ST GEORGE AND THE DRAGON
Lyric Hammersmith, London W6
Opened 5 April, 2007
***
As director Carl Heap acknowledges in his programme notes, things were
easier with his beggarsbelief [sic]
company's previous projects. Ben-Hur,
Jason And The Argonauts and,
er, World Cup Final 1966 all
had strong narratives, whereas here... knight, dragon, fight, ba da
bing. In order to flesh out the story, Heap and his co-adaptor Tom
Morris conflate the figure of the dragon-slaying George with several
centuries of analogues: the Christian martyr, the Crusader, the ballad
hero from Coventry and the Muslim counterpart Al Khadir. As one of the
company of ten says, chatting to families in an informal prelude (after
a mummers' playlet and Morris dance in the theatre bar downstairs),
it's a bit of a mishmash. Actually, at two and a half hours including
interval, it's a lot of a
mishmash, especially for those at the younger end of the show's
suggested 7+ age bracket. I did not hear any youngsters getting
fractious, but it is notable that after the climactic dragon battle, we
cut straight to the (mummers'-style, slight return) curtain call, with
none of that tedious tying up of loose ends.
Of course, the kids could simply be enjoyably tired out. In the course
of the play, the audience are pressed into service as Crusaders and
Saracens, with a siege of Antioch involving virtually the entire
auditorium as well as the stage, a great number of inflatable balls and
some infant Crusaders who wouldn't cease fire even with both King
Richard and the Muslim governor ordering them to through megaphones.
Later, parents draw lots to find whose child will be sacrificed to the
dragon of Tripoli. The production values are those of inventive
storytelling through "poor theatre": steel skeletons of modern-day
market stalls become the ramparts of Antioch, supermarket trolleys are
horses and camels, and the dragon is composed of tenting, netting, a
pair of storm lamps and a trio of fire-jugglers. The rag-bag of
physical resources are deftly and imaginatively used to create a lively
event, but bringing a similar "things to make and do" approach to the
mass of various George narratives is not quite as successful,
especially when trying – valiantly, but frankly ridiculously – to put
an ecumenical/secular gloss on the Crusades.
Written for the Financial Times.
Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights
reserved.
Return to index of
reviews
for the year 2007
Return to master
reviews
index
Return to main theatre
page
Return to Shutters
homepage