Life is a Dream at the Donmar Warehouse November 9, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a commentI wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this one. Wordy seventeenth century Spanish philosophising, in translation, a TV star male lead whom I’d never seen. Expectations, and reviews, were mixed (the Guardian and Telegraph liked it, the Indy was ambivalent).
The first impression is the set, all black with a gold leaf backdrop nearly a map of the world and three concentric rings around a moorish lantern. In the background, Ansuman Biswas sings.
The King of Poland has a son, Sigismundo, whom he has imprisoned from birth, trying to stop the astrological prediction that he will be a cruel king from ever coming true. Meanwhile, Rosaura arrives from Muscovy with her servant Clarion, intent on avenging the slight to her honour given by Alfonso when he promised to marry her then left for Poland to woo Estrella, his cousin and joint heir to the throne. Rosaura and Clarion see Sigismundo in his woodland prison, and are found by his gaoler, who is supposed to execute them. As he is secretly Rosaura’s father, he doesn’t want to, and so takes them to the king. There’s a little of As You Like It’s Rosalind and Touchstone in Rosaura and Clarion, and they stumble through the wilderness.
When the King decides to release Sigismundo and give him a chance to prove the prophecy wrong, Sigismundo fails utterly, killing a courtier and trying to rape Rosaura. The King has him returned to prison, and told that it has all been a dream. Shortly, rebels arrive to free Sigismundo, urging them to lead him against the King. He takes up their offer, war ensues and he wins. Eventually, all are reconciled, and various marriages take place.
Dominic West is a brilliant nearly-sane Sigismundo, from despair and grief at his imprisonment early in the play, through the ferocity of his first time of freedom, to the dignity of the final soliquy.
The question of the play is not plot, who ends up with whom, but the far deeper ones of free will, whether we can rise above destiny and the true nature of life. At first Sigismundo is prisoner of his stars, but later pulls himself onto a path he chooses. Kate Fleetwood’s Rosaura may regret not being more careful what she wished for, and Lloyd Hutchinson’s poor Clarion is just collateral damage.
Helen Edmundsdon’s translation switches from Elizabethan phrasing to modern idiom, making the language easily understood and emphasising the contrast between the chivalrous courtly life of the aristocrats and the more down to earth simplicity of Clarion, the ordinary servant.
I didn’t know, but might have guessed, that these lines of Sigismundo’s soliquy are Spain’s ‘To be, or not to be’:
| Yo sueño que estoy aquí destas prisiones cargado, y soñé que en otro estado más lisonjero me vi. ¿Qué es la vida? Un frenesí. ¿Qué es la vida? Una ilusión, una sombra, una ficción, y el mayor bien es pequeño: que toda la vida es sueño, y los sueños, sueños son. |
I dream that I am here burdened with these imprisonments I dreamed that in another state I saw myself more happy What is life? A frenzy What is life? An illusion, a shadow, a fiction And the greatest good is small: For all life is a dream And the dreams, they are dreams. |
The middle of the front row at the Donmar Warehouse is the best place in the house, though you need to book early to get there. Life is a Dream runs until 28 November, and must be seen.
Ibsen’s The Doll’s House June 8, 2009
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a commentThis isn’t a review, just a few notes. Isn’t that what blogging is supposed tobe?
I was rapt to get tickets to the Donmar’s production of Ibsen’s The Dolls House. With Gillian Anderson starring, its been a sellout for weeks. The view was much better than expected from right up the top, by the side (C44). A bargain at £15, even if I saw Christopher Ecclestone’s back a lot more than his face.
So much of this rings true now, and even the final scene, when Nora leaves her husband (sorry for spoiler, but it is a classic) still packs a tremendous punch. What must it have been like in the late 19th century? Even by today’s standards, Nora is a strong, determined character, and how many of us hang on with arrogant men who think they have property rights?
What’s Christine doing taking back her long-rejected lover, even though he’s a scoundrel and a loser? Compassion for a drowning man? Undoing a deeply regretted decision? Or still just surviving?
This is a very unusual play. I can’t remember the last time I saw a woman in the theatre leave her husband, not for another man, but for herself. Women do it all the time, but its not a story often told. How far have we come in 100 years?
Certainly the theme of debt as a destroyer of homes and peace of mind is a very current one, as is the political intrigue. And secrets, secrets are poison.
Gillian Anderson is well worth the sellout – she’s excellent. And stunningly beautiful. Its a star-studded cast, with Toby Stephens as Thomas, the husband.
They’ve set it in 1909 in London, rather than 1870s Norway, and its a new translation. I’ve not seen it before, so no comparison. It works well in that setting.
Well worth seeing if you get the chance. It plays at the Donmar until 18 July, and there are day seats and standing tickets available.
A Christmas Treat December 31, 2008
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , 2 commentsTo my ten year old eyes, I, Claudius brought ancient Rome to seedy, violent, enthralling life, and imprinted Derek Jacobi in my mind as the stammering, limping Claudius. Since then, I’ve occasionally seen him on TV, but never on the stage.
So to see him in the Michael Grandage’s production of Twelfth Night for the Donmar, as the pompous, tricked and finally rather sad Malvolio was a special Boxing Day treat. After a year of histories, tragedy, and challenging comedy, it is fun to watch a Shakespeare that is just a happy romp.
This is, to quote the West End Whingers, the gender bending one with yellow socks. If you’re not familiar with the plot, the Wikipedia entry describes it well.
Jacobi’s performance is classic physical clowning. As he reads the letter from his boss, the beautiful Olivia, telling him how she fancies him, and wants him to behave, his preening and facepulling had the audience in fits.
Indira Varma as Olivia is a joy to watch as she moved from stern, correct mourner to schoolgirl crush to enthusiastic seducer of Sebastian (who couldn’t believe his luck) though she must be a bit shortsighted to take the voluptuous Victoria Hamilton’s Viola for any sort of boy.
Seat B26 in the dress circle gave an excellent view, although not much legroom. Twelfth Night plays at Wyndham’s Theatre until 7 March 2009.
