THE CIRCLE. To 4 October.
Chichester/Tour.
THE CIRCLE
by Somerset Maugham.
Chichester Festival Theatre In rep to 29 August
then tour to 4 October 2008.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat 13, 21, 23, 28, 29 Aug 2pm.
Audio-described 22 Aug, 29 Aug 7.30pm.
BSL Signed 21 Aug 7.30pm.
Runs 2hr 15min One interval.
TICKETS: 01243 781312.
www.cft.org.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 9 August.
A well-rounded Circle.
In a year that’s seen revivals of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and, twice, The Lady from the Sea, Somerset Maugham’s The Circle has a rich dramatic context. Though the English writer can’t match the Norwegian’s searching psychological examination of choice within a marriage, he creates fascinating intrigue, holding the outcome open till the very end.
In a sense it’s closer to Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan. Both show a young woman preparing to leave her marriage, as did her mother, and abscond to the continent with a lover.
Jonathan Church’s revival, on a shinily elegant yet cold drawing-room set from Simon Higlett, its only colour the distant garden’s ordered green with an ornamental cupola, allows both options to display their advantages when the old rovers return. As the husband deserted years before, David Yelland is immaculate, self-possessed maturity while the lover, Philip Voss’s Lord Porteous, is a raddled, petty individual clearly regretting the career he gave up for Susan Hampshire’s Kitty.
At least, Porteous is like this as long as it suits Maugham. As the older flyaways persuade young Elizabeth not to make the same mistake their youthful affection seems rekindled. And while Clive is beautifully self-controlled, he’s not had the messiness, or satisfactions, of a real relationship over the years.
There’s contrasting freshness in both Charity Wakefield’s Elizabeth and Bertie Carvel’s Edward Luton, who at least earns his own living, which suggests they might survive better than their elders if they break for freedom. Maugham’s writing may strain at Luton’s final appeal to his love, but the contrast between him and Richard Lintern’s study of stuffed-shirt dullness as Elizabeth’s husband is telling.
Maugham sees that the ultimate power is economic; not bad for 1921 mainstream theatre, if without the daily reality Ibsen indicates in A Doll’s House. The set, the servants, the routine all show what the young people would be missing, yet also indicate why such comfortable formality is enemy to human feelings. Voss and Hampshire, with her self-composed froideur until the most private moments, make clear the up- and down-sides of living together in this finely-spun revival.
Arnold Champion-Cheney: Richard Lintern.
Footman: Adam Redmayne.
Lady Shenstone: Anna Farnworth.
Elizabeth: Charity Wakefield.
Edward Luton: Bertie Carvel.
Clive Champion-Cheney: David Yelland.
Butler: Jack Power.
Lady Catherine Champion-Cheney: Susan Hampshire.
Lord Porteous: Philip Voss.
Director: Jonathan Church.
Designer: Simon Higlett.
Lighting: Howard Harrison.
Sound: Mike Keniger.
Music: Matthew Scott.
Assistant director: Ed Viney.
Assistant designer: Geraldine Bunzl.
2008-08-16 08:27:13