I can't sleep, so I thought I'd tackle the January Meme question
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gabolange asked me the other day:
What is your favorite piece of theatre you have ever seen live, and why?This is
also a fantastic question because it let me spend a whole bunch of time reminiscing about shows I have seen, poking through my theatre tag, etc. The last couple shows I've seen here were actually real clunkers, so it was nice to look back, ha. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I can't pick a single favourite, but here are a few...
I moved to England in September 2007. In November 2007, I saw Ian McKellen as Lear. (Also featuring Frances Barber as Goneril and Sylvester McCoy as the Fool.) (Also also featuring Ian McKellen's penis, yes, this was the one he gets naked in. Luckily we were prepared, although the friend who went some months earlier - and sat in the front row - was not.) Anyway, I don't wish to cast any aspersions on Edmonton theatre, which is unusually fine and diverse and experimental, but
oh my god. Shakespeare as it was meant to be done, absolutely. I've actually seen a lot of Lears since (Glenda Jackson twice, Seana McKenna, Paul Gross), but nothing has ever come close to McKellen. He was just spectacular.
In December 2012, I saw Harriet Walter in Julius Caesar at the Donmar Warehouse, the first of what would become three all-female Shakespeares directed by Phyllida Lloyd. Interestingly, this also had Frances Barber (Caesar), as well as a stellar cast including Cush Jumbo and Jade Anouka. I saw both of Lloyd's other productions (Henry IV and the Tempest), but neither of them lived up to Julius Caesar, almost entirely because of the final scene of the show. The conceit of the all-female staging for all three shows was that it was being put on by a group of inmates in a women's prison, and I think in the subsequent shows, too much attention was paid to that element. But in the first one, there were excellent and unexpected moments where the world of the prison intruded into the world of the play, and I remember being absolutely electrified when, at the end, Barber as Caesar gets up from being dead and pulls on the uniform cap of a prison guard and immediately orders the rest of the actors to line up for inspection. It so completely and immediately inverted the power structure of the moment and threw the power struggles of the play into such sharp relief. Possibly the best moment of live theatre I've ever experienced.
In June 2019, I was in New York for one of the aforementioned Glenda Jackson Lears (as well as a Bikini Kill concert) and spontaneously grabbed a ticket for The Cher Show. Which, yeah, is exactly what it sounds like: a biographical jukebox musical about Cher. IT WAS FANTASTIC. It was totally over the top, blingy and fantastic, silly and empowering, and just joyously fun. Stephanie J. Block played Older Cher (there were three Chers, in descending order of age: Star, Lady, and Babe) and she was unsurprisingly incredible. Bob Mackie costumes! Glitz! Glamour! I would absolutely see it again.
And most recently, in February 2023, I saw Sophie Okonedo in Medea. This was an incredible performance in a tiny space. I am a sucker for good bare stage stagings and use of the space (also notable in Julius Caesar, which had performers shoving through the audience - here there were cast members performing the chorus from the audience, which was incredibly effective).
gabolange was there also, so I don't need to go into too much detail here, but god, Okonedo was incredibly intense and magnetic and gutwrenching. I'm so sad I didn't see her in Antony and Cleopatra (although at least it is on NT Live).
I thought about trying to make this a top five, but I don't know what I'd finish with (Nicola Walker in A View from the Bridge? Helen Mirren as Phédre? Seeing Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike on stage, even though the play was mediocre? God is a Scottish Drag Queen on the Fringe circuit? The Paul Gross Lear, not only notable for his Paul Grossiness but not not notable for that? Wicked? Formative touring casts of Phantom and Les Mis and Cats as a child - actually, Phantom when I was about eight should probably get an honourable mention, because I have vivid memories of the chandelier and other stage business. My BFF's thesis play for her directing degree? The joy of finally getting back to big shows with Hadestown and Six last year? David Tennant, Patrick Stewart, and Penny Downie in Hamlet [I actually hated Ophelia in this, though]? Ooooh, David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Much Ado... that one was marred by the literal screaming fangirls in the audience but otherwise STELLAR.). I have seen some truly wonderful theatre in my life. More soon!
(I swear that contrary to appearances and future plans, I don't only go to the theatre for big names. I am trying to get out more regularly.)
(Maybe now I will be able to sleep.)
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