Theatre
Some of you may have had the misfortune of studying this play at GCSE. For those (like myself ) who did not, it is a conversation-based period piece set during the First World War. It examines the relationships of a group of British officers who are more concerned about public school notions of honour and decency than about extricating themselves from their comparatively comfortable position.
The dedication to duty of the officer class and their culpability in the pointless slaughter of millions of men is not the only incongruity in this supposedly anti-war classic. The directorial tack of Puwanarajah seems to be at odds with his statement of intent. The tale, as told, falls short of being 'stark', 'brutal' or 'gritty' - it certainly is not 'more guts and less polish'. Indeed, the high production values are one of the few things going for this play. Thje trench settign is well rendered and atmospheric if somewhat contrived.
Of the actors, Andrew Humphrey (Osbourne) is the most impressive, teasing out a considered and restrained performance from his supporting role. This is indicative of the skewed focus of the play. The contrast between Stanhope (Richard Godwin), the hardened senior officer and Raleigh (Quintin Fraser ) his fresh faced and innocent former school friend, should have been accentuated. Godwin acts forcefully but struggles when his character becomes angry. Fraser is obviously suited to the role of the na•ve ex-public school boy but he cannot escape the frustrating and his character's inexplicable enthusiasm.
Christopher Hampton's first play (first performed at the Oxford New Writing festival) is a confusing play ; it does not seem quite sure as to what it wants to be. A simple story of two flatmates living in a sixties bedsit it seems determined to tackle some major issues in a fairly understated manner; Ian sleeping with Jimmy's mum is an event which occurs with little more drama than their arguments over baked beans. To add to the confusion the play falls between several stools - it's not entirely serious : Ian is expected to produce pithy withnail-esque one liners but comes across rather as toothless teenager. This is not to say that the play doesn't have potential, from the preview it seemed entirely possible the cast were labouring under severe hangovers. I'm not sure where the fault quite lies : the casting ? Possibly the direction needed something more but rather I feel it is the script - which seems caught out by the number of tight, taut dramas which have been running this season.
Andy Bull
A story of ambition, deceit, and crime, the News of the World depicts the perilous world of newspaper journalism. Written by undergraduate Roland Lloyd Parry (Vincent and Ginger), this three-person play takes place in an apartment kitchen belonging to small-time journo Gary (Will Hayes), who lives there with his best friend Craig and girlfriend Gemma. From a desperate want of recognition, him and Craig concoct a genius plan; they invent hilarious crimes ( such as letting the monkeys out of the zoo to rampage around town) for Gary to write about, and then get Craig to commit them. Although successful at first, Gary and Craig must ultimately assess the relative importance of career advancement over his personal relationships.
A scintillating critique of the journalism world, Parry's ideas behind the script are appropriate for an audience that is all too conscious of the power of the media. The action almost entirely takes place as reported speech in the kitchen, and the liveliness of the writing prevents any tedium from this relative immobility. Unfortunately it does at times turn into a competition of how many swear words you can fit into a sentence but the play does have a lot more to say than a comic portrayal of the 'lads'. In fact, a play that portrays in full the futility of working-class life and the danger of ambition is a somewhat precarious subject for three Oxford students, but they execute it fairly well (apart from the odd accent flounder). The on-stage relationships are at times a bit awkward and this does take the attention away from the script, although only sporadically. Overall, the innovative ideas behind the script translate into an adequately performed, good play.
Andy Bull
Depicting the wrath of Prospero's storm has plagued directors since The Tempest's first Globe performance in 1611. While most have fallen back on hackneyed sonic rumblings or momentous visual effects, Ashish Ghadiali's production has commissioned Tom Foster-Carter to compose a piece of expressionist jazz. Foster-Carter's music, varying between minimalist, free and more contemporary swung styles, captures the storm's turbulence and majesty while also establishing the island's magic as a celebratory play of cultures. Within the self-contained island created in the New College Cloisters, the Jacobean masque so essential to Shakespeare's text is replaced by a contemporary post-modern equivalent. Interrogating the questions of subjugation deeply imbedded within Shakespeare's text, Ghadiali has made Foster-Carter's music a metaphor for freedom itself, a force constantly warring against the tyrannical grip of those wishing to wield it arbitrarily.
