The Duchess of Malfi, Sam Wanamaker Theatre, 26 Jan 14
Sunday, February 2nd, 2014 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthMy first, but hopefully not last, visit to the Sam Wanamaker Theatre -- the 'indoor' part of the Globe, a faithful copy of a Jacobean playhouse. It felt very small (though apparently seats 340 people) and the intimacy of it was heightened by the candlelight: as in Jacobean times, the production was illuminated entirely by candles, which were lit and extinguished by members of the cast.
At one point in the play, when the Duchess believes she's having a private meeting with her brother who's sworn to 'never see her more' and thus insists on darkness, all the lights went out. This is something I have never experienced in a theatre before (there are usually exit lights, at least) and was tremendously affecting. As was the Duchess's 'echo' -- Gemma Arterton walking around the outside of the gallery, and through the musicians' gallery, seeming to speak from nowhere and everywhere. (The acoustics are great.)
I don't know how much of the music was by Claire van Kampen: there were certainly a couple of pieces that I recognised, but it all blended well together.
Gemma Arterton makes a very good Duchess: sweet and merry. She has, in this role, a serenity I didn't expect: her Duchess isn't as steel-spined as Eve Best's at the Old Vic a couple of years ago, but instead highlights the youth and optimism of the character.
Sean Gilder (Bosola) was a satisfying counterpoint -- a rough soldier who's initially happy to do his master's dirty work, but grows more compassionate as he recognises the humanity and innocence of his victim. James Garnon (the Cardinal) had a gliding malevolence, though he reminded me of Tony Stark (it was the beard). And David Dawson as the Duke was creepy, unsettling and quite definitely mad.
I'd forgotten how many animal similes there are in this play. Leverets and elephants, dogs and dogfish, badgers and wolves, salmon and salamanders ... And gosh, the innuendo. If the simile isn't about animals it's likely sexual. Hmm, don't remember that from my A-level studies.
At one point in the play, when the Duchess believes she's having a private meeting with her brother who's sworn to 'never see her more' and thus insists on darkness, all the lights went out. This is something I have never experienced in a theatre before (there are usually exit lights, at least) and was tremendously affecting. As was the Duchess's 'echo' -- Gemma Arterton walking around the outside of the gallery, and through the musicians' gallery, seeming to speak from nowhere and everywhere. (The acoustics are great.)
I don't know how much of the music was by Claire van Kampen: there were certainly a couple of pieces that I recognised, but it all blended well together.
Gemma Arterton makes a very good Duchess: sweet and merry. She has, in this role, a serenity I didn't expect: her Duchess isn't as steel-spined as Eve Best's at the Old Vic a couple of years ago, but instead highlights the youth and optimism of the character.
Sean Gilder (Bosola) was a satisfying counterpoint -- a rough soldier who's initially happy to do his master's dirty work, but grows more compassionate as he recognises the humanity and innocence of his victim. James Garnon (the Cardinal) had a gliding malevolence, though he reminded me of Tony Stark (it was the beard). And David Dawson as the Duke was creepy, unsettling and quite definitely mad.
I'd forgotten how many animal similes there are in this play. Leverets and elephants, dogs and dogfish, badgers and wolves, salmon and salamanders ... And gosh, the innuendo. If the simile isn't about animals it's likely sexual. Hmm, don't remember that from my A-level studies.
