THEATRE TALK: 2009 - A Bumper Year For Theatre

2009 has been a pretty rotten year, rounding off a rubbish decade for those of us affected directly by the recession. One of the few things that has kept me going in the last couple of years is the wonderful variety of theatre provided by London, New York and in the regions and which seems to have really come into its own this year.

Thus, Hugh Grant's recent pronouncement that theatre is only fun one time out of twenty is a rather depressing statement, and not one that many of us would agree with. One out of twenty? Monsieur Grant, you don't see enough theatre. While there are always going to be lame duck productions, this year in particular has seen a wonderful spread of well-acted, intriguing and uplifting shows, and these should be celebrated rather than maligned.

This year, we've had Shakespeare galore, with the tail-end of the RSC's London seasion (the David Tennant Hamlet, plus a sparkly and joyous production of Midsummer Night's Dream) and the Globe putting on highly-acclaimed productions of Love's Labours Lost and As You Like It, though of course we also had to contend with terrible versions of Taming Of The Shrew (RSC) and Hamlet (Donmar). The Donmar flexed its creative muscles with the enthralling A Streetcar Named Desire and Life Is A Dream, and the Royal Court gave us the giddily thought-provoking Cock. The Trafalgar Studios also didn't disappoint, with New Boy, Public Property and the transfer of The Mountaintop. Lest we forget, there was also the Battersea Arts Centre's brilliantly weird A Small Town Anywhere, where the audience became the actors for the evening.

On the musical front, it's been a pretty pink 2009, with the opening of the funny and energetic Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, La Cage Aux Folle's numerous press nights (Norton, Quast and Allam, Burke and Barrowman and Hodge and Lawson - it's tiring just reeling all that off!) and Legally Blonde's fluffy, girly fun closing out the year in style, despite a startlingly terrible Children In Need performance almost scuppering it from the off. Not only that, but the Union Theatre produced a staggeringly brilliant all-male Pirates of Penzance - let's hope for Ruddigore next year!

A moment of silence should be held for the Comedy Theatre, who have had a somewhat cursed year, what with the insanity that was Too Close To The Sun, and then Prick Up Your Ears, which ended prematurely, and limply, after star Matt Lucas was forced to pull out and replacement Con O'Neill couldn't pull in the punters. It seems to have redeemed itself with Moliere's The Misanthrope, though this seems to be more down to Keira Knightley's pulling power than the strength of the material.

The only productions that really hold my attention for 2010 thus far are Private Lives with Kim Cattrall and Matthew Macfadyen and Laura Wade's Posh at the Royal Court, although I have no doubt that the Union and Battersea Arts Centre will produce a variety of unusual and exciting shows as the year goes on. For the moment, I am somewhat transfixed by goings on overseas. The Broadway transfer of La Cage, the Toronto and hopefully Broadway run of Catch Me If You Can and the powerhouse that will hopefully be the Addams Family musical all look mightily promising. Do let me know what you're looking forward to in 2010.

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