★★★★

“almost Shakespearian at times in the rhythm of the language yet peppered with modern profanities and anachronisms”

One always admires companies who tackle outdoor shows in the UK. They are always risky undertakings, what Oscar Wilde would describe as a ‘triumph of hope over experience’. The evocatively titled Midnight Circle Productions don’t shy away from the challenge as they take their devised adaptation of Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights” around some of England’s most beautiful castles, manor houses and gardens.

As part of the tour, they have shored up in the West India Docks for two nights at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden in Canary Wharf. A haven of exotic plants and hidden pathways that lead you to the small amphitheatre that, in partnership with The Space Theatre, offers free events throughout the summer months. Asian bamboos to the left, ferns from the Americas to the right, the walkway follows the Meridian line, but it never quite feels like you have escaped the city. An artificial sheen hangs in the air, matched by the rather unatmospheric theatre space you eventually stumble upon. Planes, trains and automobiles provide much of the soundtrack while a featureless wall provides the backdrop.

The cast rise to the challenge and, although not always projecting as strongly as is necessary, they hold our attention throughout with their retelling of the Brontë classic. Told with wonderful clarity and constancy, it stamps its own individuality by allowing the characterisation to fill the spaces in the framework of the text. Director Nicholas Benjamin’s semi-improvised approach lets everyone take a writing credit. The result could be chaotic but here the narrative is a mix of soap opera and classical prose; almost Shakespearian at times in the rhythm of the language yet peppered with modern profanities and anachronisms. The fluctuating tempo of the staging is led by offstage percussion and sporadic bouts of music that tentatively wander into the playing space. An underused squeezebox shyly underscores while an under amplified guitar accompanies the folksy song interludes.

The story unfolds in flashback as Nelly (Jacqueline Johnson) relates it to Lockwood (Nicholas Benjamin), the new tenant to gruff, eccentric Heathcliff – the landlord of the remote Wuthering Heights. Transported back thirty years, Lockwood learns the backstory to the two families (the Earnshaws and the Lintons) and their turbulent relationships with the Earnshaws’ adopted son, Heathcliff. While the production doesn’t quite capture the Romanticism and the Gothic heart of the novel, it certainly draws attention to the cruelty, both mental and physical and the challenging issue of abuse, class and morality. Renny Mendoza’s Heathcliff is a rather unremitting thug, who sulks and shouts his way to his pitiless end, though a charismatic presence, nonetheless. Oscar Mackie’s Hindley Earnshaw, despite being the archetypal bully, fares better in the sympathy stakes. Less a drunkard, Mackie plays the alcoholic with a modern sensitivity. A similar modernism is given to Catherine Earnshaw (Niamh Handley-Vaughan) and Isabella Linton (Nadia Lamin). Both Handley-Vaughan and Lamin keep victimhood at bay with their strong portrayals of the tragic women.

The strengths of this show, however, are often lost in the surroundings. Subtle sound effects (of ghosts or of a wrenching cry) created by the company members themselves had to compete with layers of traffic and streams of curious, often vocal, onlookers. We are more than tempted to follow the play to its next location to feel the full impact of the performance – one full of respect for the original, but not afraid to give it a bit of a shake.

HELLO, DOLLY! at the London Palladium

★★★★

“Nothing seems out of place in Dominic Cooke’s staging of this revival”

By interval, while slowly making my way through the bottleneck towards the bar, I’m feeling a bit like the child from ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ folk tale. Only the joke is on me, apparently, rather than the other way round. It takes the second act to make me realise this, and my puzzled expression turns to one of realisation, all the while a smile reluctantly spreading across my face. The belated appreciation is inadvertently symptomatic of a musical that is, after all, fundamentally about second chances.

You have to ignore the flimsy plot to get to its heart. On the surface the story follows the celebrated matchmaker, Dolly Levi, as she travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for the miserly half-millionaire Horace Vandergelder. It soon becomes clear, though, that Dolly intends to marry Horace herself. We think it’s all about the money, but as the twists unravel, we discover the true threads of the tale. Love is in the air, ultimately, conquering feelings of grief and bereavement as it sweeps through the auditorium in waves of feelgood farce. In the title role, Imelda Staunton gives a fantastically understated performance as she slowly lets go of her late husband’s ghost to find her way back to where she belongs.

Based on Thornton Wilder’s 1930s ‘The Matchmaker’, it premiered in 1963; so there is always the danger that today’s audiences will find it outdated and out of style. Yet it conveys a bygone age that we are willing to be transported back to. Escapism is the key. Rae Smith’s sumptuous sets mix turn of the century realism with animated backdrops; rickety trolleybuses and sandstone buildings with blue skies – into which, at one point, a full-size steam train billows out clouds of steam. Smith’s costumes match the opulence of the production, particularly during the signature scene in which Dolly descends the famous staircase of the Harmonia Gardens restaurant. The title number of ‘Hello Dolly’ builds slowly towards its ovation-grabbing finale. Dancing waiters and chefs epitomise Bill Deamer’s extravagant and flawless choreography. Nothing seems out of place in Dominic Cooke’s staging of this revival, except for a few lines of Michael Stewart’s book. Yet the execution is faultless, and Jerry Herman’s music and lyrics are given full flight, buoyed up by the twenty strong orchestra down in the pit.

Staunton, to her credit, never steals the show in what is pretty much an ensemble piece (that also boasts one of the largest ensembles in London – it has more swings than a holiday camp playground). Andy Nyman’s Horace Vandergelder is a gently mocking Scrooge, extending his derision to himself as much as anyone else. His rebellious employees, Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker (respectively Harry Hepple and the underused Tyrone Huntley) make a fine comedy double act that borders on cliché but thankfully just stops short. The other star turn comes courtesy of Jenna Russell’s Irene Molloy, the milliner who craves to swap her hat shop for a love nest yet is more than twice shy having been bitten by grief too many times.

The songs are not so much old fashioned as old school. Refreshingly nostalgic and timeless. Russell delivers one of the highlights; ‘Ribbons Down My Back’ with an aching hunger while some of the other rousing numbers fill us with joy. Staunton, of course, makes ‘Hello Dolly’ (the song and the show) her own, betraying a unique sense of self-doubt within her layered character. She likes to be in control of everybody’s lives, including her own, but her femininity is never victim to her feminism. There is strength and vulnerability. But also a glorious sense of fun. “It’s no use arguing – I have made up your mind” Dolly says to the redemptive Vandergelder.

There is no arguing with the success of this show either, or the ovation it received. Admittedly the first act drifts a bit, but by curtain call it is well and truly ‘back where it belongs’.

WUTHERING HEIGHTS at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden

★★★★

“almost Shakespearian at times in the rhythm of the language yet peppered with modern profanities and anachronisms”

WUTHERING HEIGHTS at the Crossrail Place Roof Garden then tour continues

Reviewed on 24th July 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Roj Whitelock

Top shows this month:

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

HELLO, DOLLY! at the London Palladium

★★★★

“Nothing seems out of place in Dominic Cooke’s staging of this revival”

HELLO, DOLLY! at the London Palladium

Reviewed on 18th July 2024

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Manuel Harlan

More reviews from Jonathan:

HELLO, DOLLY!

HELLO, DOLLY!