Dido, Queen of Carthage till 18 August
DIDO, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE: Christopher Marlowe
Shakespeare's Globe: Tkts 020 7401 9919
Runs: 2hrs 15m: one interval: in repertory till 18th August
Review: Kim Durham 2 July 2003
Rakie Ayola's Dido ignites in this rarely performed masterpiece.
It seems perverse of director Tim Carroll to saddle this rarely performed work with a big production concept. Because in Marlow's play the gods toy with mortals as if they were vindictive children, we are here presented, in Laura Hopkins' ugly design, with a large climbing frame, a slide and numerous plastic playthings.
This is the playground within which the infantalised modern-dress Olympians bicker, dangerously undercutting the play's passionate and mythic power.
Fortunately there is strong casting in depth, which gradually shines through the heavy-handed tweeness. James Gurnon's wide-eyed Cupid may occasionally come across like a demented children's entertainer, but, along with fellow deities, Clare Swinburne, Caitlin Mottram, and Dave Fishley, his performance is well crafted and engaging enough to eventually win us over.
Will Keen, as Aeneas, the survivor of the sacking of Troy who becomes the object of Dido's love, is an exercise in studied naturalism. While the resolute playing of Marlowe's high-octane verse as contemporary prose may at times seem perverse, he nevertheless manages to still the audience to an awed hush as he describes in graphic detail the carnage visited by the invading Greeks on his native city.
But the bull point of this production is Rakie Ayola's Dido. This venue is building a reputation for delivering great lead performances, and here is no exception. Matching supple athleticism with emotional intensity and a vocal commitment to Marlowe's rhetorical power, Ayola is magnificent.
In place of Marlowe's stage direction "She throws herself into the flames", the love bereft Dido's final tragic act of self-immolation is here performed with a handful of sparklers. This could have been naff in the extreme, but in execution proves extraordinarily moving.
Cast: Rakie Ayola, Dave Fishley, James Garnon, Will Keen, Caitlin Mottram, Clare Swinburne
Director: Tim Carroll
Design: Laura Hopkins
Voice: Stewart Pearce
Music: Claire van Kampen
2003-07-02 19:10:54