“an attempt to add a modern twist to this play felt half-hearted”
Wrap up warm, pick up a mulled wine with your tickets and readily accept as many of the fleece blankets on offer as you can. This venue is chilly! Unfolds Theatre brings one of Shakespeare’s earliest comedies to the historic setting of the Rose Playhouse.
The King of Navarre and his two companions undertake a pact to renounce all female company for three years and devote themselves to their studies. However, three years turns out to be more like three minutes when the devilish Princess of France arrives with her two mischievous friends. Quickly they captivate the men with their quick wit and flirtatious behaviour. The play follows the usual path of Shakespeare’s comedies with a string of misdirections, mistaken identity and cross wires, ensuring chaos follows.
Notable performances come from Joshua Jewkes playing a slightly smarmy Berowne. Angus Castle-Doughty plays the character of the hapless, clumsy suitor with great comic timing alongside Jordan Leigh-Harris as the impressionable Maria who is the object of his affections.
The subplot, centred around Don Armado lacks any real oomph and doesn’t add anything to the performance. In fact it actually detracts from the main plot and I felt lost during these sections.
There is an attempt to add a modern twist to this play but I felt that this was half-hearted as this is achieved through costume only and I feel they could have gone much further and embraced the 1940s Hollywood glamour theme to greater effect. Perhaps this was a drawback of the venue and development of this theme was hindered by the lack of set? I would have been unaware that this was meant to be set in a 1940s film studio until I read the programme.
Falters occasionally, but all in all an enjoyable seventy five minutes of playful fun from a group of emerging, talented actors.
“The multi-rolling aspect of the cast can turn into periods of ‘accent bingo’”
The Rose Playhouse naturally lends its atmosphere to any show that takes place inside. The architecture’s mix of preserved history alongside modern fittings coincides nicely with Alex Pearson’s production of Macbeth. The collision of Shakespeare’s text within a contemporary setting could draw clear parallels to the world of today, but the mix does not quite blend together.
The text has been cut to seventy minutes and hits each plot point with relative smoothness. After a glorious victory in battle, Macbeth encounters three beings whose prophecies will set him to a bloody path aspiring to take the throne. One of Shakespeare’s shortest plays, ruthlessly cut we do however lose some of the depth in characterisation. Motivations can seem unclear when the aims of characters drastically turn in a matter of minutes, and this confusion could be avoided with a few restorations.
Pearson’s minimal production washes the production in a loose modern day concept that never becomes clear. At times the architecture is used effectively, complimented by David Palmer utilising back lights to create some interesting silhouettes. It is a shame that not all the theatre is used as well, and for such an atmospheric setting we don’t see enough of it. The multi-rolling aspect of the cast can turn into periods of ‘accent bingo’ in order to differentiate, whereas blocking is functional but can feel clunky, with transitions especially failing to drive the momentum as we reach the closing stages of the play.
The performances of the cast follow the line of not quite managing to soar. Jesse Ayertey’s titular tyrant sparks into life the rage and ambition, but lacks the vulnerability to entice the audience to care. Esther Shanson’s Lady Macbeth similarly plays lines with real insight but seems lost in other passages. It is the supporting performances where we are really able to invest, with a sympathetic and clear Macduff from Jack Spencer and Parys Jordon drawing a range of strong characterisations. But alongside a bland setting and a patronisingly misjudged Porter, they are not enough to save matters at hand.
When you enter, the Rose Playhouse feels as though it has the potential to deliver something special for a company, lending it a feel that few other venues can. But this Macbeth fails either to play the text with enough conviction to stand on its own feet or to use the venue confidently enough to compensate.
