Very loosely based on The Revenger's Tragedy by Thomas Middleton.
This was possibly the weirdest play I have ever sat through. In over 40 years of theatre-going I have, quite naturally, seen my fair share of the strange and bizarre; but last night's offering goes straight to the number 1 slot.
It was an extremely free adaptation of Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, performed by the Belgium company, FAST ASBL, and both me and my companion last night endured a 75 minute onslaught, not of Middleton's work, but of different images and sketches of rape, death, revenge, rape, tragedy and rape; oh, and did I mention rape; and how rape was presented by Middleton., and what his, or possibly their, attitudes to rape were / are. Or at least I THINK that was the message behind the piece. If I am completely honest, then I am not really sure.
When the piece was over I turned to my companion and simply asked, "What have we just seen?!", and I really hope he won't mind my quoting him, but what he said was something I don't think I would have ever have come up with myself...." A post-modernist deconstruction of a Jacobean drama." Thank you for that lovely phrase. I think it really fit what we saw, because perhaps not only due to its accuracy, but also its clinical precision with no emotional connection. There was something of that on stage too. A certain clinical unrealness and lack of emotional connection either with themselves or the audience.
Let me try and explain....
It was a company of 5 performers who, at the beginning of their presentation sat down around metal tables at the front of the stage and first explained who they were and where they were from; The USA, France, Belgium, Italy and Spain; a multi-national cast. They then proceeded to give a brief history of The Revenger's Tragedy and a summary of the plot. Once they started telling the story, two or three of the actors would perform little vignettes to either clarify or demonstrate the narration. This seemed like a good idea, and although the style was very European and experimental and not a theatrical style Brits are accustomed to, it was easy enough to follow. Then it started to get dark; very dark indeed. This format stopped and for the remaining half of the production it became a verbal and visual onslaught on rape. Rape, of course being prevalent as one of the main themes in Middleton's work.
Again I am uncertain as to whose viewpoints they were referencing; however, they were rather misogynistic and sexist, and didn't sit well with today's audiences, with what must certainly be the best (if that's the right word to use here) quote from the play being, "She had passed her use-by date for rape a long time ago."
To compound matters, some of the dialogue was difficult to follow. First no-one used mics, except for one small section at the end, when the loud noise used to accompany the scene was deafeningly loud, and no-one projected their voices really sufficiently, and so I was constantly straining to hear, especially in the quieter parts. Further, one of the main narrators, the lady from Belgium, had a rather strange accent when speaking English; and third, the Italian actor chose to perform most of his speeches in Italian!
To quote this presentation one more time; "If I had to summarise The Revenger's Tragedy in two words, I would say, 'revenge' and 'tragedy'". If I had to summarise what I saw last night in only two words I would have to say 'bizarre' and 'foreign'.; and judging from the audience numbers and reaction last night - there were less than 50 with some leaving half-way through - I don't think I am too far off the mark.
Reviewer: Mark Dee
Reviewed: 19th November 2015
