The National Theatre's 50th anniversary gala

[Bert Coules]

The National Theatre's 50th anniversary gala (televised live and streamed to cinemas - I wasn't there, alas) was a tremendous celebration of a great achievement. A highlight for me (surprisingly so - I certainly wasn't expecting it to be) was the nativity scene from the mediaevil Mystery Plays: really moving in its simplicity and (like everything else) beautifully staged with great economy.

One huge oddity was the TV subtitling. Every instance of the word which perhaps I should render here as f*ck - and there were a lot of them - was transformed, astonishingly, to lock. The result was breathtakingly ludicrous, especially in the extract from Jerry Springer the Opera:

What the lock, what the lock, what the locking, locking lock?

The spoken (and sung) word wasn't shirked in any way: there was no bleeping or blurring. Pathetic: we were allowed to hear it but not read it? Are the deaf and the hearing-impaired so much more sensitive than the rest of the population that they have to be protected from the awful impact of bad language, and in a serious celebration of the power of the theatre and the fought-for freedom of dramatic expression to boot? What the lock is that all about? I can imagine - no, I don't need to imagine, I know - exactly what Kenneth Tynan would have said.

[DracoM]

The evening on BBC TV was very fine. How on earth those actors got such an emotional intensity into their little fragments of fine works I do not know - much admiration. My only gripe was so much fairly low level musical stuff except Guys and Dolls extract. OK, part of the current NT's profile, but.....

Adrian Lester and Rory Kinnear's Othello extract was chillingly magnificent.

[Mr Pee]

Yes, I agree, it was a wonderful event, with some well chosen excerpts that resulted in a very satisfying whole, and the quality of acting was excellent throughout.

And as one of the mostly unseen black-clad techies who has toiled backstage at the theatre on many occasions, it was really good to see them taking a well- deserved bow. I think they must have had a very busy evening, with all those quick scene and costume changes.

Bravo!

[ardcarp]

A very enjoyable evening in front of the box....and I thought the pit band and the MD did incredibly well with those short and varied bits and pieces. The slick behind-the-scenes technical manoeuvres of the professional theatre are a wonder, and one can understand how some young people become hooked on this aspect of the business. Sadly many who do 'theatre studies' at school or college find job opportunities few and far between.

[Stanley Stewart]

Indeed, it was a magnificently staged evening probably rehearsed in bits and pieces during the last few weeks and these miscellany programmes amply demonstrate the meaning of professional disciplines when total concentration is demanded from performer and stage technicians at a limited full run-through, aided by modern technology, so that we no longer have to endure the use of traverse curtains with the subsequent bumps and crashes as scenery is changed! Presumably the Lyttleton was closed to cope with the required dressing room overflow and constant Waterloo Station rush-hour movement in the circuitous corridors of the NT. The whole enterprise has to gell in one fell swoop and the 9pm curtain-up must have got the adrenaline going after quite a few sherbets to moisten dry lips!

I was often deeply moved as other boardees may also recall the frisson of seeing the black and white footage of "Uncle Vanya" from 1962, an instant reminder that I must also transfer "The Three Sisters" (1970) from video to DVD this day. Earlier last week, I also watched DVD transfers of Pinter's, "No Man's Land" with John Gielgud and Ralph Richardson at the peak of their careers and I was fascinated to watch Messrs Jacobi and Gambon tacklng the same roles, albeit as a tantalising reading. Gielgud's sour disposition and tightly pursed lips in a performance of relaxed searing intensity requires several weeks of rehearsal. Refreshing, too, to see the young Michael Kitchen and Terence Rigby as retainers for the bemused Richardson tycoon Olivier's James Tyrone in O'Neill's "Long Days Journey Into Night" is still available on DVD - I recall the audible gasps in the theatre when he climbed on to the dining room table to replace an electric bulb and - at 65 - did a rear jump to floor level!

Also touched to the quick to see Joan Plowright reprise a speech from St Joan (NT 1963 production) as the best part of the evening for me was several reminders of the attention paid to the richness in our language spoken with a degree of sensibility. I did hope to hear an anecdote about Olivier's tantrums as Othello after a matinee curtain call, berating Maggie Smith for sloppy diction. Prior to the evening performance, she knocked on his dressing room door, as he was applying dark colouring body make-up, and greeted him with "How.. now.. brown.. cow?" before making a quick exit and his customary expletives.

