DON JUAN. To 30 October.
London
DON JUAN
by Moliere Translated by Neil Bartlett
Lyric Hammersmith To 30 October 2004
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 9, 30 Oct 2.30pm 27 Oct 1.30pm
Captioned 27 Oct 7.30pm
Meet the Cast 18 Oct
Runs 2hr 15min One interval
TICKETS: 08700 500 511
www.lyric.co.uk (no booking fee; £1 off all tickets booked online)
Review: Timothy Ramsden 4 October
An elegant, secular Moliere of Dorian Grey decadence.To funereal music the curtain slowly rises, as if reluctant to open the final production of Neil Bartlett's 10-year tenure at the Lyric. His productions haven't all received critical approval, but the constant respect for his work won't be diminished by this parting shot.
The elegant late Victorian hotel-room suggested in Bartlett's design of black, red and gold amid a dark void black potted palms and all has more than a tinge of the Philip Prowse style at Glasgow Citizens. So it's unsurprising to see regular Glasgow performer Patti Clare as one of Juan's country-girl conquests. Nor to find that she and rival Charlotte (Kirsty Bushell contrasting Clare's smile, and smiling defiance of her rival, with a country caution that only surrenders to Juan after he mentions marriage) re-invented as chamber-maids. It's the same sweeping Citizens way.
And there's former Cits. supremo Giles Havergal, every grey inch the Victorian paterfamilias as Don Luis, denouncing his son's behaviour. Amongst such people James Wilby's flaxen-haired seducer steals up on his prey, quiet deliberation preceding an open, innocent manner unfettered by morality; honest, brave but entirely self-centred. As his servant Sganarelle (a weather-beaten Paul Ritter) keeps telling him, other characters, the audience and, at one point, God.
This character's derived from traditional popular Italian comedy, and he's given a free-association nonsense speech straight from the genre. Set against Sganarelle's defeated morality Juan's suave confidence gives him undoubted attraction.
But time's not on his side in this heavily fateful world. Like a fateful chorus the women he's seduced, and other people, fix their gaze on their watches as each scene begins with a bell for the next round of the Don v morality and fate.
For, in Bartlett's sophisticated account, Moliere's religion becomes as slight as the author's gratuitous attack on doctors (he never missed an opportunity for this). No concluding hellfires; no touch even from the ghostly commander's Statue Welby's invited to supper. Having been backed by the sight of his own funeral, Juan simply finds that in the middle of life he's surprised by death. Not religion, but the finger of fate plays the final hand.
Gusman/Don Alonso/Poor Man: James Bellorini
Charlotte: Kirsty Bushell
Mathurine: Patti Clare
Statue: Gregory Cox
Dona Elvira: Felicity Dean
Pierrot/Don Carlos/Mr Sunday: Giles Fagan
Don Luis: Giles Havergal
Sganarelle: Paul Ritter
Don Juan: James Wilby
Director/Designer: Neil Bartlett
Lighting: Bruno Poet
Sound: Nick Manning
Assistant designer: Nicolai Hart Hansen
2004-10-07 00:40:20