Brilliant! Dark and Hilarious!

So this happened- LOL- we went to see the new Martin McDonagh play at National Theater Live - and found it just as noted in my mini review above- brilliant- dark and hilarious! (all photos from the NTLive website)

from the NT Live website:

Following a sell-out run at London’s Royal Court Theatre, Olivier and Academy Award® winner Martin McDonagh (The Pillowman, The Cripple of Inishmaan, In Bruges) returns to the West End with Matthew Dunster’s award-winning production of his deeply funny new play Hangmen, broadcast live to cinemas by National Theatre Live.

In his small pub in the northern English town of Oldham, Harry is something of a local celebrity. But what's the second-best hangman in England to do on the day they've abolished hanging? 

Amongst the cub reporters and pub regulars dying to hear Harry’s reaction to the news, his old assistant Syd and the peculiar Mooney lurk with very different motives for their visit.

in the opening scene - pictured above - the hangman and his assistant prepare to hang a convicted man.  the man protests his innocence but also protests that he didn't want this hangman as he was only the second best hangman and he wanted the number one to hang him - but he continues to protest his innocence... the hanging takes place and the next scene opens in a pub two years later -

in the pub the patrons are discussing the fact that as of this date hanging has been outlawed in the UK and the pub keeper Harry, (the second best hangman) is now out of a job - a reporter comes by to get a story from Harry about what he thinks about the whole topic.

Pub patrons like the greek chorus- chime in at various parts of the action-

a stranger shows up- on the second anniversary of the hanging from the first scene- he is "menacing" LOL- and wants everyone to know he is "menacing" while lurking about the pub trying to rent a room....

the menacing stranger - called Moonie- flirts with Harry's daughter who is 15 and "moody" LOL

Harry's wife - a hot number - first likes the stranger Moonie but when he becomes abusive she sees his real character. When her daughter disappears everyone fears the worst- because on the first anniversary of the hanging from the first scene there was another murder of a young woman just like the one the hanged man was supposed to have committed....

the police inspector (below) spends more time drinking in Harry's pub than on the job

things get darker and funnier and darker and funnier- the number ONE hangman comes round to berate Harry for belittling the number ONE guy's record in the newspaper interview - and happens upon a scene in the pub- everyone is worried about the well being of the daughter Shirley who has disappeared and the "menacing" Moonie implies her life might be imperiled...

LOL- well I won't spoil the plot twists and turns here but let me say this - if you remember the ending of the Martin McDonagh play-  The Lieutenant of Inishmore then you can be assured it won't be predictable.  We have also loved The Cripple of Inishmore, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, and A Skull in Connemara.  So of course we wanted to see this latest when we saw it was playing through NT Live!

here's a link to the trailer of this terrifically funny play-
http://bit.ly/1RdiQ3h

if you find NT Live in your area - we can highly recommend going- we also saw Skylight and The Beaux Stratagem there and LOVED them all so far! Up this week- another close, another move and finally a new home! Meanwhile today was our lucky day- we scored tickets to the Festival in Coachella this fall with all the rock and roll heroes of our youth - so in the fall we will be among the seniors at the desert trip production of the Stones, McCartney, Dylan, Neil Young, the Who and Roger Waters! Three days of music in the desert!

always need to have something to look forward to! stay tuned- we are off to NYC next week and meanwhile have the big move scheduled - so we will report back as usual!

our week in review

so it was a full week - in the time before classes start for the term (next week) - but the weather was extremely changeable.

on Monday we had Yummy House Chinese -you have to reserve more than a week in advance LOL- there is a dearth of good Chinese food here so they are in demand... actually there is a dearth of good ethnic... we eat a lot of fresh seafood but miss real Thai, Mexican, Vietnamese, Bosnian, Chinese, Korean - this is just not urban enough for authentic ethnic... soooo- stone crab claws anyone??? LOL we are hardly suffering despite the area being seriously lacking in immigrants.

We do have a terrific Philly Cheese Steak place LOL- guess those folks know an appreciative audience when they see one.. this little (seats 30) storefront does a bang up business between 11 and 8:30 their hours.  We also have issues with the hours here- although we never have competition during the hours we would generally be eating - we also find ourselves on the cusp of closings with regularity.  So while we love our winter home in the sunshine, with its white sand beaches and dockside eateries, this will never be our summer location- we go to the city for all it has to offer, the stunning lakefront -the vibrant nightlife and ethnic food!

