The Play’s the Thing to Uncover the Conscience of the King.

I had the great fortune to see three different theatrical performances here in London, and to tour an additional fourth theater.  It’s probably easier if I just break it down one by one.

Drury Lane Theater Tour:  This theater was playing 42^nd Street, which I had no desire to see whatsoever.  But I was told I HAD to take the theater tour, so I did.  And now I’m telling you all that you also HAVE to take the theater tour.  The two tour guides took turns leading the tour while playing real life historical theatrical figures, which was so fun!  The theater is the oldest theater still standing on planet Earth.  It was built in 1660 and has been running plays continuously ever since.  In the theater they had statues of Shakespeare, famous actors, the inventor of modern acting, and the inventor of the first musical.  There are two royal boxes (instead of the standard one box) for the royal family because at the time it was built the King and the Prince couldn’t stand each other.  They even had separate entrances to the building!  I also got some great insight into some theater terms that I never learned in school.

Props:  This originated from the fact that the audience used to actually sit on the stage during performance.  The higher the social stature, the closer to the stage you got…and the very highest in stature got to sit on the stage.  However, these noblemen would often steal souvenirs from the play, so the producer wrote on everything “property of the theater.”  And that’s where the word prop comes from.

Naval Officers:  A lot of theater terms are also nautical ones.  That’s because when sailors docked on the Thames, while the cargo was offloaded and sold, they would work as stage hands in the theater.

They also told stories of a few ghosts that have been seen in the theater throughout the years.  Spooky!

Hamlet:  I couldn’t wait to see this play with Andrew Scott as Hamlet.  He was superb.  Sometimes he would say a line in a way that was absolutely hilarious, although most of it was played seriously.  He was so, so good.  The set was modernized, and very minimalist, which worked really well as the attention was on the actors.  It was a sold out performance, and I was front and center for the action.  Andrew Scott came out after the performance and thanked us all for coming.  It was a remarkable show, that really showed Scott’s versatility.

The Mousetrap:  I have seen this show done a bunch of times, but it was a treat to see it on the London stage.  The set was incredible.  The actors and actresses all played their parts perfectly.  Nothing spectacular about the performances, but nothing bad either.  Just good solid acting.  The theater it is running in (The St. Martin Theater) has been running The Mousetrap non-stop since 1952!  Every performance breaks the Guinness book of world records for most consecutive performances of a play.  The theater itself was built in 1916…so it was fun to just walk around and look at it during intermission.  And if you haven’t seen it, it’s a great, fun play by Agatha Christie.  Good stuff at any level of acting.  Look for it in community theaters in your area.

An American in Paris:  My friend Anna surprised me with tickets to this on my last night here.  This musical basically represents everything I hate about theater.   She had to keep poking me all through the first act to stay awake.  It’s a musical on a very grand scale, with a full orchestra and in a theater that seats around 3,000…and it was completely sold out.  We were sitting up at the very top…but it wouldn’t have mattered if we were in the front row:  I hated this play.  The acting was great, the dancers were great, the special effects were phenomenal…the songs sucked, the story line was almost non-existent…and for no reason after every dialogue scene there was like 15 minutes of interpretive dance that acted out what had just happened.  Looking at the program I saw the finale was a song I actually liked, “They Can’t Take that Away From Me), but they did somehow even manage to take that away from me, because they shortened it to only one chorus (not even a verse).  So…if you’re into lots of interpretive dance with great costumes and special effects, this is the show for you.

Even so, just to sit in one of these theaters is a blessing and a joy.  It’s made me miss the theater so much (it’s been almost 10 years since I left the stage doors behind me for good).  It was just so wonderful to see these shows and be inspired.

I still have one more general blog about London…I’ve been falling behind like crazy.  Speaking of an American in Paris, my train for Paris is leaving in about 2 hours…so it’s time to say goodbye to London and head on to a brief croissant adventure.  Until  then…

Jeff:  Aug 16^th, 2017