THE INVENTION OF LOVE. To 26 March.

Salisbury

THE INVENTION OF LOVE
by Tom Stoppard

Salisbury Playhouse To 26 March 2005
Mons-Weds 7.30 p.m. Thur-Sats 8.00 p.m. Mat March 12th, 17th, 19th, 24th at 2.30 p.m.
Audio-described 24 March
BSL Signed 22nd March
Runs 2hr 56min One Interval

TICKETS: 01722 32033
www.salisburyplayhouse.com
Review Mark Courtice: 10th March 2005

Big stage full of big ideas. A.E. Housman is famous for poetry - A Shropshire Lad - but his greatest distinction was as a Latin scholar. His keenness for things classical included an unconsummated interest in the Greeks' enthusiasm of love between men.

This play is at its best about his hopeless love for sporty hero Jackson, for whom Housman would have laid down his life if only fate had given him an opportunity. In his case he does the academic equivalent - failing his degree so he could work in the office next door, sharing a flat and the journey to work.

Housman lived in exciting times - Ruskin invented art criticism, W. T. Stead invented tabloid journalism, Walter Pater invented the aesthete, and a corrosive mixture of grasping politico Henry Labouchere, Marquess of Queensbury, and Oscar Wilde invented homosexuality as a crime.

All appear here, while Housman admits he was at home while this was going on, working to become a professor of Latin, nominated by those whom he had savaged in his criticism. Housman's biography gives Stoppard an opportunity to explore big ideas, although repetition makes some of it feel like a lecture-cum-history lesson.

Richard Beecham's production gives this mixture of the personal and political the best of chances; there is energetic croquet, boats on the Styx and the Thames, and the lectures are vigorously pushed along. The only reservation might be that the script has sly jokes (often academic bitchery) and these sometimes get lost.

Salisbury's stage is filled by both the work and the setting. Liz Cooke's dynamic set uses Kevin Scott's watery projections to create atmosphere. The lighting is subtle and precise. Matthew Bugg's effective sound helps hugely.

Of the company of 13 actors many are terrific, especially Jonathan Newth and Timothy Kightley in the senior common room. Of the juniors Clive Standen and Edward Bennett bring energy and thoughtfulness to attractive performances. The play has two time lines that meet in the middle, so Christopher Ravenscroft's Housman waiting to cross the Styx meets his younger self (Robin Laing). In their sensitive and well matched performances a whole character is created.

A.E. Housman: Christopher Ravenscroft
Charon/Chairman of Selection Committee: Donald McBride
Young Housman: Robin Laing
Alfred William Pollard: Edward Bennett
Moses John Jackson: Clive Standen
Mark Pattison/John Percival Postgate/Vice Chancellor: Timothy Kightley
Walter Pater/Frank Harris: Peter Shorey
Balliol Student/Chamberlain: Oliver Senton
John Ruskin/Henry Labouchere: Malcolm Rennie
Benjamin Jowett/W.T. Stead: Jonathan Newth
Robinson Ellis/Jerome K. Jerome: Duncan Law
Katharine Housman: Nia Gwynne
Bunthorne/Wilde: Luke Shaw

Director: Richard Beecham
Designer: Liz Cooke
Lighting: Simon Macer-Wright
Sound, Music, Movement: Matthew Bugg
Assistant director: Paul Gilbert

2005-03-13 02:33:14