DON Q. To 24 August.
Edinburgh - Fringe
DON Q
by Caroline Corrie adapted from the novel by Miguel de Cervantes
Labyrinth Theatre Company at Smirnoff Underbelly (Iron Belly) To 24 August 2003 except 18 August
9.10pm
Runs 1hr 35min No interval
TICKETS: 0870 745 3083
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 August
Some rough edges - especially vocal - but an adaptation that catches Cervantes' heart.Making a manageable evening out of Cervantes' monumental novel's no easy business. Caroline Corrie's adaptation not only allows director Laura Farnsworth to work to this company's apparent strength with several scenes of vivid physicality. It also makes several important points about Don Quixote.
For all his romance-rotted mind, Cervantes' Knight of the Sorry Face is essentially intelligent, even wise. The famous windmill-and-sheep-tilting is merely recalled, but with Quixote saying these objects kept their false appearance 'to the last moment' his mind-slips between sense and delsusion are clearly shown.
He's aware other visions are chimera, but blames enchanters for false appearances. With modern fads for saviours in the forms of political ideas, diets, treatments etc. few of us should feel safely superior. If only we can rise to some of the wiser statements Quixote makes.
Corrie's script shows both the baser motives of some more sophisticated people, and the affection Quixote clearly inspires in those who try to persuade him back to sanity. And has space to have fun with the lexicographically-challenged Sancho Panza's vocabulary.
He, rather than the imprisoned Cervantes, is her down-to-earth narrator. Christopher Petrus is a squire right out of the Queen Vic, though his acceptance of the governorship of Barataria shows him as subject to delusion as his boss - just with a more self-centred motive.
Clive Ashborn cuts a suitably tall, slimline figure, and has a sharply comical alertness to his expressive face, though his handling of the dilaogue could do with more flexibility. Petrus has strength, but can wash-over lines with his basic character-voice.
Physically, there's a lot to enjoy, from fun devices like the sheet stretched via loops round necks to form a table, to slow-motion combat (a cliche device in theatre maybe, but well-handled here) and apt use of fantastical figures for some of those met along the way.
Fringe conditions aren't the best for this show. Despite its vocal roughness, there's enough theatricality to make it -given, say, a well-disposed village or community hall audience, and an interval in a licensed hall - a good night out.(Not patronising; there's first-rate work done by professional companies touring to halls where they net a wider section of people than regular theatres).
Certainly there's more to the Don than being quixotic, and the flavour of Cervantes' rich creation is acutely caught here.
Don Q & others: Clive Ashborn
Sanson Carrasco & others: Caroline Corrie
Sancho & others: Christopher Petrus
Director: Laura Farnsworth
Designer: Caroline Corrie
Lighting: Helen Mugridge
Music: Tony Charlton
Assistant director: Matthew Reynolds
2003-08-17 22:15:14