KING JOHN, Shakespeare, RSC Pit, till 19 February
KING JOHN: William Shakespeare
Barbican: The Pit: Tkts 020 7638 8891
Runs: 3h, one interval, in repertoire till 19 February 2002
Review: Vera Lustig, 17 January 2002
Fine ensemble work in an all-too-rare revival of Shakespeare's study of Realpolitik
Squawking martial fanfares, charging flag-bearers and breathless messengers remind us that we are in RSC territory. This is how the Company has done battle-scenes since its inception. Still, there are probably a finite number of ways of staging war. The familiar imagery makes it all the more chilling when a white flag outside the contested town of Angiers is gradually streaked with symbolic blood.
On the whole Doran's revival steers commendable clear of cliché. Rigorous and spartan, it evokes not so much the home life of our own dear queen, as the world of expediency and spin that is Millbank Tower. Wisely, Doran does not underscore the parallels between the 'commodity' governing politics in both the 13th century and the 21st.
Guy Henry's John is less Machiavellian schemer than floundering yet opportunistic Mummy's boy. In the opening scene, he scuttles in late for a meeting, like a gauche schoolboy. Later, his injured outrage on learning that his rival for the throne, the boy Arthur, has been murdered on his orders – a move he has since realised will not play well with the populace – is genuine: this is nor Richard Crookback. Seasoned spinmeisters abound though, notably David Collings's Pandulph, a cleric with the practised smiling meekness of the truly powerful.
As in the contemporaneous Richard III, the impotently raging women serve as a kind of Greek Chorus. Alison Fiske's Eleanor (John's mother) appears to be auditioning for Mother Courage. She is a sturdy proletarian with a strangely leaning stance, born of constant eavesdropping perhaps, or shoving her spineless son centre stage – a jarring but effective reading.
Kelly Hunter is magnificent as Constance, Arthur's mother. She prowls the stage, delivering great heartfelt arias of fury and grief. The beauty of Hunter's performance is its blazing lucidity: we never lose sight of her alertness, her political acumen, the fact that she runs circles, intellectually as well as literally, around the men.
King John: Guy Henry
Queen Eleanor: Alison Fiske
Blanche of Spain: Victoria Duarri
Earl of Pembroke: Andrew Maud
Earl of Salisbury: Colin McCormack
Lord Bigot/English Herald: Andrew James Storey
Philip Falconbridge, the Bastard: Jo Stone-Fewings
Robert Falconbridge/English Messenger: Joseph England
Lady Falconbridge: Angela Vale
James Gurney/Prince Henry: Tom Harper
Arthur, Duke of Brittany: Jonathan Bailey/ Jordan Lee Calvert
Constance: Kelly Hunter
King Philip of France: Geoffrey Freshwater
The Dauphin: John Hopkins
Duke of Austria/Peter of Pomfret: Trevor Martin
Chatillon: Drew Mulligan
Melon/French Herald: David Mara
Hubert: Trevor Cooper
Cardinal Pandulph: David Collings
Soldier: Elizabeth Hurran
Director: Gregory Doran
Designer: Stephen Brimson Lewis
Lighting: Tim Mitchell
Music: Corin Buckeridge
Movement: Jack Murphy
Sound: Martin Slavin
Music Director: Roger Hellyer
2002-01-24 20:27:33