Twelve Days of Christmas: Day #12

The tinsel is coming down, the baubles are being wrapped away for another year and my series of theatrical offerings is at an end. For my last gift on this, the twelfth day of Christmas, it would be a missed opportunity not to make a glaringly obvious Twelfth Night reference. So I have predictably turned to Shakespeare for inspiration and today's focus is the National Theatre's upcoming production of the Bard's comedy.

This production, running from 11 January, is particularly special as it marks the recent 80th birthday of Peter Hall, one of the country's great directors, the creator of the Royal Shakespeare Company and former director of the National Theatre. As well as celebrating his 80th birthday and his return to the National Theatre, the production will see Peter Hall directing his daughter Rebecca in the role of Viola.

The Independent ran a special feature in celebration of Hall's 80th birthday back in November, which is my final treat for theatre lovers. The article, written by fellow director Richard Eyre, discusses Hall's long career, his achievements with the RSC and his continuing appetite for work. There are also comments from the likes of Judi Dench (who was reunited with Hall last year for an excellent production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Kingston's Rose Theatre, one of my theatrical highlights of 2010), Ian McKellen and Timothy West about the great man and his work.

I hope that you have enjoyed my twelve days of theatrical treats and ramblings. Keep reading the blog for many more fun features and theatre reviews throughout 2011 - it's going to be an exciting year.

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day #11

Today as I was ambling around the internet in search of something to share with all my lovely readers I came across, by a pleasing turn of fate, a piece of writing that made me want to leap off my seat and shout out 'yes, that's exactly how I feel!' (I fortunately restrained myself from doing so). On West End Wendy, another theatre blog, there have been compiled Ten Commandments of Theatre - all the dos and don'ts for those rookie theatregoers who can't quite remember to switch off their phones or clap at the end of a song. Many audience members I have been sat next to in the past might take note.

Bad behaviour in the theatre is something that I sadly keep returning to in my blog. Far from wanting to moan, I wish I could be given a reason to stop writing about this particular topic, but a night at the theatre uninterrupted by incessant chatter or the ongoing battle with the mobile phone seems to be an impossible dream. Sometimes I feel like turning around to people in the audience and asking them if they actually realise that they have paid money - usually quite a reasonable sum of money - to see the actors on the stage in front of them perform and that said money might be better spent if they could hear the actors speak. But of course that would be an extremely rude interruption of the show.

Among the rules outlined by West End Wendy, the most persistent infringements in my experience have been use of mobile phones, providing a running commentary for the show (yes, we can see what's happening, we are watching the play too) and taking photographs during the performance. I might add a few more slightly less obvious but I believe necessary rules:

• Do not file your nails. An odd one I realise, and perhaps not obviously irritating, but when the persistent scrape, scrape, scrape cuts through a quiet scene of emotional dialogue it makes you want to scratch your own eyes out. I'm all for keeping your nails in shape but there's plenty of time for grooming outside of the theatre auditorium.
• Stay in your own seat. For some inexplicable reason, a couple in front of me at Les Miserables felt the need to switch seats every ten minutes during the show, each time obscuring my view without fail. Surely the quality of a seat doesn't alter that much during a performance?
• Drink responsibly (I think I might have stolen this phrase from somewhere ...). Yes, a trip to the theatre is a night out and having a relaxing drink is par for the course. But when people have had so many plastic cups of wine that they start singing along (very loudly) and shouting at the actors then it might just be one drink too many ...

Rant over. Breathe. My own complaints aside, it was refreshing to see someone write down all those little bits of theatre etiquette that are so often disregarded by theatregoers. Someone should frame it and put it up in every theatre. It will also give you a giggle, so take a look, enjoy, and perhaps memorise it for your next theatre visit ...

If you have any amusing stories of bad theatre behaviour to share then leave a comment. 

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day #10

What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play ... Yes, it's time for a post dedicated to the wonderful and sometimes wacky world of cabaret. For those of you for whom cabaret conjures up nothing more than images of Nazis and Liza Minnelli in a bowler hat, today's treat is a bundle of videos to show you just what London's cabaret scene has to offer. Recently cabaret has had a new lease of life and is now an ideal platform to showcase the musical theatre talent that the capital has to offer, as well as providing an opportunity to playfully bend the rules - and a great night out to boot.

