London Theatre

I've been to a few theatre productions in London of late, here's a report.

The National Theatre - "Emperor and Galilean"
After the Royal Shakespeare Company, the "National" is the most prominent theatre company in the country.  Their facility on the South Bank of the Thames river is generally regarded as one of the ugliest buildings in London.  The building houses three separate venues, the Olivier Theatre being the largest with a capacity of almost 1,200.  The stage features a five-storey mechanism for scenery changes that rises from the center of the stage.  "Emperor and Galilean" is a very long, rarely-performed Henrik Ibsen play about the Roman emperor Julian.  The production was impressive -- set, costumes, effects, music, etc., and the acting top-notch. The show was sparsely attended, and the reviews were very mixed.  The only recognizable actor in the cast (of 50) was Ian McDiarmid, who played the Emperor in the last three Star Wars movies.  A healthy dose of "serious theatre."

West End Musical Comedy - "Betty Blue Eyes" at the Novello
A friend from NYC was in town, and I wanted to take them to a show that was not already playing there.  "Betty Blue Eyes" is a new (opened April 2011) musical comedy set in England just after the end of WWII.  The context is the continued rationing of food, and a secret plan to cook and serve an unregistered pig at a private dinner celebrating the marriage of Princess Elizabeth.  It's based on the film "A Private Function," which I have never seen.  The music is enjoyable, if not memorable, and the cast is terrific.  The sets have that "we're just stage sets" look to them. A very entertaining show, although I'm not sure it would make it to New York, as the setting and a lot of the plot elements are very "British."
UPDATE:  The week after we saw "Betty Blue Eyes," the producers announced that the show would be closing in October due to poor sales.

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - "All's Well That Ends Well
A reconstruction of the original Globe Theatre, this is a open-air venue with hard wood benches, standing room in the Stalls (the bottom-center section of the audience, in the US usually called the Orchestra seating), no sound amplification, minimal sets, and if there is any music, the musicians are on stage.  Very authentic, and beautifully done.  We paid £5 for standing room in the Stalls, probably 10 feet from the stage.  Standing for 2.5 hours sounds like a challenge, but once you get absorbed in the play, you don't mind.  Terrific acting, magnificent constumes (in the Stalls you are close enough to hear the rustling of the fabric), altogether a first-rate experience.  The only difficulty is the play itself, in which the male lead, Betram, is an unlikeable jerk who's change of heart in the last minutes of the play is unconvincing, and you keep wondering why the female lead, Helena, would love such a scumbag (I guess in Shakespearean language that would be "scumbagge.")

St. Martin's Theatre - "The Mousetrap"
Now in it's 59th year, The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie is the longest-running play in history, over 24,000 performances, which is more than twice as long as "Phantom of the Opera" has played on Broadway.  It's a basic whodunnit set in a single room over the course of one evening.  The St. Martin's is a glorious old theatre palace with dark wood everywhere and a striking glass dome roof.  The plot keeps you guessing, largely because most of the characters are very odd, and curiously uncooperative with the police detective trying to solve the murder(s).  Things get pretty melodramatic, partly due to hammy overacting by some of the cast.  At the end of the play, the actors ask that the audience members not reveal the ending (although, Wikipedia does give away who the murderer is -- curse you Wikipedia!!)  A bit of light entertainment, worth an evening.

Footnote
It's a curious tradition in English theatre to have ice cream at the interval (=intermission).  Ushers sell tiny containers of rock-hard ice cream (usually Haagen-Dazs) for £2-£3.  No one knows why this tradition started, although it's likely related to the fact that most London theatres lack air conditioning.