By James Hadley in London

London is one of those big cities with enough distractions - whatever your interests - to lead you off the plot for half a lifetime or so. When you're used to the NZ theatre industry, where within just a few years you can get to know pretty much everyone in the industry, the scale of the London theatre scene can be overwhelming (let alone the whole UK industry).... Yet I've already been told by a local that it's a small industry here. Size is always relative, as they say.

So amongst all the admin and adjustment that goes with setting yourself up in a new country, what are the landmarks from which to find my theatrical bearings ?By James Hadley in London

London is one of those big cities with enough distractions - whatever your interests - to lead you off the plot for half a lifetime or so. When you're used to the NZ theatre industry, where within just a few years you can get to know pretty much everyone in the industry, the scale of the London theatre scene can be overwhelming (let alone the whole UK industry).... Yet I've already been told by a local that it's a small industry here. Size is always relative, as they say.

So amongst all the admin and adjustment that goes with setting yourself up in a new country, what are the landmarks from which to find my theatrical bearings ?I'm starting out as a tourist; an uninformed potential theatre-goer. What's on? You start from what you already know, and from past visits to London there are two landmarks that are writ large on my memory's version of its landscape: the National Theatre and the half-price ticket booth at Leicester Square.

The National Theatre on London's South Bank has an uninviting concrete bunker of an exterior, but the first time I returned to London it was the site of some of the best theatrical experiences of my life: my first Stephen Sondheim musical, 'Sweeney Todd' in a gothic production directed by Declan Donnellan; a force of nature performance by Fiona Shaw in Sophie Treadwell's expressionistic 'Machinal'; and the first UK production of Tony Kushner's 'Angels in America' (featuring a then unknown Daniel Craig aka the current 007). These productions left very lasting impacts on me, so I think of the National as presenting world class theatre.

My first experience of it this time around was not quite as life changing. Nevertheless, it was a faultless revival of Bernard Shaw's 'Major Barbara', directed by Nicholas Hytner, the current Artistic Director of the National Theatre. (I prefer more of a contemporary spin on a revival; this production very respectfully allows the work to speak for itself - and its uncanny how prophetically relevant some of Shaw's ethical explorations around war-mongering and charity are in today's world.) The production features an excellent performance by Simon Russell Beale as Undershaft, and it goes without saying that you can hear every word spoken by the 20 or so cast members in the 1150 seat Olivier auditorium (there are three different sized venues at the National).

This production was the first in the National's Travelex season for the year. 2008 is the sixth year that Travelex has sponsored this rather successful audience development initiative, which sees a generous number of £10 tickets sold to a selection of the National's productions. 'Major Barbara' has a particularly 'British heritage' sort of appeal, reflected by the extremely white and mostly 50+ audience demographic, so I'm curious to see whether the Travelex season has helped reach a more multicultural and youthful audience too. Certainly it seems to be successful at getting bums on seats, as the house was pretty much full.

The show I had really been seeking a ticket for had completely sold out its season. Joan Didion's 'The Year of Magical Thinking', directed by David Hare, had also sold out its 2007 Broadway season, due largely to being a pitch perfect solo performance by Vanessa Redgrave. It's a remarkably down-to-earth meditation on the unrealities of processing that a close loved one has died unexpectedly.

I was able to experience the show a few nights later, as the National has a policy of selling 25 standing tickets for sold out shows, so if you really really want to see it, you can often get in. They're only sold on the day, so it also allows for a visitor to town to see the most popular shows at short notice. Of course, you've got to want to see it badly enough to stand for its duration, but they only charge you £5 for the privilege, which is pretty reasonable.

Another of the National's accessibility-focussed policies, which might be afforable for some of NZ's larger theatres, is that a certain number of seats are reserved for release on the day of performance (often the very front row of the audience) at the discounted price of £10.

The Half Price 'Tkts' Booth at Leicester Square

My other first port of call based on past experiences was to the original half price ticket booth (there are now many imitators in the area) in Leicester Square. Most of the commercial productions on in Central London have discounted tickets on sale here, including some of the big musicals, and it's a good place to find out what's currently showing as they distribute up to date theatre guides. (The weekly 'Time Out' magazine has a wider ranging directory of what's currently showing throughout the city.)

I've garnered many a bargain from here and it was no different on first visiting it again - for just £14.50 I had myself a ticket to see Kneehigh Theatre's production of Brief Encounter. This Cornwall based company's production of 'Tristan and Isolde', which toured to the NZ International Festival of the Arts in 2006, was one of the most vitally alive and heartwarming shows that I've seen in recent years, so I was delighted to get to see their latest production. Based on Noel Coward's film from the early 1940s, the theatre show is presented in the Haymarket Cinema where the film's premiere screening was held, a fact which gives the atmosphere an extra edge.

The company break the fourth wall quite regularly, as they had also done in 'Tristan and Isolde', with actors performing period cabaret songs in the auditorium before the show starts, much of the cast dressed as cinema ushers, and the lead characters start the show as cinema-goers among the real audience. This sort of inventive playfulness is characteristic of the company - you feel like they're performing alongside the audience, rather than on a pedestal, reinforced when they hand out refreshments during the interval. The show is packed with inventive touches, including a bit of sideshow burlesque here and there, and a blending of live action with the visual vocabulary of the original filmic medium. It really connects with its audience, and the central performances are judged so well that extremely dated, cliched romantic sentiments seem freshly sincere and affecting.

The third of my initial points of bearing is a welcome link with the New Zealand theatre industry, right in the very heart of London. Toi Whakaari graduate Emma Deakin established Shaky Isles Theatre Company in 2006, as a non-profit company operating as a platform for New Zealand theatre works and practitioners in London. Within the first few days of my being back in London, they had one of their semi-regular SessioNZ playreadings. These are free to the public to attend, and are readings by actors of New Zealand playscripts which are felt worthy of consideration for production. This particular reading was of 'Love Knots' by Vivienne Plumb. It was delightfully read by a selection of mostly expat NZ actors in the basement bar of 'The Bell and Compass' pub (which is right next door to Charing Cross station - a remarkably central location only steps away from Trafalgar Square and a few minutes from the heart of London's theatreland in the West End). The reading was followed by a friendly discussion of the script, part social, part analytical.

It was wonderful to find this foothold of New Zealand theatre in the very heart of London. Being in the basement bar, among a few familiar faces from the NZ industry, it felt a little like being pioneers in the hold of a ship. I'm looking forward to Shaky Isles' Festival of Aotearoa, 19 July - 2 August, to be held at the Pacific Playhouse in Southwark. This is a wonderful way to keep a tangible connection with New Zealand theatre going as I move from familiar landmarks to exploring the unknown diversity of London's wider theatrical landscape.

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10/07/08