By James Hadley in London

I often write about theatre I've seen in London which has impressed me. So I was thinking it's about time I wrote about the low-points of my theatre-viewing here. There have been surprisingly few. Having said that, it's important to add that the standard of theatre-making in New Zealand is generally comparable to here in my opinion. By James Hadley in London

I often write about theatre I've seen in London which has impressed me. So I was thinking it's about time I wrote about the low-points of my theatre-viewing here. There have been surprisingly few. Having said that, it's important to add that the standard of theatre-making in New Zealand is generally comparable to here in my opinion.So here's the two worst theatre-going experiences I've had in London so far. In runner up position is a touring production of An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde, which I saw at the Richmond Theatre. Although this production was directed by no less than Sir Peter Hall, and has a pedigree of previous runs in both the West End and on Broadway, it was dire. Perhaps I should be embarrassed to admit that my flatmate and I went to see the production because it starred Michael Praed, whom we'd recently been watching in reruns of the early 'eighties TV series of 'Robin of Sherwood'. As if that wasn't enough kitsch value, the leading lady was Kate O'Mara, who starred in 'Dynasty' in the 'eighties. Playing a character more than half her age, she'd clearly had so much plastic surgery that she could barely open her mouth, let alone make facial expressions. Yet Wilde's wit is so effervescent it can still be theatre gold in the hands of disgracefully aging soap stars. The problem was that the whole production was so clunky, it seemed to be powered by clockwork. Most of the acting was wooden, and the performances seemed largely driven by following the stage blocking they'd been given rather than investing any genuine feeling into the lines.

It staggered me. The Richmond Theatre is a beautiful old Victorian theatre, and the audience was reflective of the local demographic - almost entirely white and highly educated. Yet they seemed to enjoy the production, and tittered in all the right places as if Wilde's wit was delivered trippingly, instead of drawled sloppily. There was literally a moment when two actors turned to a third, who looked back at them for a few moments, then realised it must be her cue to speak. It was like going back in time to watch the style of popular theatre that dominated the first half of last century, before Stanislavsky's influence spread widely enough to inject naturalism into theatrical reality. What we were watching had more in common with the declamatory performances of the nineteenth century, with 'star' actors playing to the audience more than their fellow actors and wearing costumes that said more about their celebrity position on the cast than the historical context of the production. Kate O'Mara's costume was laden with bling in a quite un-Victorian manner, I thought, just so we never forgot we were watching someone from 'Dynasty'.

But worse than this acting-by-numbers production, in fact far, far worse, I'm afraid to say, was a production I attended some time ago in Southwark Park in South London, presented by London Bubble. This community theatre company was in the press at the start of the year for being one of the companies whose funding was cut by Arts Council England. Judging by this experience of their work, I can completely see why! The production was called Urban Dreams, and was created by over 150 Londoners collaborating with the company to make a piece of theatre about dreams, which was then toured around various of London's suburban parks. A nice idea, and I approached the work with the forgiving goodwill of any audience-member who knows the work they're attending is not being presented by trained actors, but rather by members of the public who are 'giving it a go'.

But that's no excuse for a total lack of engagement with the audience. The piece was prefaced by the director telling the audience that, in the same way that dreams often don't make any sense, we might sometimes not be able to make any sense of the production, so should just sit back and not try to make sense of it... Never an encouraging introduction! The best thing about the show was that the participants raged in age from about seven to seventy, so it really did feel like you were watching a piece of theatre made by a community. Except the material was so poorly developed, the performances so unshaped and unguided, and the production values so thrown together out of a garden shed that it gave community theatre a bad name. Only one out of a cast of over 100 seemed to have any previous acting experience. Anyone else who had to say a line delivered it in the manner of a primary school play: words spoken in the audience's general direction. You were lucky if you could hear what was being said, let alone make sense of it.

There was a live band, which always lifts the energy. From time to time they would come parading through the action. But just like all the other elements of the production, nothing seemed to meaningfully connect. And in my opinion, that's one of the cardinal sins of theatre-making (I'm not saying I haven't been guilty of this myself in the past). As the production was happening in the darkness of a park by evening, I found myself gazing at the leaves in the trees above (as one would usually stare at a theatre's lighting rig in such situations). There was no sense of progression to the production, because it was all a dream. You don't need a plot or characters if there's an interesting visual sense being demonstrated, but there was nothing to connect with here at all.

Life is definitely too short, too precious to watch bad theatre such as this. Possibly I should have got up and left, but I don't think you can judge a work unless you've watched it in its entirety. I did, and I think probably its main value was as an experience for those participating - it had little to offer an audience. And that's hardly to be considered theatre at all.

Read previous Sets and the City blogs

Feel free to get in touch with any questions (or if you're planning a London visit and want some theatre recommendations) to jamesstuarthadley@gmail.com

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24/11/08

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