Trumpets and Raspberries at Barons Court Theatre

A couple of weeks ago I had not heard of playwright Dario Fo (despite his Nobel Prize in Literature) then I saw Accidental Death of an Anarchist at Lyric Hammersmith and was keen to see more of his work. The opportunity to do so came quickly and not very far away.

Barons Court Theatre was doing a production of Trumpets and Raspberries which it described as "a madcap political satire and farce about corruption and hypocrisy in high places and the plight of the common man versus the rich elites and the too-powerful corporations". There were plenty of good words in that and so I eagerly paid my £15 for a seat.

My pre-theatre dining place for this theatre is, unsurprisingly, The Curtains Up pub above the theatre and, as on my previous visit there, I was disappointed in the main meal options but going for two starters (and a pint of Young's Ordinary) worked well.

I then made my way downstairs to claim a seat in the front row.

Trumpets and Raspberries was a madcap farce from the start with a ludicrous situation and slapstick elements. At the heart of the story was two very different characters who looked the same and the confusions arising from that. I am not sure that the slapstick helped the story but it was funny so that was good.

There were also the serious political points about power and corruption which lifted the play from something just silly to something serious too. 

There was a little weakness here in that the play references the politically turbulent 1980s Italy in general and the assassination of Aldo Moro in particular, none of which meant much to me. The Accidental Deat of an Anarchist worked better because while it was about a death in Italian police custody we have those in the UK too. That said, the general class politics points were easy to understand.

The production did all sorts of bonkers things in a small place with a large cast that was exhilarating and exhausting to watch. A mention must go to Alexander HJ Smith who played the two almost identical looking characters with much aplomb. 

Trumpets and Raspberries may have been a little confusing at times and may have been a little too long but there was plenty in there to enjoy and to laugh at.

Morveren at Baron's Court Theatre

I have several sweet spots when it come to theatre and "Drawing on Cornish mythology, Morveren is centred around a hidden coastal village where women make the rules and no one has to shout to be heard. " certainly hits one of them.

It helped that I like the cosy atmosphere of the subterranean Baron's Court Theatre. It helps even more that it is subterranean because it is under a decent pub, the aptly named The Curtains Up, where I had a good soup and some mushroom croquettes before heading downstairs for the show.

There was a lot going on in Morveren, it was a tale of returning, female empowerment, tragedy, succession, commercialisation, rituals and mermaids.

These tales were told through three women spanning four generations (grandmother, mother and daughter). The grandmother was steeped in the history of the village, the mother returned for business reasons and her young daughter was enchanted by the sea.

Morveren moved smoothly between the harsh modern world and the sort of fantasy seaside resort that Rupert the Bear always went on holiday to and this enriched the story telling immensely.

To pick just one line to try and make this point, when addressing the villagers the daughter calls herself Mancunian, Cornish, British, Asian and a mermaid.

The plot was fairly simple but the meat of it was the various discussions between the three women as they explored their shared history and the possibilities for the future. And the more we learned about the village, its past and its inhabitants the more interesting it got.

Morveren promised an enchanting and unusual tale, which is exactly what we got. 

The Tricycle at Barons Court Theatre was absurd, in a good way

Barons Court Theatre, for reasons I do not quite understand, does not have a mailing list which means that it is a bit hit and miss whether I see all the shows that I would like to see there. I am sure that I am missing out.

I did not miss out on The Tricycle as I was recently doing a check on a few theatres that I had been to and I was tempted by the comments, "a strangely light-hearted tale of poverty and murder" and "perfect example of Spanish Absurd Theatre". That sounded just like me.

The location of the theatre suits me too; it is underneath a pub, The Curtain Up, in a location that is easy for me to get to, funnily enough that is close to Barons Court underground station.

The pub is fairly standard London Gastro these days and there is nothing wrong with that. I enjoyed the veggie option and washed it down with some Winter Warmer. It was pretty busy too with both diners and drinkers so they must be doing something right.

The theatre is in a cave that you get to by pretending that you are going to the toilet. It is an unusual shape too with seating on three sides and with the box office and the technical crew in the corners between them.

I was in early enough to claim a seat in my preferred front row. This was my view for the rest of the evening.

The story, such as it was, concerned four down and outs two of whom had been earning a little money by hiring a tricycle and charging children for taking rides on it. Actually, one of those two men slept almost all the time.

Another man played the flute, badly, as the sign reveals. Completing the gang was a woman.

The story, such as it was, concerned their plan for getting enough money to be able to hire the tricycle again and the consequences of that. But this was absurd theatre and the story did not really matter, that was just a driver for the dialogue. It being absurd I am finding it had to describe, there are no easy reference points though Waiting for Godot is not not unreasonable.

One of the things I liked in the play was the language game that two of the men played. Again I think a reference point might help and this time it is the game Mornington Crescent, the main difference being that one person concedes defeat rather than claiming the win. The words they used were, understandably, like a nonsense poem and there was no obvious connection between them. There may well have been real rules that they were aware of but which the audience was not told about. This is also similar to a game from I am Sorry I Haven't a Clue called Word for Word. These are my reference points from my history and I would be very surprised indeed if the play's author was aware of them.

It is worth making the point that The Triangle was absurd, not silly, and if you like absurdity (Spike Milligan, Monty Python, ...) then you will find it very entertaining. I did.