Worth a Read: Theatre Books Round-up – Jun 2010

The theme of many of the scripts seems coincidental. Holding the
Man by Tommy Murphy, Love the Sinner by Drew Pautz and
Me, As a Penguin by Tom Wells – plays that have been staged
recently – all deal with homosexuality. While they each come to this
topic from different angles – one’s set in a school in Melbourne in
the Seventies, one starts in Africa and involves the Church, and the
last compares the gay scene in Hull with a coastal town in East
Yorkshire, reading all three yields interesting comparisons.

Laura Silverman
Book reviewer

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Shakespeare: An Ungentle Life by Katherine Duncan-Jones,
Methuen

Katherine Duncan-Jones is (apparently) Shakespeare’s only female
biographer. A fellow of Somerville College, Oxford, she is certainly
one of the world’s leading scholars on the bard, with this book, first
published nine years ago as Ungentle Shakespeare, ushering in a new
wave of study that took a thematic rather than chronological approach
to the writer. By examining the context of Shakespeare’s life and
looking at his relationship with literary figures such as Ben Jonson,
Professor Duncan-Jones argued against the idea that he was ‘a
provincial hick who couldn’t truly have written the works to which his
name was attached’.
A stimulation for further exploration rather than
a comprehensive work, An Ungentle Life looks at issues
throughout Shakespeare’s life, including three topics that were
formerly taboo in bard biography: social class, sex and money. This is
an essential student reads – at least until September 2011, when
Professor Duncan-Jones’s new book on the development and creation of
Shakespeare’s literary reputation is due to be published. We hope to
be reviewing that nearer the time.

Shakespeare’s Sonnets edited by Katherine Duncan-Jones,
Methuen
While you’re waiting for September 2011, you might like to get hold of
this updated compilation by the Oxford professor, first published in
1997. The 100-page scholarly introduction looks at poetic structure,
compares Shakespeare’s sonnets to traditional forms, asks who he might
have addressed the works to and considers whether the bard was a
misogynist. Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets, plus A Lover’s
Complaint, are neatly laid out, each accompanied by a glossary and
space for inspired notes.

London Stage in the Nineteenth Century by Robert Tanitch,
Carnegie Publishing

With more than 220 illustrations, it looks and feels like a coffee
table book, but this publication also brims with encyclopaedic detail.
Set out in diary format, it records openings, adding who played whom
and whether they were considered any good, as well as visits by Queen
Victoria to the theatre (once with her own diary impression of the
play). Tanitch pays dutiful attention to the era, without getting
distracted by other goings on – each year is accompanied by a simple
shaded box documenting historical events, from the beginning of the
Indian Mutiny (1857) to the building of the Eiffel Tower (1889).
London Stage ties in with an exhibition at the National Theatre
of programmes and portraits from the 19th century. It runs until 27
June. While you might not be able to take home a rare playbill from
your visit, Tanitch’s work makes a fascinating substitute – valuable
in another sort of way.

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Pieces by Hywel John,
Nick Hern
Hywel John says his debut play is “a study of grief in some respects,
and is funny and unnerving in turn”. It’s a domestic drama, set in the
Welsh borders, following orphaned twins Jack and Bea and their new
unprepared guardian, a thirtysomething woman called Sophie. Hywel
wrote Pieces over several years between acting jobs, and is
currently playing the Jew in Headlong Theatre’s revival of Oscar
Wilde’s Salome (see below). Pieces has just premiered at Clywd
Theatr Cymru in Wales.

Holding the Man by Tommy Murphy,
Nick Hern
Adapted from Timothy Conigrave’s memoir, this compelling play is the
true biographical story of the relationship between two teenage boys
when they meet at Melbourne High School in the early Seventies. Tim is
secretly gay in an all-male school, with a crush on the captain of the
football team. An award-winning Australian writer, Murphy is known for
the humour and buoyancy of his work, and this, despite its elements of
tragedy, is no exception. Staged initially in 2006 in Sydney,
Holding the Man is now on, for the first time in Europe, at the
Trafalgar Studios, SW1 until 3 July. This edition of the script
finishes with a frank afterward by Murphy on researching and writing
the play.

Ruined by Lynn Nottage,
Nick Hern
Set in the Democratic Repulic of Congo, Lynn Nottage‘s harrowing
drama, which won her a Pulitzer prize in 2008, looks at how rape and
sexual violence on women can destroy a community just as effectively
as bullets. Ruined, which has just been on at the Almeida, centres on
Mama Nadi, a brothel and bar owner. A modern-day Mother Courage
(Nottage’s play was partly inspired by the Brechtian classic), Mama,
is a deliberately morally complex character. “She does things that
audiences are horrified by, that force them to suspend simplistic
good-versus-bad judgments,” says Nottage. “But in the end, they
understand her, and that she has to do what she does to survive.”
Purposefully plotted play with sympathetic characters, this is a
gripping read. As a bonus, the script includes a small section of
songs from the play, with notation for voice and guitar. Nottage wrote
the lyrics.

Love the Sinner by Drew Pautz,
Nick Hern
Bound to provoke debate among its audience and its readers, Drew
Pautz‘s new play explores the morally thorny topics of IVF,
homosexuality and asylum-seeking by following the consequences of
married man’s close encounter with a porter on a visit to Africa.
Drawing parallels between disharmony within the Church and within
marriage, the Canadian playwright looks at personal and public
sacrifices in his characteristic writing style of broken sentences and
overlaps in speech. Love the Sinner is on at the National until
10 July.

Me, As a Penguin by Tom Wells,
Nick Hern
Inspired by a story about a trip to the zoo and a knitting magazine,
Tom Wells‘ debut, which was at the West Yorkshire Playhouse earlier
this month, after opening at the Arcola in London in April, is a
tightly written absurdist comedy following Stitch, a young man from a
small seaside town, who goes to stay with his preganant sister and her
husband in Hull to sample the gay scene. Stitch has stolen a baby
penguin from an aquarium. Wells, who, like Stitch, grew up in a small
seaside town in East Yorkshire, says: “It’s quite heartfelt. I’m a bit
of a people watcher so it’d be hard not to put things in that I’ve
seen or I’ve noticed. The play is not directly true but it’s from a
world that I recognise, with the odd bit of Tom Wells in maybe.”

Salome by Oscar Wilde,
Nick Hern
Forget The Importance of Being Earnest and An Ideal
Husband. This is a very different kind of Oscar Wilde. Dazzling
and shocking, it’s short and tragic; its setting is unrealistic and
its language heightened. Banned in 1892 for its blasphemous portayal
of biblical characters, the story tells of Salome, the step-daughter
of King Herod who performs the dance of the seven veils in return for
the head of Iokanaan (John the Baptist) on a platter. Translated from
its original French, Salome is now enjoying a rare revival.
Rupert Goold‘s Headlong Theatre is bringing it to Hampstead Theatre
from 22 June to 17 July, concluding a short UK tour. A speedy read at
just 38 pages, this script comes with a pithy, informative
introduction, outlining the play’s background and themes.

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So You Want to Go to Drama School? by Helen Freeman,
Nick Hern
An audition panellist for the Guildford School of Acting, Helen
Freeman has produced a very clear and comprehensive guide aimed at 16
and 17 year-olds serious about acting. In a realistic yet reassuring
tone, she covers everything from what to look for in a prospectus,
highlighting how important it is to research where you apply, to how
to enter a room to make the right impression. The chapters are
sensibly sub-divided into readable chunks, with pragmatic points
rounding off each section. You may well find this indispensable, even
after you get accepted on to the course.