REVIEW - Husbands & Sons, National Theatre

FOUR STAR

HUSBANDS & Sons is not one story but three which have been interweaved to create one brilliant piece of drama.

The three stories are those of DH Lawrence, written between 1911 and 1913 and set on the border of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire in the shadow of the Brinsley coal pit.

They tell the stories of three families whose lives revolve around the pit. The characters from each family sometimes meet each other in the rain soaked streets of the village but otherwise stay in the confines of their homes.

The play is as much about the husbands and their sons as it is about the women in their lives – the wives, sisters, daughters, and mothers and how they are treated.

Some of it is difficult to watch – Lizzie Holroyd in particular. Here is a woman with a young son who has to put up with her abusive and alcoholic husband who when he’s not down the pit is drinking away his earnings with a couple of loose women for company.

As if that wasn’t enough, she is drawn to a kind neighbour who helps about the house and eventually asks her to run away with him.

Across the road are the Lamberts. Mrs Lambert also has to put up with an abusive and uneducated husband while becoming ever more jealous of her son’s burgeoning romance. Her son is the apple of her eye and as she becomes more proud of him she begins to despise her husband more.

Then there are the Gascoignes. Newlywed Minnie is desperate to have a life of order, dinner at six, a neat and clean house and a husband who will let go of his mother’s suffocating apron strings. Yet this is so far from what she gets that she temporarily leaves home.

There are some very strong performances including Anne-Marie Duff who plays Lizzie Holroyd, Louise Brealey as Minnie and Joe Armstrong as Gascoigne.

As well as a superb cast, directed by the brilliant Marianne Elliott, the set is outstanding. It is played in the round with each home outlined on the stage floor with the family’s surname etched on it to delineate whose house is whose.

In between the homes are walkways to show the street they live on, the road to the pit and the coal seam itself. It is really quite brilliant.

It is by turns dark, funny, forbidding, terribly emotional and intense and is utterly absorbing. It is a triumph.

Husbands & Sons is on at the National Theatre until Wednesday, February 10. Tickets from £15. Visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 020 7452 3000.

REVIEW - Waste, National Theatre

THREE STARS

SEX sells. That is as true today as it was 100 years or more ago when actor and playwright Harley Granville-Barker wrote his play Waste.

Famously censored when it was first written for being too risque in its content it has been given a stylish, period dressed revival at the National Theatre, directed by Roger Michel.

It concerns one Henry Trebell, an independent MP who is co-opted by the Conservatives to prepare and then push through a controversial Disestablishment bill through the House of Commons.

This is a man who is "in love with the job" rather than any woman and pursues his work with zeal, dedication and commitment. That's not to say he doesn't like to flirt with the opposite sex but he does so sporadically and without much in the way of feeling.

However, during a weekend party at socialite's Lady Julia Farrant's house, he meets Amy O'Connell, trapped in a sexless and unhappy marriage, and embarks on a brief affair with her - and it is this that is his downfall.

For unfortunately she falls pregnant with his child and despite his pleas for her to keep it she goes to a backstreet abortionist - and then dies of complications from the proceedure.

That might be tragedy enough but in the second half the fall out and public scandal from the affair threatens to destroy Trebell's political career and all the hard work he has done on the bill.

His fellow MPs close ranks to seal his fate and unwittingly bring about a tragic ending.

It is a stylish and absorbing production, with minimal furniture on the National's expansive Lyttelton stage, and with a strong cast led by Charles Edwards as Trebell and Olivia Williams as Amy.

They are ably supported by Sylvestra Le Touzel as Frances Trebell, Lucy Robinson as Lady Julia and William Chubb as Farrant.

And although the basic story is essentially nothing new, it provides a fascinating look at the political wranglings that go on behind closed doors in Westminster and shows clearly how things have not changed - we all still seem to be hungry for any politician or celebrity who is caught in flagrante.

