In an attempt to keep to my strict, self-imposed rules we recently went to the Nuffield Theatre. I had booked the tickets some time ago for a preview night of Salome, a play by Oscar Wilde about the beheading of John the Baptist. This was my first trip to the Nuffield Theatre, which is rather embarrassing given how long we have lived in Southampton. By booking early we had the best seats in the house and this may well have helped us both enjoy the evening.
The scenery used was redolent of a modern day arsenal, with the soldiers sitting on what looked like rockets and watching King Herod’s dinner on large screens set into the wall of their guard room. John the Baptist was meanwhile emprisoned under the stage but audible and visible quite a lot of the time.
Despite it being a preview night, we detected no fluffing of lines and we both really got into the story, which is a rather dark tale. Salome was excellent and the effects, especially the screens, worked really well. I’d definitely recommend it to a friend (in fact, I have already, several times) and it’s encouraged us to go back again. I think we’ll try to find a comedy next time, and possibly a showing where there are slightly more people as the theatre was a bit empty at our showing!
Hi there Christine!
Good to hear you enjoyed Salome, and had a good first visit to the Nuffield, where I work! You mentioned that you might be interested in some slightly lighter fare, so thought I’d draw your attention to Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (there was a 90s film version called Frankie and Johnny you might be familiar with…), which we have on at the moment, and The Grizzled Skipper, which starts at the end of next month, and is a really funny play that involves a pair of teenagers running away on a canal boat, being chased by irate parents (and a granny) hairing down the towpath on mopeds!
Sorry for the cheeky plug - I hope you don’t mind: it’s just really nice to come across people who appreciate and are interested in the theatre and what we do.
Rachel