Within Ghadiali's contemporary masque, Ariel becomes the physical embodiment of Foster-Carter's music. Ebulliently elastic, Jessica Coleman, delivers a performance whose physicality perfectly captures the revelry with which she engages in her magic, while maintaining the scarred consciousness
of the subjugated slave. Meanwhile, Caliban provides a haggard foil. Deprived of any and all means of self-expression, Conor McKee correctly infuses his bowed and servile beast with touches of aching humanity, thus forcing the audience to see that monsters are often constructions of power.
Gradually, all of Ghadiali's characters become defined according to their relationship to the music. As Foster-Carter's notes work like puppet strings, Ferdinand (Stuart Clayton) and Miranda (Alexandra Clarke) fall dreamily under their spell. Meanwhile, Serge Cartwright's Trinculo and Allistair Sooke's Stephano engage in inspired jocosity that playfully threatens to spin the production off into pure farce. Lording over all this is Edward Franklin's stern and domineering Prospero. His performance anchors the production, emphasising that cold reason lurks behind the turbulence of cultural and physical play.
While Trinity term offers a myriad of seemingly identical outdoor shows, Ghadiali has refreshingly chosen to offer the over-stressed among us something eclectic and inventive. In his hands, the cloisters are no mere backdrop, but an environment whose beauty and spatial depth are exploited so as to ultimately fashion a general impression of magic and wonder. After weeks of revising dried up old texts, isn't it about time we saw someone inject one of them with a shot of new life?
Paul Matthews
The inevitable summer flood of outdoor Shakespeare productions has arrived, and the well tried and tested formula of sitting in the balmy summer dusk buoyed up upon a tide of words that reach the ears with a certain kind of dreamy indistinctiveness similar to the sound of cricket balls on a lazy summer afternoon still has the potential to provide a magical and memorable experience. Macbeth, as one of Shakespeare's most popular and accessible plays is as likely as any to recreate this feeling. And yet, along with other works such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, its position as a core text for concentrated GCSE or A-level study means that a high proportion of the audience will be familiar with and have ready formed conceptions of the text. This familiarity -and this is why these plays are so much more sensitive and difficult to stage than their less well known counterparts- has the potential to manifest itself in a comfortable and traditional production. From the preview this looks to be what is on offer from Festival Productions, but competently, if conventionally, directed and for the most part performed it promises to be an enjoyable and not too demanding experience.
Richard Pettigrew initially looks somewhat incongruous as a fresh faced and blonde Macbeth, but the moment he begins to speak his aptitude for the Shakespearean language removes all doubt about the perspicacity of those who cast him.
His partner Lady Macbeth is stunning in scarlet and gold, and refreshingly (for what appears to be a fairly straight production in period costume) is played to highlight the insecurities rather than the latent power of her position as an ambitious woman whose only way to make her mark in a world dominated by the repetitive and ritualised battle politics of her male contemporaries is through subterfuge and manipulation of her sexuality.
The outdoor location and clement weather serve only enhance the pleasure of the Shakespearean experience, but it is difficult not to have reservations about the production's utilisation of the resources that the outdoor location presents to them. The director's selection of what seems to be the area of Oriel's grounds that most resembles the specifications of a stage somewhat limits the ability of the cast to make the most out of the extra level of immediacy that an outside staging can effect as they enter stage right, exit stage left. Certainly the location of Macbeth does not make the most of the potential of Oxford college buildings to provide a gloriously gothic atmosphere, in fact, when The Tempest is being put on in New College Cloisters, the introduction of a set to create a battlemented air almost seems ungrateful.
1st Jun 2001