One regular cabaret night is Kinky Kabaret at Soho's Freedom Bar, which regularly attracts big names from the world of musical theatre. Whilst Hair was in town some of the cast made a visit and here is a little snippet from that night, a performance from Gavin Creel and Steel Burkhardt:



My second video offering comes from another regular cabaret series at Lauderdale House, the Christmas special of which I recently saw and reviewed. Here is a performance from one of their previous cabaret afternoons featuring Ramin Karimloo, currently starring as the Phantom in Love Never Dies, singing one of my favourite songs from Les Miserables:



I will round off my selection of cabaret performances with one of the most high profile London cabaret events, the Live in the Delfont Room series at the Prince of Wales Theatre, which has played host to Patina Miller, Daniel Boys and the cast of Les Miserables among others. This is the dazzling Hannah Waddingham performing in one of their series of special one-off shows:



This is only a fleeting glimpse at all that the unique cabaret format encompasses; as well as singing, cabaret performances can include dancing, comedy and burlesque. For a more comprehensive look at London's cabaret scene, check out the regular section of M. Magazine devoted to reviewing the capital's cabaret shows and giving tips for all the best cabaret venues and nights. In the last year cabaret seems to have gone from strength to strength and long may it continue into 2011. This art form is theatrical, glamorous, fun, sexy and occasionally outrageous. Don't take anyone else's word for it, go out there and see for yourselves. After all ... Life is a cabaret, old chum, come to the cabaret!

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day #9

As we embrace a new year of theatre, I have dedicated my blog to looking ahead at what 2011 has to offer. Today, however, I would like to focus on a show that is not set to open this year but is fully deserving of a place in the West End. Top of my theatre wish list of shows to transfer to London this year has to be acclaimed Broadway musical Next to Normal, which is unfortunately closing on Broadway this month.

This rock musical centres on a mother suffering from bipolar disorder and the struggle of her family to cope with her condition. It has won three Tony Awards as well as the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Drama and although I have not had the opportunity to see it myself, it has an amazing score and all the evidence points towards it being an outstanding show. I have written before about my desire for more original, exciting musical theatre writing, of which there is sadly not enough of making it to the West End right now; Next to Normal could fill this gap in our musical theatre scene.

Perhaps if enough people show their support for this musical then someone will see that there is the demand for it to make a transfer to the West End. This is a difficult time when producers are unlikely to take risks and following the early closures of other rock musicals such as Hair and Spring Awakening the prospects for Next to Normal are far from encouraging, but a girl can always dream!

If you have yet to discover Next to Normal then take the time to check it out because it is truly worth it. With this in mind, my treat for readers today is a selection of recordings from the score of Next to Normal. Charlotte Wakefield, who I'm sure many of you will know as Wendla from the original London cast of Spring Awakening, is a big champion of the show and has posted recordings of several of the songs on her YouTube channel. I had a listen to these after seeing her impressive performance in the Next to Normal medley at last year's Whatsonstage.com awards, which first brought this musical to my attention. Unfortunately I cannot share the videos here but they are well worth a look if you head over to her channel; a favourite of mine is 'Everything Else'.

For any of you lucky enough to be heading over to America, the show is now on a national tour and all the information can be found on their website. If anyone has been fortunate enough to see the show then feel free to post a comment with your thoughts. It would also be great to know what other shows people would like to see coming to the West End this year.

Twelve Days of Christmas: Day #8

Like everyone else I am feeling the effect of one too many glasses of champagne seeing in the New Year, so I beg mercy and take a back seat in my blogging role today, for which I hope my readers can forgive me. Traditionally the beginning of the year is a time to make resolutions and one of my top aims for the next twelve months is to see theatre, theatre and more theatre. I have squeezed more plays and musicals into 2010 than any other year of my life so far, but looking at all the round-ups of what the year has had to offer I can only pause to think with regret of what I have missed.

Yesterday's post looked forward to some of the theatre that might form part of my resolution this year, and following from that here is a comprehensive selection of what to see in 2011 from Lyn Gardner in the Guardian . But taking a moment to look back, the video I have found today is from one of the best shows of 2010, the Broadway transfer of Hair. Here are the long-haired, breathtakingly enthusiastic and downright wonderful cast at their best performing at the Tony Awards:



If you too were blown away by Hair then show your support and vote for them as Best Musical Revival in the Whatsonstage.com Awards.