Produktion, Regie
Nicola Dahlinger
Kostüme
Jeanette Sendler
Aufnahmen
David Burr
Klang
Mat Clements, David Burr
Performers
Paul Willcox, Michael Jarvis, Bettina Bechgaard, Rob Crouch,Tom Chadwick, Anthony Topham, Bob Mercer
Demarco European Art Fondation, Edinburgh, August 1998
In a white cobweb hammock, Miranda lies curled, waiting to begin her new life now the play is over. But first Prospero must set the scene. An old man, he contemplates life without the book; whether he will sustain his vow. His tone is elegiac. He sees what might have been staring back at what, now, is. The other players wait their cues, glorious and shivering in red and gossamer wings.
W.H. Auden wrote: "Art is not magic, ie a means by which the artist communicates or arouses his feelings in others, but a mirror in which they may become conscious of what their own feelings really are; its proper effect, in fact, is disenchanting." In The Sea and The Mirror he imagines the sequel to The Tempest as an exploration of that disenchantment, of the theatre in relation to the quotidian, of art to reality.
As was pointed out on these pages last week (Owen Dudley Edwards on Christopher Fry), post-war English verse dramas, along with the rather precious and introverted style associated with them, have not stood the test of time. But under the inventive and compelling direction of Nicola Dahlinger, this difficult, dense and fascinating work amply repays the meticulous performances given by a talented cast.
In particular, Paul Willcocks as Caliban, hung about with stinking fish, performs a 45-minute solo tour de force, taking our notions of theatre to pieces and reassembling them with wit and relish. His style is energetic, physical, entirely contemporary. Perhaps Auden would not approve, but the audience surely does.
The design is spare and striking in the suitably stark setting of the Demarco European Art Foundation courtyard. Wear a warm coat and enjoy.
The Scotsman, August 1998 - Leslie Hills