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2003: A Review of the Year (Part I)By Philip FisherIt is quite amazing to realise that yet another year has passed. As Christmas reaches us, it is time to reflect on the theatre year and try and pick some of the big winners and regrettably one or two losers from the last 12 months. The sample size this year has been greater than ever before as this reviewer has had the good fortune (well most of the time) to see and review somewhere in the region of 250 performances. These have appeared in theatres ranging from state-of-the-art to empty space in the truest sense of the words. The general impression is that there has been a very high average standard but perhaps in order to see such a high number of shows, there will be inevitable disappointments. This year does not seem to have provided as many exceptional productions and choosing a top-five has proved remarkably easy. Without a doubt, the most reliable place to be throughout 2003 was the National Theatre with ten hits for every dud. Nicholas Hytner took no time at all to step into Trevor Nunn's shoes and throughout the year, the South Bank has been graced with wonderful productions and tremendous performances from a great company. Hytner also introduced the Travelex £10 season, a wonderful innovation that allows theatre-goers to make regular visits to high-quality theatrical events without completely emptying their pockets. What might well be the highlight of the whole year was a £10 show. His Girl Friday, the remake of The Front Page, starred Alex Jennings and Zoe Wanamaker and was filled with fun. Close behind was Hytner's own, modern dress version of Shakespeare's Henry V starring the ever-excellent Adrian Lester. Hytner's mix of traditional and modern, including the King rallying his troops from the bonnet of a jeep, was never less than exciting. In addition, there were the fantastic revival of Jumpers starring the sublime Simon Russell Beale, the Duchess of Malfi, David Mamet's Edmond starring Kenneth Branagh, and the really excellent new production of Mourning Becomes Electra with great performances from Helen Mirren and Eve Best who also starred in Three Sisters alongside Anna Maxwell Martin and Lucy Whybrow. This trio have really developed and become mainstays of the National even though they are still so very young. In the Cottesloe, there was a wider variety of theatre which is the intention for this expanded studio space. Owen McCafferty's play about contemporary Northern Irish life, Scenes from the Big Picture, shared the theatre with Michael Frayn's latest work, Democracy, about Willy Brandt, Nick Dear's Power about Louis the Sun King, Honour by Joanna Murray-Smith and most recently, from south of the Irish border, Martin McDonagh's latest play, The Pillowman, which is both deeply moving and very shocking. The RSC has had a rather strange year, in London at least, as they have given up their permanent home at the Barbican and have had to squat, generally unsuccessfully at a series of other theatres. Most recently, they played the Merry Wives of Windsor and Coriolanus starring Greg Hicks at the Old Vic. The outlook is still fairly bleak for 2004 as the guaranteed transferred to London of all Stratford productions has temporarily ceased. It is greatly to be hoped that this position will be rectified in the very near future and that Michael Boyd will find a permanent London home for the company. It has been noticeable that in their relative absence, there has been less Shakespeare around than for many a year. The Barbican, now focusing on international Theatre under the BITE banner can be very hit and miss but at their best, exemplified by Calixto Bieito's wonderful Macbeth, they are unsurpassed. They provide an opportunity to see the best (and sometimes the worse) theatre from around the globe and other memorable productions included Ay Quixote, Ingmar Bergman's version of Ghosts; and Cuckoos. The most interesting place to watch Shakespeare (and Marlowe) this year was the Globe, which continues to explore single sex productions. The men got to play at Richard II, starring artistic director Mark Rylance and Edward II, while the women possibly had the best of things this year led by Kathryn Hunter, who made a wonderful Richard III in a good production with an uneven cast. She was also Katerina opposite Janet McTeer's Petruchio in the Taming of the Shrew. It is not always clear that single gender productions serve any purpose particularly where weak women have to play noble Lords and hulking men simpering princesses but the Globe should be applauded for continuing with the experiment.
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