REVIEW: Apologia, Trafalgar Studios ✭✭✭✭
Stockard Channing is outstanding as Kristin in Apologia, urbane and bitchy but covering up intense emotions that she can barely understand.
Stockard Channing is outstanding as Kristin in Apologia, urbane and bitchy but covering up intense emotions that she can barely understand.
Producers have announced that Freema Agyeman (Doctor Who, Sense8, Torchwood), Desmond Barrit (RSC and National Theatre, Sir Peter Hall’s Henry IV Pts 1 and 2) and Joseph Millson (The Last Kingdom, Love Never Dies) will join Stockard Channing in Jamie Lloyd’s production of Apologia. Agyeman takes on the role of Claire, the actress girlfriend of Kristin’s son. Also announced are Olivier nominated Desmond Barrit and Joseph Millson. Barrit plays Hugh, Kristin’s longtime friend and ally, while Millson takes on dual roles as both of Kristin’s very different sons. A remarkable double. Olivier Award-winner Alexi Kaye Campbell’s darkly funny and haunting play about family and its secrets will be presented at Trafalgar Studios from 29 July to 18 November 2017. Apologia will see Stockard Channing’s return to the West End for the first time in over a decade. BOOK NOW FOR APOLOGIA
The cast, like a fine soufflé, is full of first rate choices and rises to the occasion in exactly the right way. The singing here is glorious. The Gershwins make a lot of demands upon singers and Williams ensures that every note is hit truly and that the froth and bubble in the music is given full release. The dance routines in Nice Work If You Can Get It, Stiff Upper Lip, I Can’t Be Bothered Now, French Pastry Walk and Fidgety Feet are effortlessly engaging, thrilling to watch. As you emerge from the auditorium, it is impossible not be cheery.
McIntosh’s achievement with the set is world class, and the magical sense of the way the set changes works beautifully to mirror the magic of a world where the future can be predicted by a six foot three and one half inches white rabbit called Harvey. Nigel Haft is luminous in his short scene, a twinkle of joy in his eye, an easy, laconic verve about him. Maureen Lipman is marvellously uptight as Veta, but not even Lipman can shoulder the burden of the play on her own, even in McIntosh’s splendid set and wearing the fabulous frocks he designed for her.