There are challenges in reviving plays from the 1980s. The language can be problematic, the themes outdated, the behaviours strange by today’s standards.
But when you have a world-class playwright as prescient and proficient as Tom Stoppard, the script, with its references to celebrity causes, rioting protestors, early released prisoners due to budget constraints and the agony of ‘personal branding’ on Desert Island Discs is bang up to date relevant.
All you have to do is to listen hard, because Stoppard’s got fantastic lines that come thick and fast – think too hard about one and you might miss the next one.
The Real Thing running to October 26 at London’s Old Vic is one of Stoppard’s earlier plays.
This semi-autobiographical 2hr 20-minute-long treat gives all the best lines to Henry, a playwright struggling with the concept of ‘The Real Thing’, real relationships expressing real feelings with real language.
To cut to the chase, we saw the original version with Felicity Kendal and Roger Rees in 1982.
This production’s better.
Those early performances were greeted with audience speculation about the real-life romantic relationship between Stoppard and his female lead Kendal, playing Annie, love interest of Henry, the playwright in the play (are you keeping up?).
In that context, many of Henry’s soliloquies feel like a cry direct from the playwright’s heart. Kendal’s admitted in multiple interviews to her many affairs and there are echoes of and parallels with the couple’s real-life ups and downs throughout the play.
The Real Thing focuses on fidelity and infidelity, using three ‘play within a play’ devices. Modern audiences are more used to ‘wrong-footing techniques’, blurring fiction with reality from scene to scene.
Production Designer Dominic Fraser, Lighting Designer Richard Howell and Director Max Webster have embraced those twists and turns, with minimal set and lighting changes used to elegant effect.
The cast is consistently fabulous. Susan Wokoma’s bathos and timing is flawless, Bel Powley’s ability to capture Annie’s complexity is outstanding and Oliver Johnstone’s vulnerable Max is comic and tragic, never more so than when in his squash gear.
In a play where the playwright has most of the lines, James McCardle gives a career-defining performance as Henry, bullish, charismatic and mesmerising throughout. And watch out for Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran as yet another part of the love triangles – what a joyous, energetic presence on stage. Much more to come from them in the future, we hope.
Of special interest to Living with Disability readers, The Real Thing has a number of special access performances.
Audio Described: Friday October 11, 7:30pm (Touch Tour 5:30pm)
Relaxed (also Audio Described, BSL & Captioned): Saturday October 12, 2:30pm
Captioned: Monday October14, 7:30pm
British Sign Language (BSL) interpreted: Thursday October 17, 7:30pm
£22–£25 access rate available for all performances and one carer/companion ticket per booking available at the same price. Please visit www.oldvictheatre.com/access to join the free Access Membership and book online or call 0344 871 7628.
At the performance we attended, a brilliant set of theatre staff in the stalls were going out of their way to ensure visitors with disabilities had a night to remember for all the right reasons, from creating warm welcomes to the auditorium, fetching ice-creams and snacks in the interval and ensuring ease of passage to the accessible toilets.
Stoppard gives Henry numerous great lines, but we’ll leave you with these.
“I don’t think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little or make a poem which children will speak for you when you’re dead.” This is the Real Thing.
Pictured: James McArdle (Henry) and Susan Wokoma (Charlotte). Photo Credit: Manuel Harlan
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