TRAVESTIES
Tower
Theatre
Company
at the Bridewell Theatre
07.04.15
for Remote Goat
Stoppard
has been muttering recently about having to dumb down his latest play
to help the audience understand it.
Lucky
it's only Philosophy
of Mind
this time – forty years ago, in Travesties, the punters needed a
working knowledge, inter
alia,
of James Joyce, the Savoy Operas, Lenin's role in the Bolshevik
revolution, Wilde's Importance, the
poetry of Dada
and Gallagher
and Shean
from the Music Hall.
I
think we coped well on the first night. True, we didn't
guffaw at the Post Hock pun; even the aleatorily obscene Sonnet 18
failed
to raise much of a titter.
But
this
unlikely tale of expats in 1917 Switzerland
kept us entertained for a couple of intellectually stimulating and
frequently hilarious hours.
The
set [Michael
Bettell],
with its twin doors and tasteful dove grey/old rose décor,
comfortably housed the public library, the drawing room, and a modest
escritoire for Carr of the Consulate as he re-drafted his fallible
memoir of the Zurich he knew.
That
marathon role was shared by Bob Hough as the elderly autobiographer –
just the right tone, just gaga enough – and Dom Ward, excellent as
the sartorially impeccable young fop. His delivery of the Wildean wit
was pin-sharp, his debate about art and flying [with Alan Madrell's
equally assured Tzara] was a high point of the production. Sean
McMullan brought energy and a polished accent to the role of James
Joyce, while
Adrian Calvo-Valderrama was an imposing Lenin, a compelling orator.
A
strong supporting cast included Lisa Castle's
superb Cecily [the
simultaneous translation a particular delight],
Sacha Walker's sympathetic Mrs Lenin, Camilla
Fox's Gwendolen, and
Robert Irvine's unbending Bennett, walking forward to lecture us on
Russian politics as
Henry scoffed cucumber sandwiches on the chaise
longue.
The
time-slips, a crucial part of Stoppard's vision, were here done by
the older Carr scratching out, or tearing up, one draft after another
of his reminiscences.
The
piece is stuffed with allusions and throwaway gags. “I'm finding
this conversation hard to follow,” was a sentiment shared by many,
I guess. “It may be nonsense,
but at least it's clever nonsense,” the only possible reply.
production photograph by Ruth Anthony
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