The Birds
The Birds
Merton College Chapel, 20th - 22nd April
‘Musical’, ‘physical’, ‘reinterpretation’ and ‘Aristophanes’.
Is philistinism or a healthy mistrust born of experience the source of my trepidation whenever these words can be attached to a piece of theatre? If ever a single production could answer this question then surely it is Ed Hughes’s reinterpretation of Aristophanes’ ‘The Birds’, a Knickerbocker Glory of a play that attempts to layer contemporary political comment on top of classical satirical comedy on top of a musical score topped with dance.
The effect is little more than a dickey tummy, although I suppose the play is less punishing on the waist line than the pudding. The avian protagonists are costumed in pashminas and feathered masks which have all the lurid stickiness of a glacier cherry, albeit one that has been squashed by a toddler and coated in PVA glue. In fairness the cast make a bold stab at birdlike physicality in the opening scenes but this soon gives way to a more humanised form of high camp.
The score, despite being excellently sung throughout, sadly descends from morning chorus to rush-hour racket, supposedly demonstrating that the birds have become corrupted by the megalomania of man. What a shame that the point this production makes most clear is that a good piece of classical writing can be corrupted with relative ease by the whims of modern theatre.
20th Apr 2006