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theatreguys 
Arcadia
Oh…oh…..has it finished? Don’t say another character is sprinting into the arena waving a crucial piece of paper?
Well, o.k. – that sounds a bit mean, so let’s put it another way – it didn’t end a moment too soon. By then, the torrent of words, of concepts, of recondite research and speculation felt pretty overwhelming. But that, I guess, is the Stoppardian way – all those interesting ideas and facts and allusions and connections that he’s dug out in the course of the creative process are skilfully wedged into the final densely-packed product. Yes, it is all cleverly and wittily done, stuff that no one else had ever put on stage, I dare say, but it doesn’t exactly make for “drama” as usually defined (sorry, have I been watching too many coarse TV pot-boilers?)
All that (rather grumpily) said, here was a smart, polished production with the in-the-round format very effectively managed (to my great relief) – even if it denied the audience a view of the stately gardens which surely have a claim to be counted as a cast member. The players were energised, polished and convincing, displaying great skill in negotiating the play’s time-travelling structure and somehow bringing to distinct life Stoppard’s uniformly articulate and self-confident characters (so often like participants in an extended edition of Newsnight). The venerable tortoise did well too.
Garth
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Arcadia
There’s been a spate (well, four) fairly recent productions of Tom Stoppard’s plays and Fredo gave me some wise advice about how to approach his more cerebral work: the stories are quite straightforward; don’t be distracted by the dazzle.
Arcadia certainly dazzles us with Stoppard’s erudition, knowledge and understanding of many complex topics: Newtonian physics, iterative algorithms, thermodynamics, chaos theory, Byron’s poetry, English garden design and so on and so on. However, Fredo is right (of course) that beneath the dazzle is a story about the human condition told with wit and heart. The characters portrayed in 1809 are the most sympathetic: Thomasina’s thirst for knowledge and growing understanding of her own intelligence is very affecting. Septimus’ quick fire humour and cleverness is very engaging. Some of the characters in 1989 are not so likeable: Bernard Nightingale, the academic more concerned with recognition and advancement than painstaking research is irritating. Hannah Jarvis, a rival academic, feels to me more like a plot device than a person.
The action bowls along, gradually revealing to us the threads that link the two timelines, and the misunderstandings that divide them. As advised, I let the complicated theoretical explanations wash over me while hoping that the characters I’d taken a shine to would find happiness and love (which, as Chloe wittily observes in 1989, is the impediment to scientific advancement). Some stories have a sad ending and others are left unexplained. Towards the end of nearly three hours, I found my attention wandering as perhaps too much exposition was crammed into the final 20 minutes but, overall, this was an enjoyable afternoon and a chance to see the work of one of our great dramatists performed by an excellent cast. Four stars from me.
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Arcadia
Tom Stoppard always takes me back to my student days, when heated debate went on into the early hours and ideas fizzed and sparkled. I love him for his lack of condescension: he trusted us to keep up with him and be in on the jokes and yesterday’s audience proved he was right to do so . Arcadia shows his mind working full pelt, making connections between apparently random concepts as Thomasina and later Valentine see one can join the dots of iterative equations to reveal an object’s true form.
But it’s not just ideas and wit as the characters reveal their own, contradictory nature. At the heart of the play is Thomasina, a luminous girl on the cusp of womanhood.
It was a beautiful production with superb acting by all and a minimalist but poetic set. Stpoppard would have been proud and I dearly regret he won’t be around to challenge us with new plays.
Thank you, Fredo and Mike, for this magical theatre afternoon.
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Arcadia
A thoroughly enjoyable play full of wit, charm and laughs. Thomasina was delightful, thrilled about her understanding of mathematics and Septimus engaging. Every character showed their own personality so clearly and I was pleased to see that Nightingale’s arrogance was thwarted. So good to be able to hear the words clearly whichever way the actor faced. I thought it was an excellent production and I am very pleased I had the opportunity to see it. Thank you again Fredo.
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Shadowlands.
Whoops! Thought I sent this earlier.
We thought |everything about this production and performance was faultless. Loved every minute of it.
Thank you and well done Trevor for his skilful driving.
Thank you Mike and Fredo for another delightful evening.
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Shadowlands
I too loved this play, an excellent evening of theatre with a strong cast and masterful performance from Hugh Bonneville. A bonus for me was finding myself seated next to Rachel Kavanaugh and Matt Hassal. They made notes throughout, impressive I thought as I would have needed a head torch. I made a swift canvass of opinions from our group in the interval and was able to provide favourable feedback.
Once again a very appreciative thank you to Mike and Fredo.
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Shadowlands.
This is theatre at its best with a script testament to Jack’s developing love for Joy from within the cloistered intellectual groups at the time.
Great acting from Jack and Joy who made it easy to feel their deepening love and final huge loss. A beautiful relationship. Thank you for making this possible Fredo and Mike.
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Shadowlands.
What a treat this play was. The acting was superb – especially from Hugh Bonneville. He was hardly off the stage at all. The attraction of opposites makes an intriguing love story, and there were humorous as well as deeply moving moments. I knew the plot from seeing the Joss Ackland version, but this didn’t spoil it for me.
