Catherine Bennett resumes the weekly look at the performing arts world, with the sad end of Jerusalem, the luck of a cabbie, and French revolt. Do you hear the people sing?
Adam Alcock reviews Nigel Kennedy playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons and his own Four Elements at York Opera House.
Catherine Bennett highlights the trends in the performing arts world today.
Jonathan Cridford reviews 'Ghosts', one of the Freshers' plays for this year.
I’ve often been told a joke, beloved of intellectuals and discerningly high-brow readers, that goes something like this...
Person A: I saw No Exit tonight, this play by the philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre…
Person B: Yeah, how was it?
Person A: Interesting, as it goes. Fairly simple concept; he basically contends that Hell is being locked in a room for eternity with a bunch of other people.
Person B: Yeah? Fair enough. But with all due respect, most of the ‘other people’ Sartre knew were probably French.
Awful, isn’t it? Undoubtedly a cheap shot, but even the cheapest of gags has the potential to be profoundly telling. I must confess that this reviewer harbours, admittedly from amateurish experience, the profoundest of doubts concerning Sartre’s text.
Relayed in English, his stage-work seemingly verifies that old one about the term ‘French Dramatist’ being somewhat oxymoronic. No Exit presents, in many ways, what is most alienating about Gallic sophistry; it can be didactic and proselytising, a melée of melodrama and monologues, unjustifiable as a means to a dramatic end. In short, an utter sitting duck under the harsh lights of a British stage.
I’m prone to hyperbole, but am nevertheless proud to announce that the Drama Barn has once again proved a setting for the sorest of misgivings; I can’t in all honesty, despite the headstrong purity of Mr Sartre’s argument, pledge a new-found allegiance to his theatre. What I found remarkable about Alexios Mantzarlis and Lida Mirzaii’s production was the pound-for-pound punch, that gorgeous essence of simplicity writ-large that they managed to convey.
From the first moment to the last I was hooked. The set was a model of pragmatic consideration, the Barn quite unlike I had experienced it before, without any sense of specious show or pomp. An intimate space, adequately conveying the existential hereafter’s Louis-Philippe style, it allowed their actors just (and I emphasise: just) enough room to display their talents.
For anyone who has performed there, the Barn can seem like the very quintessence of Pandemonium – Dostoyevsky contended that Hell need be no more than a room with a chair in it; this room had several – but Dan Sofaer, Tom Eilenberg, Sarah Barker and Laura Horton managed to overcome the awkward, cramped space with intoxicating composure. Horton and Barker deserve special praise here.
Horton’s DramaSoc debut (she co-directed The Taming of the Shrew last term) is prodigally charged, her Estelle a studied picture of prissy, affected hypocrisy. However it is Barker, making a welcome return under the eaves, who steals the show. Saddled with the most challenging character in a difficult script, her Inez is an unrelenting physical assault. Dangerous, conceited and sensual to her fingertips, she is beautifully and intuitively choreographed to a fault: a tour de force.
To shamelessly ape that sire of the stalls Kenneth Tynan, I’d find it hard to love anyone who didn’t enjoy No Exit this weekend; philosophically flawed, economically conceived but fundamentally realised, this is theatre for thinkers.
No Exit runs until Sunday night and has sold out, but reserve tickets may be available o.t.d. (£3.50/£4.50 members/non members). Performances begin at 7.30. Arrive early to avoid disappointment.
comment deleted by the author Sarah Barker definitely stole the show, her performance was mesmerising, and her portrayal of the character unbelievably amazing. I was in awe. Great play.
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