Went with Kevin to see Gethsemane at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle on opening night on Tuesday. It is on until Saturday (with matinees on Thursday and Saturday.)
I love playwright David Hare. One of my all-time favorite theatre experiences was written by him – Dame Judi Dench starring in “Amy’s View,” from the third row center on Broadway. At the end of the first act I actually gasped. I also thoroughly enjoyed his “The Vertical Hour.” His ability to write emotional dynamics for brilliant actors makes for thrilling theater. (Andrew Scott was my discovery for that production.)
“Gethsemane,” deals with recent British political scandals and the brutal compromises people at all levels make. Reviews: Ion Oxford Tube (I like this one’s description of the set.), Guardian, Telegraph, Evening Standard, Independent, BBC Newsnight panel discussion (I don’t agree with what the panel says but the intro features a good synopsis of the play.). The reviews are mixed, glowing or unnecessarily harsh.
Tamsin Grieg is flawless as a beleaguered politician. Amusingly, I had to point out to Kevin where he knew her from – the very awesome Black Books
Stanley Townsend plays shady fundraiser Otto as a cross between Boss Hog from the Dukes of Hazzard and a mobster from a Guy Ritchie movie – it works. One of the people on the BBC Newsnight panel called the character anti-Semitic, as does the article here. He is a sleazy character in the play and for those playing guess the political figure he is based on – he would seem to be based on Lord Levy, a Jewish, former fundraiser for the Labour party. There is nothing in the play to suggest he is Jewish. The only connection is in the minds of those watching associating the character with a real person. There is nothing to suggest this character represents the Jewish people. I find it dumb and offensive for it to be labeled anti-Semitic.
The rest of the cast are as follows: Jessica Raine plays the troubled daughter of Tamsin Greig’s character Meredith. Gugu Mbatha-Raw is Meredith’s adviser. Nicola Walker is the idealist teacher Lori, Daniel Ryan plays her highly-educated and simple husband who works for Otto. Pip Carter is Otto’s world-weary assistant Frank. Anthony Calf plays the prime minister (Kevin hated his performance, I didn’t mind it.). Adam James plays a sleazy journalist.
The set by Bob Crowley is well done, a modern-looking white box which serves convincingly as a number of different settings with the addition of a few props and at times the use of it as a projection screen. Fast-paced videos to music are also projected onto it to serve as transitions between scenes. See this review for a nice description or another more detailed description can be found at Vocal Eyes (See the Show Notes downloads.). They do audio-descriptions at performances for blind and partially sighted people. They will be at Saturday’s upcoming matinee in Newcastle and in Cambridge on Saturday the 21st.
The criticism I would levy against the play is it seems to still be rough. It seems at times like the outline for an outstanding play / story with the plot elements in place but the nuanced emotional dynamics that I like in his plays are just not fully there.
Learned a new word from the play – Gesthemane. Gesthemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives (Gat Shmanim in Hebrew) believed to be the place where Jesus spent the night before the crucifixion in great anguish / doubt. Religion is brought up a few times in the play. In addition to the emotional dynamics this is another place where I think it could have had more meat.
Gateshead Millenium Bridge
The weather was not too cold. We parked on the Gateshead side of the river and walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Theatre Royal. This way we didn’t have to navigate Newcastle’s many one-way streets. It was a really pleasant walk. On the way back the water in the river was so still the reflections of the lights from the bridges and buildings were amazing. We definitely want to go back for an evening to take photos on long exposures with a tripod.
