Open For Business

So, in the last few days the new Tower Theatre in Stoke Newington has launched its very first production – Henry V of which more anon. The company has had a long wait to find a new permanent home but I think it has been worth it. In previous incarnations the building (formerly known as Sunstone House) has been a Methodist Chapel, a synagogue and a women’s only gym so there has been extensive work done to fit it out as a theatre space. The building has three levels with the air-conditioned auditorium itself situated on the top floor. There is also storage space for basic scenery/rostra, the lighting and sound box and a backstage area with dressing room facilities. On the ground floor can be found a large rehearsal space which will eventually double as a studio theatre, the box office, theatre office, a meeting room and an extensive social area/bar. Down in the depths (where an old swimming pool used to be) are two more rehearsal spaces, the costume department and storage areas for props and electrical equipment. If you’re interested in a fuller account of the transformation of the building please click on this link for details, pictures, videos and a blog account of the work carried out.

When I arrived on Wednesday evening it was with a sense of anticipation but, as a relatively new member (since 2012) it can have been as nothing to the excitement of those who had been with the company for a much longer time. I had arrived early to help with a vox pops video capturing the first night for posterity and I was surprised and delighted to discover that I had the “honour” of being the first customer to collect their ticket from the new box office. And then it was up the stairs and into the theatre for the main event. Here’s my review of the play.
The game’s afoot! The first night of the first production at the new venue in Stoke Newington and that of a play which Tower in its 85 year history had never attempted before – Shakespeare’s Henry V. While this review is not an attempt to evaluate the building itself I cannot help but begin by saying just how professional and welcoming the whole place looked. For long-standing Tower members particularly it must have seemed that our expectation hath this day an end as the venue finally went live. Understandably there was a buzz of excitement in the theatre bar as patrons, like greyhounds in the slips, awaited this momentous, nay historic, occasion to begin.

The Chronicle History of King Henry the Fifth with His Battell Fought at Agincourt in France (the original and rather more unwieldy title of the play) is ripe with quotes which would serve in beginning any review – and the reader is hereby warned that a few of these may creep in from time to time! But the line that struck me as most apposite that evening is All things are ready, if our mind be so. Would this production be able to bring off the challenge of one of the Bard’s densest history plays and use the new auditorium to advantage? Yes, certainly, and out of doubt and out of question too.

It was clear from the moment of entering the playing space that this was to be a pared down and stripped back production. Members of the highly efficient stage management team led by Richard Davies were clearly on view sitting at the sides throughout and springing into appropriately well-drilled action whenever a scene change was called for. When the lights dimmed, one of this team stepped forward to address us with those so very well-known opening lines:

O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention….

The Chorus of the play reminds us that we are watching a representation rather than a real event and returns repeatedly to guide us through the action. Penny Tuerk (deservedly taking the honours of uttering the first words in the new venue) made a splendid job of the linking speeches and her remarkably clear diction fully demonstrated the acoustic possibilities of the new space. If not quite the designated wooden O the octagonal shape had clearly provided some of the director John McSpadyen’s inspiration.
It was evident from the play’s opening alone that one of the key concerns of the production was to examine the inherent theatricality of the piece. Usually seen as a drama about power, politics, war and kingship Henry V is, also a play about putting on a play (“play” and variations of the same occur no less than 17 times in the text). In essence we were watching something akin to a late rehearsal of the piece with the stage manager/Chorus guiding proceedings and urging us to piece out our imperfections with your thoughts. Thus aspects such as props and costumes (Kathleen Morrison) were appropriately rudimentary and there was no set to speak of – this latter had the added advantage of showing the audience the full extent of the new space and helped us to concentrate our minds on the various characters.

The production opted for a band of just fourteen players (We few, we happy few) and employed gender neutral casting to present a gamut of characters from royalty to low life and with many of the performers getting to play both English and French participants. Preeminent among these was the Henry of Dan Draper. The character, of course, has some of the most rousing speeches in the whole Shakespeare canon and Draper did them full justice. Most memorable was Once more unto the breach where we could really believe that his soldiers would follow him into any hazardous situation. We also got to see the lighter side of the character in the late scene where Henry woos the French princess Katherine – a delightful performance by Ailsa Dann.

Rather earthier wooing was to be found in the scenes between Mistress Quickly (Anna Dimdore) and Pistol, a wonderfully coarse Ian Hoare. His interaction with his partners in crime Bardolph and Nym (Sangita Modgil and Ed Malcolmson) provided much of the black humour of the early scenes which took a chilling turn just before the interval. I also enjoyed Malcolmson’s supercilious turn as the Constable of France and the even more supercilious Dauphin of Luke Owen. Simon Vaughan’s doubling of Fluellen (channelling Windsor Davies) and Alice (channelling…well, I’m not quite sure) was another highlight. Other doubled and carefully differentiated roles were taken by Katherine Kennet, Sara Nowe, John Morton, Rosanna Preston and Andrew Plaistowe. I was afraid that, with such furious doubling, at some stage one of the players might have to end up fighting with her/himself but as is the way in most of Shakespeare’s history plays the actual battles take place offstage. The Chorus even deliberately deflates the audience’s expectations by pointing out that they will have to make do with four or five most vile and ragged foils. A little harsh on the cast, I thought.

I particularly enjoyed the linking music which was mostly late 70s punk rock numbers used to ironically comment on and underscore the action. This also highlighted the anger and aggression upon which war is contingent and I admit to a wry smile when I saw the “God Save The Queen” T shirt worn by (Sex) Pistol … see what they did there?

Under some taut direction this was a pacey, muscular reading of the text which will, with repeated playing, gain in confidence and clarity. The Chorus’s early exhortation gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play proved unnecessary on the opening night; the repeated calls for the cast to return to the stage for a further encore was testament to the audience’s full involvement and enjoyment and provided a fine start to the Tower’s latest incarnation. It is to be hoped that this inaugural production will set the tone for forthcoming productions and continue to draw good audiences in its own right. Otherwise gentlemen (and ladies) in England now a-bed shall think themselves accursed they were not here!
I’ve just started rehearsals for the second show in the new season which will be Harper Lee’s classic To Kill A Mockingbird. I’m playing Horace Gilmer, the prosecuting counsel in the trial scene which is so central to the story; more details here. I can’t wait to try out the new space from the performance angle and hope to see some of you in the auditorium…. by the by – I can say, from experience, that the seats are extremely comfortable!