THE GRAND INQUISITOR.

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THE GRAND INQUISITOR
from The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoievski adapted by Marie Hélène Estienne
Runs 1hr No interval
Review Hazel Brown 15 March at Nuffield Theatre Southampton

Stillness and intellectual argument distilled into a fascinating hour of theatre.
The opportunity to see a Peter Brook production comes rarely and, even though this lasted only one hour and consisted of a one actor speaking to another who is totally silent, and still, it was an intellectual argument distilled to make an hour of fascinating theatre.

Bruce Myers, the Grand Inquisitor, stole quietly onto the stage to set the scene dressed in a long black coat – painting a portrait in words of Seville during the Inquisition, where he had sent one hundred heretics the previous day to their death in flames. However, a young man came onto the streets and started performing miracles. Instead of welcoming him as the returned Messiah, the Grand Inquisitor imprisoned him. The man arrives on stage and sits on a stool in his cell, waiting.

The Inquisitor arrives in the prison to question the young man, pausing at the threshold of the slightly raised square in the middle of the stage under a stark white light, staring at the young man and asking: “Is it you?” Then, after a slight pause, asking in disbelief, “You?”

The Grand Inquisitor cannot understand why Christ has come to disturb this world before the proper time and then analyses the three temptations of Christ, what he should have said and what his answers meant. Myers articulates the arguments clearly and menacingly, prowling the stage, moving through crescendos and diminuendos of argument and disbelief. He exhorts the young man to be angry, declaring, “I don’t want your love, I don’t love you!” He phrases the speeches like a brilliant operatic performer, moving with a grace that belies his years and in the end tries to provoke the young man into a response by threatening to burn him as a heretic the next day. The only response is a kiss.

An hour in the theatre I would not have missed.

The Grand Inquisitor: Bruce Myers

Director: Peter Brook
Lighting: Philippe Vialatte

2006-03-31 16:17:59