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Carry on Camping!

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A Camp
6th of May 2009
King’s College, London

I always thought that the weak strand in Nina Persson’s previous attempt for world domination by music was the band’s name. The Cardigans. I mean the Cardigans! It’s not a name to set the world alight. Their first couple of albums had an unusual pop pastiche going on which made them huge in Japan but meant some corners of the rock world viewed them with suspicion.  This part of their career came to climax and crescendo with the worldwide hit "Lovefool" but Persson and her fellow Cardigans wanted more than a reputation for perfect pop. Ironically, the album (Gran Turismo) which gave them their best known rock anthem "My Favourite Game" was mainly dominated by synthesiser sounds. Acoustic guitars were more to the fore on the best of their later albums, "Long Gone Before Daylight" (2003) but by this time their commercial, if not their creative peak had passed and the album was largely bypassed in the U.S. and the U.K..

In 2001, having decided that she perhaps need an outlet other than the Cardigans, Nina had finished off an album which she had begun with a loose collaboration of her musical friends. Because it was going to be a one-off and because it was intended to be a ragged gathering of musicians who by chance found themselves under the same roof, she called it "A Camp". It wasn’t meant to be a serious longterm commitment, more a holiday from The Cardigans. So a camp it was and "A Camp" would do.

Persson’s musical mainstay on the album was Nathan Larson, bass player and multi-instrumentalist. Another guy who played on some of the tracks was Niclas Frisk. After that it was back to the Cardigans for two more studio albums including the aforementioned "Long Gone Before Daylight" and a "Best of" which seems to have finally drawn the curtain down on the band. At least for now.

When she decided to work again with Larson and Frisk, this time in a proper band with a long term future, the name "A Camp" was resurrected. Perhaps, band names just aren’t Nina’s strong suit. It must be a nightmare to market.

On Wednesday, A Camp brought their first fullscale European tour to its conclusion before heading out to the States. The second album "Colonia" has been well-received by the press but has perhaps not created the same underground frisson as the first. But how do they fare live?

Well, tonight is a triple-bill with Leona Naess performing an off-beat and charming acoustic set to open. Second up is Kristofer Astrom who doesn’t really have the voice to match his obvious guitar skills.

The main content though is definitely "A Camp". They eschew any Cardigans material opting for a set which is 8-parts new album, 6-parts first album and two covers. The opener "The Crowning" is ideal territory for Persson’s vocals and her dramatic Hollywood-style poses. There is something about the way that the Scandinavian voices the English language on lines like "Let’s raise our glasses to murderous asses like you" which is totally charming and so chic.

Both Larson and Frisk cut dramatic figures in perpetual motion, their guitars pointed skyward. There is indeed a point in the evening when the stage movements and shape-striking does become a little repetitive but this is no major problem. The show continues cutting its way through ballads that emphasise Nina’s vocal qualities and striking lyrical sarcasm to more upbeat songs with great hooks like "Frequent Flyer" and "My America".

Low point? As on the new album, the male vocal on "Golden Teeth and Silver Medals" doesn’t quite cut it. Tonight, Astrom, the support act, handles the duties and he is no better than Nicolai Dunger on the record. The song is perhaps, anyway, a little too Eurovision.

The two covers were well-chosen. First, Grace Jones’ "Done it Again" led by the bass and tightly performed. As an encore, we were given David Bowie’s "Boys Keep Swinging". By this time it was a moment for the band to rock out and the sound became a little bit of a mush, something that Persson’s guidance for the sound guys had carefully avoided the rest of night. But this was fun and the audience sang a long and a great time was had by all.

A great time was had by all. That might just sum up the night. But that name……. A Camp. A Camp! Now that might just halt the next attempt at world domination.

The cards are no good which you’re holding, unless they’re from another world.

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Date: 25 & 26 April 2009
Artist: Bob Dylan
Venue(s): The O2, Greenwich, London & The Roundhouse, Camden, London

