Phil Whiteway and I just returned from leading a group of 27 intrepid Barksdale and Theatre IV supporters on a ten-day tour of London and Paris. Here's a photo of our group standing in front of the flying buttresses at Notre Dame. Working hand-in-hand with our good and capable friends at Covington Travel, Barksdale plans annual trips to international locations with a theatre connection. For this time next year, we're planning a tour of Shakespeare's Italy. The Bard himself probably never visited there, but Italy was certainly a locale of choice when he was deciding where to set his plays.This year it was London and Paris, and we all had a wonderful time. The group was exceptional--27 of the most fun, easy-going and agreeable people we'll ever hope to meet. We made lots of new friends, and enjoyed spending time with some long-standing pals as well.
Not wanting to bore anyone with "vacation slides," I'll comment only on one of the more interesting experiences we had. Several months ago, we booked great center orchestra seats for the new London production of Equus, which opened a few days before we arrived. And it's a good thing we did. Equus is now a huge hit, with the largest advance sale of any non-musical in the history of London's West End.
When the show opened to rave reviews, we were excited to have been so smart as to reserve our seats well in advance. The show, as many readers will know, co-stars Richard Griffith (last year's Tony winner for History Boys) as Martin Dysart, the role Pete Kilgore made his own in Barksdale's wonderful 1978 production of this 20th Century British classic. And prompting the greatest buzz, this new production of Equus also co-stars Daniel Radcliffe who is achieving international acclaim playing Harry Potter in the several films. Young Daniel is 17, and chose Equus as the vehicle he would use to break free from his Harry Potter image. And break free he does, appearing, as the script requires, completely nude for about ten minutes in Act II.
The good news is that Daniel Radcliffe does a great job. The bad news, at least on the day we were there, was that Richard Griffith called in sick, and we saw his understudy in the role. Now, those of you who see a lot of theatre (and I bless you for it), have doubtless encountered any number of understudies in leading roles. And I can honestly say, of the countless understudies I've seen, the vast majority of them have been outstanding.
But at Equus, I regret to say, we saw something I've never seen before on Broadway or in London. The understudy was not in any way prepared to play the part. In fact, about five minutes into Act I, the actor pulled a script out of his hip pocket and proceeded to read his lines from the script for the rest of the show. Also, he apparently didn't know his blocking. Lights would change on stage, and various characters would be left in darkness because the understudy playing Dysart wouldn't move to his appointed place on cue, and the rest of the cast was forced to work around his ineptitude.
At first I thought that perhaps the understudy was also ill, and we were seeing a last minute replacement. But such was not the case. The understudy we saw was the actor who normally played the stable owner, and so his photo was in the playbill, and his name was listed as the one and only understudy for Martin Dysart. He's the one we saw, unfortunately he simply wasn't up to the task.
Those of you who know Equus can imagine how damaging it is to the show for Dysart to read from the script, and give a fairly uninspired reading at that. The British gentleman who walked just in front of me as we exited the theatre at the end of Act II was livid. And I don't blame him. With a full house paying $80 to $100 per ticket, there's no excuse for actors (even understudies) to not know their lines.
I was pleased when I returned to Richmond to learn that when Steve Perigard had to step into Lyle Lyle Crocodile as an understudy for a few days during our absence, he did so having learned all his lines and blocking. It's nice when Richmond can succeed even as London fails.
And talking about Richmond successes, I saw Firehouse Theatre Project's excellent production of This is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan on Friday evening. More on that tomorrow.
--Bruce Miller
