Front Row: Evenings at The Theatre

231 Pages·2005·6.992 MB·English

by  Beryl Bainbridge

FRONT ROW
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FRONT ROW
Evenings at the Theatre
Pieces from The Oldie
BERYL BAINBRIDGE
continuum
• V V LONDON • NEW YORK
Continuum
The Tower Building, 11 York Road, London SE1 7NX
15 East 26th Street, New York NY 10010
www.continuumbooks.com
© Beryl Bainbridge 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
First published 2005
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 0-8264-8787-4
The reviews in this volume were first published in The Oldie.
John Betjeman's poem Sun and Fun copyright © John Betjeman estate.
Philip Larkin's poem Annus Mirabilis used with permission of
Faber & Faber.
Stills taken from Coronation Street © used with permission of
Granada Television.
Typeset by Kenneth Burnley, Wirral, Cheshire
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd,
Bodmin, Cornwall
Contents
Introduction 1
1992
The Wind in the Willows 11
Faith Healer 13
Henry IV, Part II 16
An Awfully Big Adventure 19
The Blue Angel 21
The Woman in Black 24
Déjá vu 21
Improvizafond 30
It Runs In The Family 33
1993
Medea 37
Sunset Boulevard 39
Wallenstein 41
Separate Tables 43
Hysteria 46
Mr Director 48
Looking Through A Glass Onion 50
She Stoops To Conquer 52
1994
Macbeth 57
Unfinished Business 59
The Government Inspector 61
Me and Mamie O'Rour/ce 63
Kmg Lear 65
CONTENTS
Les Misérables 67
Jack, A Night On The Town With John Barr^more 69
Home 71
A Bus?Day 73
Don't Dress for Dinner 75
1995
Oliver! 79
New England 81
Three Tall Women/Dangerous Corner 83
My Night with Reg 85
Absolute Hell 87
Hot Mikado 90
Communicating Doors 92
Taking Sides 94
Hobson's Choice/King Lear 96
1996
When The Lights Go On Again 101
The Glass Menagerie 103
Confusions 105
Cat and Mouse (Sheep) 107
Jolson 109
Passion 111
Romeo and Juliet 113
Two Gentiemen of Verona 115
Art 117
1997
Joey and Gina's Wedding 121
Peter Pan 123
Henry IV 125
The School for Wives 121
Tom & Clem 129
v i
CONTENTS
Life Support 131
The Herbal Red 133
Lecture on the Crimean War 135
1998
A Letter of Resignation 139
An Enemy of the People 141
Things We Do For Love 143
Oh! What a Lovely War 145
Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick 147
1999
Vassa 151
Good 153
The Gin dame 155
2000
Cinderella 159
The Fam/hi Reunion 161
BahyDoll 163
The Mastery of Charles Dickens 165
Copenhagen 167
Notre-Dame de Paris 170
2001
Fallen Angels 175
The Accused 177
Under the Doctor 179
Lulu 181
A Midsummer Night's Dream 183
Nixon's Nixon 185
Caught in the Net 187
Antarctica 189
Over the Top 191
v i i
CONTENTS
2002
Blood Brothers 197
The Three Sisters 199
The Syringa Tree 201
Daisy Pulls It Off 203
Lady Windermere's Fan 205
Bombay Dreams 207
Sleuth 209
Dr Johnson and Mrs Thrale 211
Afterplay 213
v i i i
Introduction
At a luncheon in 1991 Richard Ingrams announced his
intention of launching a magazine to be called The Oldie.
The title did not necessarily mean that the publication
would target readers reliant on bath-chairs and zimmer
frames, merely give an indication that it might interest
persons more concerned with the avoidance of death duties
than the collecting of pop records or an ascent of Mount
Everest. It would contain political comments of a satirical
kind, reminiscences of the past, advice on keeping one's
money safe, places of interest to visit, book, theatre and
music reviews and a column listing the best wines to buy.
The second edition of The Oldie did indeed contain an
article by Dr Tom asserting that drink was a medical neces-
sity for those over fifty, though to be fair he did say in
moderation. Fired by Richard's enthusiasm, I immediately
volunteered to write the theatre reviews.
For those wondering what qualifications it requires to
take on such an intellectual task, it should be borne in mind
that I was not a stranger to the world of the stage. At the
age of five I became a member of the Thelma Bickerstaff
tap-dancing troupe appearing at the Garrick Theatre,
Southport. Four years later I went solo and sang Kiss Me
Goodnight Sergeant Major to an audience of wounded
soldiers transported from the local hospital.
In those far-off days it was considered important for
people to talk properly; even a job as a shop assistant
required a knowledge of the correct pronunciation of stan-
dard English. Consequently, I was later sent to elocution
lessons at the Crane Hall in Liverpool, where I intoned
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