So,
Nights at the Circus...
Well...
A voice-over welcomes us to "the fag-end, the smouldering cigar-butt of a nineteenth century which is just about to be ground out in the ashtray of history." A lone figure, dark skinned and androgynous, in top hat and tails, appears in the limelight, singing unaccompanied in a rich dark voice an appeal to let the old century die...
The curtain pulls back on Fevvers, sitting on her trapeze. Singing 'Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage' (are those
really the lyrics? I've never known...) in such a little voice... Until the second (third? No, I wasn't taking notes, I was watching the performance) verse, when she suddenly starts belting out the words in a luverly raucous Cockney accent...
And the play takes off.
It's a bawdy, funny, boisterous, dark piece, crude and complex, tragic and optimistic, powerful and brutal, full of larger than life characters, wonderful songs, delicious surreality - pretty faithful to the book, in fact.
For anyone who doesn't know, the story involves Fevvers, the winged woman hatched from an egg, who takes Europe by storm at the end of the 19
th century, and Jack Walser, American in the book, Icelandic in the play, the reporter determined to expose her as a hoax. In the course of his 'investigations' he follows her to St Petersburg, where she has joined the circus, and is taken on as a clown in order to observe her more closely...
Nights at the Circus, both the play and the book, is difficult to classify. It encompasses so many different concepts - female freedom and independence, confusions of male and female rôles and gender identity, love and lust and their manifestations, absurdity and individual perceptions of reality... Unfortunately the play attempted to do too much, to include
everything, which really isn't possible in three hours. Well, not without a measure of confusion, at any rate (tonight shown in the audience's laughter at several entirely inappropriate points).
It's still a fabulous piece of theatre, however - enough to make us both forget the cramped discomfort of seats designed with much smaller people in mind - with an incredibly talented cast. Natalia Tena is just wonderful as Fevvers: Gísli Örn Gardasson makes a terrific Walser (even though he does appear Brad-like - that's Brad from the
Rocky Horror Picture Show - for a fair bit of his time onstage. Though actually, given what he was doing at the time...) And the singer at the very beginning of the play? I was
sure I knew the voice from
Casualty, and indeed, when I checked later, it was Adjoa Andoh,
Collette from way back in 2003! So, a thoroughly enjoyable evening watching a great play in a lovely little theatre - and our seats were actually pretty good, the pillar in question must have been all of six inches thick and a good six foot away from us, hardly blocking the view at all.
Kai enjoyed himself too. We let him stay by himself (with Dave next door keeping an eye and ear on the house and sprog for us) for the first time ever, and he was fine. Mind you, we rang him when we got there, and at the interval, and when it finished, and he had the full instructions (don't answer door, let the answering machine answer the main phone - we left him my mobile for our own incoming calls - no wild parties etc...) Not something we'll do often, but he's mature and responsible enough to cope every now and then. He quite enjoyed being trusted, I think!
Right.
Band 3. It would be wonderful to get it finished this weekend...
Picture of Fevvers shamelessly
stolen scanned from the programme. I can't find any note of who took it so I can't credit them, I'm afraid! If anyone knows, please contact me.
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Joules *Dances with Haddock* Taylor
pontificated this at 12:45 am
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