SHAKESPEARE IN
LOVE
at
the Noel Coward Theatre
16.07.14
Too
much Shakespeare ? Too much love ? Lee Hall's light-touch reworking
of the original Stoppard/Norman screenplay gets the balance about
right, with plenty of sly references to the Bard and his works, but a
strong [and vaguely Shakespearean] romantic intrigue between young
Will and the tomboy Viola de Lesseps [Lucy
Briggs-Owen].
The
setting [Nick
Ormerod] is
heavy wooden galleries, based loosely on Henslowe's Rose. Three
levels,
a wooden stage floor, and a mobile central section which lets us
shift in an instant from backstage to front of house, from bedroom to
bawdyhouse.
Some
moments work very well: the opening writer's block [“Shall I
compare thee to a … mummers' play”], or Kit Marlowe [David Oakes]
prompting the amorous Will [Tom Bateman] like Cyrano from the shadows
beneath the balcony. Our
conviction that Marlowe was the genius behind the Stratford man is
gently nurtured throughout.
In
Declan Donnellan's warm-hearted production there's
much music, perhaps too heavily amplified – especially that
strident alto – witty dialogue and courtly dancing [sometimes
simultaneously], cross-dressing,
a
trap-door, a delightful dog
and
some superb performances from the huge company: Alistair Petrie's
blustering Wessex, Anna Carteret's virgin Queen, David Ganly's
“pedlar
of bombast”
Burbage [of Blessed memory], Abigail McKern's Nurse and Paul
Chahidi's harassed Henslowe.
Everyone's
favourite moments from the film are preserved, of course – the
boatman [Thomas Padden] and young Webster [Colin Ryan] his role much
enhanced here.
The
ending, with the stage of the Curtain expanded to fill the space, is
magical, as the doomed
love
story, and Shakespeare's writing career, are ingeniously entwined.
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