I enjoyed a terrific Sunday! I had booked tickets for SoD and I to go and see Travesties by Tom Stoppard at an incredible little place called The Menier Chocolate Factory Theatre in London.
It was, apparently, once a real chocolate factory built by a French company in the 1870s and today much of the fabric of the building is preserved. It is situated in Southwark Street so if, as we did, you arrive in London at Waterloo, you can just walk down to the Embankment by the London Eye and hop on one of the river cruise boats which ply their trade up and down the Thames. Yesterday was a perfect, sunny Autumn day and the boat took us down past the Royal National Theatre and the Tat Modern, oooops, sorry, that should be the Tate Modern, and dropped us off outside The Globe Theatre, the site of the late, great Sam Wanamaker's glorious reconstruction of Shakespeare's theatre. A short walk down Southwark Street and there was the Chocolate Factory.
The 'auditorium', if that is quite the word, is more or less a large rectangle. The stage takes up one corner of the rectangular space and the audience sit along two sides of it. The seating is mostly simple padded-bench-style but surprisingly comfortable. The fact that you are almost within touching distance of the actors makes it a very intimate space. It is, without doubt, an exceedingly eccentric theatre and thus, Tom Stoppard's Travesties fitted in beautifully!
I have tried once or twice to describe this play to you because once upon a time I directed it but I am painfully aware that it might have left you with the impression that it is an incomprehensible shambles, a travesty, so to speak. The story, or stories, are told by the very, very elderly Henry Carr whose memories of his time as Vice-Consul to the British embassy in Zurich in 1917 are, shall we say, confused! Even so, it is an historical fact - the sort of unconsidered trifle that only a man like Stoppard would pause to consider - that in 1917 Henry Carr sued James Joyce for the cost of a pair of trousers which Carr had used in an amateur production of The Importance of Being Earnest directed by the Irish novelist. At the same time, in and around this theatrical dispute in 1917 Zurich, were Tristan Tzara, the inventor of Da-Da-ist poetry, and Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, aka: Lenin.
It is difficult to find the right word for Stoppard's play, perhaps 'a confection' is the closest to pinning it down although beneath the mad, helter-skelter froth of an incoherent storyline, there are some hard truths concerning the nature of art and politics. I can't advise you to buy a script because most people find it quite difficult to read a play text of any kind. This one is near impossible to read and make sense of unless you have been an actor or director. Also, it requires a reasonably comprehensive knowledge of Tzara, Joyce and Lenin. However, if you get even a sniff of a chance to see a production then DO NOT MISS IT! The run at the Chocolate Factory is about to end but the word is that it will almost certainly move into the West End. It will cost you more but you will never see anything like it again, particularly if most of the cast stay with it, especially Tom Hollander ('Corky' in The Night Manager).
Not to be missed, People!
(Incidentally, under the tutelage of SoD, who may know next to bugger all about Brexit but is an expert on travelling round London, I actually used a London bus for the first time in my life. What an adventure!)
I had been wondering if this performance would be all you had hoped and I'm glad to see it was! No leaving at intermission, no grumbling about mumbling actors and no bad reviews here on the blog. Good show all 'round!
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 24 October 2016 at 18:35
Yes, Whiters, it was first-class but with one tiny caveat. The lady playing Lenin's wife was black. She was excellent and had mastered the Russian dialogue exceedingly well, but, even so, she was BLACK and it sticks out like a sore thumb! It's just pathetic!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 24 October 2016 at 19:14
BLACK!? Steady now! Guess somebody failed to order a "White Russian"?
Posted by: Whitewall | Monday, 24 October 2016 at 19:36
Very witty, Whiters, are you sure you didn't have a hand in 'The Importance of Being Earnest'?
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 24 October 2016 at 20:42
David, much prefer symphonic music to theater but share your interest in history. Just got back to the states from Canada where we visited this "castle": https://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/hamilton-civic-museums/dundurn-national-historic-site
The War of 1812 was just another skirmish to the British, at least at the beginning, but helped make Canada and the US separate countries. You might enjoy looking into it.
Posted by: Bob | Tuesday, 25 October 2016 at 02:04
Bob, what an extraordinary building! Who put that massive extra portico right in front of the rather elegant one that stands behind it? Bit of 'builder's overkill' in my opinion!
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 25 October 2016 at 08:50
According to the interpreter, Sir Allan MacNab made a huge windfall in real estate and put an unheard of amount into building the mansion as the picture shows. The interior is likewise opulent. His free spending ways led to his dying in poverty. The powder magazine from the British military encampment is part of the cellar.
Posted by: Bob | Tuesday, 25 October 2016 at 14:31