VENICE PRESERVED. To 11 October.

Glasgow

VENICE PRESERVED
by Thomas Otway

Citizens' Theatre To 11 October 20034
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat 4 October 3pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS: 0141 429 0022
www.citz.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 27 September

Vivid, intelligent revival of a rarely-seen minor classic.More regime change on the Scottish stage in the year nearly every one of the country's major producing theatres go under new artistic direction. Just as Edinburgh Royal Lyceum's new artistic director opens with the 'successful' revolution of Julius Caesar, the near-outgoing Philip Prowse, after some 30 years in the Citizens' team, mounts Otway's late 17th century verse tragedy of a coup that didn't come off.

Like so many stories of the pre-cinema theatre, a colourful setting spices up an old theme, like love v duty or friendship, idealism v jealousy etc.

Here, Jaffeir, the 'divided soul', joins a conspiracy to overthrow a corrupt establishment, the Doge-dominated Senate, but reveals all to these powers-that-be when Tam Dean Burn's corrupt conspirator (aptly named, as he motors the plot) sexually assaults Jaffeir's chaste Belvidera, daughter to senator Priuli.

In so doing Jaffeir condemns the conspirators, demanding 22 friends not be hanged. But his closest friend Pierre accepts no mercy - 'This vile world and I have long been jangling' says the idealist-malcontent, preferring death to compromise.

Not one to see his friend die and live on, Jaffeir, 'Tottering on the very brink of peace', ends his friend's life, saving him from death by the state, and then his own. Prowse emphasises their final bid for freedom, escaping the state's authority over their lives, by staging their death pact on the wheel which would otherwise have been used to torture Pierre.

His production's presented on a gorgeously apt stage, built over the front stalls rows to allow a depth suggestive of Venetian canals - watery light laps upwards, backed by towering candles. These points of light amid the dark makes for a visually apt setting. Three doorways retreat upstage to allow a sense of Venetian bridges, or approach the audience for the huddled space where the conspirators meet. This Venice is a place of secrets and surprises, intensified by sudden entries from the auditorium aisles.

And a couple of mirrored boudoir panels lower in for the most surprising scenes, where Pierre's lover, the courtesan Aqualina is visited by Brendan Hooper's masochistic senator, unable to distringuish between the rough treatment which he craves at great expense, and her new over-riding loathing for him as the rebellion approaches.

His is a taste the Senate knows well, as becomes clear when his rhetorically blustering speech in her defence is curtly interrupted by fellow politicians. And the corruption behind the public image is neatly pointed as Hooper's stripped, ready for whipping or whatever, as he practises - trousers round his ankles - his speech on the virtue of hanging the rebels.

Gerry Jenkinson's lighting complements Prowse's setting with a sudden switch to cool marine lighting for the later conspiracy and punishment scenes.

Prowse has gathered a cast that's a roll-call of Citizens' regulars over the years. Greg Hicks' Jaffeir mercifully eschews this actor's tendency to metallic rat-a-tat delivery. Hicks' timing is superb. The mind can always be seen working intelligently, from the moment he's brought to a sudden pause in his quick argument with Pierre, whose logic leads Jaffeir to the surprising conclusion armed rebellion's a necessity.

Simon Dutton gives an intelligent account of Pierre's dialogue, though it's limited both by its rapidity and a low-key informality that doesn't bring out the full flavour of Otway's verse style.

The contrast between the two women in these friends' lives couldn't be clearer - Sophie Ward white and virginally direct in manner, Victoria Scarborough in deep-coloured dress and tigerishly fierce.

Venice doesn't get Preserved that often in the British theatre - there was a strong revival at the National Theatre in London a number of years ago. This is a markedly fine outing for the play, too - exciting and intelligent. If it turns out to be this director's final show at the Citizens', it'll also be a good one with which to preserve the memory of his long, influential time in Glasgow.

Priuli: Stephen MacDonald
Jaffeir: Greg Hicks
Pierre: Simon Dutton
Belvidera: Sophie Ward
Aquilina: Victoria Scarborough
Antonio: Brendan Hooper
Renault: Tam Dean Burn
Bedamore: Derwent Watson
Elliot: John Jack
Spinoza: Garry Collins
Theodore: Mark Scott Melville
Duke of Venice: Leonard Kavanagh
Officer: Pete Ashmore
Priest: Martin Docherty
Maid to Aqualina: Joanna Tope

Director/Designer: Philip Prowse
Lighting: GerryJenkinson

2003-09-28 21:53:30