TINTIN.
Nottingham/Touring.
TINTIN
by Hergé adapted by David Greig and Rufus Norris.
Young Vic tour.
Runs: 2hr One interval.
Review: Alan Geary: 25 September 2007 at Theatre Rohyal Nottingham.
A miraculous production for young and old.
Director Rufus Norris gives the evening pace, ensuring that the stage adaptation moves as rapidly as Hergé’s original. There are good fights too. On top of all this some excellent musical numbers are thrown in.
Unusually for a Tintin story - this is very faithful to the original - there’s a large supernatural element: it begins with a dream sequence, which functions as a visual overture to give us an idea of what’s in store. Even Snowy the dog has a dream, which provides an excuse for one of the best song and dance breaks.
All sorts of locations are brilliantly conjured-up with a minimum of fuss. It isn’t just a matter of the very clever set from Ian Macneil - at one point, what has hitherto been a horizontal surface becomes a vertical cliff over which Snowy has fallen - but the cast create a multitude of illusions by straightforward deployment of acting and mime technique.
Matthew Parrish, with plus-fours and quiff, and his almost crazed insistence that his friend Chang is still alive, is beautifully cast as Tintin. So is Stephen Finegold, as Captain Haddock. Snowy is played by a real dog at both start and finish; for most of the time Miltos Yerolemou does the job, very well. And all the characters familiar from the books are here: Thomson and Thompson, Professor Calculus, Nestor, Madame Castafiori, etc.
Since each scene is uncannily like a frame from the original cartoon story, the basic comic-book colours match the elemental racial and national stereotypes for which Hergé is these days criticised (unfairly, because he was simply a man of his time), and which are honestly portrayed here.
The only error in this show is to have too much of the Yeti in the closing scene. So long as the furry fellow is an unseen suggestion he’s a frightening menace; but once you’re accustomed to him he’s just a man padding up and down in an uncomfortable-looking monkey-suit. It’s a mundane note on which to end what is, in almost every other respect, a miraculous production.
This often ingenious Young Vic touring production can be appreciated at a number of levels. It isn’t a show just for the children, although they will certainly enjoy it.
Thomson: Jeremy Barlow.
Castafiori/Mrs Rama: Nicola Blackwell.
Lowly Porter: Anil Desai.
Mr Rama: Neil D’Souza.
Captain Haddock: Stephen Finegold.
Chang: Nina Kwok.
Blessed Lightning: Steven Lim.
Yeti: Daniel Llewelyn-Williams.
Calculus: David Newman.
Tintin: Matthew Parish.
Thompson: Dominic Rouse.
Tharkey: Dai Tabuchi.
Grand Abbott/Nestor: Daniel Tuite.
Snowy: Miltos Yerolemou.
Director: Rufus Norris.
Designer: Ian Macneil.
Lighting: Rick Fisher.
Music: Orlando Gough.
2007-09-28 08:43:08