Immediately following Bob Dylan’s shows in London this weekend I read droves of reviews complaining. Now I would have expected them to complain about some things – the engineering works that meant there was no tube service heading in or out of North Greenwich on Saturday, the hours of queuing outside of the Roundhouse on Sunday and the insensitivity of the door staff in closing off the toilets, hours before the concert, to those who were having to wait outside, perhaps. But whilst these matters got their own fair share of deserved criticism, it was the artist’s performance which took the lion’s share of negativity – a verdict which left me rather bemused.
One member of the public posted on a messageboard that it was a good thing that Dylan insisted on not using the large screens at the o2 and that he couldn’t work out which one of the distant figures on the stage was Mr Dylan – because if he couldn’t have figured that out, he would have marched down the front and punched poor Bob on the nose.
Now I’ve been a Dylan fan for over thirty years and I know all about the variable quality of his live shows and his periodic apparent disinterest in what the show amounts to and all the rest – but these shows were Dylan at his idiosyncratic best. Sunday night the O2 was the host to that other giant of popular music "Girls Aloud" and if you want to hear crystal clear versions of all the hits just as they were originally recorded, bright colours and dance routines then perhaps that was the show you should have been at. But if you’re going to see Bob Dylan at least judge him on his ability to reach his apparent goals. He will trawl through all his catalogue of songwriting and redesign the melodies on a whim. He won’t talk to the audience much if at all (let’s be fair when he has done this – for example, at his gospel shows in the early 80s, nobody wanted to listen). He won’t pick up his guitar and pretend this is 1962 just because you want him to. But if you want to hear an artist recreating songs from his best known to his most obscure, then perhaps this is the place for you.
The fans are apparently quite happy with his current tour. The band isn’t the most adventurous. He changes the bulk of his setlist most every night – although some of those who watch closest tell me that they can guess what he is going to play according to what night of the week it is. The opener changes each night – The Wicked Messenger, Rainy Day Women, Maggie’s Farm, Gotta Serve Somebody but often according to which day the calendar shows. For example, Sunday night seems most likely to be gospel night. One audience was recently treated to Gotta Serve Somebody, I Believe in You, Every Grain of Sand and Tryin’ to Get to Heaven. Monday night had none of these. There is a kind of perverse logic to all this.

The two nights, then, were very different affairs with the Roundhouse proving the better show partially because of the increased intimacy and better atmosphere of the smaller venue.

Highlights? Saturday had an excellent version of "Things Have Changed" with Donnie Herron echoing the riff on violin. "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" was all bent out of shape but still has power to make you think about humanity’s inability to treat all of society like human beings. There was a powerful and echo-ey version of "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" which was driven by Tony Garnier on double bass. "Po’ Boy" and "When the Deal Goes Down" were full of all that is best about Dylan’s current work and were drawn close to the versions that you would be familiar with from the albums. For me, the best was "Workingman’s Blues #2" with Dylan cherishing each line and obviously enjoying himself. Saturday also produced indistinct, poor versions of "Rollin’ and Tumblin’" and "Honest with Me" so this was far from a flawless show – but it was good.

Sunday was better. Nothing here was fumbled just different degrees of high quality. The older songs "Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right", "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat", "Tangled Up in Blue", "Like A Rolling Stone" were straightforward enough renditions and kept the crowd on board when perhaps the attention of the casual visitor might be tempted to drift. "Million Miles" and "High water (for Charley Patton)" were rumbling, threatening and apocalyptic. The peaks were "Ain’t Talkin’" and "Tryin’ to get to Heaven" where the lyrics were biting and heartfelt.

So Dylan in London wasn’t quite a triumph but this was a very good weekend indeed for music . He will always divide opinion (for what it counts for, I think it’s probably part of his intention) but for those who get it, these were shows we should be talking about for years to come.

Threw it All Away

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Leyton Orient 2   Leeds United 2
7th April 2009 @ Brisbane Road, London

Leeds United dominated the first half of both halves of this game so completely but managed to undo their chances of a conclusive win by taking their foot off the pedal the longer both sections of the game went on.

Robert Snodgrass was the star for Leeds and he scored a goal in both halves of the game. The second came from a penalty given when Demetriou handled to keep out a shot from Luciano Becchio.

Becchio, as always, worked tirelessly but there was little contribution from his strike partner, Liam Dickinson (currently on loan from Derby County) who was in the team to cover for the injured Jermaine Beckford. Dickinson seemed over-matched and lightweight against opposition that had little to offer until the closing minutes of the second half. He was eventually replaced by Andy Robinson.

Demetriou’s handball saw him red-carded and this meant that Orient were functioning with 10 men for the last half hour making it even more embarrassing that Leeds did not press home their advantage.

Fabian Delph showed invention and vigour but Howson and Kilkenny, his midfield partners, were very quiet and Leeds missed having Jonathan Douglas in midfield. Douglas has been slotted into the right back role since injury to Frazer Richardson left a vacancy in that role.

