Tag Archives: Grace Molony

The Glass Piano

The Glass Piano
★★★★

Print Room at the Coronet

The Glass Piano

The Glass Piano

Print Room at the Coronet

Reviewed – 30th April 2019

★★★★

 

“A uniquely atmospheric production; whimsical yet real, dark yet high-spirited, ‘piano’ and ‘forte’ together”

 

The phrase that comes to mind after witnessing “The Glass Piano” is that truth is stranger than fiction. Based on the real-life story of Princess Alexandra of Bavaria, Alix Sobler’s new play leads us through the corridors and chambers of her nineteenth century palace, and into the hearts of the characters trapped within its walls. The centrepiece is Alexandra herself who suffers from the delusion that as a child she had swallowed a grand piano made of glass, which remains inside her. Known as ‘the glass delusion’, this psychological malady was quite common amongst royals and nobles of the time, before dying out at the end of the century.

Sobler writes with a skilled hand, lacing the text with her dry humour yet still maintaining the element of fairy-tale. Beautifully crafted it touches on the absurd; occasionally jarring but always enchanting – like a piece of music that breaks the rules of harmony with unexpected notes. Conversely, the four characters of the play are very much bound by their laws, trapped by their situations and prevented from fulfilling their dreams – of love. Princess Alexandra, who thinks her life will never change, lives in the palace with her father, King Ludwig, a failed poet, and her maid, the wise Galstina. But when Lucien arrives, initially to assist the King with his writing, anything becomes possible as he challenges the status quo.

Grace Molony is quite magnificent as the princess who tiptoes sideways through doorways, terrified that the slightest disturbance would shatter the piano inside her. Combining an inner strength with the fragility of her condition, she is constantly watchable throughout, and ultimately heart-breaking when she finally finds her own way to be free. Timothy Walker’s formidable Ludwig only glimpses the love that might be before retreating again into his stubbornness, shattering the delicate dreams of those around him. Along with Suzan Sylvester as the maid who never truly knows her place, and Laurence Ubong Williams’ lovestruck Lucien, the cast of four give spellbinding performances.

However, the second act does, at times, threaten to break the spell; and as it meanders fleetingly off course, we are not entirely sure what is real or imagined. But director Max Key’s atmospheric staging continually rescues us from the inherent difficulties of the script that defies categorisation. The end result is clearly moving and magical. An experience heightened by the presence of concert pianist Elizabeth Rossiter who sits at the grand piano throughout, punctuating the play with Gabriel Prokofiev’s lyrical score. Like the text itself, the fragile underscore verges on dissonance with something beautiful underneath. Rossiter’s fingers move across the keyboard, careful not to shatter the melodies as the individual notes pierce like shards of glass. A more poignant soundtrack could not be hoped for.

A uniquely atmospheric production; whimsical yet real, dark yet high-spirited, ‘piano’ and ‘forte’ together. Small scale but grand, this is the perfect piece of theatre for the Coronet – arguably one of the finest off West End theatres in London – with unarguably the best bar.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Tristram Kenton

 


The Glass Piano

Print Room at the Coronet until 25th May

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
The Open House | ★★★★ | January 2018
The Comet | ★★★★ | March 2018
How It Is (Part One) | ★★½ | May 2018
Act & Terminal 3 | ★★★★ | June 2018
The Outsider | ★★★★★ | September 2018
Love Lies Bleeding | ★★★★ | November 2018
A Christmas Carol | ★★★★ | December 2018
The Dead | ★★★ | December 2018
The Lady From The Sea | ★★ | February 2019

 

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com

 

Lady Windermere’s Fan – 4 Stars

Windermere

Lady Windermere’s Fan

Vaudeville Theatre

Reviewed – 23rd January 2018

 

“Samantha Spiro gives a glorious and dazzling portrayal”

 

By the end of the nineteenth century London publishing houses were awash with “fanologies”: more for the benefit of men on a quest to understand the ladies’ use of the fan and its coded language to convey messages. Combined with eye movements it was a fancy communication tool. The messages conveyed on the whole were those of love. It is no surprise then that it made its way into the title of Oscar Wilde’s 1890s comedy. Whilst its symbolic meaning may be partly lost on a modern audience, the central metaphors still ring true in Dominic Dromgoole’s revival of “Lady Windermere’s Fan” as part of the year long Oscar Wilde season at the Vaudeville.

Young, rich and happily married, Lady Windermere seemingly has it all. Until her husband invites a mysterious widow to her ‘coming of age’ birthday ball. Suddenly everything that she holds dear is in jeopardy. Mixing the comic and the serious, this dramatic technique makes it more interesting, and more full of intrigue, than Wilde’s later, more popular plays.

At the heart of this production are two of Britain’s female comic icons. Kathy Burke, who directs and who has gathered a top notch cast, and Jennifer Saunders who plays the gossip-mongering battleaxe Duchess of Berwick. To allay accusations of star casting, Saunders gives a generous performance and consciously refuses to steal the show (her character is gone by the end of the first act anyway). Yes, there are shades of “Ab Fab”, particularly in the way the character treats her daughter, but Saunders adds more depth here and ingeniously manages to make Wilde’s chiselled epigrams her own.

Grace Molony makes her West End debut as the eponymous Lady Windermere, and she is ‘looking at the stars’. A cool player, she commands the stage. Initially icy in her belief in moral absolutes, she is shaken by a sudden failure in trust caused by the Duchess maliciously yet deliciously leading her into thinking that her husband is having an affair with another woman; a Mrs Erlynne, played by Samantha Spiro giving a glorious and dazzling portrayal of perhaps the most multi-layered character in the piece. All the other characters act as though Mrs Erlynne should be ashamed of herself, yet Spiro plays her without shame. That her character feels so up to date is down to the fact that Wilde was writing before his time. He had the utmost respect for women. Spiro captures this quintessence, but then adds some. Her observations on how easily love can be capsized are heartfelt because she has the biggest heart of them all.

Despite all the right ingredients, though, the production does tread safe ground, but in doing so pays homage to the text, which is the real star of the show. Burke’s solid direction moves the piece along at a comfortable pace, unhindered by Paul Wills’ uncluttered but strikingly stylised set, except for a slightly odd musical interlude which, despite being a sharp-witted music hall pastiche penned by Burke herself, is out of place and too obvious a time-filler.

The energy does step up a notch in the second act and the chemistry between the characters strengthens. The scene where Mrs Erlynne persuades Lady Windermere to return to her husband is the highlight of the evening, and the heart of Wilde’s writing comes to the fore. Beneath the wit and the satire, it is what goes unsaid that matters most. This is perhaps Wilde’s play most overflowing with aphorisms, but between the lines, it is the play with the most compassion.

It attacks the un-navigable quagmire of the morals we are supposed to live by, but it does it with heart and humour.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marc Brenner

 

LADY WINDERMERE’S FAN

Lady Windermere’s Fan

Vaudeville Theatre until 7th April

 

 

Click here to see more of our latest reviews on thespyinthestalls.com