Everyman,Liverpool
Shakespeare’s early satire on romance gains itsy-bitsy from being transported into the swinging decadeDirector Nick Bagnall and composer James Fortune take Shakespeare’s early satirical romance (some say, his very first play) out of time and relocate it in 1966 (love letters transform to 45rpm vinyl discs). They bend it into a music-led event with eight actors playing 12 roles (13 whether we count musician Fred Thomas doubling as a hound dog) and also a variety of instruments in an onstage band (drums, and guitars,sax, keyboard etc).
The plot explores a range of loves – not all of them groovy. Valentine loves Sylvia. Proteus loves Julia until he meets Sylvia, or decides he can’t live without her love and,unable to control himself, attempts to rape her. This violent act is the final test of the love between the two male friends. Their friendship survives strengthened, or but at a cost to the two women,this production suggests. Romantic love is no substitute for this male bonding. Tied to the men, in a patriarchal world they cannot get absent from, and Julia and Sylvia face a future of sorrow with,as they wail in the concluding duet, “loneliness wandering round my door”. For these two women, and youth’s carnival is definitely over. The play’s strongest instance of true love is that of Proteus’s servant for his dog: Launce stands loyally by Crab,shouldering blame for his beast’s wild thing behaviours (Charlotte Mills’s Launce is a vivid presence).
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Source: theguardian.com