I hear that Remains of the Day, the musical, opens in London tonight. Whatever next? The reflective and beautiful novel by Kazuo Ishiguro has been set to music by Alex Loveless, whose brother Chris directs. When I get to the office in the morning, I shall request tickets for one of my London teacher reviewers.
Quite rightly, the team is taking the ‘soft launch’ approach – staging the play in a small theatre, and adapting the music within the play following audience feedback. I really hope it is a success – not simply because we support theatre in all its forms here at Ink Pellet, but because excellent literature should be staged.
It all takes me back to the chilly October evening two years ago when I went to see Imagine This, the play based on the Warsaw ghetto. It was always going to be a difficult ‘story’ to stage and sadly, London audiences agreed, and the play closed after a few weeks. It was a grim and uncomfortable trio of hours in the New London Theatre that showed some subjects are just a step too far.