Did an overnight transfer to DVD, from hard disk, to ensure a safe back-up master copy of last night's celebrations. Sheer bliss.

[DracoM]

Yes, totally agree. I did not mean to denigrate the efficiency and / or discipline of the musical team - they were great - BUT it was just....well, notmy kind of musical. The Jerry Springer extract easily the pick of the crop, pace language!

And the NT technical team simple amazing, and I'm so delighted they got a march forward as well

[Mary Chambers]

It was astonishing, like stepping back into the past when our values were right - sorry to sound like an old fogey, but that is how I felt.* How many events like at this do we see on television? It reminded me what real acting is all about.

I found it difficult sometimes to tell what was live and what wasn't - for instance, I thought the Saint Joan excerpt was live until I saw Joan Plowright in the audience. I probably missed some onscreen information. I found I still knew that speech, and I probably haven't read or seen Saint Joan for half a century.

I also missed the title of the piece about hanging baskets. Can someone enlighten me, please? I didn't recognise it.


*Though I do realise, of course, that many of our values are actually better now!

PS Stanley, that's a wonderful anecdote about Olivier and Maggie Smith. I stood through their Othello when I was 23 or some such age.

[Nick Armstrong]

the best part of the evening for me was several reminders of the attention paid to the richness in our language spoken with a degree of sensibility.

Exactly ! Haven't seen it all yet but it's all nestling on the hard drive.

Olivier's tantrums as Othello after a matinee curtain call, berating Maggie Smith for sloppy diction. Prior to the evening performance, she knocked on his dressing room door, as he was applying dark colouring body make-up, and greeted him with "How.. now.. brown.. cow?" before making a quick exit and his customary expletives.

Did an overnight transfer to DVD, from hard disk, to ensure a safe back-up master copy of last night's celebrations. Sheer bliss.

I was saying this very morning that I shall for the first time try doing this - the newish PVR under the TV has this facility but I've yet to experiment

[Dave2002]

I missed the Jerry Springer excerpt, though I did see it live. Amusing about the subtitles!

I started watching casually, and was then totally engrossed by it. Some actor's performances seemed hardly to have changed at all - for example Nicholas le Prevost in Bedroom Farce, which I saw a few years ago at Kingston Rose - http://www.rosetheatrekingston.org/r.../bedroom-farce Pity that site doesn't maintain a historical archive. Some details of that performance are here - http://www.express.co.uk/entertainme...eatre-Kingston

A splendid evening's TV - we put Inspector M on to record while this was on. Didn't dare risking recording both, as sometimes both recordings fail.
Is the NT programme being repeated at all? If so, I'll record it then, and I too recommend it highly.

[Dave2002]

I also missed the title of the piece about hanging baskets. Can someone enlighten me, please? I didn't recognise it.

London Road - http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/london-road

The music shown reminded me somewhat of the Cries of London from a much earlier age.

[Bert Coules]

Mary, the hanging baskets scene is from London Road, a "verbatim theatre" piece (ie it's based on actual interviews and transcripts of conversations) by Alecky Blythe and Adam Cork.

It's a "miraculously innovative show... which explores the musical possibilities of everyday speech," said the hard-to-please Michael Billington in the Guardian. His full review is here.

Ah, Dave2002 got in just before me.

Amusing about the subtitles!

Or damnably insulting and nannyish, depending on your point of view.

[Mary Chambers]

Many thanks to Bert Coules and Dave2002 for their replies about London Road and hanging baskets.

[ardcarp]

When 'hanging baskets' began, I thought the transfer of speech to music was going to be a bit simplistic. But then it built into an ingenious climax where the threads combined. Very pleasing and unusual.

[gradus]

An evening of great acting especially the powerful scene from Mourning Becomes Electra with Helen Mirren.
I agree about the intriguing complexity of the London Road excerpt but I'm not convinced that the recent murder of five young women is a subject that, however approached, is right for a musical.

[Bert Coules]

I don't think that London Road is actually about the murders as such: what's being explored is the community's reaction to them and their effect on the everyday life of the street.

If you consider the musical an essentially light-hearted entertainment then perhaps even that is unaceptable, but as Richard Eyre was shown to say, the genre is actually a good deal more than just that.