DON JUAN by Moliere. Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.

Sheffield

DON JUAN
by Moliere, translated Simon Nye

Crucible Theatre, Sheffield To 20 October 2001
Runs 1hr 20min No interval

Review Timothy Ramsden 20 October

Lithe, clear, funny – here's Moliere freed from over-respectable translation and superimposed 'classical' acting.Michael Grandage isn't a director to hang around with a classic. He dispatches Nye's witty translation in about the time it takes most Don Juans to reach the interval. Which leaves the question, what have all the others been doing?

Certainly, this express version gives no sense of being in a rush. It comes across as scenes from the life of the world's number one seducer. But sex is less at the heart of the play than religion. It's not just that the abandoned Elvira (Neve McIntosh) takes the veil. Faith recurs as a topic. The arguments between Tom Hollander's Juan and his servant Sganarelle (Anthony O' Donnell) which are the backbone of the action repeatedly turn to religion. His free-thinking arrogance makes Juan invite the statue of the Commander he has killed to dinner and accept the return invite which ships him off to hell.

Hollander is well-equipped to show the Don's arrogance. He doesn't strive for male model poise, rather appeals through the certainty his own convenience is the centre of the universe. Anyone, anything who bores, annoys or criticises his lifestyle is denounced with effortless presumption, a crushing cadence, a snort or a stare. He's a character to be found in the wine-bar, trendy café or club - just the places the real Juans spend their nights.

O' Donnell gives us the servant who knows his own mind, but also that expressing it is has lower priority than knowing his place and keeping his job. He is reason consistently out-argued by certainty. The rest of the cast are all fine, especially Lucy Briers' country lass Charlotte, but it's really a two-hander, this show.

Christopher Oram's set provides a piazza for them to get on with things, backed by the suggestion upstage that life also has its dark alleyways. Fittingly Juan is finally tipped into the next world from centre-stage, where he's so assuredly held court.

Sganarelle: Anthony O' Donnell
Guzman/Ragotin: Francis Maguire
Don Juan: Tom Hollander
Elvira: Neve McIntosh
Charlotte: Lucy Briers
Peter/Commander: Grant Gillespie
Martha: Kerry Godliman
Beggar/Don Louis: Robert East
Don Carlos: Gideon Turner
Don Alonso: Tom Mullion
Mr Sunday: Timothy Kightley
Boys: Alex Colley/Paul Crawley/Joseph Damms/Tom Damms/Jake Geddes/Jack Hague/Kieran Pickering/Craig Potter/Liam Wagland/Jamers Wagland
Voice of the Commander: Ian McDiarmid

Director: Michael Grandage
Designer: Christopher Oram
Lighting: Hartley T A Kemp
Composer: Julian Philips
Fight director: Terry King

2001-10-22 13:44:32