THE FEVER. To 2 May.
London.
THE FEVER
by Wallace Shawn.
Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 2 May 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30.
Captioned 24 April.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7565 -5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.co.uk
Review: Carole Woddis 6 April.
Culture-shock for the shockingly cultured.
There could hardly be a more timely play than this, Wallace Shawn exposing the excesses of the West, the haves against the have-nots. It could have been written for last week’s G20 demonstrations.
Yet The Fever was first seen in 1990, in a performance given by Shawn himself in a downtown New York apartment. It must have been a lacerating experience. Shawn points the finger at his own kind, the smart liberal New Yorkers watching him, like us at the Royal Court the other night soaking up `culture’, talking about this latest film, that exhibition, granting ourselves the right to a better life than the man on the pavement hoping for a handout.
Shawn, the son of privilege – his father was editor of the august New Yorker magazine – knew all about growing up cosseted. Yet he’s become one of the US’s most plangent critics, an acclaimed actor as well as writer and playwright.
As such, The Fever is the opening salvo in a retrospective dedicated to him by the Court which will also include screenings of two of his films, staged readings and a revival of his other influential work, Aunt Dan and Lemon.
The Fever makes a suitable launchpad. If there is more of an acting tour de force this year, I’ll be surprised. It’s hard to imagine anyone surpassing Clare Higgins for stamina, never mind pacing and feats of memory as she takes us, on a bare stage, through Shawn’s clinical, forensic examination of self-disgust and gross social inequality.
If there is a fault, it is that Shawn over-eggs the pudding. A graphic metaphor told through the words of a stranger rent asunder by bouts of vomiting as they wake in an unknown, unspecified country, half an hour less would still deliver the argument. Inevitably, in what amounts to a 90 minute lecture, concentration wavers.
All the same, the breadth of world experience Shawn introduces is staggering and in the hands of a performer like Clare Higgins acts as a shocking self-confrontation. You have to be there, pinned in your seat, to feel its full force.
Cast: Clare Higgins.
Director: Dominic Cooke.
Lighting: Jean Kalman.
Sound: David McSeveney.
Costume: Iona Kenrick.
Voice coach: Penny Dyer.
The Fever was first performed in New York in 1990 then at the Royal Court Theatre in 1991 and at the Ambassadors Theatre in 1997.
2009-04-09 00:40:05