A LIFE IN THE THEATRE. To 30 April.
London
A LIFE IN THE THEATRE
by David Mamet
Apollo Theatre To 30 April 2005
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Thu & Sat 4pm
TICKETS: 0870 890 1101 (£2 booking fee)
www.seetickets.com (£2 booking fee)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 7 February
Minor Mamet maybe, but identified in Lindsay Posner's splendid revival as a fine play.Director Lindsay Posner makes clear that this brief Mamet (rightly played without an interval) is more than a picture of the new generation taking over. It is A Life in the theatre and as young John gets into the rhythm of repertory, building to a fine swagger with stylish hat and stick, he can be seen as a Robert of the future.
True, the old actor here is of the political, bobble-hat and haversack generation. But he has the traditional actor's superstitions and concern for etiquette, plus a pride that's hurt at a hint of qualified approval.
Posner has fun with the brief extracts glimpsed from the actors' unfortunate repertory: historical drama, war play, crime-and-passion melodrama, and worst of all, the hospital-theatre operation where Robert's improvisations lead John to rip off the mask and abandon his co-star.
Both actors have a fine ear for Mamet's dialogue, with its pauses snaking between sentences, leaving a trail to show the thought processes that switch the subject back and forth between obsessions or sling it on to a new track of hitherto unspoken concerns. Patrick Stewart does heroically little reminding of the strong classical tradition and deep intelligence behind his recent celluloid success.
Internally, every nanosecond's counting; uncertainty's hinted from the opening scene, leaking out behind the firm stance and confident voice. It's in the glance held moments too long and, later, in the quiet deliberation with its sense of effortful containment. And even in the eventual flourish of Goodnight' hurled into the empty auditorium.
Joshua Jackson's well-matched with Stewart. John's early uninterest in his colleague, underlying the polite respect, makes clear this is someone looking to a career ahead. His flustered attempt to practise a Henry V Chorus speech to the empty theatre, knowing Robert's lurking around is comic but also with the bright lights of theatre reduced to a single Beckett-like lamp quietly moving. It may be this image that sparks thoughts of the duo as a theatrical Vladimir and Estragon.
It all makes for a major revival of a minor Mamet, shown to be well-worth a night in the theatre.
Robert: Patrick Stewart
John: Joshua Jackson
Director: Lindsay Posner
Designer: Giles Cadle
Lighting: Neil Austin
Sound: Matt McKenzie
Voice/Dialect coach: William Conacher
Fight director: Terry King
2005-02-09 14:49:22