SWIMMING WITH SHARKS.
London.
SWIMMING WITH SHARKS
by George Huang in a version by Michael Lesslie
Vaudeville Theatre
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Thu & Sat 3pm.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKETS: 0870 890 0511.
www.swimmingwithsharks.co.uk (booking fee by ‘phone & online).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 October.
Live film on stage with vigorous central performances.
What’s your risk activity of choice? Feasting With Panthers, as Oscar Wilde described his assignations with rent-boys? Or Swimming With Sharks, as George Huang describes working in Hollywood? Both phrases have now been used for plays, as Michael Lesslie adds a third dimension to Huang’s 1994 celluloid satire.
A third physical dimension, that is. But, though the story’s clearly told in lively style, it doesn’t have the structure of a theatre-piece, remaining resolutely a transfer, rather than translation, to the stage.
Yet, within this restriction, and admitting some pretty ordinary playing round the edges - in parts that neither offer nor, in some case, are given much by way of interest - this production has a number of things going for it. The central playing’s fine, Christian Slater’s high-powered, and power-seeking, studio exec Buddy Ackerman dashing into his outer-office, where new assistant Guy is being inducted into his ways.
Buddy never stops from then on, commanding, demanding, rebuffing and never deviating from his certainty the studio isn’t essentially about art or entertainment; it’s a business. And one where, the higher you are, the louder you shout. Arguments over which sugar-substitute goes into the boss’s coffee emphasise the pettiness and lack of sweetness in this micro-world.
Even Dawn Lockard (Helen Baxendale, exuding elegance and ethics), committed producer on the independent lowlands, might have an apt surname. She goes on to be Guy’s lover and conscience, but she begins by shouting at him for taking her parking-space. Apologies follow when she realises he’s in with the big-money man.
Matt Smith’s Guy, scrubbed and bright, soon moves from learning his place to using his status. Working for Buddy is a recognised career-step towards being in a position to bully others. Guy makes the move with no more effort than it takes to change suit and tie to identikit Ackerman wear.
Near the end events take a sudden genre-switch, from comedy to thriller. It jars on stage because, given theatre’s focus on character over action, it tests credibility. But it confirms the way things go when push comes to shove in this get-ahead world.
Rex: Arthur Darvill.
Guy: Matt Smith.
Buddy Ackerman: Christian Slater.
Mitzy: Elizabeth Croft.
Dawn Lockard: Helen Baxendale.
Cyrus: Jonathan Newth.
Daniel Faruk: Fanos Xenofos.
Jack: Mark Edel-Hunt.
Director: Wilson Milam.
Designer: Dick Bird.
Lighting: Paul Anderson.
Sound: Matt McKenzie for Autograph.
Composer: Stephen Warbeck.
Dialect coach: Penny Dyer.
Fight director: Philip d’Orleans.
2007-10-26 11:30:15