MARTIN GUERRE
The Old Vic
★★★
“The performances are uniformly strong and the singing quite magical and moving”
They say that a musical is never truly finished. Any form of dramatic entertainment will change through workshops, regional runs, transfers and previews, but a musical work will often reappear years later with radical changes, cuts, additions and rewrites. Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s “Martin Guerre” was first staged in 1996 and has since been through many revisions. The current revival has brought Annabel Mutale and Paul Hodge on board contributing new lyrics, with the formidable director and writer Matthew Warchus lending his capable hands to reshape the material. It is a much shorter, and more pared down, theatrical performance from the creators’ most famous spectacle – ‘Les Misérables’ – but there are hints of the extravaganza it could become with the jostling crowd scenes, ensemble flag waving, dramatic orchestral sound and historical French setting (even though the accents seem to be running around the Yorkshire Moors somewhere).
Played in the round, there appears to be a lot going on. But if you pick away at the flesh, the bones of the story beneath are quite brittle. Martin Guerre is chosen for an arranged marriage to Bertrande but is bizarrely driven out of town by mob rule for failing to sleep with his wife (she doesn’t fare much better either). Martin seeks solace on the battlefield for seven years before returning to a hero’s welcome. But all is not what – or more crucially who – it seems to be. Set in the 16th century and inspired by true events, there are elements of witchcraft, lynch law, superstition and patriarchy in a male dominated society. The current iteration of the show, however, shifts more focus onto Bertrande, placing her more firmly in the spotlight. Liv Andrusier is a spirited Bertrande who seems to know much more than she is letting on. In more ways than one, the husband who returns to her seven years later is not the man he used to be, but we never really discover how complicit Bertrande is to the story’s central premise of stolen identity.
To those unfamiliar with the narrative, much of the opening twenty minutes can be bewildering and not a little confusing. Not enough time seems to be spent on building the characterisation, which makes for a less compelling experience. Sung through, some of the lyrics are lost in the mix during the ensemble numbers, yet when the lead performers break into the solo numbers, the effect is quite magnificent. ‘Someday’ is a highlight, demonstrating Andrusier’s powerful yet wistful voice. The band, under Matthew Jackson’s musical direction, drive the musical throughout at a steady pace, with elements of folk and madrigal cutting through Tom Curran’s lush orchestration.
But overall, there is little to grasp onto emotionally, despite pockets that do bring us to the edge of our seat; particularly the moment when Bertrande, presented with a ‘Sophie’s Choice’ kind of dilemma, has to decide, and prove to the court, who her husband truly is. The programme credits two of the cast (Alex James-Hatton and Shane O’Riordan) to the role of Martin Guerre, but in the course of the evening we learn otherwise. Meanwhile, Barney Wilkinson’s Guillame tries to be one step ahead as the jealous villain of the piece whereas it is, in fact, Colin Ryan’s village idiot – Benoit – who really has the answers.
The performances are uniformly strong and the singing quite magical and moving. Yet the dramatic and symphonic presentation doesn’t hide the fact we leave with unanswered questions. At just ninety minutes, motivation and context get short shrift. We need more individual connection and background to understand better why the villagers behave the way they do. It is gripping in its own way, but it is neither epic, nor does it quite have the intimacy of a love story. For a show that deals principally with identity, it is still in search of its own (which is the main crux of this semi-staged, preview production). With Schönberg’s quite beautiful score the solution can’t be far away. But as they say: a musical is never truly finished.
MARTIN GUERRE
The Old Vic
Reviewed on 20th October 2026
by Jonathan Evans
Photography by Helen Maybanks
