SCARAMOUCHE JONES. To 29 June.
Northampton
SCARAMOUCHE JONES or THE SEVEN WHITE MASKS
by Justin Butcher
Royal Theatre To 29 June 2002
7.30pm Mat Sat 2.30pm
Runs 1hr 40min No interval
TICKERTS 01604 6248111
Review Timothy Ramsden 27 June
An imaginative biography of the century with a flavoursome performance.It's a joy of theatre that, compared with TV or cinema, low cost and lack of bureaucracy mean strange, inspired ideas can work their way to the light of production. So with Justin Butcher's one-man fable, which ends its premiere British tour at director Rupert Goold's new home in Northampton.
Its subtitle's the only unfortunate thing about the piece, giving the thematic game away before we've finished reading the programme.
That apart, Butcher successfully combines the myth of the 20th century with the lived-in character of his clown. Scaramouche was born as the 19th century gave way to the 1900s. Now, as midnight prepares to toll on so-called Millennium Eve, he prepares to vanish from this earthly existence.
Son of a Port o' Spain whore with an individual way of telling men when time was up (involving a sharp jab to the buttocks), Scaramouche dreams of the solidity of England but is orphaned and enslaved in Africa, becomes a snake-charmer's assistant, hears dimly of war in Europe, reaching Poland as Nazism encroaches.
Then comes existence as a grave-digging clown in a concentration camp (which, as he has pointed out, were being invented by the British in South Africa around the time of his birth), purging at Nuremberg and finally, in 1951, arrival among dispossessed fellow Caribbeans down and out in London.
It's a tragic clown's tale – the tragedy of a shockingly violent half-century with humanity retreating behind more grinning masks to survive. Survive, for a second half-century playing out the consequences of its bloodsoaked predecessor. The only question it arouses is whether the bells, whistles and fireworks greeting Big Ben's final bong of 1999 really prelude any improvement.
There's good cause to cast a black actor as Scaramouche, given his Caribbean origins and experiences. But he could be an Everyman. Certainly Postlethwaite's upward-winding cadences and softly rich voice – if occasionally over-poetic in the early experiences – bring a full humanity to Scaramouche's experiences. Some clowns might improve on some of the mimed moments, but not many.
I suspect we haven't seen the end of Scaramouche – and his ironically acquired surname – yet.
Scaramouche Jones: Pete Postlethwaite
Director: Rupert Goold
Designer: Ashley Martin-Davis
Lighting: Mike Gunning
Sound/Music: Adam Cork
2002-06-28 06:25:12