Theatre review: 6 Characters in Search of an Author
Even without a certain naked horse-boy dominating Shaftesbury Avenue, the Gielgud is still a pretty imposing theatre.
Rupert Goold's production of Pirandello's postmodern classic Six Characters in Search of an Author is more a reinterpretation of the original than a straightforward translation. Taking as its cue Pirandello's own constant rewriting of the play, Goold and Ben Power's script moves the action from a theatre during rehearsals, to an editing suite as The Producer (Noma Dumezweni) of a docudrama about euthanasia deals with a lack of footage, and the problem of how much reconstruction she can use to fill in the gaps. Into this scene where reality and fiction are already merging come the Six Characters, made up in pale, old-fashioned stage pancake makeup. An extended family straight out of a convoluted melodrama, whose author has given up trying to tell their story - now they want The Producer to take up the reins, and bring their story to life. I've mentioned before seeing stars of Harry Potter or Doctor Who on stage, but here we've got another classic sci-fi sequence represented by the star of five Star Wars movies, including two good ones: IT'S ONLY THE BLOODY EVIL GALACTIC EMPEROR HIMSELF! Ian McDiarmid plays The Father and his energetic, engaging performance is a revelation compared to his most famous role, constricted by George Lucas' preference for hammy performances. As the morally corrupt character he's funny and, later, chilling, as you'd expect from THE BLOODY EVIL GALACTIC EMPEROR HIMSELF. Denise Gough is his nemesis as the abused Step-Daughter and she's very good as the crazed, cackling girl, in the second half rolling around the stage on a single rollerskate.
The first half is good, but it's in the second where the production really becomes something special. Like in last year's Macbeth, this betrays Goold's love for Japanese horror films, as images of static flood the stage and The Producer gets caught up in the nightmare of having allowed The Characters to draw her into their lives. In a very unforced, organic use of multimedia, a single-shot video sequence follows Dumezweni off the stage carrying the dead body of The Boy, in a nightmarish journey around the Gielgud's corridors that turns to comedy as she ends up in the next-door theatre, onstage during a performance of Les Mis. The layers of (un)reality are piled on and on, as the play begins again with a "DVD commentary" by Goold and Power, which is eventually interrupted by the arrival, once again, of the Six Characters, now wanting them to tell their story. There's even more layers after this, and the two adaptors narrowly avoid sinking completely into self-indulgence (a snarky conversation about the numerous celebrity Hamlets coming the West End is perhaps misjudged) but you've got to admire the production's audacity. Rupert Goold is pretty much taking over the West End at the moment what with this, No Man's Land, the upcoming Oliver! and King Lear with Pete Postlethwaite next year. It'll be interesting to see if the increasingly prolific director can keep up this level of originality.
Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello in a version by Rupert Goold and Ben Power is booking until the 8th of November at the Gielgud Theatre.
Rupert Goold's production of Pirandello's postmodern classic Six Characters in Search of an Author is more a reinterpretation of the original than a straightforward translation. Taking as its cue Pirandello's own constant rewriting of the play, Goold and Ben Power's script moves the action from a theatre during rehearsals, to an editing suite as The Producer (Noma Dumezweni) of a docudrama about euthanasia deals with a lack of footage, and the problem of how much reconstruction she can use to fill in the gaps. Into this scene where reality and fiction are already merging come the Six Characters, made up in pale, old-fashioned stage pancake makeup. An extended family straight out of a convoluted melodrama, whose author has given up trying to tell their story - now they want The Producer to take up the reins, and bring their story to life. I've mentioned before seeing stars of Harry Potter or Doctor Who on stage, but here we've got another classic sci-fi sequence represented by the star of five Star Wars movies, including two good ones: IT'S ONLY THE BLOODY EVIL GALACTIC EMPEROR HIMSELF! Ian McDiarmid plays The Father and his energetic, engaging performance is a revelation compared to his most famous role, constricted by George Lucas' preference for hammy performances. As the morally corrupt character he's funny and, later, chilling, as you'd expect from THE BLOODY EVIL GALACTIC EMPEROR HIMSELF. Denise Gough is his nemesis as the abused Step-Daughter and she's very good as the crazed, cackling girl, in the second half rolling around the stage on a single rollerskate.
The first half is good, but it's in the second where the production really becomes something special. Like in last year's Macbeth, this betrays Goold's love for Japanese horror films, as images of static flood the stage and The Producer gets caught up in the nightmare of having allowed The Characters to draw her into their lives. In a very unforced, organic use of multimedia, a single-shot video sequence follows Dumezweni off the stage carrying the dead body of The Boy, in a nightmarish journey around the Gielgud's corridors that turns to comedy as she ends up in the next-door theatre, onstage during a performance of Les Mis. The layers of (un)reality are piled on and on, as the play begins again with a "DVD commentary" by Goold and Power, which is eventually interrupted by the arrival, once again, of the Six Characters, now wanting them to tell their story. There's even more layers after this, and the two adaptors narrowly avoid sinking completely into self-indulgence (a snarky conversation about the numerous celebrity Hamlets coming the West End is perhaps misjudged) but you've got to admire the production's audacity. Rupert Goold is pretty much taking over the West End at the moment what with this, No Man's Land, the upcoming Oliver! and King Lear with Pete Postlethwaite next year. It'll be interesting to see if the increasingly prolific director can keep up this level of originality.
Six Characters in Search of an Author by Luigi Pirandello in a version by Rupert Goold and Ben Power is booking until the 8th of November at the Gielgud Theatre.