http://dctheatrescene.com Washington DC's Liveliest Theater Website Fri, 25 May 2012 19:37:45 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 Washington DC's Liveliest Theater Website DC Theatre Scene no Washington DC's Liveliest Theater Website http://dctheatrescene.com/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/rss_default.jpg http://dctheatrescene.com http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/24/seff-on-the-london-scene/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/24/seff-on-the-london-scene/#comments Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:20:08 +0000 Richard Seff http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/24/seff-on-the-london-scene/ http://dctheatrescene.com/2008/04/24/seff-on-the-london-scene/feed/ 2 London LONDON CALLING : The Vortex, Speed-the-Plow, God of Carnage, Billy Elliot, Brief Encounter, Gone with the Wind, some not to be missed London spots, and a visit with Emma Thompson - by NY Theatre Buzz columnist, Richard Seff - LONDON CALLING : The Vortex, Speed-the-Plow, God of Carnage, Billy Elliot, Brief Encounter, Gone with the Wind, some not to be missed London spots, and a visit with Emma Thompson by NY Theatre Buzz columnist, Richard Seff [Editor's note:  Life's a bloomin' holiday when you're Richard Seff. He hopped the pond to take in the London scene and in a week's time, covered 6 shows, had time to chat with friends and get in some blackjack.   The next time he packs his bags is to visit our town to catch the Kander and Ebb shows at Signature in May.] What a week I had! Each day dawned sunny, warm and bright, each ended pelting cold rain. One had to wear the mac, carry the brolly, to weather the weather adventure. But London theatre is everywhere and it too offers great variety.   The surprise to me was that three major playwrights, writing in the l920s, l950s and in 2006, should all offer serious plays about the society of their time, and all should be totally relevant and engaging today. Noel Coward's The Vortex, his first success, established him in l925. The dialog is polished and brisk as always with Coward, but though most of his characters had little or no insight into their own behavior, Coward certainly did. He‘s created a character called ‘Helen' in this play who is his spokesperson. Best friend to Florence Lancaster, seeming satellite to Lancaster's star, she watches and waits, and in the final act she erupts and forces the facing of some long hidden and very bitter truths. Florence's son Nicky, the light of her very solipsistic life, has been in denial too for most of his 21 years. And when he confronts his Ma, the battle is joined, and the conclusion is stunning. Felicity Kendal hits the high point of her long London stage career with this great star turn. Dan Stevens, so very good in the BBC mini-series The Line of Beauty, holds his own opposite her, and the sight of the two broken souls clinging to each other as the play ends, is powerful. How Coward knew so much about the games people who love each other play (he was 24 when he wrote it) is hard to fathom. He remains a master playwright of great range. To visit David Mamet's Hollywood via Speed-the-Plow at the Old Vic is to move into the ninth circle of hell.  As played by Kevin Spacey and Jeff Goldblum at top speed, this one has tornado force. ‘Bobby Gould' and ‘Charlie Fox' are old and dear friends, two producers on the same lot in l950s Hollywood. Charlie, on a lower rung of the ladder of success, brings a screenplay to Bobby, knowing his friend has the power to green light it. By  Scene One's end, that's just what happens.  Then enter a temp secretary; cute, curvaceous, cunning - truly Mamet meat. By the end of Scene Two, all is reversed and Charlie has been betrayed. But Mamet, ever the misogynist, turns the tables once again and we and the secretary are left devastated, which is just where he wanted us. Spacey and Goldblum have a field day with these two juicy roles, with Spacey turning on all the madness in him to create a speed freak who belongs in Rob Howell's design for a bright and soulless major movie mogul's office.  In the small but pivotal role of the secretary, created in the 1988 New York production by Madonna, this time surprise casting turns out to be good casting. Laura Michelle Kelly, who created the title role in Mary Poppins in London, proves here she has plenty of acting chops as well. Underplaying, but always in tune with her two male co-stars, she creates a frightening character who looks like an ingénue - yes, that's right, an ingénue named Eve Harrington.  These are not characters with whom we'd like to have lunch, but they are fascinating to follow from the safety of our theatre seat. Ralph Fiennes and Janet McTeer have returned to the West End in Yasmin Reza's The God of Carnage (she wrote Art) and here we have a third evening in the company of civilized savages. In this one, DC Theatre Scene no