What Shall We Do With the Cello? by Matei Visniec, directed by Vasile Nedelcu in the UK premiere production.
****"If you like absurd theatre, What Shall We do With the Cello is a play for you. Set in an unknown waiting room this play poses more questions that it answers, it makes you think.
This is a metaphorical and philosophical play. Matei Visniec's four unnamed characters (Man with Cello, Lady with Veil, Man with Cane, Man with Newspaper) manage to embody very clear traits of our personality.
I have to admit I benefited from the Q&A afterwards and what luck the Q&A is on after each representation. The director Vasile Nedelcu, with an extensive experience in theatre and nearly as many awards, returns again and again to this play and I can see why, it can be played in so many ways, so many interpretations. And he gives credit to his actors, the importance of great acting, which is great to see.
The actors (Lucy Ramsden, Nicholas Allen, Nicholas Bendall and Mike Sengelow) had the work cut out for them, as Matei Visniec doesn’t give much description to his characters, if at all and they did a good job of it. Very distinct characteristics, even in an absurd world we can identify our day to day experiences, and all while keeping the integrity of realistic acting.
Loved the dance and movement (choreography by Malina Andrei) and I was surprised by the unexpected turns.
So this play has done its job, taking you away from the reality but illustrating a bit too well our humanity." Andreea Helen David, Live London Post, 7 September 2018
"The tension in the room was shattered again and again by a comic line, or a well-timed look, and we were brought along on a rollercoaster of frustration and hilarity almost utterly against our will. It’s the realism amongst the absurdity that really ices my cake; in the Vault Festival with the Waterloo commuter trains rumbling overhead, we really are waiting in a railway station, wondering what we will do with the cello."
E J Stedman, TLE February 2017
"The characters’ sanity unravels quickly, but the acting and script are so clever that their actions seem rather tolerant..... Think something absurdist, Beckett-esqe that will drive you completely insane in the best possible way. Just desperately try and get yourself a seat in the middle section, so you get the full experience. This should definitely have a future run, and would be perfect for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival." Jo Trainor, The Plays the Thing February 2017
"A triumph. And my goodness one could feel the hand of a mighty director. Exquisite direction and performance, but no one would get it so tight and consistent without a splendid director. So many congratulations."
Audience feedback February 2017
"As I leave the theatre, I leave a play without which my life would have remained all too normal."
Shaun Traynor, London Life February 2017
"So unexpected and exotic ... nothing English about it. I adored the Romanian actors and thought the girl's manic dance really really funny. I also really like the costumes. Simple but perfect. BRAVO everyone involved."
Audience feedback February 2017
This is a metaphorical and philosophical play. Matei Visniec's four unnamed characters (Man with Cello, Lady with Veil, Man with Cane, Man with Newspaper) manage to embody very clear traits of our personality.
I have to admit I benefited from the Q&A afterwards and what luck the Q&A is on after each representation. The director Vasile Nedelcu, with an extensive experience in theatre and nearly as many awards, returns again and again to this play and I can see why, it can be played in so many ways, so many interpretations. And he gives credit to his actors, the importance of great acting, which is great to see.
The actors (Lucy Ramsden, Nicholas Allen, Nicholas Bendall and Mike Sengelow) had the work cut out for them, as Matei Visniec doesn’t give much description to his characters, if at all and they did a good job of it. Very distinct characteristics, even in an absurd world we can identify our day to day experiences, and all while keeping the integrity of realistic acting.
Loved the dance and movement (choreography by Malina Andrei) and I was surprised by the unexpected turns.
So this play has done its job, taking you away from the reality but illustrating a bit too well our humanity." Andreea Helen David, Live London Post, 7 September 2018
"The tension in the room was shattered again and again by a comic line, or a well-timed look, and we were brought along on a rollercoaster of frustration and hilarity almost utterly against our will. It’s the realism amongst the absurdity that really ices my cake; in the Vault Festival with the Waterloo commuter trains rumbling overhead, we really are waiting in a railway station, wondering what we will do with the cello."
