There is also my long standing belief that Rosencranz and Guildenstern get rather a rough deal in the bard's version of the story, getting their heads chopped off for little further fault than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Plus Hamlet takes the deaths of these two old acquaintances very lightly.
A show which has, no doubt, sold all the better for co-starring the celluloid incarnation of Harry Potter, although there was no sign of that on the day. Maybe the screaming teen aged girls of 15 years ago have grown up into something more or less indistinguishable from the rest of us.
A slick production, with a good performance turned in by the two leads and with the show almost stolen by the performances of the dancing players and of their leader, played by David Haig, whom I did not recognise at the time as someone I knew well from ITV3, for example as an unattractive & alcoholic antique seller in the 'Dead on Time' episode of Morse. Perhaps he had grown his hair for this role, or was wearing a wig.
An entertainment which was a little too long at 2 hours and 10 minutes, exclusive of interval. They should maybe have lopped about 20 minutes off the first half. An entertainment which is clever, in part because it is more or less about nothing, a storm in a teacup, apart from the central conceit of showing a couple of walk-ons from a well known play from another point of view, putting them centre stage, a life of their own, rather than giving them just occasional appearances. On the one hand, I was reminded of the line attributed by my memory to a French aristocrat, a line about how the art of good conversation is to be able to keep it up without hurting anyone and without needing to display unseemly knowledge of arts, sciences or anything else. To talk elegantly and amusingly about nothing. On the other, I associated to clever undergraduates who like the sound of their own voices, a breed which I imagine was not unknown in the days of Stoppard's youth - which wikipedia tells me, rather to my surprise, did not include undergraduate time for himself. Is all the clever talk a compensating activity from someone who has always wished that it did? The clever-clogs behaviour of the autodictat?
Somewhat put out that I remembered nothing of the players or their leader from the previous productions (or production), but in my defense I suggest that the current production has given that side of things a lot more air time than we would have had twenty years ago. All those bright young things we train in music and movement, rather than in the proper delivery of antique blank verse, have got to do something.
Fairly full house, certainly downstairs, including at least one school party and a lot of holiday makers from the US. The lady next to me was from Pennsylvania and was lamenting the arrival of Trump on the presidential scene. Apart from telling a Trump joke involving Pennsylvania and Arkansas which I completely failed to understand, she told us that she was clinging to the theory that once the Republican Elders have got their chap into the empty chair on the Supreme Court, they will dump Trump. I helpfully pointed out that nearly as many people in the US believed in visits by aliens, if not little green men, as had voted for Trump; to which her riposte was that, to her shame, she had relatives who did both. All very upsetting. Back home, I was able to confirm that Pennsylvania was roughly where I thought it was, even if I had been a bit vague about the location of Pittsburgh.
Out to sample the grub in the Bar+Kitchen next to the theatre. Not too busy and with well-done faux-scruffy décor in what seemed to be a converted public house, an impression confirmed by inspection of Streetview this afternoon. Much more so on the screen than it had seemed in real life, as seen from the Millennium Green across the way, while we took our light picnic before the show. Only one tramp, who managed to corner an unsuspecting young lady tourist. Plus street food, which I do not remember from before.
Excellent meal, an excellence which was at least 75% down to presentation rather than content and which included a respectable Chablis. Once again, I found that the first sip from a newly opened bottle of white wine is a very poor guide, to me at least, as to how the rest of the bottle will shape up. Plus green pea soup, pork belly (they managed to supply the red goo in a pot rather than pouring the stuff all over the place) and cheesecake (ditto red goo, not the same one). Amazing what you can pay for pork belly these days - pauper grub in our bed-sit days.
PS: from one of the glowing reviews we read that Twiggy had graced either the opening night or one not long after. We wondered what she would make of it and why she was there in the first place. We are still wondering, but I have learned from wikipedia that she is within days of being the same age as myself.
Reference 1: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/deal-in-rain-1.html.
Reference 2: http://www.barandkitchen.co.uk/.
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