Haymarket play that Levin just had to see (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Haymarket play that Levin just had to see

9:47am Wednesday 14th July 2010 in

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AN adult thriller, “not suitable for children”, was a smash hit at The Haymarket Theatre back in 1994.

And it is no wonder, because Veronica’s Room has all the ingredients of an exciting and absorbing psychological drama, mixing fantasy and reality – and it was written by celebrated playwright Ira Levin.

The play, which 20 years earlier had been performed on New York’s Broadway, came to Basingstoke and starred Frances White, William Franklyn, Catherine Cusack and Duncan Law.

The playwright, best known for Rosemary’s Baby, The Boys from Brazil and The Stepford Wives, which have all been made into films, made a special visit to Basingstoke, flying to the UK from his New York home just to see his play.

Ira’s son Nicholas recalls his late father’s trip to Basingstoke.

“I can’t recollect that many details, but what’s always stayed with me is how unusual it was for him to take such a trip,” said Nicholas.

“He was not a frequent traveller, even where productions of his work were concerned, so he clearly had high hopes for this production.

“He also enjoyed English mysteries quite a bit – he wrote the introduction for a collection of Agatha Christie plays, and collected books in the John Rhode detective series – so I believe the notion of staying in a proper English town such as Basingstoke also contributed significantly to him going.”

During his time in Basingstoke, Ira stayed at Audleys Wood Hotel, just outside town on the Alton Road.

As reported in The Gazette at the time, the hotel was closed for two weeks.

However, bosses at The Haymarket wanted him to stay at the hotel, and as it was not every day that someone as well-known as Ira visits Basingstoke, the manager was more than happy to accommodate him and open up.

In a Gazette interview, in which he said that his family were “astounded by my trip to the UK,”

Ira said: “It is odd being the only guest, but the service is terrific.”

This is corroborated by Nicholas, who said: “I do remember him saying how friendly and welcoming he found the staff there, as he did the entire Veronica’s Room company.”

While over in the UK, Ira was interviewed by John Dunn at the London studios of Radio 2. Ira was full of praise for the Basingstoke production.

He said “It’s a wonderful company and I’m really delighted with the actors and the direction. I just saw the set today, before I left Basingstoke and it’s just beautiful.”

The play is set just outside Boston, in the United States, and the issue of British actors struggling with a Bostonian accent was discussed.

Ira said: “The American production never bothered with that, whereas here they got a dialect coach in for a couple of days, and everybody is working on their Boston accents, so it’s going to be really authentic.”

When asked why he had come to see this particular production, Ira said: “I’m very fond of the play. I feel it is perhaps the most intricately constructed piece of theatre that I have ever done.

“I have never seen a really first-rate production that captures the quality of the piece as I saw it when I was writing it.

“The director Adrian Reynolds did a production of it a couple of years ago in St Andrew’s, in Edinburgh, that got marvellous reviews, so when I heard that he was doing it again, I felt I could help out by being present in the last few rehearsals, and so I came over.”

When asked if the Basingstoke production was hitting the mark, in getting anything like the play of Ira’s imagination, he replied: “Yes, much more so than any production I have seen.”

By all accounts Ira enjoyed his 10-day stay in Basingstoke, sometimes enjoying visiting some of the town’s older pubs.

As it was just after Christmas, he even enjoyed his first visit to a panto, Cinderella, which was also being performed at The Haymarket, describing the experience as “a great way of introducing children to the theatre”.

Following the first night performance of Veronica’s Room, Ira returned back to New York.

Nicholas said: “Some time after his visit, he was sent a lovely album of mementoes from his stay, which was prepared for him by, I believe, the show’s director, the late Adrian Reynolds.

“Judging from a particular annotation in the album, two establishments featured prominently in my father’s stay – the Bounty Pub and Feathers.

“It also appears my father ordered some books from Hammicks Bookshop to be sent back to him in New York, so he clearly stopped in there once or twice as well.”