HUMAN RITES. To 22 January.
London
HUMAN RITES
by Amelie Nothomb translated by Natalie Abrahami
Southwark Playhouse To 22 January 2005
Mon-Sat 7.30p, Mat 22 Jan 3pm
Runs 1hr 10min No interval
TICKETS: 020 7620 3494
boxoffice@southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 15 January
External sufferings bring re-evaluations in a concentrated drama.Along the side wall of the courtyard leading to Southwark Playhouse is a trail of pages, made by artist Cecilia Swayne. Torn from books, often exquisitely (and patiently) folded, they are simultaneously an act of vandalism and creation. That clash of values is reflected in Amelie Nothomb's 1994 play, (French title, ominously, Les Combustibles) where a wall of books is the sole set item.
Weighed both for human learning and fire-power, their double value reflects external circumstances. It's freezing, there's a war on and while the university library's pipes are still warm, three people gather in the 50-year old professor's room the professor himself, his young research assistant Daniel and his lover, the student Marina.
Colin Richmond's set catches the wartime bareness, the cold accentuated by white light mistily shining through the window, a bleakness Anna Watson's lighting relieves only with the occasional glow of a heater burning books.
Eventually, flesh triumphs over mind, the Professor clinging to Marina out of lust, she exploiting his body-heat. She is the first who wants to burn books, desperate for alleviation from freezing misery. But she quotes support for her view: Hell is being cold, one author says. Ultimately even the finest book goes into the flames. Kept till last is a slight novel, its story mirroring in smarter surroundings the situation of the professor and student. In the end, flesh conquers ideas. But it's the end of human life when that happens.
The three-character format recalls Sartre's Huis Clos and Nothomb's play stands comparison. Three people shut in a room (as Sartre's definitely, and Nothomb's effectively, are) inevitably come to sex but, in French drama, it's side order to ideas.
Edmund Dehn's Professor has the grizzled demeanour and deliberation of an academic. As Daniel, Edmund Kingsley is a neutral presence, but Miriam Hughes gives no sense of the student. The books and authors she mentions seem to mean nothing; the character might as well be in any freezing, war-torn place. Still, despite imperfections, Southwark Playhouse does a favour for theatre in showing this intriguing piece.
Daniel: Edmund Kingsley
Professor: Edmund Dehn
Marina: Miriam Hughes
Director: Natalie Abrahami
Designer: Colin Richmond
Lighting: Anna Watson
Sound: Paul Matheson
Movement: Anna Morrissey
Artist: Cecilia Swayne
2005-01-16 11:04:12