Today's biggish news is that famed director and writer Jonathan Miller has decided to have a go at West End casting practices - and in particular the casting of David Tennant (and Jude Law) in Hamlet.
Apparently, he's been trying to get his no-star version of Hamlet into the West End but can't, even though he reckons the performances are bound to be better than either Tennant's or Law's.
So the question for you, my friends, is does he have a point? Or do West End producers have a point?
For my own part, I'm very easily swayed by some big film or TV names into turning up at a theatre when I otherwise wouldn't: my most recent theatre attendances (off the top of my head) have included Fat Pig (Joanna Page, Robert Webb, Kris Marshall, Ella Smith), Art (bloke off Dalziel and Pascoe, Sean Hughes and Alistair McGowen if I recall correctly), A Few Good Men (with Rob Lowe and John Barrowman), The Master Builder (Patrick Stewart and Kelly Reilly), Patrick Stewart's one-man version of A Christmas Carol, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Matthew Perry, Minnie Driver, Hank Azaria, Kelly Reilly).
That's money in the pockets of theatres that they otherwise wouldn't have had with less well-known casts. And the West End isn't exactly cheap.
More to the point, are celebs possibly the best choices? Maybe they're famous because they have talent. David Tennant isn't exactly unknown in theatre.
In fact, is Miller just grumpy because he couldn't get his own production off the ground? Why have a go at a version of Hamlet that hasn't even started performing?
Fat Pig is the most obvious piece of TV celeb casting at the moment, so why not pick on it? Is it because, way back in 2002, he cast the RADA-trained Joanna Page in his production of Camera Obscura at the Almeida (to generally excellent reviews), and so wouldn't have had much of a leg to stand on?
What do you think? Are good actors being overlooked? Are they being overlooked in favour of better, more famous actors? Or is celeb casting a necessary evil in a competitive market?
June 10, 2008 | Reply
I have no objection per se to 'celebrity' casting as long as they can act - sometimes people are given a chance on stage because they are successful on screen and they can't carry it off: these are (rarely, I think) given a second chance on stage. Others, perhaps of mediocre to moderate talent, get more chances on stage because they are SO popular on screen -- hell, you will probably always do well with sales for a run of a play with Jude Law in it just because he's Jude Law (funny though that his films aren't always natural successes -- theatre does demand a smaller audience even in the bigger theatres I guess...?)
Mind you, then again, bad example since I think that Law's acting is pretty uniformly dire (Gattaca, Mr Ripley, Huckabees being three rare exceptions).
What I'm trying to say - badly - is that I want my stages filled with actors. If they also happen to be celebrities, so be it. I'd prefer the proportion of quality actors to be as high as possible, but if there needs to be some so-called 'stunt' casting in order to guarantee enough seat sales for a play to happen then so be that as well...
And I agree that Miller's rant seems especially ill-placed given Tennant's reputation as an actor on stage, particularly before the damn thing even opens.
June 10, 2008 | Reply
It's similar in part to what happens in publishing - people sweat in their attics for years to get a publishing deal and blow me down a celeb (or zedleb as Danuta Kean calls them) comes along and gets a six figure deal. Infuriating all round, especially as for the most part zedlebs have ghost writers (there are some honourable exceptions). I tend not too mind too much about it as publishing is a risky business, and all publishers need some sure fire hits to allow them to experiment elsewhere. Zedlebs can provide that (though as in the case of the Anthea Turner biography it can backfire spectacularly badly), but they shouldn't be being published at the expense of really really good writers.
I think the slight difference with theatre is, the famous ones are famous because they do usually have talent and have proved it on screen (or in DT's case on stage prior to his screen success). Without a doubt I want to go and see DT's Hamlet because of Dr Who, but I'm not so bothered about seeing Jude Law's, and given the opportunity would go and see a group of unknowns. I think Miller is slightly missing the point. It's a crowded market place, the theatre. Was it wise to consider putting on Hamlet in the West End when you already know Messrs Tennant and Law are playing that role there? Why not try something else.
I was disappointed not to get tickets for A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Globe - and I didn't know anyone acting in it. People who love theatre will come regardless. But people who are a little less comfortable with it will be more tempted if they see David Tennant's name in lights, just as they'll stray into a bookshop to by Russell Brand's Booky Wook. Tis the way the world works, and not to have a commercial view would mean no plays in the West End and no books.
I do draw the line at Katie Price being up for a prize for children's book she hasn't written though...
June 10, 2008 | Reply
Jude Law was apparently very good in a stage production of Faust, a few years back.
It's a bit odd and whingey of Jonathan Miller, to be honest. I mean, we aren't talking about Chicago-style celebrity casting here: David Tennant and Patrick Stewart are famous because of their acting. Where would Miller like to draw the line? Is it OK if you've been in a TV series in a background role, but not if you were the main character? Is it not OK if you got viewing figures above 5million?
And anyway, when has it been any different? When did West End plays not cast well-known actors in starring roles to attract audiences? Were Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Trevor Howard and Peggy Ashcroft 'celebrity casting' in the 1950s, when they'd all been in successful Hollywood films?
Conversely, the last big production Hamlet I can remember was an Old Vic one, directed by Trevor Nunn, and starring Ben Whishaw (sp?), who nobody had heard of at the time.
June 10, 2008 | Reply
Casting actors known to TV audiences? Disgraceful. Why, next thing you know someone will be directing Joanna "Purdey/Patsy" Lumley and Debbie "Smoking Room/Let's forget about Tittybangbang" Chazen in a production of Chekov's "The Cherry Orchard".
Oh, wait...
June 10, 2008 | Reply
Well, wasn't that really what Mr. Miller was upset about? I seem to remember in the original article (or one of them, anyway) that Joanna Lumley had to withdraw from The Cherry Orchard and the ticket sales evaporated.
June 10, 2008 | Reply
Ah, it seems I initially overlooked a reference to that production in the Times piece. My bad.
Quite why anybody's surprised that West End producers take commercial decisions is beyond me, though. That's the nature of the market. Personally, I'd be happier if big names such as Miller expended their energy extolling the virtues of theatre beyond the West End. There's so much brilliant stuff out there at all levels around the UK that it's a shame so much attention gets diverted to a few streets in London...