SPIES. To 31 May.
Tour
SPIES
aapted by Daniel Jamieson from the novel by Michael Frayn.
Theatre Alibi tour to 31 May 2008.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
Review Timothy Ramsden 25 February at Oxford Playhouse.
Privacy, privet and plot shift with some success to the stage
You might think Michael Frayn, a significant novelist and major playwright, could decide for himself which form suited his works. However, Daniel Jamieson has seen theatrical potential in Frayn’s novel Spies. And Nikki Sved’s production for Exeter-based Theatre Alibi, touring in conjunction with Oxford Playhouse, justifies his adaptation - to a considerable extent.
Narration and explanation, or the repetition of initially intriguing staging ideas in the many short scenes set around a small suburban neighbourhood, can wear theatrically thin. And hearing, instead of reading, the dialogue asks us to accept a remarkable assimilation of English accents in certain characters’ speech.
Yet the production creates a sense of confinement in World War II England. A confinement that can last lifelong as, a half-century on, Stefan revisits the neighbourhood where he and the son of a socially superior family imagined their way into a spy-game, causing unlooked-for problems amid deception, secret loyalty and betrayal.
Along with childhood guilt and misunderstanding, there’s the onset of sexual feelings as the boys’ spyhole is invaded by a girl. It doesn’t take the adults long, either, to discover them.
The most self-certain character is the least sympathetic. Others crawl into the hedge-bound hideaway; he (father of Stephen’s friend Keith) sticks his head in from above, like an irate giraffe. Only once does he show uncertainty beneath his disciplinarian manner; it’s the one time he says “Please”. As his son, John-Paul Macleod finally shows his father’s hard influence.
More sociably, Derek Frood’s old Stefan and his young self (Benjamin Warren, hair and manner forever less-kempt than his friend’s) mingle expressions. Warren’s face often shows what Frood describes, and they repeatedly mirror each other’s stance or movement.
James Cotterill’s folding-panels, with painted-on privet, express suburban secrecy and its opening-up, huge cat-flaps creating the all-important vantage points that alternate with the boys, in their long short-trousers and grey forties clothing, whizzing around the local streets.
Wit in the staging and quiet conviction in the performances, aided by Thomas Johnson’s score, underlining or counterpointing mood, carry Frayn’s story cross-media, without quite removing a final impression he was right first time.
Stefan: Derek Frood.
Stephen: Benjamin Warren.
Geoff/Mr Hayward/Uncle Peter: Christian Flint.
Keith: John-Paul Macleod.
Mrs Hayward: Jordan Whyte.
Barbara Berrill/Auntie Dee/Mrs Wheatley: Cerianne Roberts.
Accordion: Lisa-Lee Leslie.
‘Cello: Raphael Munton.
Director: Nikki Sved.
Designer: James Cotterill.
Lighting: Marcus Bartlett.
Composer/Musical Director: Thomas Johnson.
2008-02-26 01:27:14