Enron and Jerusalem at Evening Standard Awards

I am very pleased that the Royal Court secured some of the most important awards at the Evening Standard Awards yesterday.

I loved Enron, with Sam West, and Jerusalem with Mark Rylance.

Mark Rylance’s performance was one of the best I’ve ever seen on stage, so it would have been a travesty if he didn’t win the Best Actor.

The only performance I’ve seen that tops it in the last five years was Chiwetel Ejiofor as Othello at the Donmar Warehouse. That performance was elemental, he was like a huge storm cloud moving across the stage rather than an actor. He really reclaimed the play from Iago (a far weaker performance by Ewan McGregor), and rightly was awarded the Olivier Award for Othello in 2008.

Another recent excellent performance by Dominic West in Life is a Dream, also at the Donmar. Although he didn’t reach the same levels as Rylance and Ejiofor, his incarcerated prince was powerful and nuanced.

Having managed to miss every single show that Rylance has been in over the last 10 years, I was kicking myself when I saw him in Jerusalem. I now want to go and see shows like Endgame and I generally can’t stand Becket.

I think Rylance will sweep the boards at other Awards with his performance as Rooster, and my money is on him to pick up the Oliviers. Jerusalem won Best Play but it is only a good play and not a classic; it’s Rylance that lifts it above being just good.

Enron is overall a better production, so it’s fair that it picks up Best Director for Rupert Goold.

I love Ian Rickson, the director of Jerusalem and the ex-artistic director of the Royal Court.

He directed a fantastic production of The Seagull as his final show there – also starring Ejiofor, as well as MacKenzie Crook (surprisingly disappointing in the main role), Pearce Quigley, who for me stole the show as the awkward school teacher, Katherine Parkinson from the IT Crowd, Kristen Scott Thomas, Carey Mulligan now flying to fame in An Education. All incredibly impressive in a hilariously funny, yes funny, verision of Chekhov.

But Jerusalem was ponderous in places and could have done with a slightly firmer hand, so I don’t feel too bad for Rickson losing out to Goold.

Enron, although not quite as good as everyone is making out, is a beautifully composed production. It weaves together storytelling about financial products (surely the best way to learn about boring accountancy issues) with choreographed musical numbers of a type hard to categorise, and startling original and disconcerting imagery.

I did think that the scenes in court and the final monologue with Sam West is slightly anti-climatic, a bit of a damp squib after the perfectly orchestrated rest of the play.

Both Jerusalem and Enron are transferring to the West End in January 2010.

Would highly recommend both of them.

You can get tickets for both plays through the Royal Court Box Office on 020 7656 5000 or online at www.royalcourttheatre.com

But you can’t beat the £10 nights on a Monday at the Royal Court — which is what I paid for great stalls seats for both Enron and Jerusalem. Just sign up to the mailing list and get in there quick for future productions.

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