{"id":92684,"date":"2024-06-03T00:31:49","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T07:31:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=92684"},"modified":"2024-06-03T00:34:21","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T07:34:21","slug":"plays-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2024\/06\/03\/plays-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Plays in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My first day in London was marred by a lack of sleep.&nbsp; I decided to keep going and attend the matinee of <strong><em>Remembrance Monday<\/em><\/strong>.&nbsp; All I knew about the play was that it was less than 90 minutes, and featured two hot guys in their underwear.&nbsp; If that couldn\u2019t keep me awake, nothing would.&nbsp; <strong>Michael Batten<\/strong>\u2019s play about a gay couple is a provocative one that addresses issues many of us can identify with.&nbsp; He gets there by way of one clich\u00e9d plot twist that I could well have done without.&nbsp; As to the lads \u2013 <strong>Nick Hayes <\/strong>and <strong>Matthew Stathers <\/strong>are both not only talented, but worth seeing in their scanties.&nbsp; And there was one member of my audience who put them both to shame \u2013 and he knows who he is.&nbsp; The production at the <em>Seven Dials Theatre <\/em>has closed, but the memory lingers on.<\/p>\n<p>I also saw <strong>John Cleese<\/strong>\u2019s stage version of <strong><em>Fawlty Towers<\/em><\/strong>.&nbsp; I remember the television show with some fondness, but was never a fanatic.&nbsp; Therefore, I think I\u2019m the perfect audience member.&nbsp; I found it a total delight.&nbsp; Using classic plot points to structure an interweaving play was a perfect way into the characters and the material.&nbsp; If it left one wanting more, I suppose all\u2019s the better.&nbsp; The cast was evocative of the originals, but with their own personalization.&nbsp; I must single out <strong>Adam Jackson-Smith<\/strong>, who bears the most fleeting of resemblances to Cleese, and yet mines the role for nuances and ticks that all felt genuinely fresh and effortless.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/colorbar1.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-568\" src=\"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/colorbar1.gif\" alt=\"colorbar1\" width=\"500\" height=\"1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>My last day in London was spent with <strong>Sir Ian McKellen<\/strong>.&nbsp; He\u2019s appearing in an adaptation of <strong>Shakespeare<\/strong>\u2019s <strong><em>Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2<\/em><\/strong> by <strong>Robert Icke<\/strong>.&nbsp; This puts Sir Ian\u2019s portrayal of <strong>Sir John Falstaff <\/strong>front and center in <strong><em>Player Kings<\/em><\/strong>.&nbsp; Shockingly, his Falstaff has more vigour than pathos \u2013 quite a feat for the 85-year-old actor, who has had a busy few years (including again playing <strong><em>Hamlet<\/em><\/strong>, himself).&nbsp; Falstaff is a challenging character who rarely leaves the stage during this four-hour presentation.&nbsp; Special kudos to <strong>Toheeb Jimoh<\/strong>, whose Prince Hal makes his entrance as a butt-baring go-go dancer!&nbsp; Not only is he a fine actor, his arse gets two thumbs up from me.&nbsp; That <strong>Richard Coyle <\/strong>is old enough to play <strong>Henry IV <\/strong>makes me feel ancient.&nbsp; But he\u2019s as splendid as ever \u2013 as is the entire cast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My first day in London was marred by a lack of sleep.&nbsp; I decided to keep going and attend the matinee of Remembrance Monday.&nbsp; All I knew about the play was that it was less than 90 minutes, and featured two hot guys in their underwear.&nbsp; If that couldn\u2019t keep me awake, nothing would.&nbsp; Michael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92684"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92686,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92684\/revisions\/92686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}