But the waste also refers to the personal tragedy - not just of Trebell who faces political ruin not to mention losing both his baby and his pet project, but of Amy too - the waste of a life, a career and a love affair.

Waste is on at the National Theatre until March 19. Tickets from £15. Visit www.nationaltheatre.org or call the box office on 020 7452 3000.

INTERVIEW - Noel Fielding

NOEL Fielding is perhaps best known to most people as his eccentric zoo-keeper alter ego Vince Noir from The Mighty Boosh. But as Kate Gould discovers, there is more to him than that.

pic credit: Dave Brown

I’D got a list of questions about a mile long for Noel Fielding - because let's face it, this is a man who has done so much in his career already - he's an award winning comedian, as well as an artist, musician, actor, DJ, performer, TV panellist.... the list goes on.

He's also a chatterbox and during our conversation regaled me with stories about growing up in and around South London, his encounters with giant spiders in Australia and how he hopes to make a film version of The Mighty Boosh.

The 42-year-old is charming and erudite and has a surreal wit. Chuckling at his own thoughts he also skips from one subject to another fairly rapidly and without warning, words tumbling out of his mouth, and has a stream of consciousness that is at times childlike.

In fact so at ease does he make me that half an hour in his company and I feel as though we have really bonded.

Over the past 15 years or so he has become a firm fixture and favourite on our TV screens and on stage appearing in shows such as Buzzcocks and The IT Crowd as well as his hugely successful The Mighty Boosh with Julian Barratt. This was initially done as a stand up routine at the 1998 Edinburgh Fringe Festival before becoming a radio show and then an acclaimed three-season TV series.

His credits also include co-presenting Comic Relief Does Top Of The Pops, the film Sweet, Bunny The Bull and Horrid Henry: The Movie, shows at the Edinburgh Festival and exhibitions of his art work.

As well as his comedy he is equally well known for his vibrant personality, his make up and clothes. But he admits it wasn’t always like this.

“Growing up I was a bit of a nerd playing football with white trainers in Croydon,” he chuckles. “I was also a bit shy and loved drawing.

“I used to drink at the Ship in Croydon and go to the Whitgift Centre and hang out there. It was weird as there wasn’t much to do. I went to the cinema a lot and the ice rink in Streatham.

“I remember the pub fondly though – I got beaten up there because I had make up on. A lot of my mates still live down there. I was quite an oik when I was growing up but then I went to art school and turned my back on that way of life.”

He will get the chance to revisit the town where he spent his formative years when he comes to the Fairfield Halls on Friday November 20.

He will be performing his show, An Evening With Noel Fielding, which is part of a month long tour and which includes stops at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre on November 18 and New Wimbledon Theatre on November 19.

It is the second leg of the UK tour after having taking it to Australia and New Zealand and he says he’s really looking forward to it.

“It’s basically an extra month of dates we didn’t get to do last time around,” he says by way of explanation. “A lot of people couldn’t get tickets and so we thought we’d do some more gigs.

“I took the show to Australia and New Zealand this year and have changed it a bit. We have been writing it for eight months, tidying it up, adding bits, taking bits out – it’s never finished!

“In Australia I did this joke about spiders and how huge they are and how much I hate them. In England if you see one inside the house you put a cup over it and put it out but in Australia you have to have a mixing bowl as they are so big.

"I put it out and it went down the sidewalk and hailed a cab. Next thing I know it picks me up from the airport….” He dissolves laughing.

“I always have another spin on a joke and keep adding to them – they are like Jenga jokes – it’s like a disease and you can’t stop,” he laughs before switching back to what’s in the UK show.

“It’s quite long,” he says. “There is stand up for about 40 minutes with a bit of live animation, music and some of the TV characters I’ve done. Then my brother Mike and mate Tom Meeten will come on before we have a break and then I play a New York cop who interrogates the audience.

“I get to see the audience up close which is good. My brother films it so everyone can see it. We get a volunteer from the audience so there is a lot that could go wrong,” he chuckles.

