Metaphor is a marvellous gift. When
Oliver Ford Davies’ unassailably righteous Deputy Governor Danforth
declares, “Now, by God’s grace, the shining sun [of truth] is up,” we
none of us think, actually, the light has been thickening throughout
the previous acts and it’s now almost full night. Well, none of us
admits to thinking it. For it is
after the interval that Timothy Sheader’s production attains full power.
Earlier, Arthur Miller’s classic parable seems perhaps
too odd a choice for this al fresco
theatrical bower in the middle of Regent’s Park. It is not just that
the play is at odds with the notions of summery
divertissement one associates with
the venue; in addition, performances have to be more strongly
delineated to fill the open-air space, more so than for an indoor venue
of comparable capacity. An air of demonstrativeness hangs over the
proceedings, almost of ritual. Sheader utilises this by having the main
action witnessed from the lawn on either side by a chorus of the young
women who are subsequently to become the accusers in the Salem witch
trials. (When they enter ceremonially after the interval, one may also
notice that there are now exactly thirteen of them, just right for a
sabbat.) Jon Bausor’s stage looks like the gable end of a farmhouse
laid almost flat, either waiting to be erected in a community spirit
plainly lacking or already collapsed as will the spirit of the village.
But the drama itself does not quite bite.
Then, the compelling courtroom phase of the drama combines with
nightfall to focus our attention solely on the area before us (and also
seems to muffle noises of sirens, helicopters etc). Now, too, Patrick
O’Kane comes into his own as John Proctor, the flawed and reluctant
embodiment of honesty amid the communal hysteria. O’Kane is a
tremendously powerful actor, but sometimes his power seems to coruscate
rather than penetrate; the later acts of the play allow him to go deep,
especially when head to head with Ford Davies. Sheader clearly wants to
get away from the venue’s reputation for safe and easy entertainment;
appropriately enough, the summer’s big musical production, in August,
is to be Sondheim’s
Into The Woods.
The
season’s opening suggests that he may well succeed in blending
enjoyment with other modes of stimulation for Regent’s Park
theatregoers.
Written for the Financial
Times.