When the Bristol Old Vic surfaced after its last major refurbishment in 1970, the opening production was a gentle Julian Slade musical based on Arthur Wing Pinero’s story of theatrical life Trelawny of the Wells. This time, after a similar two-year closure, the mantle has fallen on this many-layered and aggressive update of Luigi Pirandello’s seminal contribution to the Theatre of the Absurd. How times have changed.
In the original 1921 Pirandello play, the dysfunctional sextet seek redress for being abandoned by their author by gate-crashing a play rehearsal and demanding the actors provide an outlet for their own family tragedy. Here, in this 21st century multimedia version, they invade the editing set of a TV drama documentary on the topical subject of a 14-year-old boy’s assisted suicide. This allows director Rupert Goold and co-adapter Ben Power to load contemporary ethical questions, about mixing real-life television footage with dramatised reconstructions, on to Pirandello’s already complex debate about the nature of art, character and reality.
It is a challenging concept, brought off with some panache. On the downside though, it threatens at times to leave its audience suffering from ideas fatigue, especially during the elongated, and at times brutal, new ending. There is some strong ensemble playing from the large cast, headed by Jack Shepherd as the self-centred and manipulative father, Catherine McCormack as the increasingly fraught producer, newcomer Gina Bramhill as the Lolita-like stepdaughter, and Hazel Holder in fine operatic voice as the diva of a mother.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
Content is copyright © 2012 The Stage Media Company Limited unless otherwise stated.
All RSS feeds are published for personal, non-commercial use. (What’s RSS?)
