The Wizard the Goat and The Man Who Won the War |
| written and directed by D.J.Britton , Clwyd Theatr Cymru , November 24, 2011 |
It may be only an hour long but The Wizard, the Goat and the Man who Won the War is a rich and witty rumination on the life and career of David Lloyd George. Recollecting, not in tranquillity but in a state of high, boyish excitement, the old man paces the deserted beach at Antibes confidently awaiting further female conquests. Awaiting also, we are on the brink of World War Two, the recall to political glory, like a King Arthur called to save the nation.There is sadness here, we know neither will happen, but there is little sadness in the man himself as he looks joyfully back over his triumphs, pausing occasionally to remember those times when he was misunderstood and vilified. After all, didn't that business with purchased knighthoods result in a much needed reform of the honours system. And Adolf Hitler had done some good things to Germany's superstructure. It's just that Lloyd George thought he was meeting a politician like any other, maybe he shouldn't have been quite so ready to praise those achievements. As for the women, in any Continental country his virility would have been praised. And he had been loyal and true to the two most important ones, the wife and the mistress, albeit simultaneously, over a 25 year period. D.J.Britton's script leaps about from youth to maturity, from triumph to disaster, from politics to family without ever losing focus. And rooting the man, there is Wales. He always kept it with him, its language, its culture and nonconformity, throughout his private and public life. Richard Elfyn doesn't so much play Lloyd George as totally inhabit him. He twinkles with a wicked, disarming charm that feels wholly convincing. He varies the moods with almost imperceptible skill. The performance that the audience experiences is not that of the actor, it is that of the Welsh Wizard himself. As a play it doesn't whitewash the faults, it simply lets us see them through the eyes of the man who doesn't himself see them as failings. There are other characters, all conjured out of memories, and Richard Elfyn gives them an independent life through their voices, which yet appear to come solely from the elderly statesman. I thoroughly recommend this wonderful, and unexpectedly funny, look at a life which was itself full of life. It's a real treat. |
Reviewed by: Victor Hallett |
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