Captain Richard Naylor was forceful in defence and well-partnered by Rui Marques who was restored to the team because of injury to Sam Sodje. Marques was firm and showed real class but along with goalkeeper, Casper Ankergren may have been responsible for the first goal Leeds conceded.

Leyton seldom looked like scoring but somehow scrambled a late equaliser and Leeds were left with only themselves to blame. Church’s 85th minute goal sent the Orient fans into surprised ecstasy. They only just out-numbered the visiting fans and it was the home team who had looked like they expected to lose from the beginning – the fans took their lead from the demeanour of the team and were as quiet as a mouse until they crept back in and stole a point against all the odds.
 

…… Mostly Average

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It wasn’t just the promise of tickets waiting for me on the door that drew me back for a second night with Mostly Autumn. I’d enjoyed the first night and I was interested to see how the previous night’s shenanigans would effect the prospect of recording a live album at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire (a venue I don’t like but, hey, I live just round the corner). Would Heather’s "scratchiness" (her term) floor the attempt at making a live album? Would the live album be released with a fill-in vocalist or be aborted all-together? Hey, it’s a hard rock soap……… The answers as always fell somewhere in between the obvious guesses.

Tonight, the band have more than adequate space to flex their musical and physical muscles. Unlike in Mancester, they’re not all stood on top of one another, eight musicians on a stage built for three. The audience can actually see Iain Jennings. Not least because he’s lost the top keyboard of the three on his tower. Anne-Marie Helder can get out from behind her keys when she is playing the flute and Andy Smith can wander the stage at will which makes him look just a little more Spinal Tap than he did last night…..

The setlist is the same as last night on the whole with those songs that were dropped because of Heather’s health mostly restored to the line-up. Eye contact between Josh and her is restored and there is even signs of some humour between the pair. Inbetween song comments are kept to a minimum in the spirit of the intention to capture this for a live recording without too many fake fades being required. The band members still have an irritating habit of leaving the stage when the songs do not require them to be there which looks unprofessional but that is their choice, I guess. All is well, the mix is better than the night before and except for one peculiar moment when Ms. Findlay seems to be asking the sound engineer to take her down in the mix (down???) there is none of the problems from the previous night which could have been interpreted as being a little prima-donna-ish……

And then Heather introduces "Above the Blue" from the new album "Glass Shadows". Now this isn’t my favourite song from that set. To these ears, it all sounds a little too much like the Carpenters. But Heather obviously believes in it. She has dedicated it to her baby and her partner and for her it is obvious that this is one of the key moments of the night. Perhaps it all meant a little too much. The band all left the stage except Anne-Marie who plays delicate and sensitive keys and for the first two verses all is well. But Heather has decided that a snare-drum has been left taut and is causing an intrusive echo or click and all of a sudden the song is off and needs to be begun again. There is some yelling and some semi-humorous comments aimed at the drummer who showed no signs of taking it all personally (I think most would have done). The audience are very much on the band’s side and take it in good spirits and the song is started all over again – for the good of the live recording. There is one moment when the security guard at the front of the stage allows his walkie-talkie to go off mid-song second time around and just for a second I think we’re going to have the same problem again but Heather digs down deep and completes her song. Strange.

The rest of the show goes off mostly without incident. The band are tight, energetic and enthusiastic and, most importantly, unphased by what has gone before. Anne-Marie Helder, still battling with her sounds been way too low in the mix, has real talent and charisma. Olivia Sparnenn takes her moment in the spotlight (smaller tonight) with aplomb. And Bryan Josh masters it all, level-headed, thoughtful, talented.

The first encore, Tearing at the Faerytale, which was missing last night is restored and goes very well indeed. The band are all set for "Carpe Diem" from "Storms Over Still Water" which had been a major highlight the night before when Heather shows Bryan "thumbs down" and the song has to be skipped and the bemused band move on to the final encore. The final encore is a cover of Genesis’ "Turn it on Again". The night before with Olivia having to handle lead at short notice and the band overwhelmed by complex timing, they had murdered this. Tonight, with Heather on vocals but the band still a little at sea, it is a little better. It is fun but not the big finish its meant to be.

So over two nights, Mostly Autumn showed themselves capable of scaling "Half the Mountain" but health (and personnel?) issues kept them from any kind of peak. Whether this is a temporary blip or sees the band heading for winter, only time will tell……..  

