Ted Talks

THE MENTALISTS

Wyndham’s Theatre, London, Saturday 22^nd August, 2015

 

This 2002 play from Richard (One Man Two Guvnors) Bean is a two-hander set in a non-descript hotel room. Enter Ted and Morrie and a video camera… Ted has a message he wants to record, regarding himself as some kind of visionary after the discovery of an old book by behaviourist B F Skinner. Morrie, hairdresser and amateur pornographer, is there to operate the technology. The pair have been best friends since childhood, a chalk-and-cheese double act with banter aplenty.

As Ted, Stephen Merchant towers. His background in stand-up serves him well for the delivery of Ted’s tirades and Bean’s one-liners. It’s a relentlessly funny piece with the black humour of a Joe Orton and the menace of a Harold Pinter – the set-up (two men in a room) is very Pinteresque; there is even a moment when one reads stories from a newspaper to the other. There is the constant threat of someone outside the door: Ted’s credit cards keep bouncing – but that’s only the start of his troubles.

As Morrie, Steffan Rhodri gives more of a character study than Merchant. We sense there is more to him behind his anecdotes and his sexual boasts. Events spiral out of control and the friendship between these two damaged men becomes poignant: Ted is fixated on his message, wild-eyed and ranting. Morrie, the calmer of the two, brings a touch of normality to proceedings. Neither character is particularly likeable: Ted has a lot in common with Nigel Farage and Morrie is a manipulative womaniser, but it’s the performers we admire.

The climax is life-changing for both of them, but not in the way Ted wants.

A conventional, old-fashioned play, competently written by Bean and delivered by two performers with immaculate timing. Director Abbey Wright paces the laughs and the sense of impending disaster is well done. The Mentalists won’t change your life but it’s an amusing couple of hours, enjoyable while it lasts.

A Bit of A Do

Much Ado About Nothing

Wyndham’s Theatre, London, Thursday 18^th August, 2011

 

The quintessential romantic comedy gets a 1980s update and a Gibraltar setting for this vibrant and hilarious production, currently packing them in at the Wyndham’s.  Of course the two stars must be a huge attraction for ticket buyers but I like to think that Shakespeare’s funniest and most delightful comedy has enough appeal in its own right.

 

The two stars are David The Doctor Tennant and his erstwhile companion Catherine “Donna Noble” Tate.  What a nerdgasm that is, for Doctor Who fans to see this pair reunited and finally doing what the Doctor and Donna never did – getting off with each other.  The chemistry between these two actors is almost palpable, and the “merry war” of wits between their characters is a verbal fireworks display of point-scoring and one-upmanship.   The modern (1980s is not that far back in my view, thank you very much) setting works very well, given the slangy, modern inflection with which the actors deliver the sparkling dialogue.  Tennant lends Benedick his native Scots accent and within Tate’s Beatrice there are traces of her repertoire of comic characters – for example, when quoting the Devil, she gives Old Nick the scowl and tones of her Gran.  All of this is very fan-pleasing and makes for an interesting take on Shakespeare’s most entertaining female character.  This Beatrice is stylish and gregarious, wearing a mask of confidence made of put-downs and wise cracks.  Tate adds some touches of sublime physical comedy, ranging from the broad flailing around in the air on the end of a decorator’s pulley (you had to be there!) to removing the underwear from her bum in a moment of unladylike behaviour.  The performance is not without its subtlety.  Shakespeare allows  the briefest glimpse into a suggested past liaison between Beatrice and Benedick, and Tate plays the moment perfectly.  We fall in love with this wonderful woman.  She is more than matched by Tennant’s Benedick, the dashing, swaggering soldier, the self-proclaimed eternal bachelor.  Tennant proves his own skills at physical comedy. There’s a wonderful moment involving a tray of paint (trust me) and I think he has topped his Hamlet of a couple of years ago – I felt his Danish prince had too much of the Time Lord about him but this Benedick retains the Doctor’s energy  without merely translating the Doctor to another time and another place.

 

The set, with its huge revolve and towering pillars, threatens to dwarf the actors, especially from my perch in the Grand Circle, but I quickly became accustomed to its graceful transitions, and the gliding monolithic columns and gigantic slatted blinds serve the action well, especially in the comic, eavesdropping scenes.  One scene in a nightclub has just a little too much dry ice but on the whole, I approve of this  relocation.

 

Dogberry, the leader of the Watch, is a tricky character to pull off.  A verbose buffoon whose every other word is a malapropism (long before Mrs Malaprop ever graced the stage, bless her) in this production he is presented as a gung ho Territorial Army type, linguistically out of his depth in this world of flying wit and word play.  I warmed to him but his sidekick, Verges, was under-used, which was a pity.  The gender realignment of Leonato’s brother Antonio into wife Imogen was an interesting move, but she didn’t really put across the right amount of anger and impotent outrage in the face of  the “scambling, out-facing , fashion-monging boys” who have torn her family apart.

 

Overall though, the star for me is William Shakespeare.  The play is a dazzling, endearing box of delights with just enough bitter sweetness and humanity to be poignant without killing the buzz.  The jokes and the banter still work.  The plot, both a contrivance and a confection, still permits moments of high drama.  Leonato’s spurning of his scandalised daughter is heart-wrenching on the page and in performance.

 

This production is a party, complete with 80s retreads of Shakespearean songs, to which the audience is invited.  We are dazzled, delighted, moved and rewarded with a reminder that to be human and share the company of other humans is life’s greatest gift.   Thoroughly life-affirming theatre.