The Week UK 21.03.2020

ARTS 29

21 March 2020 THE WEEK

Drama

Theatre: Blithe Spirit

TheDukeofYork’sTheatre,LondonWC2(0844-8717623) Runningtime:2hrs20mins ★★★★

WhenNoëlCoward“dashed

out”BlitheSpiritinhisbomb-

damagedflatoverjustsixdays

in 1941 ,thecloudsoverLondon

“wereagooddealdarker”than

theyarenow,saidCliveDavis

inTheTimes.Evenso,the

“newenemyflyingthroughthe

air”hasgiventheatresareal

pounding.London’sWestEnd

wentdarkonMondaynight,

alongwiththeatresacrossthe

UK,followinggovernment

warningsaboutthecoronavirus.

It’sagreatpitythatwe’llbe

robbedofCoward’s“cheerfully

grimcomedyaboutdeathand

theafterlife”;there’s“notasliver

ofsentimentalityinhisportrayalofmarriageandmortality”.

RichardEyre’sproductionis“fulloflaughterinthedark”and

featuresapeachofaperformancefromJenniferSaunders.

InCoward’scomedies,warringcouplesarefrequentlyhaunted

bytheir past relationships–buthere,it’sliteral,saidTom Wicker

in Time Out.Anapparently happycouple,novelistCharles and

his new wife,Ruth,invitedotty mediumMadameArcatiover

for japes,buttheycomeunstuck whenshe inadvertently invites

Charles’sdeadfirstwife,Elvira,tostay.LisaDillonasRuthisa

“picture ofrictusgrintension”,saidClaireAllfreein TheDaily

Telegraph –whileGeoffrey Streatfeildplays Charleswitha

“nicelyinfuriatingbreezycharm”.Butwhilebotharegood,

Saundersissimply“magnificent”astheeccentricmedium

whoexposesallmannerof

maritalskeletons.

Wearinga“memorablylank

greywigandcomicallyinept

make-up”,Saundersmakesfor

anunusuallyfrumpyArcati,

saidDavidBenedictinVariety,

butanunusuallyhilariousone,

too.Yetsheisneverremotely

hammyorcheap.She“lands

everylaughinadeliciously

gauche,gruffmanner–but

it’sallintheserviceoftruth”.

Unfortunately,noteverything

abouttheshowisinherclass.

Muchoftheplayingistoo

frantic–asifthecharacters

wereinthelastactofafarce,

ratherthanalightcomedy.“Toomuchofthewitisflattened

becausethespiritveerstowardstheblistering”,whenasthetitle

suggests,itshouldbe“blithe”.Nevertheless,whenthetheatresdo

openagain,youshouldmakeeveryefforttogettoseeit.

Loveinthetimeofcoronavirus

The week’s other opening

CoriolanusSheffield Crucible (0114-249 6000).Until 28March

Robert Hastie’s“intrepid” production thrusts Shakespeare’s

austere warrior intoacontemporaryworld of soundbites and

media-savvy politicians. Tom Bateman leadsafirst-rate cast, with

superbly judged performances from Stella Gonet, Katy Stephens

and Malcolm Sinclair (Times).

Cornershop:

England is

aGarden

Ample Play £10

Cornershop are best remembered for

Brimful of Asha,their joyous number one

single from 1998 that combinedatribute

to the Bollywood singer Asha Bhosle with

a1960s-style melody and Norman Cook

dance remix wizardry. The band, made

up of Wolverhampton’s Tjinder Singh

and Canadian Ben Ayres, has never quite

repeated that success, said Will Hodgkinson

in The Times. But this ninth album is an

absolute belter, “bursting at the seams”

with songs so upbeat that you might not

at first realise that many of them are about

colonialism and racism.

Twenty-six years on from their debut,

their music continues to draw ona“pan-

cultural melting pot” of influences from

1970s Black Country rock to Punjabi folk,

said Elisa Bray in The Independent. Two

highlights,Highly AmplifiedandEverywhere

That Wog Army Roam,tackle the dark

politics of nationalism.No Rock: Save in

Rollblendsa“Rolling Stones riff, Primal

Scream fervour and gospel vocals”, It’s

enchanting stuff froma“band to treasure”.

No major pianist can ignore Chopin for

long, said Geoff Brown in The Times.

The British virtuoso Benjamin Grosvenor

recordedafew Chopin pieces back in 2011

when stillastudent ,but it has taken until

his late 20s for him to releaseafull album

of the great Romantic’s work. Worth the

wait? Absolutely. Grosvenor’s “thoughtful

and fresh” playing here brings the two

concertos fizzing to life, with “flecks of

rubato, quizzical pauses and tumbling, fast-

fingered runs”. He’s especially impressive

in “spinning the lightly melancholic reverie

of the first concerto’s larghetto”.

Grosvenor wasachild prodigy, winning

the piano section of BBC Young Musician of

the Year aged just 11, said Richard Fairman

in the FT. His youthful flair hasn’t dimmed –

and on this superb disc his “wizardry” bears

comparison with that of Chopin “titans”

Horowitz, Cortot and Cherkassky. The outline

of the performances is “firm, purposeful,

quite swift”–yet within thishe “creates

space for the kind of shimmering, pearly

playing at which he excels”. Whatajoy.

Albums of the week: three new releases

Benjamin

Grosvenor:

Chopin Piano

Concertos

Decca £11

You could sum up Meghan Remy’s body of

work (she records as U.S. Girls) ”asaseries

of sound art installations evolving from

experimentation into bold tunefulness”,

said Kitty Empire in The Observer.Half Free

(2015) sketched female character studies

“likeapop Cindy Sherman”. The brilliant

In aPoemUnlimited(2018) was “more

explicitly political”. Her new one,Heavy

Light,“doublesdown on sumptuousness”

while referencing influences from Abba to

Bruce Springsteen; from bossa nova to Patti

Smith. It’s the work ofa“major talent”.

Thematically,Heavy Lightswaps overtly

political content for lyrics about “hindsight,

formative experiences, unreliable memories

and twists of fate”, said Dan Cairns in The

Sunday Times. And three spoken-word

interludes about childhood lessons learnt

“deepen the sense of past and present

locked in perpetual conflict”. Remy–her

“tremulous syllable-savouring singing”

voice midway between Dionne Warwick

and Cyndi Lauper–never lets “artfulness

get in the way of emotional truths”.

U.S. Girls:

Heavy Light

4AD £10

©N

OBBY CLARK

Stars reflect the overall quality of reviews and our own independent assessment (5 stars=don’t miss;1star=don’t bother)

Following government guidance, theatre venues across the country have closed