“I’m looking forward to coming to Fairfield Halls though. I saw a lot to see comedians like Rob Newman and David Baddiel there so I’ve got happy memories of Fairfield Halls. We went there with the first Boosh tour. There is quite a lot of wood panelling – it’s quite a grand room as I recall.

“For this show I got the main ideas down before I started writing and then worked with the director and Tom and we hammered it out. Some of it worked really well and some didn’t so we kept at it. The audience creates the show in the end as what they respond to ends up being kept and what they don’t gets removed.

“Their reaction is important – but they don’t get paid though. That would get messy in the end.”

What doesn’t get messy these days are the after show activities. In fact Noel says you are more likely to find him painting, meditating or playing tennis rather than partying all night. Indeed he says he started painting because he thought it would help him relax.

As a bonus he found he enjoyed it and recently staged an exhibition of his watercolours at the Royal Albert Hall.

“I had done a couple of exhibitions and wanted to do something different so started messing around with watercolours,” he says.

“It was the complete opposite to how I usually paint. It’s like the less you put on the more interesting it becomes. I sold quite a lot actually so I might do some more.

“I started painting to help me relax and then I started meditating as I thought it might calm me down. It really does help and gets rid of a layer of stress.

“I thought meditating would make me lose all my ideas but instead I have more. Ideas come from anything inside my head, from what I read or see on the TV and when I least expect it. I try not to watch rubbish and try and read interesting stuff that will allow my head to be full of great stuff. I listen to a lot of music too.

“My party days are over now though,” he adds laughing again.

“I’m in my 40s and can’t deal with the hangovers these days – you can’t get away with it and afterwards you never feel fine. It takes two days to get over one. I do go out but I can’t when I’m doing gigs. I play tennis and eat healthily.”

During our chat we spend a lot of time meandering around the subject of Cecil the Lion, who at the time of our conversation had not long since passed away having strayed into the path of an American dentist’s bullet.

It is something that Noel felt keenly and was still aggrieved about coming back to the subject several times during tour chat.

“Who would do that to a lion?” he asks. "If you kill a lion like Cecil that’s really bad. NASA should send that man to space on a one-way ticket – I think he must have lost a lot of clients over that.

“I think I will make all my shows a tribute to Cecil and we will have a minute’s silence,” he adds.

“I did a stand up once about a ghost lion who would try and calm me down. It was a bit of an Aslan thing. He used to give me a hug. That was weird.

“It split the crowd. But that’s the thing about stand up. The stuff I used to do years ago, I never wrote anything down properly. We’d just jot a few things down and go out and do it and then party afterwards.”

So what of the Boosh and will they ever come back I ask?

“Never say never,” says Noel. “Thing is, Julian and I were so bored of it at the end. It becomes difficult as you are stretched in every possible way.

"The only thing we didn’t ever do was a film so I would be up for it if we both had the time to do it. I think it would be great. I hate to think it would be the end of it as we were a great double act.

“But like unicorns these opportunities come round infrequently so we will have to see. Maybe now we’ve had a break from each other there is a slim chance.

“Maybe we could do a film about Cecil,” he muses. “Or maybe I’ll just have a pint in the Ship and then like a pirate, sail around the Fairfield Halls with Cecil and meditate. He will be the ghost of the show. It’s going to be great.”

An Evening With Noel Fielding is on at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre on November 18, New Wimbledon Theatre on November 19 and Fairfield Halls, Croydon on Friday November 20. Visit www.noelfielding.co.uk/tour/ for full listings.

REVIEW - As You Like It, National Theatre

FOUR STARS

THE sight that greets the audience at the start of the National Theatre’s production of As You Like It is more high tech office than forest.

The Olivier stage sees Duke Frederick’s court full of desks and chairs with a token bonsai tree on each desk. But once Rosalind, Celia and Orlando leave the Duke’s court having been banished, it transforms in the most spectacular way.

