Equus - Daniel Radcliffe
Mar. 3rd, 2007 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fairyd123Went to see Equus last night starring Daniel Radcliffe at the Gielgud theatre in the West End. Definitely the hottest ticket in town (well except for Dirty Dancing which you can't get tickets for for love nor money) the place was completely sold out (I even spotted a couple of Brit tv actors in the audience - Ricky Tomlinson amongst them). I'd booked months ago and has a fantastic seat - just two rows back from the stage with noone in front of me (being a short ass I normally spend most of my time when I go to see plays dodging right and left desperately trying to see past the 6 ft+ guy who inevitably plonks himself in front of me).
So what was it like?
Let's start with the bad.
Unfortunately Richard Griffiths who plays the lead role of the psychiatrist was ill on the night I saw it and his understudy (who normally plays the very small role of the stable owner) didn't know his lines. And I don't mean that he forgot the odd line - that would be understandable. I mean he didn't know a single fucking line. He came on stage at the beginning of each act with half of his opening monologue learnt but needed to be prompted each time. I mean I guess I realised intellectually that shows do have someone following the script off stage in case the actor forgets their lines but I have never ever seen anyone have to use it in a professional production. After that he essentially just read aloud from his script seriously compromising the rhythm of the piece as he kept fumbling for his lines. I've never actually quite seen anything like it. I had assumed from youthful viewings of A Chorus Line that understudies were always note perfect and desperate to get their chance to shine and show up the hack that's gotten the role that they deserved. Clearly not!
Jenny Agutter was also pretty dreadful. I wasn't sure if it was simply because she was used to working with Griffiths and was completely thrown by having to act with someone who couldn't maintain eye contact with her because he was constantly looking at his script but there was lots of RSC style very loud proclaiming and not a whole lot of actual acting. Considering that she completely rocked in shows like Spooks her performance was very disappointing.
Drunken morons at the stage door. I routinely go to the stage door after shows and 99% of the time I get autographs. In fact the only two actors I haven't been able to get signatures from are Sean Bean (who just doesn't do autographs apparently) and Ewan McGregor who is well know for being a bit of a shit where his fans are concerned (and considering how bloody dreadful he was in Guys and Dolls and how much I paid for the ticket an autograph was the least he could have done!). I hadn't actually been expecting Daniel to come out and sign but there would have more of a chance had not a drunken group of idiotic teens (who hadn't seen the play) converged on the door shouting out inanities and humming the Harry Potter theme song. The young teen girls at the door were not impressed when the stage manager announced that Daniel wasn't coming out and when I left they were rounding furiously on the drunkards - lets hope they beat them to death!
So what was good:
The production design was fantastic. The horses were portrayed by dancers dressed head to toe in dark brown stood on high metal struts wearing large twisted metal horse heads. The whole effect (especially when teamed with tons of dry ice and atmospheric lighting) was quite profoundly disturbing.
Daniel Radcliffe was absolutely superb. I like the Harry Potter books and I enjoy the films but have never been particularly impressed by any of the child actors (in fact I always found Daniel to be quite the block of wood in the early films) so I didn't go along expecting him to be any good. But he had astonishing stage presence (despite in person being quite short and very slight). The second he appeared you couldn't take your eyes off him - he really was quite magnetic. Vocally he projected well and gave every impression that he was completely comfortable on stage (particularly impressive considering that the theatre is absolutely massive and there are two rows of elevated seats behind the stage ). His performance as the tortured Alan Strang was fantastic - heartfelt and really quite disturbing. Judging by his performance in this he's got a hell of a career in front of him.
And yes he is completely and totally naked for about 4 minutes of the play. And it was a deeply surreal experience to see him butt naked and leaping about (bobbing about in fact!) less than 2 feet in front of me.
So what was it like?
Let's start with the bad.
Unfortunately Richard Griffiths who plays the lead role of the psychiatrist was ill on the night I saw it and his understudy (who normally plays the very small role of the stable owner) didn't know his lines. And I don't mean that he forgot the odd line - that would be understandable. I mean he didn't know a single fucking line. He came on stage at the beginning of each act with half of his opening monologue learnt but needed to be prompted each time. I mean I guess I realised intellectually that shows do have someone following the script off stage in case the actor forgets their lines but I have never ever seen anyone have to use it in a professional production. After that he essentially just read aloud from his script seriously compromising the rhythm of the piece as he kept fumbling for his lines. I've never actually quite seen anything like it. I had assumed from youthful viewings of A Chorus Line that understudies were always note perfect and desperate to get their chance to shine and show up the hack that's gotten the role that they deserved. Clearly not!
Jenny Agutter was also pretty dreadful. I wasn't sure if it was simply because she was used to working with Griffiths and was completely thrown by having to act with someone who couldn't maintain eye contact with her because he was constantly looking at his script but there was lots of RSC style very loud proclaiming and not a whole lot of actual acting. Considering that she completely rocked in shows like Spooks her performance was very disappointing.
Drunken morons at the stage door. I routinely go to the stage door after shows and 99% of the time I get autographs. In fact the only two actors I haven't been able to get signatures from are Sean Bean (who just doesn't do autographs apparently) and Ewan McGregor who is well know for being a bit of a shit where his fans are concerned (and considering how bloody dreadful he was in Guys and Dolls and how much I paid for the ticket an autograph was the least he could have done!). I hadn't actually been expecting Daniel to come out and sign but there would have more of a chance had not a drunken group of idiotic teens (who hadn't seen the play) converged on the door shouting out inanities and humming the Harry Potter theme song. The young teen girls at the door were not impressed when the stage manager announced that Daniel wasn't coming out and when I left they were rounding furiously on the drunkards - lets hope they beat them to death!
So what was good:
The production design was fantastic. The horses were portrayed by dancers dressed head to toe in dark brown stood on high metal struts wearing large twisted metal horse heads. The whole effect (especially when teamed with tons of dry ice and atmospheric lighting) was quite profoundly disturbing.
Daniel Radcliffe was absolutely superb. I like the Harry Potter books and I enjoy the films but have never been particularly impressed by any of the child actors (in fact I always found Daniel to be quite the block of wood in the early films) so I didn't go along expecting him to be any good. But he had astonishing stage presence (despite in person being quite short and very slight). The second he appeared you couldn't take your eyes off him - he really was quite magnetic. Vocally he projected well and gave every impression that he was completely comfortable on stage (particularly impressive considering that the theatre is absolutely massive and there are two rows of elevated seats behind the stage ). His performance as the tortured Alan Strang was fantastic - heartfelt and really quite disturbing. Judging by his performance in this he's got a hell of a career in front of him.
And yes he is completely and totally naked for about 4 minutes of the play. And it was a deeply surreal experience to see him butt naked and leaping about (bobbing about in fact!) less than 2 feet in front of me.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-03-03 11:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 12:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-03-04 01:36 am (UTC)He's very funny in the second act and the love scene that has gotten all the publicity is very sweet and natural.
As I said I've never been much of a Daniel fan and the Harry Potter fandom has never really appealed to me so I didn't go into the play as a "fan" (I do find that if you really like an actor you tend to be more tolerant of any deficiencies in their performance)but Radcliffe is amazing in it. I was really taken aback at how good he was.
no subject
Date: 2007-03-05 11:14 am (UTC)Yes, male nudity on stage can be disconcerting. Things jiggle. It's very tempting to snerk a bit. Kudos to Daniel for, erm, rising above it!
Ugh to the stage door drunks. I hope the genuine fans DID give them a drubbing.