DELIRIUM. Dublin & London. To 22 November.

London.

DELIRIUM
by Enda Walsh.

Barbican Theatre 5-22 November 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm.
Runs: 2hr 20min One interval.

TICKETS: 0845 120 7500 (booking fee).
www.barbican.org.uk/bite (reduced booking fee online)(Barbican)
Review: Stoon Barar 5 October.

Mad, bad and as ‘in yer face’ as theatre gets – Recommended…`with caution.
Recent stage adaptations (Metamorphosis, The Railway Children) merit viewing simply due to the boldness of staging (let alone other qualities). Delirium is certainly their equal in terms of presentation – add a script that’s on acid and it blows them out of the water! As to whether it’s a good night’s theatre will very much depend on individual taste.

This is a new adaptation of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov which concerns a family at war. The play does explain why it is the three ‘twenty-something’ sons have grown to despise their father (Fyodor). The fact that the eldest (Mitya) reluctantly shares his lover (Grushenka) with his father merely keeps their mutual resentment simmering nicely - ‘more cock than conscience’ Fyodor hypocritically labels him though he does have a point as Mitya is already engaged...to Katerina of course! The other two sons (Alyosha & Ivan) effortlessly raise the dysfunctional bar of this family to a scary height.

This play throws everything at you – some sticks, some misses. There’s an opening pastiche ‘drawing room brawl’ set to music which didn’t cut it for me – the over loud music drowned out the dialogue and it translated as synchronized WWF rather than Clockwork Orange. The scenes featuring miming to recorded dialogue does work as does the way characters morph into others or suddenly become part of a scene – the way Alyosha instantaneously becomes Katerina in the hotel is brilliant. Then there is a sung ballad (“The Shrieker” - a reference to Alyosha & Ivan’s Mother).

Of the two acts I prefer the second – it largely takes place in Fyodor’s Nightclub and opens with an unmissable Tarantino-esque wild dance fest with all the characters in fancy dress too (relax – there is a gorilla). There’s the highly effective innovative use of the toilet cubicles too.

As for characterization – Mitya & Katerina are the pick for me along with the servant Smerdyakov, a guaranteed crowd favourite who practises condescending service with a sneer – he gets the choicest lines too, courtesy of a script (which comes with the program) that is irreverent, offensive, philosophical and humorous across the full spectrum of wit!

Recommended, simply because in the future you’ll recall a scene or a quip of dialogue...and smile! But beware; on the ‘Adult Content’ meter it rates 8/10 for language and imagery.

Alyosha: Joseph Alford.
Fyodor: Denis Quilligan.
Grushenka: Julie Bower.
Ivan: Dominic Burdess.
Katerina: Carolina Valdés.
Mitya: Nick Lee.
Smerdyakov: Lucien MacDougall.

Director: Joseph Alford.
Designer/Costume: James Humphrey.
Lighting: Aideen Malone.
Sound/Composer: Gus MacMillan.
Choreography: Eva Vilamitjana.
Animation/ Illustration: Paddy Molloy.
Assistant director: Kate Wasserberg.

2008-10-06 09:23:39