TOM THUMB THE GREAT. To 30 January.
London
THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TOM THUMB THE GREAT
or THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES
by Henry Fielding
Rosemary Branch Theatre To 30 January 2005
Tue-Sat 8pm Sun 6pm
Runs 1hr 15min No interval
TICKETS; 02 7704 6665
Review: Timothy Ramsden 25 January
Oh lofty Tragedy, how art thou fallen when H. Fielding gets his nib in thee?I suppose it would be too much to expect the National Theatre to trouble itself about this fine example of 18th century burlesque by a major novelist of his day. The nearest they've ever come to it is The Critic, Sheridan's attack on playhouse portentousness. Yet Tom Thumb the Great has similarities too to the National's modern shocker, Jerry Springer: the Opera.
Fielding's use of Shakespearean phrases to pepper his dialogue comes close to J.S.'s assaults on characters from Holy Writ. And heroic tragedy grandiloquent, bombastic, self-exalting - gets a similar come-uppance to trash TV, all the way to a final multiple death-scene that makes Hamlet look genteelly restrained.
With a giantess, magician and musical maidens (Anna Delchev's Princess and Susan Cazenove's Servant provide some fine duetting), Fielding's action brings King Arthur and knight errantry onto the streets of London. The anachronism that slaps an Islington Parking fine on a carriage has the spirit dead right.
No open obscenities, maybe, but there is a dark reference to words that might shame old Billingsgate to speak while the Princess is offered relief from the kind of emotional agonies that propel people to the Springer studio-floor so that Thou shalt gnaw thy tender sheets no more.
When it comes to censorship Fielding wins hands down several years after this play his satire The Historical Register brought on 230 years of the Lord Chamberlain's fur-lined jackboot.
Off The Page's production can lack technique in verse-speaking. But there's no denying Ben Bazell's direction conveys Fielding's purpose with high comic spirits and even on this tiny stage manages lively physical action. A fair proportion of this relates to Mansel David's delightful villain, his facial muscles twisting into contortions almost as severe as several of his vowels.
David manages some fine upstaging as an eavesdropping servant in drag, while his death shows him as unwilling to leave life as he has been to quit the stage previously. It's a never-ending demise, his legs seeming to live on after his head's noisily departed his body. A fine end to a delightful performance in a lively, rare, revival.
Scriblerus Secundus: Luke Singer
King Arthur: Ben Bazell
Tom Thumb: Lucy May Constantini
Ghost of Gaffer Thumb/Merlin: Morris Perry
Lord Grizzle: Mansel David
Noodle: Simon Frewin
Doodle/Follower: James McAuley
Bailiff/Parson: Robert Aldous
Queen Dollallolla: Patti Holloway
Princess Huncamunca: Anna Delchev
Glumdulca: Tim Killick
Mustacha: Susan Cazenove
Director/Music: Ben Bazell
Lighting: Toby Koch
Sound: Tim Bazell
Costume: Patti Holloway
Fight director: Simon Mirza
2005-01-27 00:55:45