Review – Sweet Bird of Youth, Old Vic

The Whingers have always celebrated the virtues of good theatrical wiggery, so we are disposed to discuss one particular wig before moving on. Do not be fooled by the production’s posters (right). The tin is very misleading.

Sweet Bird of Youth introduces us to Alexandra Del Lago (Kim Cattrall), a heavy-drinking, pill-popping faded Hollywood legend and self-professed “monster” (who’s just fled the calamitous premiere of her comeback movie), groaning face down in a hotel bed. She wakes up with a panic attack and screams for oxygen. Small wonder; it appears something rather frightful has crawled onto her head during the night. Now Phil’s has a mind of its own too first thing in the morning (his hair that is) and of course Del Lago’s hair’s meant to be a mess, yet there was something about it that wasn’t quite right. Or, as one of the Whingers’ entourage noted sagely, “it looks a bit nylony”. Perhaps that was the point.

Review – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Novello Theatre

Those who know the Whingers will be aware that Phil is very conventional, abhors change and is rather partial to tradition. Even the more easy-going, liberal and forward-looking Andrew has habits, some of which are rather disagreeable.

So trying something new and indulging in a little experimentation is for them somewhat outré.

The Whingers attended the final preview of Tennessee Williams‘ Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Novello Theatre last night and the novelty was not that it was an all-black cast, but that they had already seen it a week earlier at the dress rehearsal.

And the test was not whether they could keep their mouths shut (which apart from a teensy Twitter they surprised themselves and did) but whether this would prove once and for all that reviewing early previews (for which they are oft criticised ) is unfair. Does a lot happen between early previews and opening night? Were they putting themselves on the line and undermining their modus operandi?

Review – A Streetcar Named Desire, Donmar Warehouse

The happiness of the Whingers depends on a lot of things when they visit a theatre: good sightlines, brevity, amusement and a competitively priced bar. But unlike Blanche Dubois they do not seek or expect kindness from strangers (or friends for that matter). Indeed, it is a word that rarely features in their limited vocabularies.

Brevity may also have been in somewhat short supply at the Donmar Warehouse on Monday when we dropped in to see Rob Ashford‘s production of Tennessee Williams‘s Pulitzer Prize winning classic A Streetcar Named Desire: it lumbers in at at a massive three hours. But for once the Whingers had struck lucky in the advance booking ticket lottery that the Donmar organises for its “friends” and for the first time in yonks we weren’t sitting to the side of the thrust stage but at the front, where the critics get to sit (in fact Mark Lawson or his Doppelgänger was in front of us). And boy what a difference it made!