FESTEN. To 2 November.

London

FESTEN
by Thomas Vinterberg and Mogens Rukov adapted by Bo hr Hansen translation by Elzbieta Fratczcak-Nowotry

Teatra Rozmaitosci at Sadlers Wells Theatre To 2 November 2002
7.30pm
Runs 2hr 50min One interval

TICKETS 020 7863 8000
www.sadlerswells.com
Review Timothy Ramsden 1 November

A brilliant essay in a modish production style.Maybe we were all suckers: we certainly weren't given an easy break, with an interval that came over 2 hours from the start and barely 15 minutes before the end of this irritatingly brilliant stage-show built from Thomas Vinterberg's (somewhat shorter) film.

It was part of Scandinavian cinema's 'back to nature' Dogme95 programme; on stage, by contrast, a battery of theatricality is chucked at the script. The production's imposing: a table stretches stage-wide for the family reunion on dad's 60th birthday. It's remote, distant: down one side stretches a wall of hotel-room doors: actually the rooms in this rich man's mansion where the family members stay, relatives yet strangers.

Ah, families. Where most murders occur, and which form the crucible of most dramatic tension. Apart from the inevitable fallings out, there's a deadly secret from the childhood past, involving the taboo of incestuous abuse. This led to the eventual suicide of the sister Christian, eldest family son, revenges – we first see him sitting alone and brooding – by the festivity-disrupting revelation.

From here there's a process of auto-destruction, echoed in the score which extends sounds, at the climax, to a painful degree. The staging is immaculate, the performances from the Polish company outstanding. Even the odd-sized acts make their point, as we return to find the table moved down close to us, and father dismissed from the orderly, if not tension-free breakfast.

But still, what is the point? Theatre replaces the film's quick fury with a slowed-down concentration as the structure builds, predictably enough, to chaos and violence, followed by calmer aftermath. Yet the production – full of the usual suspects: slowed-down and simultaneous action, sudden eruptions of group choreography, all bathed in a richly emotional wash of lighting and music - seems to exploit its characters for this climax instead of revealing them progressively. In other words, they lack the richness of good drama.

Read the programme note and you'll find any number of resonances suggested. See the play and you have brilliantly devised theatricality; high-art performance. Its very fineness, though, suggests a self-consciousness at odds with the characters' raw emotions: a disparity apparent through all the carefully-choreographed stage sound and fury.

Helge: Jan Peszek
Else: Ewa Dalkowska
Christian: andrej Chyra
Michael: Marek Kalita
Helene: Danuta Stenka
Mette: Aleksandra Konieczna
Grandfather: Zygmunt Malanowicz
Grandmother: Danuta Szaflarska
Gbatokai: Christian Emany
Pia: Magdalena Cielecka
Michelle: Aleksandra Poplawska
Servant: Wojceich Kalarus
Kim: Redbad Klynstra
Uncle Leif: Lech Lotocki
Helmut: Mariusz Benoit
Aunt: Magdalena Kuta
Poul: Stanislaw Sparazynski
Bent: Marek Kepinski
Waiter: Tomasz Borkowski
Boy: Franciszek Wardynski
Girl: Julia Przebierata

Direction: Grzegorz Jarzyna
Designer: Malgorzata Szczesniak
Costume: Magdalena Maciejewska
Music: Pawel Mykietyn, Piotr Dominski
Choreography: Iwona Oiszowska

2002-11-02 00:55:19