E J Stedman, TLE February 2017
"The characters’ sanity unravels quickly, but the acting and script are so clever that their actions seem rather tolerant..... Think something absurdist, Beckett-esqe that will drive you completely insane in the best possible way. Just desperately try and get yourself a seat in the middle section, so you get the full experience. This should definitely have a future run, and would be perfect for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival." Jo Trainor, The Plays the Thing February 2017
"A triumph. And my goodness one could feel the hand of a mighty director. Exquisite direction and performance, but no one would get it so tight and consistent without a splendid director. So many congratulations."
Audience feedback February 2017
"As I leave the theatre, I leave a play without which my life would have remained all too normal."
Shaun Traynor, London Life February 2017
"So unexpected and exotic ... nothing English about it. I adored the Romanian actors and thought the girl's manic dance really really funny. I also really like the costumes. Simple but perfect. BRAVO everyone involved."
Audience feedback February 2017
The Chairs & The Lesson, by E. Ionesco, double bill directed by Vasile Nedelcu and performed at the Camden Fringe 2011
Camden Voyeur
"The Chairs: David Brett and Alison Sandford brilliantly convey the two old people – dependant on, but also chiding, each other continually; locked together in a repetitive cycle broken only on this one night, their last. Corin Stuart is suitably enigmatic as the orator – hired for the one function he cannot carry out. Vasile Nedelcu’s direction brings out the poignancy of the human story as well as the recurring themes of Ionesco’s work. He both updates the play and emphasises its timeless quality.
"The Lesson: Deborah Ellis is excellent as the initially perky pupil, displaying real comic flair as she giggles with buoyant good humour at the start then begins to sink under the weight of her confusion when the professor becomes more aggressive and domineering. Corin Stuart portrays the professor with unhinged energy, becoming louder and more manic in his movements until he is prancing around the stage shouting “knife, knifey, knife…” Alison Sandford plays the maid as grimly pragmatic and without compassion. The performances blend seamlessly and the whole is tightly directed again by Vasile Nedelcu.
“This is an ideal opportunity to see the two plays together. Atelier Theatre have created two excellent productions – both plays complement each other and are linked thematically, highlighting Ionesco’s belief that “communication was impossible”.”
Penpoised Posted Saturday 27 August 2011
the blog of Julia Lee Dean, Writer, Actor and Artistic Director of Wired to the Moon Productions
"... Anyway, back to the Camden Fringe today and this time I saw (but didn’t review – for that see Camden Voyeur’s excellent blog) Ionesco’s “The Chairs”. Didn’t understand a word but David Brett and Alison Sandford were fantastic as the old couple, a joy to behold and a masterclass in characterisation. Catch it while you can."
The Londonist Camden Fringe roundup “What we Saw”
“The Chairs was unexpectedly brilliant. Picked at random from the programme for its convenient time, this tragic absurdist play by Ionesco had us gripped. The elderly couple, seemingly at the end of the world and teetering on the edge of sanity, were class acts, utterly convincing, even though what was actually happening is obscure. The same [company] were also delivering Ionesco’s The Lesson a couple of hours later and we were very sorry to miss it but the Camden Voyeur did not. We would jump at the chance to see Atelier Theatre again. (LC)”
Jonathan Fryer: Ionescu’s Chairs at Camden Fringe Posted Sunday, 28 August, 2011
Freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster on international affairs. For seven years, he was based in Brussels, initially for Reuters, and now writes mainly for the BBC and The Guardian. He has written a dozen non-fiction books, including volumes on Brussels and London. He also lectures part-time at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
"There is so much good theatre going on in London, both in and outside the West End, that I sadly miss many things I really would like to have seen, being too busy with writing, lecturing, politics and travel. But I was really pleased today to be winkled out of my Summer Bank Holiday home retreat to see an old friend from Brussels, Alison Sandford, performing with David Brett in Eugene Ionesco’s ‘The Chairs’ in an Atelier Theatre production at The Etcetera Theatre above the Oxford Arms pub in Camden High Street. Today is the last day of the Camden Fringe, four weeks of performances of many kinds that have taken place around the borough. I think the last time I saw the play (in its original French) was at school, when I was doing French A-level. To be honest, I remembered almost nothing about it; as with all Ionesco’s absurdist writing, not much happens and people seem to be living in their own mad little worlds, to a grimly hilarious effect. Sandford and Brett are perfectly paired in this fine production by Vasile Nedelcu. Sandford’s old woman is motherly, but also childlike, and one gets flashes of suppressed lust hiding somewhere under her copious petticoats. David Brett is superb as the little old man who has achieved very little in life but lives with his illusions and inflated memories. The translation by Donald Watson is first rate. I do hope the production will be shown elsewhere so more people can have a really enjoyable experience."
