Post by joem on Mar 11, 2018 10:53:48 GMT
Auden and Isherwood's anti-war satire is rarely performed, as are any of their collaborations, even though it was the most successful of their three plays (I've always preferred the more organised “The Ascent of F6” with it's tragic George Malloryesque hero climbing for fame. Well produced and acted as this is, you can see why it is neglected.
Parts of the play were an enjoyable romp, but much of it is over-indulgent, overdrawn and sprawling. An almost psychedelic quest (launched from a sleepy English village) involving a man and a dog trying to find another man in order to marry his sister..... all this and lots of music-hall inspired music and doggerel too. Eventually ending up in a central European Ruritania complete with spies, evil businessmen, dodgy royalty and sleazy nightclubs all leading to a pacifist expose of the entire edifice. Methinks the writers protested too much: the ideology underpinning this was a Stalinist doctrine of equivalence between Nazi Germany and its opponents – which soon vanished when the tanks crossed into the Soviet Union
I guess Cressida Bonas takes the acting prize here for her well-judged comic performance as Francis (the eponymous dog) but it has to be said the whole cast get stuck in with commendable zest and energy.
Kudos to the technical team for creating such an effective staging - including a stage within the stage - in the Jermyn's small space. Productions at the Jermyn have been getting increasingly imaginative and slick, in technical terms, and this is no exception. Scene changes and props come and go with seamless efficiency.
A relic of its time and of the blind alley which verse drama has (largely) proved to be in modern times.
Parts of the play were an enjoyable romp, but much of it is over-indulgent, overdrawn and sprawling. An almost psychedelic quest (launched from a sleepy English village) involving a man and a dog trying to find another man in order to marry his sister..... all this and lots of music-hall inspired music and doggerel too. Eventually ending up in a central European Ruritania complete with spies, evil businessmen, dodgy royalty and sleazy nightclubs all leading to a pacifist expose of the entire edifice. Methinks the writers protested too much: the ideology underpinning this was a Stalinist doctrine of equivalence between Nazi Germany and its opponents – which soon vanished when the tanks crossed into the Soviet Union
I guess Cressida Bonas takes the acting prize here for her well-judged comic performance as Francis (the eponymous dog) but it has to be said the whole cast get stuck in with commendable zest and energy.
Kudos to the technical team for creating such an effective staging - including a stage within the stage - in the Jermyn's small space. Productions at the Jermyn have been getting increasingly imaginative and slick, in technical terms, and this is no exception. Scene changes and props come and go with seamless efficiency.
A relic of its time and of the blind alley which verse drama has (largely) proved to be in modern times.
