THE SOLDIERS' FORTUNE. To 31 March.
London
THE SOLDIERS’ FORTUNE
by Thomas Otway.
Young Vic Theatre To 31 March 2007.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & 28 Feb, 28 March 2.30pm.
Runs 3hr 5min One interval.
TICKETS: 020 7928 6363.
www.youngvic.org (50p discount).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 22 February.
A moderate Fortune as it turns out.
He only lived into his 30s but Restoration dramatist Thomas Otway wrote both a comedy, in this 1681 play, and a tragedy, (the following year’s Venice Preserv’d), that have endured.
It’s hard to realise what prominent figures soldiers represented through most of English theatre’s existence, though Otway gives his pair a downbeat sense of their peacetime status in London; specifically Covent Garden.
The court, law and middle-class snobbery (an invite from the Lord Mayor helps the plot) co-exist in this entanglement of desires with traditional comic devices like the old man/young wife, city trickery and exploitation of superstitious fears (rather desperate comic engineering here). It all needs focus and unity. Instead, David Lan’s production, while acting as a fine display of the remodelled Young Vic’s staging possibilities, diffuses both action and comedy.
Designer Lizzie Clachan provides a wide-spreading set, with an emblazoned false proscenium-arch prominent near the back. Decoratively gilded, it’s associated with references to royal law, while it’s from the red plush curtains the action begins. But behind it are plain wooden flats, apparently awaiting stage-management’s attentions.
What’s this for, other than a banal appearance-and-reality comment? When the curtains swish open on soldiers Beaugard and Courtine they and their stage-gallant style seems simultaneously distant and exaggerated; another comment on the play’s world, but one little followed-up. Most of the action will take place in front, on steps leading down to a huge forestage. At their bottom are two less-used spaces, a Turkish bath and night-club (home for Lan’s musicians).
The layout upstages most performances, which are sufficient rather than exciting. David Bamber makes his neighbour a Covent Garden Pandarus, with homoerotic links emphasised, but what’s funny at 7.40 has a shelf-life well short of 10.35.
A trio of performances riser higher. Oliver Ford Davies brings a sense of frenzied calculation to his one-eyed cuckold, while Ray Fearon and Kananu Kirimi handle dialogue fluently and bring a sense of moral decision-making. In general, as so often today, there’s a sense of what might have been if the imaginative attention lavished on visual aspects had been given to speaking the speech.
Sir Jolly Jumble: David Bamber.
Lady Dunce: Anne-Marie Duff.
Captain Beaugard: Ray Fearon.
Whore: Kate Feldschreiber.
Sir Davy Dunce: Oliver Ford Davies.
Drawer/Constable: Michael Howcroft.
Vermin: Sam Kenyon.
Sylvia: Kananu Kirimi.
Whore: Lisa Lee Leslie.
Courtine: Alec Newman.
Bloody Bones: James Traherne.
Fourbin: Ben Turner.
Director: David Lan.
Designer: Lizzie Clachan.
Lighting: Rick Fisher.
Sound: Paul Groothuis.
Composer: Tim Sutton.
Choreographer: Alexandra Reynolds.
Costume: Joan Wadge.
Assistant director: Vik Sivalingam.
2007-02-24 10:20:11