The war is over; now celebrate. We’ve all seen images of what the end of a war – a real, nation-threatening war – looks like: complete strangers kissing fervently in the street, dancing in the fountains, a general state of euphoria.
Yet a war leaves scars, and pushes aside problems that will now re-emerge. That’s as true in the victorious Sparta as John Ford’s The Broken Heart opens, as it was in Britain in 1944, and so the staging of the play in 1940s dress in a new production at the White Bear Theatre comes to make perfect sense.
With all of its surging hormones and thwarted passions this is a play suited to a mostly young cast, yet it is still a brave project for Secret Centre Theatre to take on with a group of actors just out of drama school.
Yet this is a successful production, even a triumphant production. These grand, tragic characters (it is easy to see why the early 19th-century Romantics loved this play) are played not as archetypes, but as real humans wrestling with their problems – if often spectacularly unsuccessfully. A few of the minor characters in the cast of 17 struggle with the Caroline language, but generally it is delivered with verve and pace, carrying the audience along with it.
Among the standout performances, Richard Keightley manages the difficult task of being both sympathetic yet also increasingly unbalanced in the central role of Orgilus, the young man who can’t come to terms with the loss of the woman he loved who was to have been his bride. Lindsay McConville as Calantha, the heir to the kingdom of Sparta, manages the final climactic scene with controlled power; Bridget Collins as Euphranea, the one woman who gets to live happily ever after, is all young, joyous, puppyish love.
Among the older generation, Kate King delivers a delightful performance as the cynical woman-of-the-world Grasius, who says of Bassanes (Malcolm Brand), the inadequate jealous stalker of a husband to whom Penthea was given by her brother, Ithocles: “It is a villainous world for one who can’t hold his own in it.” (One of the best lines in the play.) David Vale as Crotolon, Orgilus’s father, is an epitome of the proud but exasperated patriarch.
The director, Dan Horrigan, keeps the actors moving and the staging lively. This is not the old-style stand-and-deliver job that you see in so many “classic” productions.
Sitting in the front row, I did occasionally wonder if I was about to get an actor in my lap, but the movement in the end is always controlled and and the use of the wheelbarrow as a playful toy in the courtship scene between Euphranea and her paramour Prophilus (Alexander Gatehouse) is particularly well done.
Effective use is made too of an onstage piano, which has sometimes surprising – if in one death scene slightly hackneyed – roles, and of the classically ephereal voice of Emily Johnston as Philema.
This is truly classic theatre as entertainment. If you’ve got any “Juliets” or “Romeos” in your household, you might further convert them to classic theatre with this production.
The production continues until February 5 at the White Bear Theatre (0207-7939193).
Links: The theatre; the text of the play
January 18, 2006 at
I saw this play on the same night as this review was written and although I think it was admirable that this reviewer gave the cast in general an excellent review, I cannot for the life of me understand how someone can be so ‘short-sighted’ as to miss one crucial character in the Play…ITHOCLES.. and lose the crucial factor to the plays success…Rob Marni(actor playing Ithocles),uhm?, did she watch the same play as me??? His performance was outstanding in both its control and depth brought by the actor to the stage, a unique piece of theatre acting that brought to life one of the hardest characters to play in this, one of Ford’s engrossing tragedy’s. quite unbelievable that this young actor wasn’t given his due credit also!
January 19, 2006 at
As I’m sure you’ll appreciate Kay, reviewing is a matter of opinion. I write it as I see it, and I picked out the actors I thought outstanding. But I welcome your comments, and those of others – the idea of this site is that it is interactive.
January 23, 2006 at
If I read a review I expect a true reflection on that production, yes we are all entitled to our own opinion, but your job has to project the essence of a production and by missing out characters like Penthea, Ithocles in a production of ‘The Broken heart’, you are letting down your readers, and by stating that the play was a triumph without including these characters is quite frankly obsurd?. I would suggest anyone from your office to watch this production, then they will understand why your reflection on it is way off the point, maybe you should try acting instead as you seem to profess to know alot about it?
January 23, 2006 at
Kay, as I make clear, I was not listing the characters, but identifying the actors I thought were outstanding.
And no, I’m not an actor, nor have any desire to be one. I write for the audience, not for actors, and I write as a member of the audience.
January 24, 2006 at
thanks for your observations of this interesting and well directed production. Having no previous knowledge of the play I found a clear introduction to the play’s meaning through the well delivered speeches as the players initially introduced themselves to the audience. The hierarchy of the Spartan society was nicely demarked by the punctuation of David Vale as Crotolon, the Court advisor with all his reflected pomposity and the comic/tragic maids so well played by Emily Johnston and Melissa Woodbridge.
Within this tapestry of intrigue the stunning performance of Richard Keightley as Orgilus laced the play into a fine embroidery.
It was remarkable that the audience were kept on the edge of their seat for the duration and were oblivious of the activities on the other side of the theatre wall.
Congratulations to the whole company.
February 21, 2006 at
Hello,
thank you for your thoughts on John Ford’s “The Broken Heart” which it was my privilidge to Direct. We considered it to be a good production that met the artsitic challenges we set ourselves, and the writer taught us all a great deal about theatre. I strongly urge people to read this beautiful, unusual, and tender play. It is sadly neglected.
Thank you.
February 28, 2006 at
I’d agree Dan that the play deserves more attention than it has received – a suggestion for any company looking for something different, challenging, and rewarding.