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Latest items? Unedited? Fringe Report Uncut
Dido - Queen of Carthage
Verdict: Flat evening with the Gods
London - St Barnabas - 31 May to 24 June 06 - 19:00
The Chapel of the House of St Barnabas, 1, Greek Street, Soho, London W1D
Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe is a tale of betrayed love between Carthaginian Queen Dido and Prince Aeneas, who washes up on her shores after the sack of Troy. All the roles are played by a cast of 6 (4M, 2F).
It's a promenade performance. The audience is led throughout the building to be divided up, sung to, fondled, fed and abused. The realm of the cruel and decadent Greek gods, saturated with boy lovers, incest and jealousies, was inspired in design by the surrounding Soho clubs where men in lipstick sip champagne.
The production ticks every frivolous and experimental box, but there's something a little flat about it. The St Barnabas building - including church, hallway, lounge and bedrooms - is used to its utmost, and the audience engages in banqueting, hunting and becoming Aeneas’ men. Gods appear on rooftops and catwalks; lovers silhouette at windows; people cry out in isolated booths. But despite, or perhaps because of, this, the feeling remains of being in a stolid English residency - where heroes and immortals (in odd bohemian costumes) would not stride about. There is a confusion of style, as tinny music wafts from unseen speakers and Dido garbs herself in anything from oversized plus-fours to the robes of a Middle Eastern sorceress. And only in Soho could warriors and empire founders appear, without irony, in flip flops.
The company does not seem to realise that they do not need to use every gimmick available to hold attention. Nor, when the audience is so close to the scenery as to be actually in it, is it possible to ignore the flaws smoothed over in theatre by good lighting and distance. Designer Simon Plummidge should have clicked that in a 3D, tactile, space it is all too easy to peep behind a big white screen - or to notice that the screen is a sheet recently pulled from someone’s bed. Where they do not try to cover anything up, or make something appear what it is not, where theatrical trickery is at its most obvious, it is at its most effective. Cupid creates a storm by sprinkling water from a Peter Rabbit-style can; a fish tank full of dry ice and Greek temples smokes gently throughout the first scene.
All of these quibbles could be overlooked if the acting was more confident. While Cassandra Friend and Richard Nutter deliver a variety of roles with competence, they need to stop worrying and falling back on clichéd mannerisms. Audience interaction is difficult for the actors – it’s a feat to come back with a witty quip still in character while herding the public from place to place - and with more experience, this part of the show will improve. But there is a sense of self-consciousness in all the cast that leads to restraint - both from them and the audience.
Sadly Sarah Thorne seems so awestruck by the part of Dido that every bit of her body except for an alarmingly contorted face freezes. This usually striking performer (who gripped the stage in KAOS Theatre's Alice and Richard III) whinges and witters her way through the role. It makes it impossible to see what could have attracted so many suitors to her Dido – something which Jake Maskall (Danny Moon in Eastenders) as Aeneas clearly agrees upon. He has perfected the dramatic whine and uses it, along with a tragic look, to avoid any real emotion in his delivery. Even less can be said for James Greaves, who awakes from a mumbling sleepwalk as Jupiter and King Iacchus only long enough to put on a dress and play a randy nanny.
The most absorbing and focused performance comes from Aeneas's son Ascanius, played by a puppet. And puppet handler Jeremy Legat enchants equally as a slightly androgynous yet voluptuous and prettily wicked Cupid.
Some may enjoy this production enormously, perhaps for all the clever bits rather than its power to move. The stilted style occasionally broken by true loveliness is, to an extent, a studied one, honed to create an emptiness which works well in the world of the bored gods - but which turns to mulch when it tries to deal with human passion. For the audience, there is a physical journey, not an emotional one. It leaves behind the feeling of having had a pleasant evening - and wondering if this is enough from a play that finishes in betrayal and tragedy.
Cast Credits: (alpha order): (the cast play various roles including those shown): Cassandra Friend. James Greaves - Jupiter / King Iacchus. Jeremy Legat - Cupid / Ascanius (puppet). Jake Maskall - Aeneas. Richard Nutter. Sarah Thom - Dido.
Company Credits: Writer - Christopher Marlowe (1580-4, first published 1594). Source - Aeneid (Writer Virgil). Director - Rebecca McCutcheon. Designer - Simon Plumridge. Costumes - Alexandra Kharibian. Lighting - Mark Dymock. Sound - Jules Bushell. Press - Martin Shippen. Producers & Creative Developers - angels in the architecture. Artistic Directors - Rebecca McCutcheon, Sarah Thom.
END
(c) Philippa Tatham 2006
reviewed Friday 2 June 06
Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012
www.fringereport.com
