VERNON GOD LITTLE. To 9 June.
London
VERNON GOD LITTLE
by DBC Pierre adapted by Tanya Ronder
Young Vic To 9 June 2007
Mon – Sat 7.30pm Mat Wed & Sat 2.30pm
Audio-described 2 June 7.30pm
Captioned 24 May
Runs 2hr 30min One interval
TICKETS: 0207 922 2920
www.youngvic.org
Review: Harriet Davis 9 May
A suitably manic adaptation.
DBC Pierre’s Booker Prize-winning black comedy takes careful aim at the (overly large) backside of an American South populated by paedophile psychiatrists, gun-toting maniacs and a familiarly over-zealous media. Vernon Little - whose best friend has just embarked on a killing frenzy – is in trouble. The police suspect him, and his alibi (he was defecating on school property) seems unlikely to do him any favours.
In the wake of the recent Virginia High School Massacre, now is perhaps not the best time for such searing blasphemy; alternatively, in the best of South Park traditions, perhaps now is the perfect time. One can’t help but feel, had the company addressed the task with any less zeal, the sting of Pierre’s cautionary tale would be considerably lessened.
The cast attack the multiple roles with hand-wringing relish; Mark Lockyer – a self-deluding TV repairman – is a strutting, Machiavellian joy; Little’s mother (Joanna Scanlan) is a naïve, hapless creature whose belief in her son extends little beyond her insistence that he smile for the cameras. Add to this a pair of fiendish Mexicans, a near-incoherent Italian lawyer and of course, Little himself (Colin Morgan, striking throughout) and we find ourselves in cartoon America; bigger, sicker, and more sensationalist than ever.
Ian Macneil does fantastic things with the set, and the props are multi-functional. There is a self-revolving living-room, a bar which doubles as a car and – no doubt the winner of the night – four wheeled office chairs masquerading as Mexican police bikes. The rotating metal roof of the set is awe-inspiring, and The Young Vic’s high-ceiling space only contributes to the sense of scale.
If there is a bone to be picked it is with the production’s tendency toward the puerile, which – although entirely in keeping with the tone – does eventually become tiresome. There are, after all, only so many frantic sex scenes and implied hand-jobs an audience can take. Overall though, this is brave stuff; a potent slap in the face of a production.
Betty/Pam: Lorraine Bruce
Abdini/Mr Pelayo: Andrew Clark
Ella/Taylor: Mariah Gale
Lally: Mark Lockyer
Vernon: Colin Morgan
Sheriff Pokorney: Nathan Osgood
Vaine/Leona: Penny Layden/Sian Reeves
Mom: Joanna Scanlan
Lasalle: Ray Shell
Director: Rufus Norris
Designer: Ian Macneil
Lighting: Paule Constable
Sound: Paul Arditti
Video & Projection Design: The Gray Circle
2007-05-15 09:15:17