Who’s my favourite stage actress? Since you ask, Olivia Williams in Shakespeare and Nancy Carroll in anything.
Who’s my favourite stage actress? Since you ask, Olivia Williams in Shakespeare and Nancy Carroll in anything. Currently, she’s starring in the weirdest show I’ve ever seen at the Almeida in Islington. Weird because it’s so predictable. The Almeida likes to attract the purists rather than the tourists and it seeks out half-forgotten masterpieces or wacky new experiments. If you want Carpathian tragedy or biblical mock-epic or Inuit slapstick, then the Almeida’s the place to look. A stage version of a David Mamet movie is positively abnormal by its standards.
House of Games, directed by Mamet himself, was an arid and diffident debut and Lindsay Posner’s version is entirely different — earthy, handsome and vibrantly sexy. Nancy Carroll plays a psychiatrist, Margaret, who joins a gang of con men while investigating a book about swindlers. When she volunteers to help with a hustle involving a suitcase full of cash, she finds herself falling for the gang’s suave ringleader, Mike. Though she realises the relationship may expose her to exploitation, she just can’t help falling for him. Mamet’s screenplay — neatly adapted by Richard Bean and supplemented with lots of topical gags — explores the common ground between the sweet nothings of disloyal lovers and the theatrical techniques of con artists. Nancy Carroll’s steely but vulnerable Margaret is matched by the exceptionally charismatic Michael Landes as the gang boss. Their chemistry keeps the story moving along nicely and they’re well supported by Al Weaver, who brings a blend of restless lechery and comic self-pity to the role of Bobby.
It’s strange that the show isn’t a sell-out. Witty, intelligent, fetchingly designed and plotted with exquisite precision, it may simply be too much fun for Islington.
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