Am always attracted to plays that are shrouded in controversy and Brimstone & Treacle is certainly one of those. Written for television by Dennis Potter in 1976, it was ten years before it was broadcast. At the time the director of programming described it as "brilliantly written and made but nauseating". A rewritten version for the stage was performed in 1977.
Thirty-six years of de-sensitising later and Brimstone still shocks or at least one particular scene does. There was a perceptible shift in the atmosphere in theatre from warm enjoyment and mirth to an awkward, stiff incredulity at what was unfolding on the stage. The silence couldn't have been more complete if everyone had held their breath.
Up until then there had been a good dose of humour, albeit with sinister undertones. Martin Taylor (Rupert Friend) ingratiates his way into the home of Mr and Mrs Bates (Ian Redford and Tessa Peake-Jones) claiming to have been in love with their daughter Pattie (Mattie Houghton) - still in love in fact. Pattie was hit by a car two years earlier and lies bed bound, twitching involuntary and unable to speak.
Martin oozes charm, is polite, helpful and says all the right things but sly asides, sometimes just a look straight at the audience, exposes a wolf beneath the sheep's clothing. Is he just a fraudster casing the joint for valuables or is there something more sinister in his attentions?
Mrs Bates is completely won over as he starts to give her an escape route from her labourious carer and house wife routine but conservative, National Front-leaning Mr Bates is sceptical.
But Brimstone isn't merely about goodies and baddies, Potter twists the morals so that wolves become sheep and sheep become wolves raising questions about when a wrong overpowers a right, a right overpowers a wrong.
This 90 minute piece packs punch. Potter described it as his best work and it is brilliantly written. The cast are uniformly superb - indeed it is a treat to see such a quality production in such a tiny venue, a venue incidentally that works very well at creating the claustrophobic, closeted atmosphere of the Bates's home.
I'm going to give it four and a half stars. It runs at the Arcola's studio space until June 2 and I saw a preview performance.
RS/BW 6DS
There are a couple of second degree links which leap out, firstly Rupert Friend was in Young Victoria, as was Miranda Richardson who appeared on stage at the Royal Court with Mr Whishaw for a reading of the Carol Churchill play Ice Cream. (Like that one as I don't think I've used Ice Cream before.)
And Ian Redford was in The Devil's Whore which starred Andrea Riseborough who was in The Pride with Mr W.
This was a preview screening at BAFTA and I wanted to get a few thoughts down while it's fresh - notes from post screening Q&A with Ben Whishaw (Richard), Rory Kinnear (Bolingbroke), Rupert Goold (director) and Pippa Harris (producer) will follow on tomorrow (and here they are).
First of the tetralogy which starts with Richard II then Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and Henry V which will be broadcast on BBC 2 in the summer - think Richard is scheduled for July.
Done in traditional dress and shot entirely location so has an earthy, natural, visceral feel to it.
Ben's Richard is effete and delicate, not quite as petulant or spoilt as I thought he might play it, more an indulged poet. There are homoerotic hints in the way he touches a painting of a semi naked St Sebastian, his body language around his favourites and the way he caresses Bolingbroke but it isn't overblown.
Richard also has a pet monkey which works as a great device for distracting the King at important moments (more on the monkey and why it's in there in the Q&A).
Religious metaphors are stamped throughout with the painting of St Sebastian being painted for Richard in early scene. It is an image the replicated later in the story. Richard also appears at Flint Castle flanked by images of angels.
He's dressed throughout almost entirely in white with some gold and yellow, gradually stripped of his fine clothes as he edges closer to his downfall and finally dressed in a loin cloth. Wasn't sure about the cave-like setting of the prison or the loin cloth - felt like it was taking the religious metaphor a bit too far, especially as he's still Royalty and supposed to be in the Tower. Or maybe I was just sitting there thinking, he must be freezing!
Goold certainly makes the most of the setting, isolating Richard with just three others on a vast empty beach when he returns to England, beautifully emphasising the weakness and delicacy of his position and power. It also makes it easier for Whishaw to lose his serene composure as he stumbles through the sea in his long gowns.
Rory Kinnear's Bolingbroke is strong but gentler than others portrayals, he seems visibly nervous about what he is doing - and shocked at times - as if he is being coerced into more than the return of his lands. He nonetheless succeeds in being a commanding presence, an essential ingredient in understanding how he can attract enough support to so easily depose a king.
Patrick Steward and David Suchet are naturally superb as Gaunt and York adding a regal weight as acting royalty should.
Overall it is a stunning production although I do think some of the cinematography feels a little forced at times - 'we are doing it for the telly therefore we can and will' or maybe it's the editing? Just felt a little bit too noticeable at times.
The play has been hacked back (think Goold says there is about third left!) and what you are left with is its core without feeling like any meaning has been lost. It also means that the actors get to take their time over the words which, incidently, are delivered with such great clarity you forget it is 16th century dialogue.
It is an effecting and interesting take on the play and I can't wait to see it again. Mr Whishaw certainly didn't disappoint - yes he made me cry - in a role that I've wanted him to take on for a while.
There was an official photographer at the Q&A so will link to the pictures as and when they appear online.
PS Have to mention Harry Haddon-Paton's wig, he plays Green, and it just looks wrong, almost comic, I kept expecting him to crack a joke.
Confess that one of the reasons for booking to see Tender Napalm at the Southwark Playhouse when it is revived in the summer was the chance to see Jack Gordon (who looks like a young Clive Owen) in the white vest again. But then I found out that it has a new cast and again, a confession, my immediate reaction was a little disappointment.
Tender Napalm is a very physical play. Gordon and Vinette Robinson ran around the oblong shaped stage, filling it despite being only two in number. It felt muscular, solid, strong as well as tender. Funny that.
Tom Byam Shaw is playing the Man this time around and the last part I saw him take on was Ariel in The Tempest opposite Ralph Fiennes' Prospero. He played Ariel brilliantly (pictured right). There was a delicacy and gracefulness to his form. Add in the make up and hair and there was a femininity. It is this image that was in my head which added to my initial reaction to hearing he'd been cast in Tender Napalm - will the play work with, well, less muscle I suppose?
But now I've got over the Gordon/vest disappointment, I'm curious in the same way I'm curious about seeing what a younger actor playing Richard (Jonjo O'Neill at Stratford) in Richard III does for the play.
By nature we are drawn to the familiar and yes I'd like to see the Tender Napalm that so wowed me again but I'm looking forward to be wowed, but in a different way, all over again.
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