I was lucky enough to attend the Olivier Awards last Sunday evening at the Royal Albert Hall in support of Beth Steel who was nominated for Best New Play. Though she sadly lost out to James Graham’s Dear England, it was an amazing evening nonetheless - highlights below!
Highlights:
Best speech of the night goes to Matilda Feyisayo Ibini after winning Best Affiliate Theatre show for Sleepova; her acceptance speech criticised the cuts in Arts Council funding and slagged off the government’s dwindling support of the arts while Jeremy Hunt watched on smirking from the royal box.
Wins for Best Actress and Best Actor Sarah Snook and Mark Gatiss (who had to correct the pronunciation of his name Gate-iss by Denise Gough). Succession star Sarah Snook was a rare marquee name who did win, taking home best actress for the 26 roles she played in The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Jamie Lloyd’s fresh take on Sunset Boulevard dominated the actual awards; I wonder if it will be seen as a positive affirmation for those who seek to show some daring in the West End, or if it is viewed as a predictable return to one of the safe bets. After scooping seven awards, the musical will cross the pond to Broadway on a high. Arising from the hugely commercial Andrew Lloyd Webber stable with A-list casting in Nicole Scherzinger (who was named best actress in a musical), I was left wondering: how radical or risky is that, exactly? Seems a bit safe to me.
The evening’s closing sequence celebrated 60 years of the a cultural gem - the National Theatre - with the outgoing artistic director, Rufus Norris, and incoming one, Indhu Rubasingham, convening onstage for an awkward handover hug; a reminder of publicly funded theatre’s prominence and how Rubasingham’s tenure will hopefully bring the edge that is lacking right now.
The afterparty was next door at the National History Museum - great vibes - though James Norton stole my black cab home after I flagged it down.
With Beth Steel at the National History Museum for the afterparty:
Closing Night
Ivo Van Hove and Rufus Wainwright’s Opening Night will close over two months early. Though adapting a John Cassavetes movie into a hit musical was a stretch, it was created by a visionary director and a famous singer-songwriter, starred a genuine, bona-fide theatrical talent and there was a monumental press effort to let everyone know about it. Then it got some savage reviews and now the producers have pulled the plug. It is tempting to see its closure as proof that theatre reviews still have some power over sales, but I’m not sure. I think it is more a case of people simply having no idea what it was. I’m also not sure Van Hove is the commercial draw some producers seem to think he is: the big Belgian has always seemed an odd fit for the West End to me.
Wherefore art thou Juliet?
Following on from last week’s comments on Romeo and Juliet - here’s Sophie Duncan’s Twitter feed surrounding the History of Juliet (she wrote a superb book on the character last year too).
Shows To Book Now
London Tide at The National, 10th April - 22nd June
The show, based on Charles Dickens’ Our Mutual Friend, officially opened this week at the Lyttelton - everything with Ian Rickson directing is always stunning visually and this adaption explores identity, the venality of money and the interwowen high and low places that cities entwine. With the brilliant Bella Maclean as the lead too, this should be a fantastic evening of theatre.
To Watch
Blue Lights, Series 2 on BBC iPlayer
The cop show set in post-Troubles Northern Ireland is back and miles ahead of other police shows in terms of script quality - both series are on iPlayer.
Monkey Man, out in cinemas now
It’s election year in the largest democracy in the world and Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) has released his directorial debut to mark it. Monkey Man, produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out, Nope, Us), is a revenge tragedy and thriller about one man’s quest for vengeance against the corrupt leaders who murdered his mother and systemically victimize the poor and powerless. Touted as the "South Asian John Wick" if you are into that sort of thing.
To Read (but don’t buy from Amazon)
Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan
I’m 150 pages in and loving it - an urgent, memorable, gut-wrenching novel about gentrification, motherhood, creativity and identity from the author of Mayflies and editor of the LRB.
Knife by Salman Rushdie
An account of survival and endurance - out this week.
You Are Here by David Nicholls
From the author of One Day, David Nicholl’s new novel is out now - here is the opening page:
In all her youthful visions of the future, of the job she might have, the city and home she might live in, the friends and family around her, Marnie had never thought that she'd be lonely. In her adolescence, she'd pictured the future as a series of imaginary photographs, densely populated, her friends' arms draped around each other, eyes red from the flash of the camera in the taverna or lit by the flames of a driftwood fire on the beach and there, right in the centre, her own smiling face. The later photos were harder to pin down, the faces less defined, but perhaps there'd be a partner, even children among the friends she would surely know and love all her life. But she hadn't taken a photograph of another person for six years. The last time she'd had her picture taken was at Passport Control, where she'd been instructed not to smile. Where had everyone gone? Now 38, she had grown up in the golden age of friendship, when having a supportive, loving community around you was a far greater priority than the vexed business of family, the strained performance of romance or the sulky obligations of work.