PARADISE LOST till 21 February

Bristol
PARADISE LOST: Adapted from Milton's poem by David Farr
Bristol Old Vic: Tkts: 0117 987 7877

Runs: 2h 15m, till February 21
Review: Stewart McGill, 4 February 2004

A bold and challenging choice but the earth did not move for me.
Expectations were high at the most experimental and ambitious classical reworking the Bristol Old Vic has staged for many a year. Why should an out of London theatre not set the way for radical thinking and cross art fusion...? David Farr's staging of his own adaptation of John Milton's Paradise Lost is at times beautiful in its mix of music, film and aerial choreography but I must confess to feeling the substance of the poem dull and prolonged.

There is, of course, a huge revival of interest in the poem of Milton, Philip Pullman's quite remarkable retelling in His Dark Materials replays the myth in a contemporary story that grips the imagination. To respond to the National Theatre's resounding success with the stage adaptation they commissioned Bristol Old Vic to rework the original myth as a piece for 21st Century audiences. Farr does create some memorable moments, the moment when Stephen Noonan's fallen angel arrives in Eden to see the experiment of God-Adam and Eve in container glass resounds as does the movement of angels on ground and-at times-in the air. Yet for all the talk of Isabel Rocamora's use of aerial this is very limited and underused.

We have in essence a retelling of the Adam and Eve story played by Christopher Staines and Kamnanu Kirimi. The earth did not move for me as I recalled the eruption of the characters from the earth in an earlier telling-Bill Bryden's Mysteries which through Tony Harrison's muscular language did hold the attention and drive a debate on the fall of man.

The multidisciplinary fusion does have moments to remember but maybe I had anticipated more of everything....I went prepared to be excited and engaged with a work that I have managed to avoid for one reason or another and felt...dare I say it....at times, bored. I think it is a valuable experiment for the Bristol Old Vic to undertake and believe Farr is a terrific director...so on paper all looks great,on
stage, perhaps not quite so momentous.

Ti Green's set with Hartley T.A.Kemp's lighting provide constant visual explorations of space whilst Ben Hopkin's film design and Isabel Rocamora's movement suggest that if time allowed the studio development process could go much further in realising this epic.

Still...a world away from blandness and justifies the visit to the ever challenging Bristol Old Vic.

Director David Farr
Designer Ti Green
Film Director Ben Hopkins
Composer Keith Clouston
Lighting Hartley T A Kemp
Sound Jason Barnes
Movement Director Isabel Rocamora

Cast
Dave Fishley, Kananu Kirimi, Dido Miles, Stephen Noonan, Simon Scardifield, Christopher Staines

2004-02-06 10:13:53