THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES

Tangram Theatre at the Cramphorn

19.02.11

Full title: The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection or the Survival of [R]Evolutionary Theories in the face of Scientific and Ecclesiastical Objections: being a musical comedy about Charles Darwin [1809-1882].

Despite the beard, this Charles Darwin is a shy, fresh-faced academic, more like the Shrewsbury schoolboy than the Great Scientist he was to become.

We discover him trying to work at his cluttered desk – microscope, daguerreotype of his Emma, barnacle – distracted by Handel and latecomers.

With genial diffidence and energetic enthusiasm, he persuaded us to be finches, specimens and the general postal service. John Hinton, who wrote and performed this “musical comedy”, happily sings his greatest hit to his own guitar, juggles with spiders and confronts creationism “in the medium of metaphorical mime”. A tennis match.

A dialogue about dolphins magically managed to convince us that there were two actors here, losing the words and collapsing into comedic chaos. Genius. As was his cameo characterization of his family – his irascible father, his cousins, his uncle Josiah Wedgwood, spaced-out pot-meister – the bible-bashing captain of the Beagle, the pipe-smoking Galapagos governor, and everyone else.

And the show ended all too soon with the Descent of Man – Darwin morphing into a mischievous monkey, meddling with the Victorian paraphernalia and taking candy from the front row.

This quirky, accessible piece, directed by Daniel Goldman, clearly appealed to all the generations in the audience. It successfully kept us guessing, and laughing, as it sketched the great man's life, career and lasting importance.