It was April 2015 when I booked these tickets, so finally just over a year later (23 April 2016) I got to see one of the actors who is on my bucket list of 'people to see on stage' - Kenneth Branagh. I was also excited to see Rob Brydon, but my main reason for booking the tickets was Branagh.
Kenneth Branagh is putting on six plays over the year, starting with The Winter's Tale back in mid-October 2015, starring Olivier award-winner Judi Dench, Kenneth Branagh and Hadley Fraser, and will conclude with The Entertainer, again starring Branagh and John Hurt, ending in November 2016.
The Painkiller is the fourth of the six plays, and if I'm being honest I had no idea what this was about when I booked the tickets, I just wanted to see Branagh. I read up about it after booking them and saw it was a comedy and get the basic story: Two men with hotel rooms, with an adjoining door between them... One of them is a hired killer (Branagh) and the other (Brydon) is a suicidal photographer. It doesn't sound funny, but if I could describe this play in one word it would be 'hilarious'.
Both Branagh and Brydon were amazing. I was laughing from five minutes in, and it continued through the whole ninety-minute play. Branagh was my favourite - obviously - with some of the funniest parts in it. I tried telling my Mum and Clay my favourite part last night when I got home, but it wasn't as good when you have to retell it and they weren't there. But if you've seen it then you'll know what I mean when I say I was still laughing a good ten-minutes after the part when Branagh had been injected with ketamine and when kneeling down in front of his bed, looked down and cried out, thinking he had lost his legs! Honestly, I know it doesn't sound as funny to read like this, but I was laughing long after the scene had moved on.
I feel so privileged to say that I've seen this, and blessed to say that I saw one of my favourite actors on stage, especially as it was the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death the same day and Branagh's Henry V is my favourite. I loved his St Crispin's Day speech, which again was made more special as it was St George's Day the same day too. Honestly, everything was going on in London while I was seeing this play, as people were travelling up for the London Marathon, it was St George's Day so there were things going on for that, and then there were Shakespeare events going on too.
I would give this production:
Unfortunately, this play finishes on 30 April 2016, so if you wanted to see this after reading this, you may be out of luck. Most tickets have already gone and it only had one week left. But there are still two other plays left to see. Next is Romeo and Juliet, which I am seeing on my birthday, starring Lily James and Richard Madden, who starred in Branagh's Cinderella as Cinderella and Prince Kit last year, and finally is The Entertainer, as mentioned earlier. You can see information on the plays here.
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