However, one thing we can say for certain is that our winter home is no slouch when it comes to arts and music and theater - what it lacks in food options it certainly makes up for in culture.  This week we saw The Liar (reviewed in a prior post)

We also went for our first concert of the symphony -Sarasota Orchestra with their real "catch" of a conductor, the amazing Anu Tali.  We heard an outstanding concert which included a piano concerto Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky - here is the evening's list from the program. And yes- we have a brilliant and world renown symphony in Chicago which is not a mere five minutes from our house with free parking- LOL- to say nothing of the schedule conflict of their "year" versus ours.  Most of our local cultural options are less than 20 minutes away. And yes I know this sounds incredibly lazy but access is one element of getting folks out to such events. And we chose the Sarasota area for our winter residence BECAUSE of the cultural options. Just as we choose Chicago for our summer residence for its dining and nightlife options.  We get "the best of all possible worlds" and can live like Candide- LOL

Then just yesterday - completing our week - we saw another production from National Theater Live -this time the Beaux Stratagem.  Absolutely smashing! what a happy accident!  As a member of the Ringling Art Museum, emails keep us abreast of offerings there and yesterday they were broadcasting the National Theater Live of this terrific production from London at the Historic Asolo Theater in the Museum complex, so we snagged tickets and were thrilled by the show.  A Restoration Comedy by a guy who died in like 1707 before the play was even staged and just after he finished writing it...

The Beaux' Stratagem is a comedy by George Farquhar, first produced at the Theatre Royal, now the site of Her Majesty's Theatre, in the Haymarket, London, on March 8, 1707. The Beaux' Stratagem is one of the last Restoration comedies, before the genre was replaced by a new style of more mannered comedy. In a few years, The Beaux' Strategem would have been considered somewhat immoral, notably Farquhar's cynicism about the charms of matrimony.

The ‘Beaux’: Mr Aimwell and Mr Archer, two charming, dissolute young men who have blown their fortunes in giddy London. Shamed and debt-ridden, they flee to provincial Lichfield. Their ‘Stratagem’: to marry for money.  Lodged at the local inn, posing as master and servant, they encounter a teeming variety of human obstacles: a crooked landlord, a fearsome highwayman, a fervent French Count, a maid on the make, a drunken husband, a furious butler, a natural healer and a strange, turbulent priest.  But their greatest obstacle is love. When the Beaux meet their match in Dorinda and Mrs Sullen they are most at risk, for in love they might be truly discovered. George Farquhar’s final play is a fabulous carnal comedy.

Aimwell and Dorinda become engaged to be married at the end of the play, in accordance with the rules of the genre, in which young lovers always get married in the end. However, Farquhar uses Kate Sullen to criticise this facile outcome. She, originally rich in her own right, is trapped in a loveless marriage to a man she despises, who keeps her from the town-based society she adores. The legal system does not allow divorce based on incompatibility, and any divorce at the time left women disgraced and penniless. The dark side to the play produced by this theme threatens to overwhelm the rest of it, and Farquhar has to resort to a deus ex machina character and an arbitrary adjustment to English law to get out of the hole he has dug for himself. Noticeably, even when Kate's separation from her husband seems an accomplished fact, the possibility of marriage never seems to cross either her or Archer's mind.  (above in blue from various websites when searching the play's title and edited to be more concise)

and here are some wonderful photos from the National Theater Live website from the production and rehearsals for the production- the "beaux"-

the terrific set- which was changed with scenes by scurrying in and out amongst the various characters- this was the manor house of Lady Bountiful-

the bandits plotting (in rehearsal)

on stage-

the cute "beaux" who woos Mrs. Sullen-

here's the cute beaux in real life- still cute LOL and made cuter by how much fun he was having in his role- actually they were all having a "jolly good time" and so were we!

http://ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk/productions/50441-the-beaux-stratagem

I think the link above will take you to the trailer- and the great news is all you need to do is check the National Theater Live website to see when it may be playing at a simulcast theater near your location!  Totally worth going out of your way to see it!

And today for lunch we tried a new place for lunch- one that got a decent review recently in the paper when it opened but was a big disappointment- it is called the Ugly Grouper- and so we went for grouper sandwiches (which they curiously did not have - it was crossed out on the menu- and the serve made some lame excuse about they don't have storage space for grouper filets even though they have grouper...bizarre) so we ordered grudgingly the grouper tacos - which might have been OK except they were stuffed with cabbage! since when do tacos have cabbage instead of lettuce? forewarned! they look good but tasted more of cabbage than any other ingredient...

so we drown our "sorrows" at the indifferent meal by going to the fish market and buying stone crab claws and ahi tuna for some claws and poke for dinner! Can't go wrong there! And now back to Cuba and on to Cienfuegos where we hear angels.

everyone has one

no - it's not belly buttons LOL

and yes - that's right we all do, even if we ignore them or deny them or create them from whole cloth- we all have families... we came from two people and they each came from two people and so on and so on...