Anne-Marie Helder

Iain Jennings

Bryan Josh

Andy Smith and Heather Findlay

Goodnight and Thank you


(Combined) Set list for the last two nights

Fading Colours
Caught In A Fold
Flowers For Guns
Unoriginal Sin
Simple Ways
Evergreen
Winter Mountain
Dark Before The Dawn
Answer The Question
Last Bright Light
<<Above The Blue >> second night
Half The Mountain
Close My Eyes
Broken Glass
Never The Rainbow
Pocket Watch
Spirit II
Heroes Never Die

 

<<Tearing at the faerytale>> Second Night

<< Carpe Diem>> first night
Turn It On Again

The Play’s the Thing…….

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DSC01426

 

Edward Bennett as Hamlet

In Hamlet, the RSC have, by far, their best production of the year. Last night at the Novello Theatre, an enthusiastic audience rose to their feet in standing ovation to reward the actors on the conclusion of an oustanding performance.

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Anything Goes Where No-one Knows Your Name

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It’s been a quiet year on the live front for John Foxx. That’s why it was doubly good to catch him and Louis Gordon and Steve D’Agostino at the Cargo in Shoreditch, London last night.
John dipped deep into his current songwriting and back catalogue last night. A handful of songs from his days with Ultravox! all those years ago including  Young Savage. It’s brave to attempt this on synthesizers and I’m not sure it quite works but it sure was fun. As John spat out the lyrics with gusto you could forget that punk was thirty years ago and that Johnny Rotten now advertises butter.
Loudest cheers of the night were reserved for Underpass and No-one Driving from Foxx’s debut solo "Metamatic" but musically the high points may have been the rarely-performed "The Garden" and another Ultravox! classic "The Man Who Dies Everyday". Particular credit also goes to encore "Broken Furniture" which debuted on John and Louis’ "Crash and Burn" in 2003.
The evening coincided with the release of two new limited edition Foxx / Gordon albums – the studio set "Impossible" and a live document from last years gig at the Luminaire entitled "Neuro Video".

Set List:

WALK THIS WAY
A MILLION CARS
DISLOCATION
THE MAN WHO DIES EVERY DAY
CAMERA
UPTOWN/DOWNTOWN
UNDERPASS
NO-ONE DRIVING
BURNING CAR
SHADOW MAN

THE GARDEN
TRAVEL
BROKEN FURNITURE
YOUNG SAVAGE
MY SEX 1/
MY SEX 2
ENDLESSLY
SHIFTING CITY

Footnote: Foxx is usually pretty considerate of his audience but last night a show that was billed on the website to begin at 7 pm saw John take the stage at 9.15 – a tactic which is perhaps best avoided in future as the natives were getting restless by that time. Interestingly, following Shifting City the house lights were left down for what seemed like an interminably long time given the impression that an encore was coming which never arrived. Wonder what was going on backstage?

Louis Gordon had been kidnapped and replaced by that guy who used to play Nigel in Eastenders………..

One more last night

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Had a good night at Dingwalls yesterday. Arrived in time to see Deviant UK who I really enjoyed even if Jay Smith does wear his Numan influences just a tad too heavily. Good performer, good set.

Next up was the reason for being here – Swarf. Another great performance. Ms. Green really grows when presented with an enthusiastic, reasonably-sized audience and the two guys are a moody and talented presence who are a very large part of everything the band does. So good I bought the t-shirt. But how could they drop "Supine" from the set? This was the song that really turned me on to Swarf. The fall e.p. was good but all the pieces didn’t really fall into place, for me, until I heard "Supine". Swarf, you may be near the top of my personal listening class but restore that song to your live performance. Now, write 500 lines, "We must perform Supine every time we play, regardless of how long a set we are allotted".

Third act up were Adoration who have that guy from This Burning Effigy and precious little else. I really would have stayed for Diary of Dreams but I couldn’t be bothered to wade through this monotonous wall of sound for as long as it would have taken. It’s a shame because on their myspace their sound manages to have interesting layers and all kinds of things going on but all this was lost in the boggy mire they delivered last night.

Diary of Dreams? I guess we’ll never know

.

Deviant UK

1,2,3 Swarfs

Ch-Ch-Changes

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It’s been a grim few weeks. But there have been some glittering things in the dross.

 

First highlight was the Bob Dylan “Drawn Blank” exhibition at Halcyon Art Gallery near Green Park in London. A few years ago, Dylan was a writer and his “Chronicles” book was well-worth the investment. A few months ago, he was given a Pulitzer but I’m not exactly sure what for. This isn’t to imply he doesn’t deserve one. I’m just not sure why then. Now he’s an artist. And somehow he still manages to always be on tour and make the occasional album.

