Stories By Heart

After interposing a post about storytelling for children, it seems appropriate to return to our London Theatre Week reviews and the event, "Stories by Heart", at the Lyttleton by John Lithgow.

We had had the privilege of seeing the stage set as part of our backstage tour. It was also humbling to see the size of the auditorium into which John Lithgow was going to be performing that evening. He is apparently repeating the event this coming Monday, October 26th.

The set was a small coffee table DSL, a series of rugs forming a star like pattern on the floor, CS was a standard lamp, a comfortable wing chair and a small table with a glass and jug of water. Oh and a hat stand USR! All stage directions are given as from the performer's or actor's viewpoint (D is downstage towards the audience and U is upstage away from the audience in case there are any readers of this blog who are not luvvies).

John Lithgow bounded on to stage to warm applause and he announced that it was his birthday that very day, the 19th of October. He told us he was 64 and began to hum. It took me a while to pick up the tune as I was still stunned at how good he looked for 64! Then the audience began to sing the Beatles song, "When I am 64", with and to John Lithgow. We were good too. At the end he thanked us and said he would be quite happy to go offstage now and expire in the wings as that had been one of the happiest moments in his life. He also wished that we all could experience such a moment. He had won us all round and we waited in anticipation to see what came next.

We learned about his father and mother and the importance they had given to stories in the life of the Lithgow family. We learned about a precious book from which John's father had read and recounted stories many many times as the children grew up. We were going to hear two of the stories that very evening.

The first story was "our" man, P.G. Wodehouse, and "Uncle Fred Flits By". At first it appeared we were going to be read the story but of course this was stories by heart and soon John Lithgow was telling and acting the story out. His characterisations were fabulous and his grasp of narration very impressive. He has a great voice and he used it to the utmost in telling the story of irascible Uncle Fred and his much put upon nephew, Pongo. We roared with laughter at the escapades and at the joy of delivery. We were safe in the hands of a consummate storyteller.

After the interval, the second tale was "Haircut", by Ring Lardner. This was a very different tale of a small Midwestern town as seen through the eyes of the narrator, the town's barber. The telling of the story required a very elaborate, detailed and sustained mime by Lithgow giving a shave and haircut to an unseen customer in the barber's chair. The barber as narrator conjures up the other characters in the town and in the story. It was very American and I wasn't personally as held as I was in the first half. It could be that the first half had set an impossible standard to follow. John Lithgow admitted that the second half was an addition as the first story had been the event all by itself until audiences began asking for more. I wasn't sure that the story itself by Ring Lardner was strong enough or whether it was swamped a little by the mime. I did enjoy it and did find it revealing of the depths to be found in a small town anywhere. However I just didn't find it as involving as the Wodehouse. I did find myself impressed at the end by Mr Lithgow and his ability to work an audience and above all to tell stories by heart.