So, I went to see Catherine Tate in Under the Blue Sky, at the Duke of York's Theater on the London West End last night.
I was quite excited about it. I think it's my first time actually seeing an actor/actress I like on stage before. And I had quite a good seat. Row F right smack at Center Stage. So I had a decent view, and quite a nice setup.
I knew almost nothing about this play going in. I'd heard it described as a dark comedy. I'd also heard it described as a drama. I'd heard that it was about schoolteachers private lives and possibly affairs. I'd also heard that it dealt with current events from the late 90's. So yeah, I went in not really knowing WHAT to expect.
Here's the answer: It is more of a drama than a comedy, although it certainly does have its funny moments. It's a very short play - only about an hour and a half. And it is three distinctly separate, but loosely connected stories, each about a different pair of schoolteachers. This is more of a play about people than about teachers or politics, but both of the other themes definitely are present within the stories.
The first story, starring Chris O'Dowd and Lisa Dillion, was a sort of unrequited love story where one of the teachers was obviously in love with the other, and the other was "confused". It was set entirely in a kitchen, and for some reason, I found it really entertaining that it was a working kitchen and he was cooking onstage (I could smell it!). It's also set right at the time of the Docklands IRA Bombing in 1996.
The second story, starring our lovely Catherine Tate and Dominic Rowan, was a post break-up, one-night stand story. Catherine's character found out that day that her significant other was cheating on her, and gets drunk and tries to have sex with someone else to make him jealous. There is a LOT of discussion of her sexual escapades (I wasn't exaggerating last night when I called her a drunken whore). The politics in this story comes in with sexual role playing. (Injured Soldier and his nurse).
Both of these first two stories take VERY dark twists and leave the audience in a bit of an uncomfortable place as they are definitely not happy stories. I won't reveal the twists though, just in case anyone's reading this who plans to try to see Under the Blue Sky on their Hamlet trips.
The third and final story, starring Nigel Lindsay and Francesca Annis, is the love story. Two people, of different generations, who fall in love. And this is certainly the happy story. This story just FELT different than the other two. It still has its dark bits - in particular, the politics in this one, which is a story that Francesca Annis tells of her Aunt, who was a war nurse, and the soldier she loved who died in war.
Back to Catherine...like I mentioned, she played a drunken whore. Most of her scenes took place in the bedroom. Staggering around like a drunk. And now she's on crutches after hurting her wrist and her ankle. And frankly, I found that impressive. It's hard enough to stagger around the way she was when you're healthy, let alone with a crutch trying not to reinjure herself. And I have to admit...she did some improv with her crutch and worked it into her performance, which was pretty entertaining.
In actual acting...she was very Donna-ish. A lot of the same loud-mouthed, bolshy attitude that you see in Donna. Once or twice I actually found myself thinking that this could be Donna reverted back to her pre-Doctor self, which made me a little sad, actually. But it was definitely fun to get to see Catherine doing it live.
Another interesting thing...I read a lot of articles talking about how she was supposed to bare it all in her scenes - not surprising considering that it all took place in the bedroom. A part of me is kind of curious to know how much of that changed because of the injury. She did NOT bare it all in my show. There was a bit of bodice ripping, and she was wearing quite the lovely bra under her dress. Saw a lot of chest, but no full frontal or anything like that. I suppose it's probably hard enough to work the crutch in, so they probably had her tone down her scenes a bit. A part of me would almost be curious to see it again next month, just to see if anything changes ;) Not that I'm dying to see Catherine naked or anything. Just would be curious to see how her performance morphs over time.
Anyway, I did very much enjoy it, and I'm really glad I got to see it. It made for a very cool night.
Here are a few pictures. A little blurry, but it's the best I could do limited to curtain call, I'm afraid!
On a side note, I might have mentioned that I saw the TARDIS last night as well ;) That would be a rather amusing interlude in my night. It's outside the Earl's Court Tube Station, on the Earl's Court Road side (the opposite side from the Exhibition Center). Oh, and it's not a "TARDIS" persay. It's an ACTUAL police box. Seriously.
The truly hilarious part? I walked right past it without noticing it. And then walking back past it the second time, I saw it and did a double-take. And then came back later that night with my classmates to take pictures. Bad pictures. I'll have to drag Tas or someone back there to take some more. But still pictures.
The two girls with me in the picture are Natalie and Melissa - they were the other two Doctor Who/Tennant fans prior to this trip. We thought it was fitting to get in there together.
Today, by the way, dear friends, is my last day in London. Tomorrow morning I jump a train to Southampton for the next week leading up to Hamlet. My program is over. I'm a teensy bit sad. But really, kind of ready to move on into my travels. Still, it's been a good month, and I'm SO glad I came and did this!
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