It may be another symptom of global warming, but whereas you once knew it was summer in the theatre (if not in the temperature) when the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park opened for business in late May, the timetable has imperceptibly shifted to the beginning of May.
Of course the opening of the Chichester Festival Theatre’s annual summer season (which kicked off this week under a new artistic director and a new play, Entertaining Angels, starring Penny Keith in a perfect match of venue and star that’s a strong marker for locals that its business-as-it-used-to-be there after three years of experimentation by a different artistic regime that emptied the theatre) and the Brighton Festival (this year celebrating its 40th anniversary) have always been early-warning signs of approaching summer. But the big change is the early kick-off for the Shakespeare’s Globe season, which not only begins early – previews began this year on May 5 – but also optimistically ends late, carrying the ‘summer’ through to October 8.
It was press night for their opening production, Coriolanus, last night, and the Globe couldn’t have hoped for a more spectacularly balmy London night. So balmy, in fact, that we got the first sight of another annual London occurrence: the baring of Evening Standard critic Nicholas de Jongh’s “too, too solid pound of flesh” body.
He regularly likes to unbutton to the waist when the summer arrives – I’m sure those who work in offices would like to do the same – and sometimes has been even known to throw off his shirt entirely. There was a remarkable sight at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End three summers ago when the velvet-seated splendour of that theatre was subjected to a naked encounter with his sweaty flesh as he took his shirt off and put it under the seat.
I’m sure that any other theatregoer would be politely asked to keep their clothing on or leave the theatre. Somehow, though, Mr de Jongh claims immunity. Ditto, the disturbances he routinely makes in the theatre – whether chastising fellow theatregoers, or even fellow critics (one of my colleagues was once shouted at for putting a bag beside him that interfered with de Jongh’s legroom; my friend politely told him to go home and look up the ‘c’ word – Courtesy). But though he regularly whispers and passes notes to his companions during performances, if you sit near him and dare to turn a page of your notebook, you get a sharp, irritated look.
About five years ago I wrote a piece on London critics that Nick mysteriously only stumbled upon online a few months ago for the first time. The next time he saw me, he called me to task for what I had written. My partner asked if there was a full moon. When Nick asked why, my partner replied, “Well, you should stop digging in graveyards and digging up old corpses.” But clearly he is tired of being referred to as hard-to-please and acerbic; but those are not, of course, necessarily bad qualities in a critic. But going bare-chested in the stalls is hardly the way to go to work.
SOUND OF MUSIC UPDATE…. Further to my blog entry on Monday drawing attention to news that appears on online sources before it is confirmed by official channels, the source of the story of the “confirmed dates” for The Sound of Music has written to insist that they “do have written – official – confirmation of The Sound of Music dates. The press release may not have been written or approved yet – but then, if I waited for press releases all the time, we wouldn’t break the number of stories that we do .”
But when I checked in with the press agent concerned representing the show again today, he told me that they are still juggling with three different sets of dates for the opening, and although the date reported may indeed be accurate in the end, neither Patrick Murphy of Really Useful nor David Ian of Live Nation that he has spoken to have agreed which of the possibilities – early November, mid November or December – is likely to be the final one. The decision is dependent on the final closure date for Sinatra, currently playing at the London Palladium, that has not yet been settled. Group bookings are, however, already being accepted for the show – from a date, presumably, when they are sure that the production will already be on. But the premature release of the information of the dates suggests that someone’s left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing. Could it be that there are too many producers involved here?
While this particular person is not known to me other than through his, how shall i put this, eclectic flights of fancy, reading this delicious if rather self-satisfied blog found me pondering the nature of narcissism as I awaited the arrival of my next client at my exclusive Highate practice. Within theatre - an arena well-probed by my psychotherapeutic antennae - the manifestation of pathological narcissism is plain for all to see. It revolves around the Kohuttian hypothesis that, having not been nurtured appropriately in our formative years, we are left fragile and corroded. Therefore, we continue to display unreasonable, foot-stamping demands - infantile grandiosity -, expect situations, enviroments and people to simply morph to meet our needs and fall apart at the slightest glitch that does not place us at the centre of the universe.Does this I wonder sound familiar to any of you? Why this should come to mind as I read Mr Shenton's words I cannot imagine but I thought I would share none the less. Fortunately, I moved through my own pathological narcissism during 10 years on the couch so please feel reassured, dear readers, that you will not have to endure the sight of me in any West End theatre or cinema with my blouse under the seat and my bra wrapped around my forehead as a makeshift sweat band.
ah, i see. mr de jongh shuffling, talking and stripping in a theatre is amusing, even endearing. his full compliment of mental faculties presumably excuse it. but woe betide anyone with a disability attempting such feats - they should be banned.
ps - any accreditation of full mental faculties to nicholas de jong are purely for the purposes of making a point.
Where exactly do you find the comments on Mr de J's satorial (lack of) taste "amusing, even endearing" in this posting? The thought of him shirtless in the stalls is enough to make me retch....
If ever they bring in a theatrical version of the asbo, Nicholas de Jongh should be the first to get one. I first encountered his childish tantrums in theatres at a superb production of Cabaret at the tiny Union Theatre in south London. During a lull in the action, half-way through the first act, he jumped on stage and began berating us for daring to eat a crisp. The production was set out cabaret-style, with tables surrounding the stage, so you were encouraged to eat and drink during the performance. But Mr de J destroyed the atmosphere with his red-faced tirade and almost stopped the cast in their tracks. It was only when we were going home that I found out who he was, but at the time we all thought he was one of the Nazis in the show, or some strange old nutter released on a care in the community scheme.
Some two years later I had the misfortune to sit near him again on what turned out to be the Press Night of Don Carlos. Mr d J spent the entire first act huffing and puffing and complaining to his companion about the seat he was sitting in. I'm sure the cast on stage could hear every hiss and groan, let alone those of us sitting nearby. Then, during the interval, he caused consternation in the bar when we spotted him shouting and screaming in an incandescent rage at a young woman, who I later found out was the press representative for the show. Fortunately this wretched critic was moved to another seat far away from us for the second act. Next day I read his review, headlined something like: 'My geatest experience ever in a theatre'. Don Carlos was indeed great theatre, but thanks to Mr d J's self-obsessed infantile antics our enjoyment was almost ruined. I have never rated his perverse and vinegary reviews - they are almost unreadable to the general public. But as a fellow member of an audience, he's surely a public menace, whether the shirt's on or off.
Hello
my name is oliva kimberley i am 14 years old and have just heard that the sound of music is going to the west end and was wondering if they had already cast the children, cause i would be interested in a part. Please e-mail on olivia_kimberley01@hotmail.co.uk. thanks you so much for you time. love olivia