"The Chairs: David Brett and Alison Sandford brilliantly convey the two old people – dependant on, but also chiding, each other continually; locked together in a repetitive cycle broken only on this one night, their last. Corin Stuart is suitably enigmatic as the orator – hired for the one function he cannot carry out. Vasile Nedelcu’s direction brings out the poignancy of the human story as well as the recurring themes of Ionesco’s work. He both updates the play and emphasises its timeless quality.
"The Lesson: Deborah Ellis is excellent as the initially perky pupil, displaying real comic flair as she giggles with buoyant good humour at the start then begins to sink under the weight of her confusion when the professor becomes more aggressive and domineering. Corin Stuart portrays the professor with unhinged energy, becoming louder and more manic in his movements until he is prancing around the stage shouting “knife, knifey, knife…” Alison Sandford plays the maid as grimly pragmatic and without compassion. The performances blend seamlessly and the whole is tightly directed again by Vasile Nedelcu.
“This is an ideal opportunity to see the two plays together. Atelier Theatre have created two excellent productions – both plays complement each other and are linked thematically, highlighting Ionesco’s belief that “communication was impossible”.”
Penpoised Posted Saturday 27 August 2011
the blog of Julia Lee Dean, Writer, Actor and Artistic Director of Wired to the Moon Productions
"... Anyway, back to the Camden Fringe today and this time I saw (but didn’t review – for that see Camden Voyeur’s excellent blog) Ionesco’s “The Chairs”. Didn’t understand a word but David Brett and Alison Sandford were fantastic as the old couple, a joy to behold and a masterclass in characterisation. Catch it while you can."
The Londonist Camden Fringe roundup “What we Saw”
“The Chairs was unexpectedly brilliant. Picked at random from the programme for its convenient time, this tragic absurdist play by Ionesco had us gripped. The elderly couple, seemingly at the end of the world and teetering on the edge of sanity, were class acts, utterly convincing, even though what was actually happening is obscure. The same [company] were also delivering Ionesco’s The Lesson a couple of hours later and we were very sorry to miss it but the Camden Voyeur did not. We would jump at the chance to see Atelier Theatre again. (LC)”
Jonathan Fryer: Ionescu’s Chairs at Camden Fringe Posted Sunday, 28 August, 2011
Freelance writer, lecturer and broadcaster on international affairs. For seven years, he was based in Brussels, initially for Reuters, and now writes mainly for the BBC and The Guardian. He has written a dozen non-fiction books, including volumes on Brussels and London. He also lectures part-time at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies.
"There is so much good theatre going on in London, both in and outside the West End, that I sadly miss many things I really would like to have seen, being too busy with writing, lecturing, politics and travel. But I was really pleased today to be winkled out of my Summer Bank Holiday home retreat to see an old friend from Brussels, Alison Sandford, performing with David Brett in Eugene Ionesco’s ‘The Chairs’ in an Atelier Theatre production at The Etcetera Theatre above the Oxford Arms pub in Camden High Street. Today is the last day of the Camden Fringe, four weeks of performances of many kinds that have taken place around the borough. I think the last time I saw the play (in its original French) was at school, when I was doing French A-level. To be honest, I remembered almost nothing about it; as with all Ionesco’s absurdist writing, not much happens and people seem to be living in their own mad little worlds, to a grimly hilarious effect. Sandford and Brett are perfectly paired in this fine production by Vasile Nedelcu. Sandford’s old woman is motherly, but also childlike, and one gets flashes of suppressed lust hiding somewhere under her copious petticoats. David Brett is superb as the little old man who has achieved very little in life but lives with his illusions and inflated memories. The translation by Donald Watson is first rate. I do hope the production will be shown elsewhere so more people can have a really enjoyable experience."