METAMORPHOSES. To 20 August.
London
METAMORPHOSES: OVID’S TALES OF TRANSFORMATION
by Simon Startin
London Bubble Theatre Company Tour to 20 August 2006
Runs 2hr 35min One interval
TICKETS: 020 7237 1663
ticket-sales@londonbubble.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 July
Gripping evening’s journey into night.
Each summer London Bubble visits the capital’s open spaces, from Shooters Hill to Ruislip, Gunnersbury to Gidea Park (not a park, but containing Raphael Park, which is).
This year Bubble tours a winner. Ovid, a classic Latin text over centuries, was staged by the RSC a few years ago using Ted Hughes’ version. Now his stories of lust and revenge, where love and loyalty play a minor, suffering part, are framed in Simon Startin’s imaginative version, with an account of Truth being divided between philosophy, religion and poetry, poetry stealing all the stories.
Such momentous events and huge truths might come from a talkative taxi-driver. Being in a park, the narrative frame goes to the cabman’s equivalent, a groundsman (or detritus disposal operative?). Daniel Copeland’s experienced hand recounts this framing history chattily to his younger companion (the tactful Amit Sharva) and the audience.
As open spaces give way to tree-covered haunts and daylight fades, replaced by the localised glare of spotlights, stories and frame grow gloomier, and ultimately nihilistic. Meanwhile, theatrical styles vary. Just as well; initially it had seemed we were in for a whole evening’s plain storytelling style: one actor narrating while others mimed actions. It’s a method that easily leads to over-simplified characterisation.
But Jonathan Petherbridge’s production turns out far richer. With Gunnersbury’s promenade spaces varying from an open field to a tight, narrow strip, there’s room for the fiery story of Phaeton, son of the sun-god, as a lonely, bullied schoolboy visiting his father in a metal van, its graffiti’d walls supposedly representing a map of the world. Phaeton’s “wanting the manage of unruly jades” as he insists on taking father Phoebus’s horses for a ride across the day, becomes a failed attempt to keep control of a power-roller, ending in a firework blaze – dramatic tragedy through theatrical comedy.
Similar macabre use of humour to deepen tragic happenings comes in the most restricted space as maternal love is celebrated with dolls, and self-love ends consuming a king plagued with unlimited appetite as he’s consumed by a multi-person Hunger. This inventive production sharpens the appetite throughout.
Cast: Craig Byrne, Daniel Copleland, Nicola Davis, Rachel Essex, Sophie Russell, Amit Sharma, Davina Silver, Dan Tutte
Director: Jonathan Petherbridge
Designer: Becky Hurst
Composer/Musical Director: Craig Byrne
Movement: Linda Dobell
2006-07-24 16:21:17