The Review - THEATRE by HANNAH HUDSON
Published:
Heads off to a first-rate adaptation of Nabokov
INVITATION TO A BEHEADING
Lion and Unicorn
A LUST for executions performed in public has been out of vogue in
The audience is invited to look in at the lonely prison cell of Cincinnatus – a
prisoner awaiting death for a crime no one can really define.
He is surrounded by idiotic prison wardens and visited (albeit rarely) by his
unfaithful wife and his alcoholic mother. He is denied the last remaining right
of a prisoner – to know the day of his death. As per Nabokov, things are very
strange indeed.
The play revels in the absurd and the gaudy with the omnipresent prison
director and jailer (Avi Nassa and Daren-Luc Kelly) perpetually frustrating
Cincinnatus’ attempts at logic.
Nassa’s Rodrig is convincing as a corrupt and sleaze-prone director, though the
full sense of his authority is undermined by the constant interruptions from Kelly’s
Rodin.
They torment and tease Cincinnatus (George Xander) – a man desperate to “feign
translucence” in his own biography. His measured speech and considered movement
are perfectly pitched to offer a jarring contrast with the dervish of the rest
of the cast. His marvellously tarty wife is played by Kathryn Ritchie – a woman
who looks like she’s just raided Ann Summers before her credibly wanton performance.
At one point, Cincinnatus accuses the people in his cell of being nothing more
than “parodies” and this is something which the cast fight hard against, in
order not to resort to flat two-dimensional characters.
The most enigmatic character is that of Pierre (George Sallis) who takes
ownership of the stage through his immensely watchable performance.
Like the bizarre game of chess Cincinnatus is forced to play, all rules and
logic are left outside the prison walls; and of course, when there are no
rules, anything is possible. The play is typically Nabokovian, with director
Sobchak clearly channelling elements of Beckett and Kafka into the blackly
comic production.
Because of this, it does require a certain amount of intellectual involvement
from the audience; however, like all the best Nabokovian works, this engagement
is vindicated in the final thrilling denouement.
Reviews by Rachel Foster for Theatreworld Internet Magazine
‘Invitation to a Beheading’
Directed by Victor Sobchak
‘Invitation to a beheading’ is a black farcical tragedy inspired by a Nabakov
novel. Act Provocateur (theatre group) provides an innovative interpretation
of this dark piece.
‘Lion and Unicorn’ is a gritty setting above a public house in Kentish
Town. The scene was set as a sparse jail room with nothing but a chair
for furniture. (Set design by Richard Skelly and Larissa Schoeler). The
grey stones painted on the walls were convincing and helped to build up
a chilling atmosphere.
Cincinatus (Andy McQuade) is the anti-hero of the play he is sentenced
to death for the crime of being different to others. His jailer, lawyer,
mother, wife and the headsman himself, pay visits to Cincinatus in his
cell. Each one torments him in their own twisted way.
The acting in this play is of a superior quality, in particular Kyle Phillip
as 'Rodion' and Magda Rodrigues-Irving as 'Mother.' Kyle is utterly convincing
as the dumb 'Rodion,' who mops the jail floor and wants more than friendship
(nudge, nudge, wink, wink) with the prisoner. His facial expressions and
mannerisms are truly brilliant and he did the best comic tango I've seen.
The other actors were also extremely talented but I think that Magda as
'Mother' was highly convincing. When she stumbled around the
stage, lipstick, smeared and empty vodka bottle in hand it was an hilarious
sight.
The actors were very aware of each other and this gave the whole play a
tremendous stage presence and encapsulated the audience. The audience warmed
well to the first night and laughter was abundant.
The burlesque scenes were my favourite, making a wonderful contrast between
the dank miserable cell moments. When you least expect it, a fanfare of
horns blasts out and the whole cast charges on stage with gaudy costumes
and carnival masks.
The script highlights the fact that a group of people can be so perverse
in their treatment of violence, when they make a sinister spectacle out
of Cincinatus' fate.
Costumes were well thought out with stripy jail outfits and especially
like the stripes on the librarians' jumper (nice touch).
Invitation to a beheading is an intense and diverse production, which has
been cleverly directed by Victor Sobchak. A vibrant performance that should
please any audience. I advise you to go and see it, particularly if you
don't know the story, as the ending should surprise you.
The Beheading
The Lion & Unicorn
Theatre
Trust Me I’m an Executioner
This sparkling
play derives from the book ‘Invitation to a Beheading’ by Vladimir Nabokov. It has
provoked much analysis and much comparison with Kafka, whom he never read. Written
in Nazi Germany and published in 1938, with the war around the corner, it does
not seem such a mystery to find some poor sod banged up and awaiting execution
for having nothing more than impure thoughts, or ‘gnostic turpitude’ as he
called it.
For the piece
to work the audience should be as bewildered as the poor sod himself as to why
he is being given the treatment a cat gives a mouse. And so we are. Trouble is,
the soggy characterisation of George Xander’s victim, Cincinnatus, in this
production means that one couldn’t care less. In fact the toying with him by
each of the other characters seemed understandable, even quite a good
idea!
Distilling
the author’s brilliance in his adaptation, and injecting this cocktail of the
theatre of the absurd and theatre of cruelty into his cast, adaptor/director Victor
Sobchak has extracted some gorgeous performances from his company. Worryingly,
the show opens with a turgid, badly lit, badly spoken Greek Chorus-like opening
narration by the whole cast. So it was a revelation to have the play burst into
life and energy straight after.
The pace is
set from the moment that the prison director, played with a dangerous bonhomie
by Avi Nassa, brings the prisoner up to date with his very limited future. In
no time his ‘fate-mate’, a prison companion in the person of George Sallis’ compellingly
plausible
Some effort has
been spent on costume and the impressive sound, but little or no thought has
been given to lighting, and certainly not enough to staging. However, when a
gem such as this is being born, the precocious child deserves everything it can
get. Given the wealth of talent this company showed, it deserves to be fully indulged.
Saul Reichlin
Remotegoat
London Correspondent
ChicagoCritic.com
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Review of Invitation To A Beheading "Funny good or funny bad?" by David Phipps-Davis for remotegoat on 21/07/08 |
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'Invitation to a Beheading' was originally a novel by
Russian American author Vladimir Nabokov (of 'Lolita' fame). The novel has
often been described as Kafkaesque. Victor Sobchak's stage adaptation could
more easily be compared to Becket, Fellini and Brecht, none of which I am a
particular fan of.
The action takes place in a prison and relates to the final days of Cincinnatus
(an understated performance from George Xander), who is sentenced to death.
While confined, he is not told when his execution will occur. Other characters
include Rodion the jailer (a surreal but physically compelling Baldrick-esque
performance from Daren-Luc Kelly), the director of the prison (Avi Nassa, whose
diction leaves a lot to be desired), Cincinnatus' attorney (an unsubtle
performance from Bethany Thompson) and fellow prisoner Pierre (played for
laughs by George Sallis).
This could possibly be the best piece of theatre I have ever seen. Either that
or the worst. I could not tell. Sobchak has adapted the novel into what might
be a surrealist farce. The rest of the audience were laughing at least some of
the time, but I could not tell if it was supposed to be funny or not. There is
a twist at the end which is unclear and confusing, and the bottom line is that
I simply didn't care about any of these characters. Maybe that was the
intention of the author but any intention was lost on me and I could not wait
for the axe to fall.
