Tag Archives: Steve Gregson

Cancelling Socrates

Cancelling Socrates

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Jermyn Street Theatre

Cancelling Socrates

Jermyn Street Theatre

Reviewed – 7th June 2022

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β€œLittler and his team never disappoint in what they achieve in one of the most challenging theatre spaces in London”

 

Cancelling Socrates, just opened at the Jermyn Street Theatre, will please fans of Howard Brenton, one of the powerhouses of British playwriting of the last fifty years. The play may seem a departure from Brenton’s usual concerns. But then we think of Pravda, (written with David Hare) which engages with similar themes of promoting troublesome ideas to a wider public. In that con-text, a play about a long dead philosopher doesn’t seem like such an outlier in the Brenton canon.

Cancelling Socrates is about one of the most famous events in the history of western philosophyβ€”the trial and execution of Athens’ leading philosopher. Socrates was a notable gadfly and β€œcorrupter of the young” as his critics described him. Cancelling Socrates has all the hallmarks of Brenton’s craftβ€”engaging dialogue, liberally sprinkled with witty one linersβ€”and a plot that features extraordinary characters, dealing with fallout from forces greater than themselves. Brenton has always had a nice line in satirical edginess that can highlight a tragic situation while prompting an audience to laughter. But whereas the characters in Pravda have to deal with unscrupulous media barons, Cancelling Socrates has merely to deal with unscrupulous gods, and Athenian citizens tired of being stung into thinking for themselves. Right from the start, you know the arguments our eponymous hero marshals in his defence, are not going to end well.

This premiere production, directed by Tom Littler, and starring Jonathan Hyde as Socrates, places us directly in the philosophical fray of Athens in 399 BC. The limited space available at the Jermyn Theatre is once again utilized to clever effect, (set design by Isabella van Braeckel). In addition to the stylized Greek pillars and friezes, there are signs in both English and Greek available on stage for those patrons needing the toilets, and the sparse set actually gives a sense of spaciousness, which Littler and his cast use well. Cancelling Socrates opens with a blend of English and Greek until we are all settled down, and ready to engage with some philosophical wordplay (mercifully all in English.) Robert Mountford, who plays both Socrates’ friend Euthyphro in the first half, and the Goaler in the second, is an engaging foil for Hyde’s Socrates. Euthyphro is firmly on Team Socrates, but even he is begging for mercy by the end of a run in with the great man over what constitutes holy and unholy acts. It’s a nice set up for what follows.

Those who remember the pathos of Socrates’ death from Plato’s description in the Phaedo should not expect a similar effect in Cancelling Socrates. Brenton sets up the wit perhaps too well, so that the moment of drinking hemlock seems like whimsy, rather than tragedy. Even the presence of compelling characters such as Aspasia (Sophie Ward) and Xanthippe (Hannah Morrish) never quite shift the emphasis from the domestic to the civic. The trial takes place off stage, which doesn’t help. There is much talk of the gods, and the daemons that allegedly prompt Socrates into the acts that doom him. These arguments might not resonate much with a modern audience, even though Brenton reminds us that 5th century Athens was in a similar state of turmoil to 21st century London. It’s a tenuous connection, at best.

Nevertheless, time passes very pleasantly with Cancelling Socrates. Littler and his team never disappoint in what they achieve in one of the most challenging theatre spaces in London. The Jermyn Street Theatre is always warm and welcoming. This play is not a date night show, perhaps, unless you are both philosophers. But it’s provocative, and yes, even family, entertainment. You should definitely take up the opportunity to corrupt your own young.

 

Reviewed by Dominica Plummer

Photography by Steve Gregson

 


Cancelling Socrates

Jermyn Street Theatre until 2nd July

 

Previously reviewed at this venue:
This Beautiful Future | β˜…β˜…β˜… | August 2021
Footfalls and Rockaby | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | November 2021
The Tempest | β˜…β˜…β˜… | November 2021
Orlando | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | May 2022

 

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Til Death Do Us Part

Til Death Do Us Part

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Theatre503

Til Death Do Us Part

Til Death Do Us Part

Theatre503

Reviewed – 10th May 2022

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β€œa quite remarkable feat of theatre making all round”

 

If you could go back in time, what would you do? What would you change?

It is an over familiar and well-worn question. The subject of many late-night rambling discussions, and a theme in many more dramas on stage and on screen. So, another play in which the characters frequently ask one another the question suggests a claggy hour and a half of yawn stifling.

But don’t be fooled. Safaa Benson-Effiom’s debut full-length play approaches the question in a wonderfully fresh and deeply harrowing way. Partly because, although a leitmotif, it is secondary to the narrative; unanswered and pushed into a corner by the distressing circumstances and events that spearhead the action. β€œTil Death Do Us Part” is essentially a drama about love and relationships and what happens when they fracture. We don’t always have the language to express the pain and grief that is felt.

After fifteen years of marriage, Daniel (Richard Holt) and Sylvia (Danielle KassaratΓ©) find themselves simultaneously drifting apart and trapped together. They are a fairly normal couple, with fairly normal lives and a teenage son (Jude Chinchen) from whom they think the darker undercurrents of their marriage are hidden. When faced with their worst nightmare the couple are forced to confront the years of unspoken resentment. Unarmed, except for the rapier-like honesty which cuts to the surface, they fight their common demons alone.

Benson-Effiom plays with time. We are, at once, in the present and the past but the text yields no confusion under Justina Kehinde’s extremely slick direction that creates a world where memories and ghosts are one and the same. Tom Foskett-Barnes’ ominously evocative sound design lends touches of the supernatural, although we are still firmly rooted in reality. It is a quite remarkable feat of theatre making all round.

But at the forefront are the performances. Holt and KassaratΓ© dress their characters in more layers than you can count. Both of them unpredictable, they seize the danger inherent in Benson-Effiom’s writing. The portrayal of their heartache, loss, failure, regrets and fears are as blistering as the sparks that fly between them. Chinchen’s Andrew is equally mesmerising as the schoolboy, all smiles and effervescence concealing invisible cracks, playing his parents off each other right through to the tragic climax. In a novel twist the climax precedes the build-up, which paradoxically intensifies each.

The exploration of grief and blame is profound but not heavy handed. A short line of dialogue is enough to convey a decade of emotion. We live in a society where platitudes abound that try to make sense of the chaos that extreme loss wreaks. This insightful production makes them flesh. A riveting, must-see ninety minutes of theatre. If you can see beyond the trigger warnings, Safaa Benson-Effiom is a name to look out for.

 

Reviewed by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Steve Gregson

 


Til Death Do Us Part

Theatre503 until 21st May

 

Previously reviewed this year by Jonathan:
Freud’s Last Session | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | King’s Head Theatre | January 2022
A Level Playing Field | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | Riverside Studios | February 2022
An Evening Without Kate Bush | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | Soho Theatre | February 2022
Steve | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | Seven Dials Playhouse | February 2022
The Devil’s in the Chair | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | Riverside Studios | February 2022
Us | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | White Bear Theatre | February 2022
The Straw Chair | β˜…β˜…β˜… | Finborough Theatre | April 2022
The Silent Woman | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | White Bear Theatre | April 2022
The End of the Night | β˜…β˜… | Park Theatre | May 2022
Orlando | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | Jermyn Street Theatre | May 2022
The Man Behind the Mask | β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… | Churchill Theatre | May 2022

 

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