Christmas may be nearly upon us, but there’s been no let up for theatre critics: as if the annual onslaught of pantos isn’t enough, the RSC have kept us on our toes right up to the last minute, opening their Gunpowder plot season at the Trafalgar Studios with A New Way to Please You last night. But there was no alternative: it closes tomorrow week! And however generous it is of the RSC to actually bring this strand of their work to London, I must question their new model of “straight” runs that mean that if you blink you miss it.
Time was that the RSC operated as a repertoire company both in Stratford-upon-Avon and in the transfer of that work to London. But now the work comes to London, whether at the Novello (where the Shakespearean comedies season sees each running for just over 3 week runs) or the Trafalgar Studios (most for barely two), and the pressure builds up. Of course, fans just need to get organised: the window of opportunity is limited, so you better get your skates on! But it also makes reviewing their work even harder: though the RSC has always had the rare privilege of being reviewed twice by most of the nationals, first at Stratford and then again in London, the run of A New Way to Please You is so short that no Sunday paper will be able to review it while it is still on. None of our papers are publishing this Sunday (Christmas day), and by the time we next come out on January 1, it will have closed!
