JOHNNO: Malouf [adapted Edwards], Derby Playhouse till 31 March

Derby

JOHNNO: David Malouf [adapted Stephen Edwards]
Derby Playhouse: Tkts 01332 363275 www.derbyplayhouse.co.uk
Runs: 2h 15m: one interval: till 31st March
Performance times: 7.30pm eve [except Suns], 2.30pm matinees 10th, 14th, 17th, 21st, 24th.and 28th March
BSL Translated Performances 2.30pm 24th March and 7.30pm 29th March
Audio Described Performances 2.30pm 24th March and 7.30pm 28th March
Review: Alan Geary: 8th March 2007

An unpromising book is made into superb visual theatre.
Right from the start you’re immersed in this one. In teeming rain, which makes the Playhouse stage one big pool of water, a man lies face downwards as if dead. Then a group of lifeguards process on and pick him up, elevating him above their heads.

You have to hand it to adaptor and director Stephen Edwards; he’s achieved another success with Johnno. He’s taken an Australian novel in which, by all accounts, there’s little dramatic activity and turned it into superb theatre.

David Malouf’s Johnno is a Gatsby-like semi-autobiographical book in which someone on the edge of the action tells the story of the central character. Dante [Sean Mee] isn’t simply narrating; he’s playing his earlier self; so the play isn’t just about Johnno [Paul Denny]; it’s about the complex relationship between him and Dante, seen from the latter’s point of view. In the end you’ve learned as much about Dante as you have about Johnno; each has been involved in a journey, and so have we.

And it’s a pleasure to watch. The floor of Dan Potra’s bold and clever set is awash with water throughout, so all the characters except Dante are wading about from start to finish. Live background music is beautifully done, acting accomplished.

It’s a splendidly adaptable Ensemble. And major performances are excellent: Mee’s, as Dante, in his off-white jacket and black arm-band, a reminder that his father has just died, and Denny’s, as Johnno, enigmatic and protean, going from class clown to university student to European man of the world - with a conspiracy theory involving Jews, Catholics and masons - to drink-sodden lush. Eugene Gilfedder steps out of the Ensemble to play Johnno’s father as well as a beautifully observed dancing master.

In tribute to Johnno, and to symbolise his final acceptance of life and all its richness, after treading carefully round the edge for the whole play, Dante finally finds himself in the water. The narrative begins and ends similarly. Just as at the start Johnno is face down in that water, at the end so is Dante.

Cast
Binkie/Ensemble: Rebecca Dale
Johnno: Paul Denny
Father/Ensemble: Eugene Gilfedder
Dante: Sean Mee
Beatrice/Ensemble: Lisa Moule
Stal/Ensemble: Jay Reynolds
The Mango/Ensemble: Christopher Rickerby
Mother/Ensemble: Bethany Sheldon
Carl Reitmuller/Ensemble: Ewan Wardrop
Greek Girl/Ensemble: Neridah Waters

Director: Stephen Edwards
Designer: Dan Potra
Lighting Designer: John Rayment
Composer: Elena Kats-Chernin
Musical Director: Kelvin Towse
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie

2007-03-11 20:34:41