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t h e a t r e

BY MY UNOFFICIAL count, Alan Bates has appeared in nearly 40 plays in the last 40 years.. Why have so few of them been on the New York stage?
There's no simple explanation, but rather, I think, a number of contributing reasons. For starters, a number of Bates Broadway projects, including at least one musical, have died in the planning stages. This happens.

Then there is Alan's way of working: he has admitted many times that he has no master-plan. For his entire career, having gotten off to such a prestigious start, he has had the luxury of choice. Work is offered or proposed; he ponders (sometimes at length, to the distress of old friends) and does what feels right to him at that time. If you see him during the run of "The Unexpected Man," do ask him what he'll be working on next: he will almost surely not know (just as he will almost surely have a stack of scripts to look over).
His recent long run of "Antony and Cleopatra" for the Royal Shakespeare Company, which transferred from Stratford to London, was an anomaly. He does not usually spend a year in any role. In fact, "Antony" is another example of a near-miss, for New York: it might well have been among the RSC plays presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music... but in the end, it was not.

Moreover, look at the interesting plays Alan has chosen to do in London, over the years: a bit of Shakespeare, some modern classics like Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov, and a great many contemporary masters: Pinter. Gray. Osborne. Wesker. Storey. Mostly English -- perhaps by affinity, perhaps by chance.
And in addition to the plays, he has, in fact, had a bit of other work as well: an equal number of films, and many distinguished and challenging television projects: nearly 70 titles, not counting the three he worked on this past summer, which have yet to air.
Perhaps rather than wondering why Alan hasn't been a more frequent visitor, we should simply be grateful that he's here now, and hope that it becomes a habit.

Karen Rappaport, 1 October 2000

BELOW, you'll find a few words about the five New York plays, with links to an Archive page about each. As you read, savor the rich theatrical times Alan has lived in, and the great moments, and characters, he has given us:

Look Back In Anger, by John Osborne
(Cliff) 1 October 57, Lyceum Theatre
moved to the Golden 17 March 58
directed by Tony Richardson

"...JOHN OSBORNE'S PLAY opened on May 8 1956 [at the Royal Court Theatre, London] with Kenneth Haigh as Jimmy, Mary Ure as Alison, and Alan Bates as Cliff. At the time, Osborne was a struggling actor living in a houseboat on the Thames near Chiswick... Written in 17 days, 'Anger' was sent to agents all over London and returned with cruel rapidity. In his own furious, vitriolic autobiography, Osborne writes: 'The speed with which it had been returned was not surprising, but its aggressive dispatch did give me a kind of relief. It was like being grasped at the upper arm by a testy policeman and told to move on."... the invention of the phrase 'Angry Young Man' by the theatre's part-time press officer made John Osborne a phenomenon and put the Royal Court on the map. Jane Edwardes in Time Out, 7-14 July 99.

Click on the title above to read more about "Look Back in Anger."

The Caretaker, by Harold Pinter
(Mick) 4 October 61, Lyceum Theatre
directed by Donald McWhinnie

..."The Caretaker" shows how much a play can leave out and still strike us as complete. It has no plot, and thus no denouement (the fact that Davies departs is of no more pertinence than the fact that Godot never arrives), yet it has suspense. The suspense lies in Mr Pinter's slow, steady revelation of the characters.... Susan M. Black in Theatre Arts, December 1961

This review appears in full on the Archive page devoted to "The Caretaker," along with other articles and links to the London production of the play. Click on the title above to read more.

Poor Richard, by Jean Kerr
(title role) 2 December 64, Helen Hayes Theatre
directed by Peter Wood

...What really makes the piece is the writing of Mrs. Kerr and the brilliant performances of Alan Bates, the non-conformist poet, Joanna Pettet, the secretary, and Gene Hackman, as the square publisher.
Mrs. Kerr's lines are riddled with wit and wisdom: She has the facility of bursting into the most serious scene with a remark of miraculous nonsense without losing the essence.... John McLain, Journal American, 3 December 64

This review appears in full on the Archive page devoted to "Poor Richard." Click on the title above to read more.

Butley, by Simon Gray
(title role) 31 October 72, Morosco Theatre
directed by James Hammerstein
Alan Bates was awarded the Antoinette Perry Award
(Best Actor in a Play) on 25 March 73

"'HE'S THE SORT of man who just takes others, twists them around, spits them out and throws them away. I'm very sympathetic towards him now, even though he's really such a pig to everybody.'
Alan Bates is talking about Butley as if the man in question had just walked out of the door. In fact, Butley is an invention of the playwright Simon Gray and Bates has been involved with the character on and off for the past eighteen months -- a university professor with a blistering line in repartee, who is losing control of both his personal life and his work. It's virtually a one-man show, witty, sardonic and rancorous, and Bates has already played it for a six month season in London last year. He's now doing it again at the Morosco Theatre in New York..." Mark Shivas in Playbill Magazine, Vol 9, November 1972, Issue 11.

This interview appears in full on the Archive page devoted to "Butley." Click on the title above to read more, and also explore the film archive for the American Film Theatre version.

Sara Krulwich, New York Times

The Unexpected Man marks the return of the winning trio of Reza, translator Christopher Hampton, and director Matthew Warchus, who staged the April 1998 London production of The Unexpected Man at the Royal Shakespeare Company, directed both the London and New York productions of Art. Christopher Hampton translated both Reza plays from the French. Warchus also directed the current Broadway production of True West.
Atkins will reprise her London role as a woman who finds herself seated in a train compartment with the author she admires most in the world. Alan Bates (whose last New York stage appearance was the 1972 Tony Award-winning Butley) plays the author.

Click on the link above to read more about the play, its author, interviews and, as they come in, reviews.

THE PIT Theatre Previewed 8 April, Opened 15 April 1998, Closed 9 May 1998
DUCHESS Theatre Previewed 10 June, Opened 15 June 1998, Closed 22 August 1998