Of course it’s no surprise to see theatre critics at the theatre: it’s where you’ll find us most nights. And of course, thanks to the way the press night system works, we’re mostly there together on the same night - which can, of course, give a skewed perspective on how the social push and pull of the event works. Go to the Rose at Kingston on a press night, for instance, as I did last night, and the place is always teaming - but go on another night and you’ll be hard pressed, I’m told, to find much of an audience around you: the Evening Standard’s Fiona Mountford told me that the last time she went there she was in an audience of 12, and Charles Spencer of the Daily Telegraph said he’d been there with around 30 others once.
But last night, at least, saw a welcomingly full house for the Rose’s first homegrown production as Peter Hall (the driving force behind the theatre’s foundation) directed Love’s Labour’s Lost - and a full showing of national critics, too.
Everyone was there, from Charlie (unusually there with both his wife and son Edward, but then it’s not only half term but also a local journey for them from home) to Benedict Nightingale, Michael Billington, Quentin Letts, Kate Bassett, Ian Shuttleworth, the aforementioned Fiona Mountford, Tim Auld for the Sunday Telegraph and John Peter for the Sunday Times, as well as Michael Coveney standing in for Paul Taylor on the Independent, and John Thaxter for The Stage.
The best part of an out-of-town trip like this one - well, Kingston is in Zone 6, reminding me of the possibly apocryphal story, told in one of Michael Coveney’s blogs, about the legendary James Agate of the Sunday Times being despatched to an opening in Kew and telling his editor, “I would remind you, sir, that I am this newspaper’s dramatic critic, not its foreign correspondent” - is the camaraderie of the train journey there and back. I ran into Tim Auld (and his mum) on the way there, and shared a carriage with Benedict, Michael Coveney and Whatsonstage.com’s Maxwell Cooter on the way home.
It duly gives us a happy security blanket: we’re not travelling into the unknown alone, either dramatically or geographically. But the theatre shouldn’t necessarily be so safe: going to the theatre is also about a group of strangers gathering in a room and becoming one, whereas press nights like this, surrounded by our colleagues and the industry’s great and good, just put us in familiar territory.
So it is sometimes good to break with tradition and go on non-press nights - though even there you don’t always succeed. Even though I wrote yesterday about the disorientating effects of the environment and perspective for two plays I caught up at the Young Vic and Royal Court’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs, I wasn’t entirely amongst strangers as I saw them. At the Royal Court, Time Out’s Jane Edwardes and The Spectator’s Lloyd Evans (who makes a habit of going to regular, non-press night performances), were also in attendance; and at the Young Vic, I was impressed to see Malcolm Sinclair and rising star Tom Hiddleston using their one night off from appearing in the current Donmar Warehouse production of Ivanov at Wyndham’s to actually go to the theatre.
But while I’m always pleased to see friends and colleagues, I’m even happier to see strangers in the theatre - and particularly American strangers, who have traditionally provided a backbone to the theatre industry in terms of the tourist dollar. There have been worrying signs that the poor currency exchange rates have lately kept them away - but a story in The Guardian yesterday, now that those rates are going back in their favour, gives hope that they return. As The Guardian reported, “After years of welcoming bargain-hungry Brits to New York and watching them spend their dollars with wild abandon, the scales are finally tipping in favour of American shoppers…. The precipitous drop of sterling against the dollar last week is expected to lure rich Americans back to the city’s stores and boutiques.” Let’s hope it brings them back to our theatres, too.
I was at the Young Vic the same night as you and saw Mr. Sinclair and Mr Hiddleston there as well but who was the third guy with them - was he an actor who is also in Ivanov? Or a regular member of the public. Just curious .