ANGUS WRIGHT - Reviews
For the RSC, Angus appeared in The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes at Wilton's Music Hall in London from 12 November - 6 December; for the National Theatre, he appeared in Mrs Affleck at the Cottesloe Theatre from 20 January 2009.
Mrs Affleck
Little Eyolf is one of Ibsen’s least known plays. It combines
the scientific spirit of Naturalism with Expressionism and Symbolism and
is regarded Ibsen’s greatest achievement by some, a complete failure
by others. In his foreword to Little Eyolf the Ibsen biographer
Michael Meyer states: “After a dynamic first act all external action
virtually ceases and the characters spend the rest of the play stripping
each other of their protective spiritual padding until at the end they
are humbled and bare like criminals shaved for execution.” George
Bernard Shaw compared watching Little Eyolf with a visit to the
dentist: “(…) the torture tempts us in spite of ourselves.
We feel it must be gone through.” Little Eyolf is a haunting
play that recalls classical Greek tragedy but it is also modern in showing
the tragic depths concealed in the banality of everyday life.
Samuel Adamson who had worked with Marianne Elliott on the successful
adaptation of Ibsen’s Pillars of the Community set Mrs
Affleck, his reinterpretation of Little Eyolf, in a coastal
town in Kent in 1955 - a transition which many critics deemed a mistake.
Marianne Elliott stated in a platform lecture at the NT that she had chosen
the 1950s because she wanted to avoid an alienation of the audience which
she had often observed in period pieces – it was too easy to distance
oneself from events that had happened a long time ago. As Elliott considered
the repression of women who are restrained by rules on how to behave a
central issue of the play she chose the mid-1950s as the perfect setting
for her production. Adamson filled his adaptation with references to that
time and the luxurious but sterile design (Bunny Christie) recalls the
aesthetics of Hitchcock’s film Marnie.
Mrs Affleck is not an easy play to watch. Charles Spencer praised
the production for capturing the Fifties atmosphere but considered the
play too bleak: “Mrs Affleck, a reinterpretation of Ibsen's
Little Eyolf by Samuel Adamson, denies us even the smallest glimmer
of hope.” (The Daily Telegraph, 29 January 2009) The same point
could be made about dramas such as King Lear, Oedipus Rex
or Antigone and this criticism was not shared by Mr Spencer’s
colleagues. Yet most critics found fault with the new setting and argued
that it distracted from the core of the play: “The most curious
aspect is why playwright Samuel Adamson should have chosen to update Ibsen’s
Little Eyolf and set it in fifties England. The programme strives
to give readers a condensed history of the period, from the booming suburban
affluence to the rapid technological advances and the posturing youth
culture, but this merely raises the question of why transpose the play
to a period that necessitates such explanation. Surely, if there is a
strong resonance, it will make itself felt? In the event, the answer is
no. The piece, in its exploration of passion in marriage and the loss
of a child, is timeless. However, the awkward period markers simply serve
to distract attention from the more potent, personal depiction of a couple’s
psychological unravelling. As a result, the subject matter feels further
removed, the time period artificially stamped on top. (Evelyn Curlet,
The Stage, 28 January 2009) There are strong performances from Angus Wright
as the tormented writer and Claire Skinner as his passionate wife, stifled
by conventions. Benedict Nightingale found high praise for the actors:
“Angus Wright’s hitherto neglectful Alfred had meant to devote
himself to the boy. Skinner’s Rita had made it clear that she wanted
her husband for herself only. His death brings rancour and guilt to boiling
point, giving us two fine performances, especially from a restless, defiant
and now half-crazed Skinner.” (The Times, 29 January 09)
Carolin Kopplin©
The Tragedy of Thomas
Hobbes
The RSC commissioned the young American dramatist Adriano Shaplin, co-founder
of the experimental underground troupe, The Riot Group, and author of
the only play ever to win a First of the Firsts in Edinburgh, Pugilist
Specialist, to write a play about the philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
But Shaplin’s drama entails much more than The Tragedy of Thomas
Hobbes. It not only brings to life a society in turmoil represented
by the conflict between Hobbes and a new breed of scientists led by Robert
Boyle who put their trust in practical experiment. It also demonstrates
how experimental science took over as performance art when Cromwell shut
down the theatres: “[Shaplin] shows painted and powdered men
banished from the boards. He shows the solid chaps who were to form the
basis of the Royal Society - John Wilkins, Thomas Willis and particularly
Robert Hooke - strutting around on platforms, expatiating as they anatomise
brains, peering at fleas under microscopes, demonstrating air pumps -
and galvanising audiences as they did so.” (Susannah Clapp,
The Observer, 23 November 2008) Elizabeth Freestone’s highly
theatrical production is staged in the amazing Wilton’s Music Hall
where the RSC designed three-tiered, scaffolded playing areas that accommodate
the changes of location from coffee house to Boyle’s laboratory.
