★★★★

“A stupendous performance … witty and moving”

Set conflicts, long lived feuds and a peek in the life of the big Hollywood stars. After series like Ryan Murphy’s Feud and Hollywood started swarming the media, it’s clear that audiences want to see what unfolds behind the camera lens. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford had a complicated professional relationship that had its ups and downs (mainly its downs). In Bette and Joan by Anton Burge, the actress and the movie star face each other in a battle for dominance.

The show begins with them introducing themselves and giving us a taste of their personalities in their respective dressing rooms. The exposition is necessary, but also tiring, especially if one’s familiar with the stars and their lives. But actors Greta Scacchi (who plays Bette Davis) and Felicity Dean (who plays Joan Crawford) are doing an excellent job of keeping us intrigued and absolutely hooked. They’re getting ready to shoot a scene of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, the famous picture that brought them back to the spotlight and skyrocketed both of their careers once again. The second half seems to be somewhat similar to the first, offering some electrifying moments between the actresses and some touching monologues about their respective personal lives.

It’s a trip down memory lane, which is enjoyable, but doesn’t really lead anywhere. Capturing the vast range of this relationship in two hours is impossible, but under the direction of Sue Jenkins, the actors’ great performances make us step out of the auditorium gratified. The tricky detail about this production is that it’s not enough to portray the real people accurately, but find the sweet spot of hostility and antagonism. Scacchi and Dean succeed triumphantly, as we see them separately, but also interacting, their dynamic full of fire that brings laughter to the audience. The way Dean inhabits the viper-like lady who’s always ready to strike while keeping up appearances and sticking to good manners is mesmerising, with every hand gesture being refined and elegant. Through her monologue about Crawford’s mother and upbringing she shows her highly skilled craft, contrasting Scacchi’s direct and confrontational approach.

The set, designed by Neil Gordon, is magnificent, one of the highlights of the show I dare say. A double dressing room with little details that make each side unique and that brings out the theme of duality. After all, the two stars might come from different backgrounds, but they have more in common than they want to admit, fighting bravely to make it in a cruel industry, where youth and money is one’s currency. Lighting, designed by Joe Pilling, is an interesting mixture of vanity mirror light bulbs and spotlights that focuses the audience’s attention to the appropriate side of the stage, making it easier to follow the narrative. Pip Thurlow’s sound design is minimal, which is exactly what this piece needs as we’re focusing on the words rather than distracting stylisations.

A stupendous performance that remind us that under all the glamour of Hollywood’s golden era, actors are still people, capable of being petty, competitive and deeply vulnerable. The show is witty and moving, even if at times one wishes we’d get more scenes with the actors being together, in order to get a better taste of their relationship.

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER at the Orange Tree Theatre

★★★★

“It is the sharp wit and intelligence of the language that sustains the piece and cushions it from the risk of being labelled dated”

Oliver Goldsmith’s period comedy, “She Stoops to Conquer”, was first performed in London a quarter of a millennium ago, but is still very much alive among today’s canon of revivals. Initially titled ‘Mistakes of a Night’ it is indeed a comedy of errors. Goldsmith himself dubbed it a ‘laughing comedy’ while others referred to it as a ‘comedy of manners’ or a ‘romantic comedy’. The stress is repeatedly on the word ‘comedy’ – as the laughs from the audience at Tom Littler’s festive revival testify.

It is the sharp wit and intelligence of the language that sustains the piece and cushions it from the risk of being labelled dated. Littler’s production shifts it from the eighteenth century into a 1930s country manor deep in the heart of P. G. Wodehouse land. Tucked away in the English countryside we find Mr and Mrs Hardcastle; the former relishing the quiet, old-fashioned lifestyle while his wife longs to untuck herself and see the new things happening up in the big city. Instead, the city comes to them in the form of two raffish slickers – Charles Marlow and George Hastings. Marlow has been invited as a prospective match for the Hardcastle’s daughter, Kate, while Hastings is in tow to pursue Kate’s cousin Constance, who in turn is being reluctantly matched by Mrs Hardcastle to her prankster son Tony. Courtesy of Tony’s mischievousness, the two gents arrive mistaking the country house for an inn.

The main butt of the satire is class divide, emphasised by the way the characters treat one another depending on the (often mistaken) perception of their social standing. The text calls for a heightened degree of acting, which the formidable cast deliver without ever overdoing it. Greta Scacchi pitches just the right amount of affectation into her flame haired Mrs Hardcastle, as gaudy as the baubles with which she adorns the Christmas tree. Scacchi manages to parody and show off her privilege simultaneously, with a cut glass accent in need of a good polishing. David Horovitch is the perfect foil as her bumbling crank of a husband, delightfully and playfully outraged at the slightest threat to his authority and standing. Tanya Reynolds, as Kate, effectively has a dual role, spending much of the time pretending to be the lowly barmaid she is mistaken for. A comic talent, showcased in a glorious scene where she tries on various accents for her alter ego. Guy Hughes is a real find as Tony, the one who instigates all the misunderstandings. His veil of bumpkin buffoonery shields an intelligent rascal, but one with a good heart.

But the one everybody is looking out for is Freddie Fox. One moment eloquently flirtatious, the next a nervous, tongue-tied wreck. A lithe performance, Fox effortlessly switches between the two sides of Marlow, eking out the hypocrisy of the class system but – more strikingly – drawing out the laughs from an audience that hangs on his every word and nuance. Robert Mountford’s Hastings and Sabrina Bartlett’s Constance add a delightful extra layer of farce as the ‘will-they-won’t-they’ couple. Bartlett, in particular, lighting up the stage with her presence.

The performances and, of course, Goldsmith’s script are what drive this comedy through what would otherwise be a fairly safe revival. Anett Black and Neil Irish’s setting has the comfortable warmth of a well-heeled family Christmas, transforming not entirely successfully into the local pub. And we get the feeling sometimes that the sense of privilege is enjoyed too much rather than lampooned. But these sentiments are quickly knocked aside by the stream of laughs. Sometimes gentle, sometimes farcical. The festive setting might be a touch opportunist, but it is bang on target, and we leave the auditorium uplifted and ready to embrace the joys of Christmas.

BETTE & JOAN

Park Theatre

★★★★

“A stupendous performance … witty and moving”

BETTE & JOAN at Park Theatre

Reviewed on 5th December 2024

by Stephanie Christodoulidou

Photography by Simon Annand

Previously reviewed at this venue:

BETTE & JOAN

BETTE & JOAN

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER at the Orange Tree Theatre

★★★★

“It is the sharp wit and intelligence of the language that sustains the piece and cushions it from the risk of being labelled dated”

SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER at the Orange Tree Theatre

Reviewed on 22nd November 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Marc Brenner

Previously reviewed at this venue:

She Stoops to Conquer

She Stoops to Conquer