A NEW WAY TO PLEASE YOU

A NEW WAY TO PLEASE YOU: Thomas Middleton and William Rowley
RSC: The Swan
Runs: 2h 30m, one interval
Review: Rod Dungate, 11 April 2005

A marvellous discovery play; but its energy is lost in an unfocussed production
This is a truly amazing play, I wouldn't have missed it for anything. Middleton and Rowley investigate their theme of euthanasia with relentless energy, producing a script that shakes with vitality and wit. The product of a remarkable partnership (they brought us THE CHANGELING) it's multi-layered and rich in stylish language. So what a sad disappointment Sean Holmes's production is then; Holmes seems not to value nor trust his script and opts for a production that merely brushes up the satire of the piece. Or perhaps he doesn't value nor trust us and thinks we can understand little beyond the showy surface of Little Britain and League of Gentlemen. (No, I'm not knocking them they're marvellous examples of what they are and I'm a fan of both.)

There is a new Duke of Epire and he decrees that all men who reach 80 and women who reach 60 should be executed because they have nothing more to offer the state. The play explores what happens as young men unscrupulously pursue this decree to gain faster access to their inheritances. And husbands have church records altered to get rid of unwanted wives they have carte blanche to trade them in for younger models. And other blokes marry 59 year old widows to get their wealth. M and R's examination of the issue is thorough and unforgiving.

For the play to work fully, the deaths of the older people must be given as much value as the comedy. But the production doesn't value these older people enough and the cruelty of the younger people is lost under a welter of over-indulgent, shallow and unsubtle acting. Geoffrey Freshwater is the first of the old guys to go; his Creon is an elderly war veteran (even sporting his beret). His scene with Antigona (his wife) is truly touching and not devoid of humour but all life is squashed from it by the weight of the production style. Given the play's theme, it's ironic that these older actors can both handle the text physically and vocally; the ability to handle the text or not divides the ages in this play stronger than the generation gap it mirrors.

Main baddie, Creon's son, Simonides, is played by Jonjo O'Neill, an actor I've often had the strongest of praise for. Here, however, he seems entirely out of his depth; together with his two buddies, he poses around and mouths empty words. There is a fidgety lack of focus in the work or this trio (and elsewhere) that dissipates the energy of the play. And this sums up the main problem. Holmes seems not to know where he's coming from nor where he wants to get to; Kandis Cook's messy designs exacerbate the problem.

The play's still worthwhile seeing if you can find your way through the muddle. Matt Ryan's old Cleanthes is ever worth watching and Ishia Bennison's Agatha, given one month to live after her husband falsifies her birth date, provides the crucial but ellusive combination of comedy and tragedy.

Simonides: Jonjo O'Neill
Lawyers: Keith Osborn, Nigel Betts
Cleanthes: Matt Ryan
Creon: Geoffrey Freshwater
Antigona: Teresa Banham
Hippolita: Evelyn Duah
Leonides: Barry Stanton
Evander: Peter de Jersey
Cratilus: David Hinton
Courtiers: Jon Foster, Julian Stolzenberg
Butler: Keith Osborn
Tailor: David Hinton
Cook: Nigel Betts
Bailiff: Mark Springer
Coachman: Fred Ridgeway
Footman: Vinette Robinson
Eugenia: Miranda Colchester
Parthenia: Vinette Robinson
Lysander: James Hayes
Gnotho: Fred Ridgeway
Parish Clerk: Geoffrey Freshwater
Agatha: Ishia Bennison
Dancing Master: Mark Springer
Drawer: Jon Foster
Siren: Michelle Butterfly

Directed by: Sean Holmes
Designed by: Kandis Cook
Lighting Designed by: Wayne Dowdeswell
Music and Sound Designed by: Chris Branch and Tom Haines
Additional Sound by: Jeremy Dunn
Associate Director; Movement: Michael Ashcroft
Fights Directed by: Terry King
Assistant Director: Elizabeth Freestone
Voice and Dialect Work: Jeannette Nelson
Casting Director: John Cannon

2005-04-13 10:14:41