THE MASTER AND MARGARITA. To 1 August.
London
THE MASTER AND MARGARITA
by Mikhail Bulgakov adapted by Blanche McIntyre
Greenwich Playhouse To 1 August 2004
Tue-Sat 7.45pm Sun 4pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval
TICKETS: 020 8858 9256
boxoffice@galleontheatre.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 18 July
A superb series of images, grotesque, surreal and lyrical.About to explode onto Chichester's big stage, Bulgakov's satirical fantasy first fetches up in the confines of this pub theatre, with its long, narrow space. It ought to combine cramped conditions with the compacting of a longish novel to make a painfully tedious evening. In practice, adaptation and production are triumphant. It's a wonderful, exhilarating experience.
And this despite some undoubtedly rough edges in the acting. No matter, when Bulgakov's brilliant reworking of the Faust legend (the heroine's not Margarita for nothing) blazes so forcefully and everything's caught up in a kaleidoscopic whirl that's fast-paced while allowing repose when called for.
For a first moment all seems realistic, as lovely Margarita presents her writer-lover with a cap, calling him Master'. Yet almost at once characters are slipping past, creating the whirl of 1940 Moscow. It's an overcrowded place, where proximity increases the opportunities for tattling to government. No wonder the Master's written about the age of Pontius Pilate, with its supreme state authority that believes it will last forever, its cruelty and betrayal.
Such allegories could only bring denunciations and removal to an asylum. Where he'd stay were it not for Woland, visiting professor in Moscow, in reality' the Devil who stirs up trouble in home and a city theatre, aided by his enforcers, the gangster Azazello and giant black cat Behemoth.
The grand sweep moves easily between Moscow and the Jerusalem of Christ's crucifixion. Blanche McIntyre's production for Left Handed Theatre Company successfully negotiates between the disruptive actions of Woland and crew and brief scenes of repose for the Master and Margarita, in a society where even the Devil can only guarantee them happiness together through death.
The image of Margarita's invisible flight through the Moscow sky is created with fluent ease, as is a Crucifixion tableau, and there is strong work from Ashley Gunstock, relaxed yet tricky in his supernatural authority, Simon Meacock as the diabolic hitman, and especially Ben Bishop's malicious moggy, more hiss than purr, sudden and gleefully in attack.
This is McIntyre's 11th production, and it's something of a calling-card. Await her next visit with keen interest.
Mikhail Berlioz/Arkady Apollonich/Ivan Varenukha/Levi Matvei: Cradeaux Alexander
Ivan Bezdomny/Aloisy Mogarych/Georges Bengalsky/Judas of Kiriath: Tom O' Shea
The Master/Stepan Likhodeev/Yeshua Ha-Nozri: Gordon Fraser
Margarita/Arkafy Appollonich's Wife: Anna Stolli
Arkady Appollonich's Niece/Telegram Woman/Hella/Niza: Laura Penneycard
Baron Maigel/Gregor Rimsky/Pontius Pilate: Ali Amadi
Zheldybin/Woland: Ashley Gunstock
Koroviev/Kaifa: Nicolas Levene
Behemoth/Pilate's Secretary/Afranius: Ben Bishop
Azazello/Ratkiller: Simon Meacock
Director: Blanche McIntyre
Designer: Prav Menon-Johannson
Lighting: Suzanne Wilder
Sound: Douglas McIntyre, Mary McAdam
Music: Nigel Beaham-Powell, Bella Russell
2004-07-19 08:33:09