THE GOOD SOUL OF SZECHUAN to June 28 2008
London.
THE GOOD SOUL OF SZECHUAN
by Bertold Brecht translated by David Harrower.
Young Vic Theatre. The Cut, London, SE1 8LZ To 28 June 2008.
Mon - Sat 7.30pm Mat Wed and Sat 2.30pm.
Runs 2hr 50min One interval.
TICKETS: 0207 922 2922.
www.youngvic.org
Review: Geoff Ambler 14 May 2008.
Can the truly moral not become hostage to evil? The Young Vic discusses.
This rarely revived version of Brecht’s famous parable on why adopting a moral life dedicated to goodness to others is at odds with being good to yourself in a corrupt world, is heavy in political theory but although the text was written during his political exile from Nazi Germany it is also a magnificently beguiling tale of a woman cursed with a gift from the gods.
Three gods tour the land searching for good souls, greeted and worshipped by lowly Wang they are led to Shen Te, a prostitute who never says no to anyone. Being a good soul she allows the gods to stay and is rewarded with money which she uses to buy a tobacco shop where her troubles begin. Beset by new 'friends' abusing her good nature, she relies on her alter-ego gangster cousin Shui Ta to deal with those praying on her. With Shen Te’s altruism at odds with Shui Ta’s capitalism, Wang stirs up Szechuan to deal with the interloper.
Adam Gillen as Wang roams the industrial set with the factory workers as the audience enter the auditorium across the stage, greeted by an overpowering fug of sawdust and damp wood. Wonderfully miserable and devout as the beggar-come-water seller, he delights with his downcast veneration to his gods and his friend.
Jane Horrocks as Shen Te uses much more than a costume and drop in vocal pitch to become Shui Ta. Shen Tu is welcoming goodliness, the other pitiless, the epitome of the extreme capitalist; Shui Ta’s move to heroin-seller cements this. Horrocks' presence on stage is always a delight and her battle between the two extremes Brecht sees as necessary for her own self preservation, is compelling.
Heaped with substance, it is the style that seems slightly off-balance on entry. The set, rather than suggesting a poverty-stricken industrial area, instead imbues it with a sense of incompleteness, bare plywood dominates and metal lockers making up both the cement factory and the doors on the streets of Szechuan.
Director Richard Jones continues to innovate and the Young Vic continues to push boundaries.
God 3: Steven Beard.
Mrs Shin: Linda Dobell.
Policeman/Priest: Gareth Farr.
Wang: Adam Gillen.
Carpenter/Mr Shu Fu: Shiv Grewal.
Shen Te/Shui Ta: Jane Horrocks.
Boy: Merveille Lukeba.
Yang Sun: John Marquez.
Agent: Sam O’Mahony-Adams.
Nephew: David Osmond.
God 1: Susan Porrett.
Wife: Sophie Russell.
Mrs Mitzu/Mrs Yang: Liza Sadovy.
Father: Tom Silburn.
God 2: Michele Wade.
Director: Richard Jones.
Designer: Miriam Buether.
Lighting: Paule Constable.
Sound/Music: David Sawyer.
Piano/Musical Director: David Osmond.
Costume: Nicky Gillibrand.
2008-05-22 02:31:26