| Iliad: “Arresting, Compelling, a ”Must-experience” |
At National Theatre Wales |
| National Theatre Wales , Ffwrnes, Llanelli , September 26, 2015 |
The Arts Desk was there:“Iliad is the third collaboration between National Theatre Wales and “the two Mikes”, directorial duo Pearson and Brookes. The pair have been responsible for two previous highlights of the still young company’s back catalogue, The Persians (2010) and Coriolan/us (2012). “Aeschylus was re-imagined on a Brecon Beacons military range and Shakespeare recast in an RAF aircraft hangar, so it is perhaps surprising that the ultimate epic drama of war is staged in an actual theatre, the compact and modern Ffwrnes in Llanelli. “War Music” is the generic title of Christopher Logue’s Homer, five full-length volumes of poetry published between 1981 and 2005, but also the specific name given to this production, the final instalment of NTW’s four-part series, which introduces “box-set theatre” to south-west Wales. “Audience members have the choice to attend one stand-alone production or to see all four parts, either on consecutive nights or at one of two “marathon” performances (all day or all night). The polyphony of voices works particularly well in a Welsh context “Logue’s opening line, “Now hear this”, is a reminder of the Iliad’s oral origins, and despite the constant presence of black text on white screens all around the space, War Music is primarily an assault on our auditory faculties. The polyphony of voices works particularly well in a Welsh context; this is a culture that loves the sound of voices, be they singing or speaking. Dylan Thomas’ “play for voices” Under Milk Wood was written just across the estuary, and Logue’s cinematic rendering of Homer is a reminder that this epic poem, too, is primarily about spoken delivery. “Performance levels are, however, somewhat uneven; for me the piece only really took full flight in the interactions between Richard Lynch and Llion Williams, both of whom consistently enunciated with a richness of timbre that was sometimes lacking elsewhere. “The mid-sized auditorium is stripped back to monochrome minimalism: the only “props” are piles of black tyres and stacks of white plastic chairs, some of which are transmogrified into makeshift trees during the course of the evening. A gargantuan projection screen accents the cinematic styling of the poetry, but its widescreen landscapes are unobtrusive. “Microphones hang on long wires suspended from the ceiling. Occasionally the “Gods” – impressively played by local teenagers – make an appearance, but in this final part of the saga it is Fate rather than the Gods which muscles in once Patroclus reaches the wall of the besieged city. “The unfussy set, unobtrusive visuals and cinematic surround-sound combine to create a world that feels, at times, like you are inside an audiobook. There are the lulls inevitable in any longform listening exercise and the fourth episode was not a great advert for the 11-and-a-half-hour version, but on its own terms of rendering Logue’s Homer as theatrical vision, Iliad is a triumph. “The poetry veers, sometimes violently, between evocations of war and peace, apprehension, brutal violence, aftermath and regret. It is, like Homer’s original, a full and moving account of the pity of war. There is light and shade: armour “the colour of moonlight” and “noises the like of which you and I never hear,” screeches, battle cries and haunting laments. “Logue’s text is the star, and Pearson and Brookes’ design innovation might also have inadvertently created the next generation of open-mike nights. At the end, famously, “there is no end”; nevertheless, “the two Mikes” have created yet another production that will stick in the memory like a spear in the sand on a Trojan beach. * * * * Get the Chance was there: “A bright autumn day in Llanelli grew even brighter as National Theatre Wales’ marathon production of the Iliad opened to an enthusiastic audience. “Directors Pearson and Brookes have previous, (Coriolanus, The Persians), and this multi-media staging of Logue’s War Music, itself derived from Homer’s account of the end of the Trojan War, is up there. “As you would expect the sound is compelling, always haunting it was at times almost wistful but the potential for bellicosity and pent-up violence was always present. “The projections range from largely static landscapes (in Wales?) which, whilst charming, seemed to be a long way from the Eastern Mediterranean and video headshots of local teenagers playing Gods. “A team of six narrators carried the three hundred pages of poetry with aplomb, all were convincing. “Daniel Hawksford made a strong early showing and Richard Lynch grew into his roles but Melanie Walters stood out with her diction and accents and her acting through gesture and her facial projection. “The use of teleprompters restricted dramatic potential to the use of the upper body and engendered a sense of “talking heads” which diverted the attention of the audience away from the action and on to the screen, it seemed a bit like talking with friends in a pub with the TV on and finding that the usual dynamic cannot be established. "Such an approach demands good tone and timbre in the voice and clear diction and enunciation which was provided on a consistent basis but the strongest effects came when the cast performed in choirs, as in the death of the bull sequence which was deeply moving. “The language conveyed the message. The elision of the ancient (7th century B.C.) and the modern and of the catastrophic and continuing threat of war, conflict and displacement, was conveyed admirably and the references to “helicopters”, ”privatise”, ”Australia” and “curly-girlie hair” could have disorientated, but did not. At its best it was outstanding, occasionally it was prosaic and sometimes it was plain irritating. Building the set as you go along invites the audience to care and to share in the process and whilst some of the effects, like the raising of giant blooms on tripods were certainly dramatic, in the manner of raising the US flag on Iwo Jima, they also seemed to be rather pointless and distracting. “Audience engagement also involved being ushered around the space to make way for yet another “construction”, the audience becoming the set and, more welcomingly for the chosen few, being invited to lie down and play dead. “The marathon was sold out and as part four started the England v Wales rugby game kicked off. But the “literati”, as I heard us being described by a passing rugby fan (who must himself have been somewhat literate) were loyal to the cause. I recognised many who had been there at 10.30 that morning. “This was not just drama. It was arresting and compelling, a ”must-experience” experience. The standing ovation was testimony to the power of this production and to the tenacity of the audience and I was delighted to be with them. Abridged from the full reviews which can be read at: https://www.theartsdesk.com/node/76134/view https://getthechance.wales/2015/09/27/review-iliad-ntw-by-brian-roper/ |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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