REVERENCE. To 22 September.
London.
REVERENCE: A TALE OF ABELARD AND HELOISE
by Gillian Clarke.
Southwark Playhouse Shipwright Yard corner of Tooley Street/Bermondsey Street SE1 2TF To 22 September 2007.
Tues – Sat 7.30pm, Sat mat 3pm
Runs 1hr 40min No interval.
TICKETS: 08700 601 761.
www.southwarkplayhouse,co,uk
Review: Harriet Davis 14 September.
Southwark Playhouse opens its new operation with impressive medieval story.
A striking production from Goat and Monkey theatre co, in which doomed medieval lovers Abelard and Heloise are to suffer a horrifying fate at the hands of his monastery. Abelard is a passionate intellectual; Heloise his young, pseudo-feminist student. Both are to be unrelentingly punished by Heloise’s perverse, over-zealous uncle, whose desire to clip their wings is matched only by an unhealthy interest in his niece’s ‘purity’.
The action takes place in the cavernous vaults beneath London Bridge, in an atmosphere not dissimilar to that of the London Dungeons. The audience are robed, briefed by an anxious host, then hurried through a maze of damp corridors. It is a strange sensation to be let into this world, in which we are both distanced – unable to save the fateful lovers – and strangely complicit. The secrets of others become our own.
Pieter Lawman burns with energy as Abelard, whilst Heloise (Leandra Ashton) has a quiet integrity about her; she has learned over time how to placate her uncle, but it gives her no joy. As a woman, she remains at the mercy of men – subject to various day to day tortures unbeknown even to Abelard.
Thomas (Michael Cox) is the snake in the grass, obsessed (and perhaps in love) with Abelard, and ferociously jealous of his newfound freedom. Under the guise of religious obligation, Thomas seeks to sabotage the couple’s plans. Canon Fulbert (Patrick Driver) is suitably terrifying as Heloise’s uncle, and William (Michael Cox) is a commanding presence.
However, it is images rather than words that linger. The sets are awe-inspiring. A strange culmination of medieval and modern, there is an otherworldliness about them. Particularly memorable is Heloise’s plastic-coated, sterilized bedroom, in which her uncle habitually examines her bloody fluids with the air of a curious child. The final tableau is closer to art than theatre, and the penultimate scene is gut-wrenching.
Overall, a grueling experience; vivid, shocking, but ultimately unforgettable.
Heloise: Leandra Ashton
Abelard: Pieter Lawman.
Canon Fulbert: Patrick Driver.
William: Jason Cheater.
Thomas: Michael Cox.
Odile: Ian Summers.
Canon Francis/Chorus: Graham Price.
Matthew/Chorus: Sam Quinn.
Chorus: Joe Calderara, Abigail Hollick, Paul Joseph, Sam Lester, Mat Ruttle.
Director: Joel Scott.
Designers: Patrick Burner, Anna Nicole Jones.
Lighting: Daniel Large.
Sound: Becky Smith.
2007-09-17 01:49:00