Last night's production of The Herd at Steppenwolf - hit Phil's sweet spot... he thought it was terrific. He said he hadn't seen anything as good since Clybourne Park. I found it very good but wasn't as enamored and would disagree with the length of time since we had seen anything this good.  I LOVED The City and the City (Lifeline) and  also loved Bill Nighy and Carrie Mulligan in Skylight and I had a (positive) visceral reaction to The North China Lover (Lookingglass) and found Chesapeake (Greg Matthew Anderson at Remy Bumppo) to be a masterwork. And, I was really engaged with Timeline's Concerning Strange Devices from the Distant West. I also enjoyed, in the more traditional vein, The Big Knife (Raven) and another family story Other Desert Cities.

Don't get me wrong - this was a very good play with excellent performances, but it was not pushing the boundaries and was very straightforward theater. The things I have really found memorable over time, have generally had elements outside the traditional multi-generational family story presented in The Herd.

Looking back over the last several years of theater, because we see many things over the course of a year, I see how many things are good (like The Herd) and some are bad (like Creditors, the Strindberg mess we saw a couple of years ago at Remy Bumppo) but only a few stand out in my memory after several years - and those are the ones I keep returning to in my thoughts again and again. And LOL frequently these are ones Phil will grumble to me "what the hell was that ABOUT?" He likes narrative - plain and straightforward... which is why I was much more taken by Title and Deed (Lookingglass) than he was.  I also find whimsy and off beat amusing and entertaining and he often harrumphs...

But the difference of opinions is what makes it all interesting and creates opportunities to see and hear different view points- so Phil gives this one a BIG thumbs up and I give it a moderate thumbs up (based on performances by Molly Regan and Lois Smith who were both terrific.)

so tonight it is another show - in a different media (film) and one I have seen and LOVED - we will see how Phil feels about this - "The End of the Tour"...

and we are trying a new restaurant as well- Knife & Tine - which is having a special James Beard Menu to celebrate James Beard week here in Chicago - the award ceremony was Monday at the Civic (Lyric) Opera House- here is the menu:

FIRST

Muesli Oyster, champagne granita, pickled celery 

Inspired by Erling Wu-Bower from Nico Osteria

SECOND

Rabbit and white asparagus terrine, fava beans, cremini mushrooms, hazelnuts, pickled garlic 

Inspired by Curtis Duffy from Grace

THIRD

Pork sausage, crispy sweetbreads, farro, beer jam, fennel and cherry kraut 

Inspired by Paul Virant from Vie

FOURTH

Lemon chamomile cheesecake, lemon curd, white chocolate crumble 

Inspired by Andrew Zimmerman from Sepia

so we will report back on this in due course- and tomorrow is - 

which we managed to squeeze in during its last week of presentation before they move n to Tapas...

National Theater - LIVE!

Tonight, a new adventure! Our very first "LIVE" remote theater.  We went to the Historic Asolo Theater on the grounds of the Ringling Estate  to see the UK National Theater production of David Hare's Skylight.

Here is the plot summary of this EXCELLENT -on so many levels- play---

"East London school teacher Kyra Hollis is visited on the same night by Edward Sargeant and, later, his father Tom Sargeant. Kyra had been living with the Sargeant family years earlier but left after her affair with Tom was discovered by Tom's wife, who has since died. Edward now accuses Kyra of having left him as well, as he saw her as a big sister, and he demands to know why she left his life.

"Shortly thereafter, Tom, a wealthy restaurateur, with real life references to Terence Conran, appears unheralded and for no apparent reason. Kyra's less-than-glamorous lifestyle leads him to poke fun at her to the point of insult, accusing her of self-punishment. After Kyra cooks a spaghetti dinner (which the actress cooks on stage), the talk turns to their relationship, and it becomes clear that their chances to be rekindled rest on whether one of them can change preconceived notions of the other. A new production directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Carey Mulligan, Bill Nighy — reprising the part he'd performed in 1997 — and Matthew Beard opened at the Wyndham's Theatre in June 2014. The play was broadcast live (or near-live) to cinema audiences via NT Live. " (wikipedia)

Two thumbs up from this audience - lots of funny lines and good "jokes" while still delving into the essence of the characters and their willingness/unwillingness to make comprises in order to establish a renewal of, and long term committed, relationship. They both seem to desire the love, but have difficulty making progress towards it, being so bristly and righteous with each other.  The excellent dialogue- humorous and touching at turns - was worth a close listen.  

the show was broadcast in the Historic Asolo Theater- and had a 20 minute intermission (interval in Brit speak- LOL) just like at the theater- I would have preferred to have had the thing run straight through and since this was a rebroadcast not LIVE (despite the name of the feature) they could have eliminated or shortened this IMHO...

