The 2013/14 Michael Grandage Company Season

So over this last year Director Michael Grandage has set up a high profile theatre company in his name and directed 5 pieces to be presented in the Noel Coward Theatre.
I was lucky enough to see three of these. Missing Privates on Parade and Midsummer Night's Dream. Looking at the reviews I almost regret not seeing Midsummer though David Walliams makes my skin crawl.

The season seems to have given established high profile actors a chance to return to the stage and stretch there acting wings in some seriously good roles. And none of them disappointed.

Peter & Alice
The first of the season I saw was Peter & Alice. A new play by John Logan (writer of Hugo, Skyfall and The Aviator to mention a few) which explores a fictitious meeting between Alice Liddell Hargreaves (Inspiration for Alice in Wonderland) and Peter Llewellyn Davies (Peter Pan). In which they both explore their relationships with the writers of the respective books and how their lives were affect by them. 
Starring Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw it seems the roles were almost designed to be played by these two who fitted them perfectly. 

At first I thought this to be a completely straight play and indeed the first scene is set in a scruffy looking lawyers office as Peter and Alice meet and talk for the first time both revealing how they've coped with the attention over the years. But as they start to tell their stories the whole room is lifted to reveal a mock theatre stage behind and the piece starts becoming more stylized as episodes of their lives are acted out by themselves.
The piece becomes darker and darker as the true nature of the writers and the effects of the books becomes clear and it becomes clearer that both Peter & Alice do what they can to survive.
The set, costume and lighting design were incredible. Fitting in with every turn and emotion displayed in the play. I can imagine the designers having fun with this one as parts of the design match with the sometimes abstract movements in the play.  
My only reservation was that I wished the Dench fans in the stalls had not felt compelled to laugh at everything.

The Cripple of Inishman

This was the third in the season but the second I saw. The Cripple of Inishman is a dark comedy drama set in a small island community off main land Ireland (Think less extreme version of Craggy Island). It tells the tale of Cripple Billy and the effect a visiting film crew has on him and those around him. 
Set in the 1930's the play shows the fascination and draw that a film crew can have a remote poor community at the time. Cripple Billy is seen as second class by most of the islanders (though their is some affection toward him) and he see's the visiting crew as a means of escaping the island.
Billy is ably played by Daniel Radcliffe. The role is a very tough one physically and Radcliffe does well never to forget the posture or disability through out the play. Even during the fight scenes he never drops out of his characters physicality. 
The rest of the cast are excellent as well with some larger than live characters being played without missing a comic beat or dropping an awkward dramatic second.
Like with the Peter & Alice the design isn't just great for the play it's great for the audience too. The Lighting and costumes make you believe in the scenes that are acted out on the three part rotating stage. As each scene is revealed, whether it's the make shift outdoor cinema or Billy's LA bedroom you get a real feel for the environment and atmosphere. A good combination of lighting and set allowed the audience to feel like they were almost there. 

Henry V

As the final production of the season Henry V was also the most traditional. I'll admit from the start that I'd never seen this play before (though I have seen Henry IV Part 1 & 2) so can't really draw comparisons with other versions of the play. 
For me the play itself feels like propaganda in parts and seems to lack Shakespeare's instinctive insight into human nature at times. That being said I still enjoyed it and found it stirring and entertaining in equal amounts. Henry V's speeches are clearly the stand out pieces of the play but the representation of the common folk through Pistol and his colleagues give welcome respite through the seriousness.
Jude Law played the title role and was very good in the role. Balancing the levels of righteousness, melancholy and mischievousness at the right levels to keep the audience engaged. It was a different experience for me to watch him as well. Previously I had mainly seen Shakespeare's large historic roles played by RSC/ classically trained actors who always bring a certain type of pronunciation and delivery to the roles. Law's execution of the role brought what felt like a more modern air to the role which made it most entertaining to watch.
Like with the other plays in this season the cast were hard working and entertaining but I thought that Ron Cook as Pistol deserved special mention. His rendering of the role brought the self serving greedy character to live.
The design ascept of the play added so much to the play that it's effect can not be under estimated. The set itself was comprised of a wooden slated semi circle facing the audience with hidden doors that were opened at different points to form each different location when added to by the lighting. Being painted a distressed white the set would pick the colour of the lighting and take of that characteristic, an effect that I felt worked very very well. Impressively they where able to create the effect that the whole set was gold one minute and a brisk morning the next.
 
All these pieces were great to watch. I personally think that you always get a better result if you let a play take on a life of its own and come together naturally which is what these all seem to do. You can really tell that the designers, director and actors have all been part of the collaborative efforts in making these all a success. I must admit that I'm kind of jealous of all those involved in making this season. Looking forward to another season!

The Road By Cormac McCarthy

I'd heard a lot about this book before reading it. Both in review terms but more as a comparison to books &
films that have have followed. It's influence has been far reaching seemingly inspiring films like Book of Eli, a Relaunch of the Fallout game series and even episodes of Adventure Time. The book seems to have set down a bench mark for a genre and with good reason.
I've always enjoyed Post-apocalyptic fiction. Something about a new world emerging/existing from the ruins of a self destructive world has always caught my imagination so since hearing about The Road I've wanted to read it.
As a work of fiction it works on so many levels and can really be described as a full package with many parts engaging with each other to create great fiction.
One of the first things you notice is the way the story is told. The characters have no names and there's no punctuation when they speak. This is different at first but as you read on it becomes apparent why this is. Within the context of the themes and feel of the book there is no need for either. You soon learn to see why the two main characters have no need for names and the fact the author has chosen not to give this basic element to the reader really helps you engage with the plot. This is only enhanced by the use of the third person narrative to follow just two people. Even though the focus is primarily on one of the characters you always get a feel for the other as well. The lack of punctuation could almost be described as gimmicky if it didn't match the atmosphere created by the book almost perfectly.
The story tells of two people, A man and his son, trying to survive in a world that has been destroyed. It has a rolling plot line which has no real concept of time passing. The lines between night and day are blurred because of the scorched sky and ash. The only real gauge is the characters need for food and sleep as they trudge across a barren wasteland.
There is a no holds barred feel to parts of the story which at times you don't expect. As one of the central characters is a child who's over riding emotion is empathy you are constantly raised up by the hope in the goodness that he tries to find in others. This can give you shelter from the more grim parts of the book. As the child doesn't always understand it makes it easier for the reader to understand the man's motives when he has to do things that no one should ever have to do. There is also a desperate type of hope from the man as well. A hope that he can protect his child and teach him what he can. Even if that means exposing him to bad situations so he learns what not to be like.
The book captivated me from beginning to end. I didn't want to put it down or for it to end and it stuck with me for weeks afterwards. Thinking more about it now I think it ends in a good (bad?) place. It left my wondering about the rest of the world and how it all happened. Though more than anything to me the characters seem to represent humanity itself and how decent humans (the good guys) would have deal with the collapse of humanity.