THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN. To 25 February.
Sheffield
THE ROMANS IN BRITAIN
by Howard Brenton
Crucible Theatre To 25 February 2006
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat 22, 25 Feb 2.30pm
Audio-described/BSL Signed/Post-show Talkback 23 Feb
Runs 2hr 35min One interval
TICKETS: 0114 249 6000
www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 February
What Sheffield has done for The Romans.
One scene made Howard Brenton’s 1980 epic the best-known play (or title) in modern British drama. Played here with tactfully concealing water, the anal rape of a Druid by an invading Roman soldier is only one of multiple cruelties inflicted between, and sometimes within, early communities. Before the Romans arrive, theft, murder and sacrifice have already blotted the pure green of Ralph Koltai’s set, loomed over by the trunk of a huge fallen tree (the dead weight of history lying across the living world?).
The difference with the Roman involvement is that Julius Caesar’s on hand to punish inefficient commanders who allow politically inconvenient assaults to happen. Tom Mannion’s Caesar is exemplary in his strategic sense of command, his coldness and self-discipline with his toothache. Merely sighting him as a tank commander in the act’s eventual time-switch enforces the might of military command.
But after the interval Brenton goes all over the place (and between various periods), piling up similar incidents of violence, aggression and defiance. Only the last minutes, with the desertion of a ravaged lady who retains dreams of empire glory and the quiet, magical end where history turns into myth, add anything new. Before that, the monotone of dialogue and subject is merely monotonous.
Yet the restrictions of style and subject that made the epic plays of Brenton and his fellow playwrights seem a dangerous way ahead in the seventies now provide their strongest suit. In an age of personal pursuits and small-scale intimacy, the large, loud social montages of plays like this are as liberating as they were once limiting.
So, this revival’s well worth a look, despite the play’s shortcomings. And Samuel West has assembled a fine cast, where characters with long silent presences make their mark, while, in a 2nd act contrast to the assured Caesar, Guy Williams copes manfully with a rare type of character for this play. His undercover British officer among militant Irish republicans presents a divided self, belief in his mission evaporating before our very eyes. This isn’t Brenton’s strong suit but Williams successfully presents the imperial mission sputtering out.
Viridio/Standard Bearer/Corporal: Kolade Agboke
3rd Soldier/Prefect/Northern Irish Soldier/Irishman: Christian Bradley
Conlag/O’Rourke: Louis Dempsey
Daui/Guard/Villager/Irishman: Damien Kearney
34 Village Man/1st Soldier/Northern Irish Soldier/Saxon: Daniel Llewelyn-Williams
Julius Caesar/Steward: Tom Mannion
2nd Village Woman/Morgana: Leah Muller
4th Village Man/Primus Pilus/Cai: Raad Rawi
Slave/Corda: Laura Rees
Brac/Punishment Squad/Villager/2nd Cook: Mark Rice-Oxley
2nd Envoy/2nd Soldier/Northern Irish Soldier/Priest: Jonah Russell
1st Village Woman/Irish Woman: Rachel Sanders
Mother/Adona: Judith Scott
Marban/Maitland: Dan Stevens
1st Envoy/Legate/1st Cook: Dickon Tyrell
2nd Village Man/Asinus/Thomas Chichester: Guy Williams
1st Village Man/Punishment Squad/Northern Irish Soldier/Villager: Matthew Wilson
Soldiers: Ian Curran, David Miller, Alistair Reith, Marc Whalley
Deerhounds: Jed, Swift
Director: Samuel West
Designer: Ralph Koltai
Lighting: Peter Mumford
Sound: Gareth Fry
Composer: Jason Carr
Costume: Peter McKintosh
Movement: Michael Ashcroft
Dialect coach: Julia Wilson-Dickson
Fight director: Daniel Llewelyn-Williams
Assistant director: Ellie Jones
Assistant designer: Maria Sole Cortese
2006-02-22 00:17:18