Thanks Fredo and Mike.
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Shadowlands
Perfect casting for this performance where Jack’s stiff upper lip Britishness was softened by Joy’s undemanding American honesty and humour. Emotional, relatable, mesmerising and impactful. I enjoyed it all and appreciated the great seats we had – thanks Fredo.
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Shadowlands
An highly emotionally charged and very moving performances from Hugh Bonneville as Jack and Maggie Siff as Joy .There were some lighter moments in the play but also deep sadness .An excellent performance all round . Thank you for encouraging us to see many diverse performances and also to Trevor for getting us home with so many road closures in place
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Shadowlands
Wow! I so enjoyed everything about this performance. It was excellent in every way and extremely emotional. I intend to buy and read his book, A Grief Observed.
Thank you both for all the opportunities to experience such amazing, talented theatre.
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Shadowland
Thank you Fredo for the great seats to this amazing show. I knew nothing about this show as I do not like to spoil the moment. It was quite emotional and made you think about choices in life and how decisions you make can make or break your happiness. As a Christian I really loved his questions and annoyance at time, with God. Sad but true.
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Shadowlands (2nd try!)
I saw the film back in 1993 and a line from it struck a chord with me: “The pain now is part of happiness then”. I lost my first husband to cancer the same year, and so of course the line was particularly significant, as was the film.
As to the play, I loved every minute. The script was so engaging and the story so well told and so sad, especially as it is a true story. They say opposites attract, and so Jack, prolific writer of the Narnia books, is slowly captivated by Joy, a poet, free thinker and the total opposite of himself.
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Shadowlands
Absolutely fantastic. The acting was brilliant and a very emotional play. Thank you so much Fredo for the scene setting, which was very valuable. The journey home was difficult but our driver was excellent and found a way.
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shadowlands
Thank you Fredo for the opportunity for us to share Jacks thinking in this play. Yes, how heavy and powerful it was. But it was there for us to relate to Jacks doubts on his religion and then coming back at the end. Seldom do we see such heavy stuff as this. I thought Hugh Bonneville was excellent in that part. He displayed perfectly how difficult it all is to accept it all as the package.
Always grateful for our excellent coach driver, who always finds a way. Jan.
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Woman in Mind – a sad reminder of what it must be like to be really confused in your mind. Funny first half and then dark and disturbing with no support for Susan from her family. I thought the characters at the end weren’t in keeping with the story and that spoiled it for me. Sheridan Smith was so good and it was an interesting cast. Thanks Fredo for another interesting evening
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Woman in Mind
An interesting evening A rather frail looking Sheridan Smith gave a towering performance as Susan wife to a uncaring dull vicar Gerald, mother to an absent uncommunicative son and sister in law to dowdy incompetent Muriel.
Romesh Ranganathan gave an impressive debut acting performance as the bumbling Dr Bill.Having been hit on the head by a garden rake ,Susan fantasises having a loving daughter, husband and brother rather the uncaring neglected life she leads.The comedy gradually descends into a dark sad place psychologically. It was bizarre the appearance of Gerald as Elvis in the closing minutes of this play. I enjoyed the performances from all the actors ,subject matter I’m not sure.
Again thanks to Fredo Mike and our driver Andrew.
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Woman in Mind
We didn’t know the play so the production was not quite what we expected. Not every play has to fit neatly in a category but we suppose this is a sort of psycho-drama comedy. Sheridan’s isolated and unloved Susan did a good job of leading us though her breakdown. We thought that the symbolic use of the safety curtain to separate realities worked pretty well. The first act seemed quite thin but, by contrast, action accelerated significantly in the second. Eventually, we were left a little dazed. Would we recommend? No. Are we glad that we went? Probably. Thank you to Fredo and Mike for the stimulation and a thumbs up to Cooks Coaches who have been doing an excellent and efficient job since the introduction of direct booking.
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Woman in Mind.
Interesting how this play makes you think more about having seen it?
Robin commented that though a lot of fuss is made of Sheridan Smith though she played the part very well he was surprised to see Romesh Ranganathan playing a semi straight roll and thoroughly enjoyed his performance.
Certainly a different Ayckbourn though it did produce laughs. You could see Susan’s frustration driving her mad which got a grip on her having a controlling husband and a son who never spoke then went to a commune, all seem to abandon her except for her imaginary daughter, husband etc but all her fantasies came into fruition her husband i.e.Elvis which in the end sent her to the end. This has made me look into Alan Ayckbourn even more.
Thank you again Mike and Fredo for another interesting evening.
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Kenrex.
Wow! Storytelling at it’s finest.
Small town Skidmore, Missouri and the sorry tale of how one bullying resident made the lives of the other residents miserable and how it all came to a terrifying conclusion in 1981.
This brutal episode in the town’s history was brought to us by the amazingly talented Jack Holden. All the voices, all the personalities and characteristics were brought to life without pause. The energy was infectious and the accompanying excellent music added to the atmosphere and tension. I definitely felt anxiety whenever Ken Rex McElroy made an appearance and smiled but squirmed at the sleazy defence lawyer.
Just brilliant. Thank you Fredo and Mike for encouraging us to see it.
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