David Hare the playwright was interviewed during the "interval" -

the set - Kyra's flat in a dreary housing project called Canon House-

Tom putting on his coat to stay warm in the unheated flat - the heater lights up but doesn't really work (as each character comments upon it during the play.)

Kyra-

so- don't know if you will ever get a chance to see this play anywhere but if you do see it advertised - definitely worth seeking out a seat...

This excellent NYT review (by Ben Brantley) of the production summarizes the dynamics perfectly and is entitled- 

Volatile Chemistry in an Underheated Flat

"When acting is this focused, your own vision seems to improve miraculously. Watching Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy in Stephen Daldry’s laser-sharp new production of David Hare’s “Skylight,” at Wyndham’s Theater here, you may feel you’ve been endowed with superhuman insight.

It’s as if you had been allowed omniscient access to the thoughts behind the words and actions of the former lovers portrayed by Ms. Mulligan and Mr. Nighy — and the emotions behind the thoughts, and the history behind the emotions. You may even wind up thinking that you know these characters better than they know themselves, which is fair, or better than the stars playing them, which is not.

For what occurs with such seeming spontaneity onstage has to have been achieved with extraordinary care and full consciousness of the many levels, personal and political, on which this 1995 drama operates. “Skylight” is partly about our desire for ideal balance in our lives. Human beings being human beings, that’s impossible. But occasionally, just occasionally, it occurs in art.

In program notes, Mr. Hare writes that “Skylight” was his first play to be set entirely in a single room. But with “Skylight,” he demonstrates that close quarters don’t pre-empt expansive views. In measuring the distance that separates two people caught in an eternity of a single night, he also examines a dangerous gap that yawned at the center of British society when Mr. Hare wrote this play.

Of course, that’s essentially the same gap that the eminent Victorian Benjamin Disraeli was talking about when he wrote that his country was made up of the affluent and the needy. And few people in the United States are pretending that the same gap doesn’t loom just as large today.

In “Skylight,” the geography of these disparate nations is mapped most articulately by Kyra Hollis (Ms. Mulligan), a 30-ish urban schoolteacher, and the much older Tom Sergeant (Mr. Nighy), a self-made restaurant entrepreneur. Though they were lovers for six years, they haven’t seen each other in three, not since Tom’s wife found out about their relationship.

Now Kyra and Tom are reunited, in deep winter in her shabby and underheated London flat. Their sometimes anguished, sometimes heart-shatteringly funny, weighing of their inner and outer worlds translates into two impeccably chiseled hours onstage and a lifetime of pain and longing.  These two redefine the laws not just of chemistry but also of physics, with each coming across as both immovable object and irresistible force. I was always aware of how ineffably, achingly attracted each was to the other, and of the diametrically opposed ways in which that attraction became flesh.

Tom’s wife died the previous year. But he has been mourning the loss of Kyra, who was secretly his mistress while working for the couple’s restaurant business, for much longer. Tom has come to tell her that he wants her back.  The tidal pull of that wanting would seem destined to overwhelm anyone. But this Kyra is a formidably centered presence, the still counterpoint to Tom’s charming, full-court-press animation.  And what shades Ms. Mulligan, who at 29 bids fair to become the great British stage actress of her generation, finds in stillness. Sacrificing creature comforts to a life of social selflessness doesn’t come altogether naturally to Kyra, who (compared with the once “bog poor” Tom) grew up in relative affluence.  Mr. Hare wants us to know that morality is never purely instinctive but a conscious choice, an act of will. And Ms. Mulligan makes us privy to every atom of strain that Kyra feels in making that choice. She responds to the tug of Tom’s charm. How could she not, as Mr. Nighy plays him? On some level, we want her to give in, so that whenever she shows signs of doing so, we melt.

The friction and the possibilities of fusion between Kyra and Tom — who must be together and cannot be together — make “Skylight” one of the most intelligently sentimental love stories of our time. Detailed arguments about the sin and the necessity of capitalism are as organic to this play as lines that might have come from a latter-day version of “Casablanca.” (There’s even a variation on “We’ll always have Paris.”)  We know which side of the divide Mr. Hare comes down on. But it is to his credit, and to that of this nigh perfect production, that as long as we’re watching “Skylight,” our sympathies are always torturously in flux. Be ready to cry. The thinking can happen later."

Photo from the NYT review- 

Phil and I disagreed about the "post evening future for Tom and Kyra with each of us envisioning "the ending" differently... and you will just have to seek it out to find out how you would predict the outcome for these two strong people.....