The Roman Tragedies. Directed by Ivo van Hove. Toneelgroep
Amsterdam. Adelaide Festival Theatre. Adelaide Festival 2014.
Cymbals clang and the bass drums beat out their mighty
sounds to herald the war between the Corioles and the Volscians at the opening
of Toneelgroep’s phenomenal staging of William Shakespeare’s Roman Tragedies,
Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra.
This extraordinary and monumental 6 hour production leaves
an indelible impression as it scales the heights to present a production of
overwhelming imaginative power, sheer theatrical brilliance and contemporary
insight into Shakespeare’s searing exposure of the strengths and frailties of
human nature. Ben Jonson’s tribute to Shakespeare that he is a playwright for
all ages may well be applied to Ivo van Hove’s production that Toneelgroep’s
interpretation of the Roman Tragedies. This is a production firmly rooted in
our time with resonance for all time all time.
Van Hove pays homage to the theories and practices of
Bertolt Brecht. It is paradoxical that he should employ such alienation devices
as contemporary costuming, banner headlines forecasting the deaths of principal
characters, recorded songs, announcements of set changes and historical
information flashed upon the screens. The company strips away all artifice,
while paradoxically riveting our attention on the superb performances of the
cast. In spite of the many devices used to tell the story from live performance
upon the vast Festival Theatre stage to TV screens spread throughout the
furniture upon the stage where the audience are invited to sit, and in spite of
the bars and serveries and make-up tables set along the outer perimeters of the
stage, we cannot escape the intimacy and intense conflict of Shakespeare’s
historical figures. Some audience who have wandered onto the stage during a set
change and taken their seats amongst the actors or those who have remained in
the general seating throughout the auditorium are equally enveloped by the
drama and engrossed in the action. It is inescapable. It is immediate.
It may be confusing for those accustomed to conventional relationships between audience and performer, but then there are sufficient opportunities for audiences to be informed. Surtitles assist a clearer understanding of a text and interpretation of the spoken Dutch, at times entirely true to the Shakespearian blank verse, and at times slightly contemporized to enhance clarity and understanding. At every turn there is a monitor relaying the live action and the subtitles on the small screens. I watched a young man and woman, riveted to the screen as if in the lazy comfort of their loungeroom. Perhaps they left the theatre at midnight, not buoyed up by the immense power of the plays and the performances, but by the entertainment of engrossing stories and the comfort of an experience familiar to them and not mystical in its experience.
It may be confusing for those accustomed to conventional relationships between audience and performer, but then there are sufficient opportunities for audiences to be informed. Surtitles assist a clearer understanding of a text and interpretation of the spoken Dutch, at times entirely true to the Shakespearian blank verse, and at times slightly contemporized to enhance clarity and understanding. At every turn there is a monitor relaying the live action and the subtitles on the small screens. I watched a young man and woman, riveted to the screen as if in the lazy comfort of their loungeroom. Perhaps they left the theatre at midnight, not buoyed up by the immense power of the plays and the performances, but by the entertainment of engrossing stories and the comfort of an experience familiar to them and not mystical in its experience.
One is left with an enduring awareness of the contemporary
relevance of a world before the birth of Christ that bore a striking resemblance
to our own time and circumstance. Coriolanus’s banishment may be an extreme
solution to the ranglings of a senatorial inquiry into the Australian Wheat
Board scandal or the ejection from the house during the highly theatrical and
impassioned Question Time, but its parallel could not be ignored in this epic
representation of political and personal conflict. At the rear of the stage another
monitor screens news footage from current conflicts, footage of Kennedy’s
personal and political life and subsequent assassination. Alexander Downer
strides amongst an assembly of notable politicians, proud and confident in his
position. Those who pause to view will also be compelled to contemplate.
We are such stuff as fickle fortune makes us. We are human
beings. We love, we fight, we falter and we fall. We are proud Coriolanus,
noble Brutus, loyal Marc Antony and the vulnerable and neurotic Cleopatra. We
are the Volscansi or the Corioles. We are the protectors and the attackers. We
are all destined to live and to die and our little lives are rounded by a
sleep. What Toneelgroep’s remarkable interpretation and performance of the
Roman Tragedies does is reveal the full spectrum of our own humanity.
Shakespeare is their wise and venerable mentor, van Hove is his inspirational
acolyte and the company van Hove’s magnificent messengers of an unforgettable
and outstanding theatrical tour de force.
There are few theatrical explosions that illuminate our
lives with epiphany and reveal to us our nature through the history of our
race. Shakespeare provides the means, but it is Toneelgroep’s genius that
reveals his fundamental truths through their work.
If ever the opportunity should arise on stage ,on film,
online or in print, be sure to visit the work of this amazing theatrical
company. I only wonder now whether I shall ever be able to watch another
production of Shakespeare’s Roman plays without this experience at Adelaide
Festival 2014 forever engraved upon my mind and in my heart.
Reviewed by Peter Wilkins
