgeous and gets roped up in all the mischief.

“There’s also a love interest for him – it’s a great role!

“Freddy is a small time conman who gets something on Lawrence so Lawrence teaches him the way of the con and things get interesting.”

Andre is a role Gary is familiar with having played the character before in the West End run in 2014 and when the producers asked if he would like to come back for part of the tour, he said it was a no brainer.

“It’s such a great show, a real hoot, and it moves forward all the time sucking the audience in, it’s just terrific,” he says.

“I haven’t been in a show as fun as this since Me And My Girl, so I was really keen to do it again.

“I love the New Wimbledon Theatre as well. It’s such a great theatre and it was in danger of closing a few years ago so I am pleased they managed to keep it open.

“I was last there doing Half A Sixpence and the audiences were great so I’m looking forward to coming back.”

And while these days he may have made his home north of the river he says he has fond memories of living south and is also looking forward to catching up with family and friends while he’s in the area.

“I live in Bletchley now, the home of the codebreakers but I grew up in Lambeth,” he says. “I was born off Kennington Lane and when I was three we moved to the Lansdowne Green Estate.

“I learned everything there, played a lot of football and rugby and realised it was a great breeding ground for comedy. It was brilliant and I had lots of fun,” he remembers.

“My friends and I were always laughing and taking the mick out of each other. I certainly remember the Canton Arms and the Priory Arms.

“And it’s a long time since I heard of the South London Press, though our football teams were always in your paper,” he adds warmly.

“I never really wanted to be an entertainer but my friends pushed me and said I had a flair for it even though we were just mucking around and making jokes.

“However when I left school the facilities weren’t around and anyway in those days they wanted you to be a plumber or an electrician. I didn’t last long at that!”

His big break came with New Faces and he hasn’t looked back since. And although he says he's achieved most things he's wanted to do, he says a stint at the National Theatre would be nice.

"My career has been one long highlight but I'd love to work at the National or at Chichester one day," he says.

"Jobs at the Old Vic and the Menier were great - when you do those places you work with the best people around which is brilliant.

“I always felt comfortable in front of a mic,” he adds. “I’ve had down times as well as good times and it’s tough to keep going but it’s the best job and I love it - life’s too short to do stuff that you aren’t happy with.

“I’ve been doing it for 40 years – which is amazing considering I’m only 32!”

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is on at the New Wimbledon Theatre, The Broadway, until Saturday, October 10. Visit www.atgtickets.com/wimbledon or call the box office on 0844 871 7646.

REVIEW - Jane Eyre, National Theatre

FIVE STARS

JANE Eyre is one of the classics of English Literature. Written almost 170 years ago, Charlotte Bronte’s story of Jane’s struggle to find happiness, love, freedom and fulfilment on her own terms is as inspiring as ever.

Her story has been re-imagined by director Sally Cookson who has brought it to the National Theatre after a successful run at the Bristol Old Vic last year.

It is the most fascinating, beautiful and fabulous production that charts Jane’s beginnings as a baby who soon becomes a destitute orphan before facing her life’s not inconsiderable obstacles head on with an obstinacy, feistiness and determination that was way ahead of her time.

Indeed her story feels fresh and very much current thanks to this brilliant production which is staged on wooden structure made up of a series of ladders, platforms and walkways.

Jane survives poverty, beatings, injustice and a lack of love as well as losing her best friend Helen Burns to TB – indeed the scene in which Helen dies was heartbreakingly sad and I am sure I wasn’t the only one fighting back tears.

Madeleine Worrall is astonishing as Jane. It is such a tour de force and an exhilarating performance that takes the audience on such an incredible journey you hardly notice that it's actually three and a half hours long.

She is joined by a small but fabulous cast who take on multiple roles. Laura Elphinstone takes on five of them including Jane’s best friend Helen, Felix Hayes’s Rochester, is suitably gruff and there is a hilarious turn by Craig Edwards as Rochester's dog Pilot.

The portrayal of Rochester's mad wife Bertha is given to Melanie Marshall who sings the part.

This is an inventive, intelligent, poignant and often funny production which, despite a significant pruning, does the original story justice.

Jane Eyre is on at the National Theatre, South Bank until January 10. Tickets cost from £15. Visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 020 7452 3000.