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.
Everything that one needs to know about Adam Alcock’s interpretation of Simon Gray’s most famous work can be summed up the moment one enters the barn; in a display of exceptional attention to detail, a professor’s office has been painstakingly reconstructed – right down to the period textbooks and discarded cotton buds – leaving the left half of the stage obliterated in a mess of stationery and banana peel, while the other half is left dignified and clean, reeling at the slow invasion of chaos itself. And who better to personify said chaos then Barn veteran, Dan Wood.
Wood is Ben Butley, an aging T.S. Eliot scholar sashaying his way through academic tenure with his ex-protegé and lover, Joey (Freddy Elletson), while casually clinging onto the last threads of his failing marriage to Anne (Claire Curtis-Ward). In an alcoholic, chain-smoking stupor, Butley spends the entire day watching – and helping – his precious relationships crumble around him, but not before spewing deeply witty insults at colleagues, students, and family alike. Wood is fantastic, infusing Butley with an unkempt, oftentimes grotesque swagger, echoing elements of his performance in last summer’s Road. But where Scullery was a poetic, loveable fool, Butley is nothing short of an incorrigible swine, remorseless as he tramples over the people he supposedly cares for – it is thus a testament to Wood’s talent that he deftly portrays not just the unpleasant scholar mopping up tea stains with a student’s handwritten essay, or the jealous lover hurling obscenities at his replacements, but the self-destructive nihilist with nothing more than a hint of an undercut voice and tear-stained eye amidst the depravity, symptomatic of a man pasting over the despair in his life with only rhymes and melodramatic gestures.
Given the entire play centres on Butley himself – and that he never leaves the stage – it is inevitable that the secondary characters play satellite to the titular man. Nevertheless the talented ensemble deliver excellent performances with what little stage time they are given, though special mention must go to Helena Clark’s performance as Edna, with her dragon lady persona almost manifest through her eyes alone, Claire Curtis-Ward, who delivers what one could only describe as a world-weary yet unmistakeable sexuality, and Meg Roberts, who manages to inject an unusual amount of sass and character into what is effectively a cameo role.
However, despite the strong acting throughout, the first half of the play progresses a little too slowly, relying at times on obscure literary references that soared way above this BSc’s head – though understandably this is to allow for the exposition that gives way to the tension-filled second act. Yet even with this in mind, the confrontation between Butley and his wife lacks the gravity and pain that so heavily punctuates the professor’s lamentations of his former family, an observation made all the more obvious when we witness the terrifying clash between Butley and Joey’s new lover, Reg (Pete Watts).
Other problems, though – such as sporadic instances of distracting violence – are overshadowed by the wonderfully dark humour that suffuses the entire production. Cigarettes, Quaker Oats, and even chewing gum are all utilised to full comic effect, while Miss Heasman’s (Helen Peatfield) misguided sexual attraction provides some of the play’s most endearing moments. Alcock’s production, if nothing else, will certainly elicit a damn good laugh, but it is Wood’s depiction of a man ripping apart at the seams that will stay with you long after the lights go out.
You must log in to submit a comment.
