THE CHANGELING. To 10 June.
London.
THE CHANGELING
by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley.
Barbican Theatre To 10 June 2006.
Mon-Sat 7.15pm no performance 29 May Mat 20, 27 May 3, 10 June 2.30pm.
Captioned 10 June 2.30pm.
Pre-show talk 16 May 6.15pm.
Runs 2hr 50min One interval.
TICKETS: 0845 120 7511.
www.barbican.org.uk (reduced booking fee online).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 5 May at Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry.
One of Jacobean theatre’s finest tragedies receives one of its finest productions.
‘One of the world’s 10 Greatest Theatre Companies’ says Cheek by Jowl’s publicity. And this outstanding production’s strong enough to bear a stylistic intrusion from another of the Top 10, St Petersburg’s Maly, with which C by J director Declan Donnellan has worked.
As the pretend madmen who are rival lovers for the asylum-keeper’s young wife in William Rowley’s subplot (it comically parallels Thomas Middleton’s psychologically acute main story) approach each other in a dance, their knives out, the scene suddenly transforms to the chorus of inmates entertaining wedding-guests, dancing to comically jerky music round the still, scarlet-throated figure of the murder victim who should have been the bridegroom. This stylised moment is pure Maly, yet integrated fully into Donnellan’s purposeful production.
Donnellan plays the main story darkly, individual lights sculpting the characters’ search for sexual satisfaction, switching to a blaze of white for the asylum scenes. This scheme fits thematically (‘outside’ psychologies actually darker than the madhouse) while absorbing the contrast between the two authors’ sophistication and simplicity.
The stage is nearly bare, its main feature a built-out door emphasising entrances and exits in a play where secrecy and discovery are paramount. Actors enter in formal modern-dress, carrying red plastic chairs. It’s not just this company’s ensemble style. At the end, the actors repopulate the space with the same seats as a bedraggled crew. Initial order has been subverted by the havoc passions have wrought.
Religion is also subverted. Beatrice Joanna first sees her new love in church, amid muttered prayers, while the second half begins with candles and incense celebrating her wedding. The groom doesn’t know he’s replacing a murdered man; his bride has already being seduced (and, here, explicitly raped) by her servant De Flores.
Olivia Williams’ Beatrice is a straight-backed, well brought-up girl, her thin-toned voice betraying her inexperience, developing into a fearful wife and sophisticated accomplice. Will Keen’s De Flores is ruthless in his fiercely-controlled passion and the Iago-like plausible efficiency amid which he contrives murders.
There’s grotesquery as he hacks off a victim’s finger. Donnellan reflects it in De Flores own death. It’s typical of the way this taut, concentrated production illuminates Middleton’s compelling psychological drama.
Alsemero: Tom Hiddleston.
Jasperino: Jotham Annan.
Beatrice Joanna: Olivia Williams.
De Flores: Will Keen.
Vermandero: David Collings.
Diaphanta: Jennifer Kidd.
Alibius: Jim Hooper.
Lollio: Tobias Beer.
Antonio: Phil Cheadle.
Pedro/Franciscus: Philip McGinley.
Alonzo de Piracquo: Laurence Spellman.
Tomazo de Piracquo: Clifford Samuel.
Isabella: Jodie McNee.
Director: Declan Donnellan.
Associate Director/Movement: Jane Gibson.
Designer: Nick Ormerod.
Lighting: Judith Greenwood.
Sound: Gregory Clarke.
Music: Catherine Jayes.
Voice work: Patsy Rodenburg.
Fight directors: Terry King, Paul Benzing.
Assistant director: Owen Horsley.
2006-05-08 15:53:36