 

“Drawn Blank” however is a little unusual even by Dylan’s standards. First published in book form in 1994, these drawings were hardly noticed. Then his critical rating was low and nobody cared what he was drawing. Now painted, the “Drawn Blank” exhibition comes at a time when his star is in the ascendancy. Consequently, it is all over the broadsheets (The London Times, no less) and is worthy of an art gallery exhibition on the continent and two here in the London and no doubt some others I’m missing. Then, no-one cared, now the £1250 signed prints are all sold out and the first book is selling for £400 a copy. Strange. Of course, with Dylan, we’ve encountered this before. When he went electric, he was a Judas, until we decided he was a genius. His “Jesus” shows were dire for many, but are now spoken of as amazing feats where an artist like Dylan chose to perform only new songs in a show of passion, energy and commitment. Then few could see past the evangelism and booed his accompanying girl vocalists. I’m waiting for the “Empire Burlesque” reassessment.

 

I purchased the 1994 book of “Drawn Blank”. I purchased the 2008 book of the same drawings painted. I thought they were okay. Some good, a few very good. However, seeing them extremely well presented at the Halcyon, moved them up a notch in my estimation. Well worth seeing.

 

Second highlight. John Foxx’s “Tiny Colour Movies” at the Apple Store, Regent Street, London. Musical artist again but this time not paintings but films. Now I’m not much for the world of contemporary commercial films and I hate most cinemas. I do mean hate. So that I have now gone to see “Tiny Colour Movies” three or four times must mean that this set of films has something more going on than simply being the work of one of my favourite musicians and the fact that I have to keep going beacuse despite my persistent requests Mr Foxx will not put it on DVD.

Tiny Colour Movies is a collection of 14 concept pieces assembled from the home movies of a bygone generation. It is moving, thought-provoking, vivid and imaginative. It has a tremendous ambient soundtrack which the artist accompanies his films with, standing alongside, like the pianist adding sound to a silent movie. It is quite, quite wonderful and if it comes to a town near you, I might just follow it there.

 

Finally, on this smorgasbord of updates, a little baseball. Surprise, surprise. As the trade deadline approaches the Bronx is seeing new faces. First in was Richie Sexson. Now in 2007, Sexson, then at Seattle, hit .205 BA with 21 home runs. Fortunately, he turned this all around by storming to .218 with 11 homers by the first week of July. Not surprisingly, the Mariners released Richmond Lockwood Sexson. I’m not quite so sure why the Yankees decided to sign him later in the month. Perhaps it had something to do with that florid name. At least they didn’t invest in Bonds. I’m not holding my breath for this acquisition to be a great success. Indeed, I’m praying that by the time of my return to the Bronx in September, he will have headed toward waivers. We’ll see.

More significant (hopefully) was the trade made yesterday which has brought Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte over from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Marte, who actually spent a little while in the Yankees system a few years ago but never made it to 161 St. and River Avenue, is that crucial item a left-handed relief pitcher. Occasional promotions for Billy Traber and Kei Igawa have not added such a thing to the roster for very long. Marte with his 3.47 ERA, 4 Wins (no losses), and 5 saves seems a much better prospect.

Nady is a good addition at least because Matsui and Damon are not likely to see much time in the outfield for the remainder of the season. However, there may be more. His contract has another year beyond 2008 and he is 5 years younger than Damon. He is batting .330 with 13 home runs. There might be quite a lot in this for the Bombers.

A slight downside to this came in the final detail of the trade. The original detail suggested that the Yankees were giving up Ross Ohlendorf and three minors who were barely on my radar. Now Ohlendorf  looked good earlier in the year but then his mechanics fell apart and he might not be a huge loss but I was a little more disappointed with today’s update. The news is that the Pirates final list for the trade sees Jeff Karstens heading over to Pittsburgh. Now I’m not sure quite where Karstens’ career was headed (he’s been rather injury prone) but I’ve followed his career since seeing his early appearances for the Staten Island Yankees some years ago. I’m disappointed that he will never be established in the Bronx. It was an interesting journey.

The final footnote to this was that the very disappointing LaTroy Hawkins was designated for assignment and that Kei Igawa was removed from the 40-man roster and outrighted to Scranton (AAA). The Yankees are paying him in excess of $5 million – and they finally seem to have given up on him. Now that’s an amazing story.

