SUMMER AND SMOKE.
London
SUMMER AND SMOKE
by Tennessee Williams
Apollo Theatre
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Tue & Sat 2.30pm
Runs 2hr 25min One interval
TICKETS: 0870 890 1101
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 October
A fine central performance distinguishes this revival.
Tennessee Williams wrote Summer and Smoke, its title suggesting the temporary seasonal nature of things and the wispily evasive nature of the spiritual element in humanity, around the time of A Streetcar Named Desire. And there’s a lot of that play’s fractured heroine Blanche DuBois in Summer’s Alma Winemiller, even if they aren’t precisely doppelgangers, to use a term from the less familiar play.
‘Alma’, Williams ensures we’re told, means ‘soul’ and that’s what Rosamund Pike’s ladylike minister’s daughter is. While her clergyman father escorts a mother whose descent into mental childhood shows a delight in mischief - her taste for indiscretions has to be bribed by indulging her taste for ice-cream - Alma longs for neighbouring doctor John Buchanan.
But her Blanche-like refinement and elaborate vocabulary get her nowhere as he drunkenly chases after earthier, more dangerous and cunning females. As John pulls himself out of debauchery and, free of his doctor-father’s restrictive presence, begins making a reputation for medical discoveries, Alma’s accumulating desperation leads her towards a moral state she’s condemned in a rival’s mother. All along, she’s been a Blanche Dubois just waiting to happen.
Pike, who makes her a vulnerable, lost soul with gentle melancholy, is easily the best thing in Adrian Noble’s clumsy production. Reliable actors who are the mainstay of British theatre remain reliable, but Noble provides no focus as the scenes trundle on. Only Angela Down as the mother whose mental feebleness is a poor omen for Alma, makes a real impact in her wickedly smiling, demanding way.
Chris Carmack suggests the younger Dr Buchanan isn’t much of a catch, especially when he reforms and his plain dullness begins to show. Here’s someone who compromises with reality, being as unassertive in his life as he is original in his work. There is some dull playing, and some verging on the inappropriately laughable elsewhere. Where there’s meant to be mockery of Alma’s circle it lacks definition, becoming as tedious as its perpetrators are to Alma. A rare chance to see the play, but, Pike apart, and despite an early scene’s momentary fireworks, there’s little to celebrate.
Rev Winemiller: Christopher Ravenscroft
Mrs Winemiller: Angela Down
John Buchanan: Chris Carmack
Dusty/Vernon/Archie Kramer: Michael Brown
Pearl/Rosemary: Hannah Stokely
Dr Buchanan: David Killick
Alma Winemiller: Rosamund Pike
Rosa: Hanne Steen
Nellie: Talulah Riley
Roger Doremus: Tom Lawrence
Mrs Bassett: Kate O’Toole
Papa Gonzales: Sebastian Abineri
Director: Adrian Noble
Designer: Peter McKintosh
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Sound: John Leonard
Musical Director: Simon Lee
Choreographer/Movement: Sue Lefton
Costume: Deidre Clancy
Dialect coach: Penny Dyer
Fight director: Malcolm Ranson
Associate designer: David Farley
Associate lighting: John Tapster
Associate sound: Drew Baumohl
2006-10-23 14:09:43