Trevor Griffiths’ 1975 play Comedians was voted one of the greatest works of the 20th century in a recent National Theatre poll, and has been taken up as an A-level set text. However, it’s not had a major London revival since its first production, which memorably introduced Jonathan Pryce to the stage. Sean Holmes’ debut for the Lyric Hammersmith rectifies this omission; a glittering first night featuring such eclectic figures as Lily Allen, Hanif Kureshi and Griffiths himself shows the esteem that the play is still held in.
The play is set in three acts of roughly equal length. In the first, a group of aspiring stand-up comedians are put through their paces by their teacher, a former comedy legend somewhat gone to seed, Eddie Waters (played by Matthew Kelly). A London talent agent Eddie Challoner (Keith Allen) has come up to see their acts, and they are nervous, except the mercurial Gethin, superbly played by David Dawson, who appears to have a plan up his sleeve. In the second act, it becomes quite clear what Gethin’s game is, and the final act explores the aftermath of their performances.
While very funny in places, Griffiths’ play isn’t exactly a comedy. Instead, it’s a searching and rigorous examination of what makes people laugh, and the reductive way in which tasteless and offensive humour becomes debased through repetition and acceptance. It has dated slightly in places, and some of the final act’s conflict feels slightly forced, but nonetheless this is a strong revival of a fascinating and provocative play.
Until 14 November. www.lyric.co.uk, Lyric Square, King St, London W6 0QL
The most acclaimed new play of 2009, Lucy Prebble’s examination of the rise and fall of Enron received rapturous reviews upon its first production at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and then a sell-out run at the Royal Court. As it prepares for its West End transfer in 2010, it’s not hard to see why it has attracted such acclaim.
Directed by man-of-the-moment Rupert Goold, who has directed a bewilderingly large number of plays over the past couple of years, the production fairly fizzes with pace, wit and energy. Visually it’s stunning, thanks to clever use of video, puppetry and virtually every theatrical trick in the book, but this never detracts from the integrity of the performances or the writing. Prebble’s central thesis is to view Enron’s decline as both a precursor of the current credit crunch, but also as a cautionary metaphor for man’s hubris, making this a Shakespearean study of a great man undone by overreaching beyond his capabilities.
That ‘great man’ is Jeffrey Skilling, CEO of Enron, played by Samuel West in a performance that makes his character simultaneously loathsome, pitiable and oddly sympathetic. But there isn’t a weak link in the excellent cast, nor a dull moment in an enthralling play that actually manages to make the audience grasp, for the evening at least, the finer points of energy trading and marketing.
16 January – 10 May 2010, Noel Coward Theatre, 85-88 St Martin’s Lane, WC2.
www.enrontheplay.com
Kevin Spacey’s artistic direction of the Old Vic might well keep him busy, but thankfully it doesn’t preclude him from taking to the stage himself on a regular basis, most notably hitherto in Eugene O’Neill’s A Moon For The Misbegotten and Shakespeare’s Richard II. He now reunites with that production’s director, Trevor Nunn, for a rare British revival of Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee’s play, based on the legendary lawyer Clarence Darrow’s defence of a young man who attempted to teach Darwinism in a Tennessee high school. The play might have seemed more relevant in America, given the ever-present tension between creationism and religion there, but there’s no denying the quality of this production, helped by Nunn’s confident direction. Spacey is, of course, superb – complete with white hair, bulk and a lolloping gait – and he’s matched by David Troughton as Matthew Harrison Brady, a thrice-defeated Presidential candidate trying desperately to combine his deep religious beliefs with a final attempt at rescuing his reputation. A superb evening.
Until 20 Dec. Old Vic, The Cut, SE1. www.oldvictheatre.com.
