PLAYS: HENRY IV and TAMING OF THE SHREW

LOCATION: Playhouse and Civic, Newcastle

DATE: Saturday 9 May, 2009 and Saturday 3 October, 2009

WITH: Mary, Keryl and Keryl, Kitty and Peter

OK, I adore Shakespeare, the language, the drama, the murder, the intrigue. My favourite play is Macbeth (I mean walking trees, Lady Macbeth, witches, murder and OCD - what's not to like?) and I prefer it done traditionally. And I also have a very special spot for A midsummer night's dream and Much Ado about nothing. Having said that, I do not mind a good, modern interpretation, but it takes guts, simplicity and fabulous acting to pull it off. I recall seeing a very good Hamlet, set in the 1930s, with great costumes, sleek suits etc, and nazi undertones, very clever, polished and well executed. So, it you are going to play around with it - it needs to be done right, so few do that!

So, I do try and see Bell Shakespeare each year when they visit, however, in recent years the company has been nowhere up to scratch, and after a particularly awful Macbeth (I mean, how could they - they used plastic bags from the supermarket to add items to the witches brew at the beginning and the weakest Lady Macbeth you could ever see...don't get me started!!!!) I decided they had one more chance and that would be it. Luckily the past 2 years have been excellent, but this year I think they have blown it for me...more later

On to Henry IV...Oh boy, I have little recollection of this, I know I enjoyed it, but it was not fabulous. I felt the younger actors did not handle the characters as well as they should have, there was some humor and it was mostly traditionally done which pleased me. For an amateur production it was good. Brief, but my recollection is pretty bad, which means it was not outstanding.

I saw The Taming of the Shrew last Saturday so my recollection is indeed better. It was not great, they decided to modernise it which was completely unnecessary. I do understand the more difficult plays being changed a bit and modernised as it make them more accessible, but something a simple as this really should not be touched at all. If you cannot follow this storyline, don't bother, it is as simple as that! Harsh, but true, I loathe it when people dumb things down and this was really dumbed down.

Despite some strong older actresses in smaller parts, the players were mostly young and quite obviously inexperienced actresses. Every part was played by a female, and that worked quite well. The set was a complete pigsty and the styles of presentation clashed. The Shrew's father and his mates were mobster 1930s style; the shrew, her sister, suiters and followers were white trash (ugg boots and PJs) and disco styled. And in later acts Petruchio's 'aides' were 1950s costumed fillies - stunning costumes, beautiful dresses, shoes and magnificent hats - but yet again a complete mismash of styles, that was more offputting than interesting. It was like they had all these ideas, and felt they had to use them all - they did not. The first half had 5 huge mirrorballs hanging and they were completely annoying. I love mirrorballs, and hate to say it but the lighting shone into them and basically bounced back into my eyes and was so annoying I had to close my eyes at times, which was not good in the dull bits as I almost feel asleep on more than one occasion. Maybe it was where I was sitting and my eyes can be ultra sensitive, but it just annoyed the shit out of me!

And then there was the Karaoke, again, I love Karaoke like the next person, but again completely unnecessary. Now the singing was pretty bad, but I suppose it was Karaoke, but it basically served to help place where the action was, eg Love is a battlefield, Heart of Glass etc and while most of the songs were fun to hear, they were cliched and annoying when placed in the context of the play. As far as I am concerned, if people need something like disco to help them understand a simple play like this, they should not be there in the first place!!!

I have been pretty harsh here and one would think I hated it, I did not, it was ok, but given it was Bell, I was unimpressed and I highly doubt I will be revisiting them next year.... unless John was directing Anna, but I think those days are long gone unfortunately. As Keryl said, Richard and Elizabeth would be turning in their graves, well not Liz, but you know what we mean!!!