In fact Lizzie Clachen’s set is the star of the show. The office furniture suddenly transforms itself into the trees of the Forest of Arden and hang over the stage – it’s total genius.

The forest is thus dark and gloomy save for a few shards of light that come through the desks. It also features the sounds of wild animals and birds thanks to a choir who are positioned in and around the trees making it a much more eerie and strange place.

But as the people go further into it and love begins to blossom, so too does the light begin to shine more brightly and more colour is introduced. It’s quite brilliant.

Director Polly Findlay has done a lovely job with the play too – often described as Shakespeare’s weirdest comedy. Indeed there is much to love and admire in her spirited production.

It’s punchy, full of little tricks that add to the colour of the piece – one of the best moments was when some of the cast came in on all fours dressed in Arran sweaters and baa-ing as sheep. One even eats one of Orlando’s discarded and badly written love notes.

The cast is top notch too. Rosalie Craig is a marvellous Rosalind and Patsy Ferran is delightful as her cousin Celia, in fact the bond between them is really strong.

There is also good support from Joe Bannister as Orlando and Mark Benton as Touchstone who help make this a really magical production.

As You Like It is on at the National Theatre, South Bank until Saturday, March 5. Tickets from £15. Visit www.nationaltheatre.org.uk or call the box office on 020 7452 3000.

REVIEW - Dinner With Friends, Park Theatre

Four Stars

RELATIONSHIPS in general and friendships and marriage in particular are put under the microscope in Donald Margulies’ play Dinner With Friends.

The Pulitzer winning piece is currently being staged at the Park Theatre and has as one of its four stars, Brockley actor Shaun Dooley.

Shaun Dooley as Gabe and Sara Stewart as Karen

Set in America, it features two couples – the seemingly impossibly perfect Karen and Gabe and their best friends, Beth and Tom, who they introduced shortly after they were married.

It begins during a dinner party in which Karen and Gabe, both successful food writers, are boring the pants off Beth about their recent gastronomic trip to Italy.

But all is not as it seems for Beth is about ready to drop a bombshell – that Tom has done the dirty on her by having an affair and walking out on her and their kids.

It hits Beth hard but seems as though it hits her friends even harder. Both Karen and Gabe are left reeling – why had they not seen this coming? How could Tom do this? What will happen to their friendship with this couple who are now no longer a couple? Could this happen to them? Their perfect world now looks a bit precarious.

Hari Dhillon as Tom

When Tom finds out Beth has already told their friends he comes over later that night to put his side of the story across – worried that Karen and Gabe have already taken sides against him.

Sadly for him Karen has already cut him off her Christmas card list.

However, the fall out results in both Karen and Gabe looking at their own relationship and wondering if everything is as perfect as it should be or as they think it is.

Gabe in particular goes from being confident and assured in his marriage to become angry at Tom for breaking up his perfect world and anxious about whether the same thing could happen to him and Karen.

All four actors put in fine performances in what is a well staged, poignant and funny production.

Finty Williams as Beth tugs at the heartstrings with her vulnerability but is then giddy with excitement – like a teenager – once she’d moved on and found new love.

Finty Williams as Beth

Hari Dhillon is perfectly awful as the smug, swaggering cheater Tom who stuns best friend Gabe with the ease in which he has left Beth and moved on to find love elsewhere.

Shaun Dooley is particularly good as Gabe. His initial lack of tact, awareness and comments at inappropriate moments were hilarious but he too showed a vulnerable side when he talked of “clinging” to his wife and the fear he felt about his own relationship.

And Sara Stewart as the smug Karen who is forced to reassess her relationship with Gabe was a delight.

It is a beautifully written and finely observed piece – showing the precarious nature of relationships and that most couples don’t listen to each other half the time and then wonder why things go wrong. And for any of us who have been or are in relationships there were moments in the dialogue that were probably uncomfortably familiar.

Dinner With Friends is on at the Park Theatre until November 28. Visit www.parktheatre.co.uk/ for full listings.