It is a very long time since I saw the
film ‘The French Lieutenant’s Woman’ and thanks to being in
Glasgow for a nursing exhibition and conference I took the
opportunity to go and see it live on stage during its British
Premiere tour. Admittedly the opportunity of seeing George Irving
perform, having watched him in TV’s Holby
City as the suave Dr Anton Meyer, was the deciding factor.
The set consists of two levels reached by
two semi-circular staircases, numerous pillars on the lower levels
and tall tree like continuations reaching up to the roof. The
lower central area is set like a writer’s office with piles of
books, a table, typewriter, decanters and glasses. The lower left
of the stage is like a circular gazebo with several pillars. The
lowest steps of the staircase to the right of the stage are partly
smoothed over like a cliff face. The overall vision is dark and
brooding before a word is spoken.
From pitch darkness we become aware of
the sounds of a typewriter, when the lights come up we see The
Writer (George Irving), some of his characters move on to and off
the stage several times except one single woman who comes on to
the central portion of the upper level and stands with her back to
us. The Writer asks himself aloud, how to start the story, he then
mentions characters that come into and move out of his mind, those
that disappear quickly, those that come and stay for some time,
finally those who refuse to go away by which time only the woman
is still on stage. He then introduces his hero Charles Smithson
(Anthony Howell) admittedly a narcissistic extension of the one
person he knows well. As the action progresses the Writer is
always on stage observing the action, not always in control as his
characters develop a life of their own, to such an extent that
they on occasion actually disagree with his directions and rewrite
the story, Sarah Woodruff (Katy Odey) is the main culprit.
Charles becomes aware of the French
Lieutenant’s Woman, Sarah whilst in Lyme Regis visiting his
young fiancée Ernestina Freeman (Hannah Young). We observe the
developing relationships between Charles and Sarah as well as that
of his man-servant Sam (Sam Talbot) and the maid Mary (Maimie
McCoy), whilst seeing the break down between him, Sam and
Ernestina.
The show is very cleverly written, it is
a fascinating and thrilling evenings viewing. Although a dark tale
on the whole there are unexpected moments of humour. The whole
ensemble give superb performances and in this hi-tech world it is
phenomenal to have a cast who are un miked yet their projection
and diction is of such a quality that
every member of the audience can hear clearly anything said
on stage. I found myself, by choice occasionally looking away from the
main action to watch the observations of The Writer as his novel
unfolded in front of him and as I would expect from such a
renowned actor his reactions were those of someone seeing
developments for the first time.
The
cast are; Ben Craze, Pia De Keyser, Anthony Howell, Anne Kavanagh,
Maimie McCoy, Katy Odey, Sue Parkinson, Jane Ridley, Sam Talbot,
Hugo Thurston Daniel Tuite, Hannah Young and George Irving. French
Lieutenant’s Woman written by John Fowles, adapted for the stage
by Mark Healy, directed by Kate Saxon, designed by Libby Watson,
movement director Georgina Lamb.
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