Thomas Hobbes is brimming with ideas and keeps the audience on
their toes. Some critics found the production too long and the play confusing
for audiences. John Thaxter saw “dozens of brilliantly staged
set pieces and opportunities for bravura acting. But Elizabeth Freestone’s
staging (…) is too rich a mixture to take in at one sitting.”
(John Thaxter, The Stage, 19 November 2008) Michael Billington
agreed with Thaxter yet he also found praise for Thomas Hobbes:
“But for all its excess, the play is full of springy writing:
Boyle for instance claims that ‘a democracy of seeing is my aim’
while Hobbes puts down his rival’s experiments as ‘a tinker’s
parody of beauty.’” (Michael Billington, The Guardian,
19 November 2008) The production was cross-cast with The Merchant
of Venice and The Taming of the Shrew. Stephen Boxer and
Amanda Hadingue play the two adversaries Hobbes and Boyle, Shaplin had
decided to have the somewhat effeminate and peace loving Boyle played
by a woman. Angus Wright gives a marvellous performance as the actor Daniel
Rotten who had played the great female roles before Cromwell closed the
theatres. Forced into prostitution to make a living, he is persuaded by
Robert Boyle to become his assistant only to be upstaged by Boyle’s
new favourite – Robert Hooke. Rotten quickly switches over to Thomas
Hobbes’s faction and finds himself rehearsing a polemic play penned
by Hobbes himself to expose his rival Robert Boyle to ridicule. The performance
goes terribly wrong. But the actor triumphs in the end in a brilliant
scene from Thomas Shadwell’s The Virtuoso, a lampoon of
the Royal Society: “James Gardon and Angus Wright act everyone
else off the stage with their dazzling thespian pyrotechnics as Restoration
actor laddies” (John Thaxter, The Stage, 19 November
2008).
Carolin Kopplin©
More reviews of The Tragedy of Thomas Hobbes:
The
Stage
The
Guardian
The
Observer (note: this link is to the article in the
Google cache as it is no longer on The Observer website.)
Revenge is a dish best served
cold
In Tim Carroll's vibrant and imaginative production Angus avoids old Shylock
clichés and portrays his character as a proud and composed man
who betrays no emotion to his enemies. Shylock has endured Antonio's insults
for years and only smiles sarcastically when he gets more of the same.
Displaying any sign of anger or pain would be equal to defeat. Even with
his friend Tubal he acts as if nothing can touch him - his daughter Jessica
betrayed his beliefs by eloping with a Christian, stealing his money and
jewellery and then peddling his beloved wife's ring? He expected far worse!
Only in the trial scene does Shylock lose his composure - he tears open
his shirt and bares his chest to Antonio welcoming death. Some of the
critics did not appreciate Wright's stoic performance but Peta David praised
his "slick and dapper Shylock, successfully breaking away from
stereotypical images of Jewish money lenders." (Peta
David, The Stage Online, 11/4/2008) Tim Carroll has directed ten plays
at the Globe Theatre; he trusts and involves the audience. His production
does not provide an interpretation of the play, we have to think for ourselves.
By using a minimal set and costume design Carroll helps to focus on Shakespeare’s
language which is spoken with rare clarity. Belmont is shown as an icy
fairy tale world dominated by stalactites, a cold prison to Portia (a
mesmerizing Georgina Rich) who seems resigned to her fate until Bassanio’s
choice makes her icy cage burst wide open. The performance opens and ends
with a communal dance by the whole cast - including Shylock.
Carolin Kopplin
The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Merchant of Venice, with Angus Wright as Shylock, ran in repertoire at The Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon from 3 April - 27 September 2008 before transferring to Newcastle.
More reviews of The Merchant of Venice:
The
Guardian
British
Theatre Guide
What's
on Stage
Reviewsgate