In the new issue of The Stage out today, I have written a feature on the current state of play (and the absence of plays) in the West End, amplifying on a theme I first wrote about here a couple of weeks ago. Of course the summer is always a difficult time for West End producers, and the weak dollar against the pound has only amplified that to keep American tourists away, while local audiences - distracted first by Wimbledon, and now the Olympics - are also watching their wallets at a time when the papers are endlessly predicting economic woes ahead (Just yesterday, Metro led with a front page banner headline: “It’s official: we are worse off”, and showing how the cost of living is outstripping pay rises for the first time since the 1990s.)
But London still has something utterly unique to offer, and the biggest worry is that even this is not enough of a draw nowadays for the kind of culturally-minded tourists that theatres have traditionally depended on to get through the summer.
I saw living proof of their absence this year: a class I have taught to a group of American (and Canadian) visitors on an adult extension programme run by the University of Berkeley for the last three years in July has seen its enrolment dwindle so much that next year the programme is being reduced from three to two weeks, in the hope of being able to draw more people who perhaps couldn’t commit quite as much time and money to being in London as this initiative used to require.
No wonder some theatre producers have faced the facts and got out of town, too - literally so in the case of Bill Kenwright, once a mainstay of the West End play who could always be relied on to keep the West End lit, but is currently represented by a single West End show, Blood Brothers at the Phoenix; yet his office already has, or soon will have, nine more productions out on the touring road.
The result? There are several dark theatres in the heart of the West End. But as David Benedict points out in Variety, “Some theaters are currently dark, but that’s because no producer in his or her right mind would consider an opening in August when local auds want to be outside enjoying summer heat and tourists want known quantities — not previews of shows they know nothing about.”
And as I add in The Stage this week, “The supposed absence of plays is, in any case, never as bad as a look at the West End alone would suggest, since there are countless opportunities for audiences who want to see them to go elsewhere, from the National and Shakespeare’s Globe to the Donmar and fringe. Indeed, given the ongoing rise in popularity and productivity of this sector, where ticket prices are invariably cheaper and programming more reliably led by artistic director choice rather than producer whims, it’s not a surprise that the much of the traditional plays audiences has migrated here. Is it too late to shut the stable door now that the audience has bolted?”
Though Shakespeare’s Globe inevitably has a big tourist pull, the other factor about these other venues that I didn’t say there is that they aren’t nearly as dependent on visitor audiences — they each have loyal local audiences to draw on. And while the National has up to 2,350 seats a night to fill - which is more than Drury Lane, making Nick Hytner single-handedly the London producer with the biggest commercial challenge of all (albeit one cushioned by subsidy and sponsorship), places like the Donmar only need to fill 250 seats.
No wonder that the Donmar Warehouse can not only buck the trend and actually open a show in the dog days of August - in the second week of the Edinburgh Fringe, no less, when the focus of the arts pages are mostly turned towards Scotland - but also already declare a complete sell-out in advance of last night’s opening. According to the theatre’s website, “There are currently no tickets available in advance for Piaf. However, 10 Day Seats are available from 10.30am in person at the Box Office on the day of the performance you wish to attend (max 2 per person). Up to 20 standing places are also available once the Day Seats are sold”.
That’s, of course, another vote of confidence in a theatre with a booming reputation, as well as possibly reflecting a growing interest in its subject, too, whose life story also formed the basis of a film last year, La Vie En Rose that saw its star Marion Cotillard win the 2007 Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
But it was a different actress that I was most looking forward to last night, and that was Elena Roger, the Argentine actress who blew me away when she took the role of Eva Peron in the 2006 revival of Evita at the Adelphi. As I previously admitted here, I developed an OCD condition around that production, and in particular that performance, which I declared to be “one of the most exciting musical theatre leading performances I have ever seen”, returning to see it on each of the last three Friday performances of its run.
So I can entirely understand why Michael Grandage, who directed that production but has now entrusted Piaf to Jamie Lloyd, his associate director on Evita who has been newly appointed an associate at the Donmar, was keen to find another vehicle for her talents; and Piaf would seem to be the perfect fit in every sense, since Roger is similarly diminutive of stature and big of voice. There’s also, of course, the nostalgic appeal of seeing the play return to the venue that it was first launched at, when the RSC used to run it as their London studio address, in 1979. (And, by a further intriguing theatrical coincidence, Roger follows in the footsteps of the original Eva Peron, Elaine Paige, who has also subsequently played the role of Piaf when she did an unhappy revival of the play at the West End’s Piccadilly Theatre in 1993).
But though Gems has apparently reworked and revised her original, it became quickly apparent to me last night that I had brought too much expectation with me. It wasn’t that Roger didn’t live up to my hopes for her, but that she was many leagues beyond the material’s scattered, impressionistic approach to its subject. I kept wishing the play would simply shut up and let her sing. Couldn’t we just have Divas at the Donmar back - and let Roger showcase her talents there?
My thoughts on Piaf that I posted elsewhere:
It is a reworked version of the original that runs 95 minutes with no interval and boy does it feel madly rushed. The first 20 minutes they do about 3 scenes a minute with everyone rushing round like headless chickens accompanied by much manic blasting sound effects.
The introduciton of various well known figures that she knew almost seemed comical and clumsy in its handling but its main crime is the confusion caused by trying to cover many years of life exerience in so many lightening fast short scenes (oh who are you, be my husband, oh no you are dead, who are you? my new lover, oh you have left me, oh no my friend is dead, oh I am a big star now, get me drugs.....)
I wonder if the original was a much longer show?? I know there is apparantly some new writing here too to freshen up the play based on the additional information we have found out about Piaf.
Once the show settles down around the time of the meeting with the boxer who was the love of her life it finally starts to become emotionally rewarding. Elana is just stunning as Piaf and I imagine she will get rave reviews, as may the show although it is will not be completely deserved in my opinion.