DON JUAN IN SOHO. To 10 February.
London
DON JUAN IN SOHO
by Patrick Marber after Moliere
Donmar Warehouse To 10 February 2007
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 2.30pm
Audio-described 13 Jan 2.30pm (+ Touch Tour 1.30pm)
BSL Signed 9 Jan
Captioned 31 Jan
Runs 1hr 40min No interval
TICKETS: 0870 060 6624
www.donmarwarehouse.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 December
Invigorating new edition of a classic rebel.
Don Juan’s been a much-travelled gentleman since his first appearance in 17th-century Seville. He’s been to Hell and back with George Bernard Shaw and Come Back from the War with Odon von Horvath ; just 2 of his many journeys. But his most famous stage appearance was in Moliere’s play, and that’s the version Patrick Marber follows in this new outing.
Here’s a Don from whom no Juan’s safe. His depredations go beyond attractive women to challenging God. It’s that which gives him an edge like that of a Marlowe hero, and it makes his apparent repentance resemble an act of self-betrayal; Marber’s DJ admits he has to keep in with his lordly dad (David Ryall, irate yet controlled) as the family wealth subsidises his lifestyle.
Marber finds decent equivalents for Moliere’s overtly Christian world, with the seduced nun Elvira becoming a foreign-aid worker. More importantly, Don Juan’s defiance of heaven becomes an existential howl against everything from the changing nature of Soho (the district’s name originated in a hunting-call, appealing to DJ with his multiple pursuits) and the sex-industry (no more brassy tarts, just drugged-up East European victims) to modern babble about “issues” and the like.
Here the calm voice of his man Stan warning against the seduction DJ can exercise on audiences is important. Stephen Wight, looking comfortable in a zip-up top, and aptly unsuited to jacket-and-tie, gives Stan plentiful streetwise plausibility. His warnings are important: DJ can seduce en masse. Beneath his glittering surface, there’s nastiness and contradiction. Decrying racism, he mocks Elvira’s family’s Irish accents, while he’s happy to bring one of the East European prostitutes home.
Inner emptiness shows in DJ’s inability to be alone; he even propositions Stan rather than sleep solo in Soho. And his Soho-statuary nemesis calls him to self-recognition; the giddy trike-ride the Statue provides passes all DJ’s favourite haunts before emptying him into a void that mirrors his inner state.
Rhys Ifans captures all this in aging beauty and gloomy elegance, his vocal arrogance signalling self-disgust. Michael Grandage’s clear, economical production is both highly comic and, progressively, deeply serious.
Stan: Stephen Wight
Colm: Richard Flood
DJ: Rhys Ifans
Elvira: Laura Pyper
Pete/Vagabond: Abdul Salis
Lottie/Ruby: Seroca Davis
Mattie/Dalia: Jessica Brooks
Aloysius: Chris Corrigan
Charles: Tim Eagle
Louis: David Ryall
Director: Michael Grandage
Designer: Christopher Oram
Lighting: Neil Austin
Sound/Composer: Adam Cork
2006-12-11 02:29:00