Bang the drum…. slowly

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Harold Pinter does strange things with words.
It’s not just the obligatory Pinteresque pause that everyone mentions. He takes them from their normal surroundings and imbues them with a sense of tension which, in his best work, is never resolved. It simply hangs.

A few days ago, I caught the production of his “The Birthday Party” at the Lyric theatre, Hammersmith, London (just down the road from the place I live, which is handy). 
I first read the The Birthday Party a long time ago. This was in the early 1980s. I’d started reading Beckett and Brecht and then I stumbled on Pinter. In the town I grew up in, you didn’t get productions of Pinter, Beckett or ANYTHING. It was like living in a cultural vacuum. So if you were young and precocious, you read play scripts and tried to visualise what it would be like. I visualise better than most. I learned earlier. It was about putting a little colour into life – you get so sick of black and white.

So I read everything that Pinter had written that I could lay my hands on. The Homecoming, The Birthday Party, The Caretaker, The Dumb Waiter, Betrayal, A Kind of Alaska (maybe that was later, it seems that way), Old Times, No Man’s Land were some of the plays I remember reading back then and always in his best plays it was the tension and the transitions that he captured that got me and kept me reading. There was also a screenplay for “A la recherche du temps perdu” by Proust which I loved and admired greatly.

There are many writers whose best work is in the past and, for myself, I regard Pinter in that way. I can’t admire his politics and his recent public pronouncements just simply needed a certain degree of proportion and that is what a writer should have. I think Pinter has lost some of that measure that he had when he was a younger man.

So it was good to see one of his old plays. “The Birthday Party” is, if anything, perhaps a little too early. He is still learning the craft that fired that tension that interested me, at this point. The third act largely exorcises that malevolence that he has spent two acts creating. It resolves some of the issues and if Pinter has a strength it is that he taught the theatre that things don’t have to be resolved.

In The Birthday Party, Meg and Petey, a married couple, live with their guest, Stanley Webber. Nothing much changes in their lives. Lulu, apparently a neighbour, flirts with Stanley but nothing much goes on beyond the routine of daily meals, newspapers, a time for bed and a time to rise. All this changes when Meg is told that two visitors are coming. It is then that all of life’s possibilities break out and things begin to fall apart.

The words are clever and even some times funny. It is the characters’ response to simple words and simple encounters that places them on the rack and stretches them and allows their potentialities to burst open. 

Stanley (advancing): They are coming today.
Meg: Who?
Stanley: They are coming in a van.
Meg: Who?
Stanley: And do you know what they’ve got in that van?
Meg: What?
Stanley: They’ve got a wheelbarrow in that van.
Meg (breathlessly): They haven’t.
Stanley: Oh yes, they have.
Meg: You’re a liar

“The Birthday Party” teaches us that those who are fully awake are changed by encounters. Those who prefer not to change (like Petey in the play) can remain that way but only by sleepwalking through life’s experiences.

The play is loaded with possibilities. The fact that McCann and Goldberg (two visitors at what is apparently <perhaps> a coastal boarding house are Irish and Jewish respectively loads their mission <should it exist> with all manner of possibilities –  religious, political, cultural. All we know is that this is the twentieth century and their purpose, should they have one, could be sinister. We’re not sure how much of what happens is real or if any of it is dream. The import is not in the action but in the words – what is said and what is not said and how the characters and the audience react to what they hear and what they are not told.

The current production is at a close now. For the record, Nicholas Woodeson and Lloyd Hutchinson as McCann and Goldberg were excellent with the right air of purpose but with so much hidden. Sian Brooke as Lulu had just a little too much class and was a little too pretty (if you’re going to come up short, it’s not a bad way to do it). Sheila Hancock as Meg was a little too aware of herself and the play and her costume in the first act was just a little too stereotyped. She played for laughs sometimes that the play did not need.

Meg’s character is potentially the most mysterious of all in a strange way, if handled well. On the face of it she is almost moronic and easily satisfied. Simple. But she has many layers. She wants to be sexually alluring to the guests (even Stanley). She wants social standing – her dwelling is “on the list” she insists, her guests found her to be the belle of the ball. She wants to mother Stanley. His birthday present from her is a child’s drum. She is made more distraught by its brokenness than by anything else. Petey assures it that it can be easily replaced but then he also assures her that Stanley is still upstairs at the conclusion of the play. Is he or is Stanley broken too? She wants the danger but not the threat of change but most of all she wants things just to stay the same.

It is a thought-provoking play. I’m glad to be still thinking about it.