If By Jeeves isn't lighter than air, it is surely lighter than Guerre. In London, as on Broadway, it's musicals that stoke the box office. For nourishing fare, go to the National Theatre. Given the West End's conservatism and the virtual eclipse of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the NT is now the one reliable home for serious theater, handsomely mounted with incandescent stars. But then, by force of will, Scofield took over, wrapped the crowd in his majestic technique and brought to life the character, the play and the sacred vocation of acting.
Revivals are fine.
Two new works, Helen Edmundson's version of War and Peace and Pam Gems' Stanley, show how epic themes can be addressed on an intimate scale. This production, directed by Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale of the Shared Experience theater troupe, is so vital and engaging that you needn't congratulate yourself for sitting through it. Tolstoy's idealists and cynics are as compelling as if they were in the most intelligent and tumultuous of TV miniseries. The stage is bare, except for that all-purpose grand piano and 15 actors in twice as many roles. All is clear, brisk, deeply felt, beautifully conveyed.