The Royal Hunt Of The Sun

A new production of Peter Shaffer's (Equus) spectacular play about the Spanish conquest of Inca Peru. £9.50-£14.50
Oxford Playhouse, Wed 27 - Sat 30 Oct 2010

Location

Oxford Playhouse

11-12 Beaumont Street Oxford OX1 2LW

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Debbie Sims October 27, 2010
Royal Hunt of the Sun, on at the Playhouse this week, is a little performed play by Peter Shaffer. After seeing it, it becomes clear why. This is a play in which gold is a main character, in which the cast start off in Spain, end up in Peru, tramp through jungle, cross the Andes (yes, cross the Andes), massacre 3,000 Incans, and all the while conduct a deep and profound argument about the morals of invasion, and the place of religion in today’s society. And in this case, all on a student budget.

The cast make a valiant effort, but in the first half I was completely lost. I think this was in part due to confusing staging, and in part due to the fact that in the first scene I couldn’t really hear what they were saying because of the ‘ambient’ noise of sweeping and blacksmithery. Then I was distracted by Incans on stilts.

Things improve vastly in the second half, thanks in no small part to the fact that it’s all set on the same continent so the staging can be much simpler. Also, Joe Robertson as the Incan god Atahuallpa is allowed to take off his Golden Grahams headdress and really shine as the son of the sun. Maybe it was part of the message of the play, but it was only when the god stopped being a distant figure on a pedestal in a comedy hat and became a man that I was really able to engage with their world, and thus with the play as a whole.

There are some really interesting arguments, and a couple of great performances, but for me the treasure was too far out of reach.
The Royal Hunt of the Sun is a very demanding play. It is long. It is wordy. It is arduous: there are stage directions by Shaffer that say things like ‘at this point the company crosses the Andes.’ It is, as ever with Shaffer, revolving around an historic event that he makes his own by focusing on the complex relationship of two men.

At the centre of this story, under Charotte Beynon’s excellent direction, is the Spanish plunderer, Pizarro, played magnificently by Jacob Taee, who becomes deeply and emotionally entangled with the young Inca-King, Atahuallpa. Pizarro captures Atahuallpa and his vast wealth, following the slaying of thousands of innocent Incans who lay down their weapons in the misguided belief the Spanish invaders are gods. Joe Robertson acted the role of the powerful young Atahuallpa with a touching vulnerability that seeped into the heart of Pizarro. The two acted for us some magical scenes of high physicality, such as when Taee whirled Robertson around the stage wildly and passionately, holding him by the wrist with a leather strap. This balanced beautifully with a moment when Atahuallpa taught Pizarro a dance and he carried it out hopelessly and hilariously. The two men, we saw, shared humour and, they learned they had so much in common in spite of their age and cultural differences. Indeed, the contrasts in the Spanish men’s lives, to that of the opulence and stunning wonder of the Incan land, were brought out by an amazing set design.

Rowan Fuggle and Rachel Beaconsfield Press provided for us a set that was a feast for the eyes. Gold was everywhere, from the shiny bright of steps and blocks, to the beaten gold of masks and headdresses. Leaves and chains filled the stage and all beautifully lit by Alex Dickens and Liam Robinson, whether to illuminate or highlight the events that unfolded, such as the luminous red that provided a backdrop of colour to emphasise the death and destruction. Against the gold, it was incredibly dramatic.

Still more drama came in the physicality of the play. Sword fights and almost balletic moves with mime interspersed moments of Shaffer’s deep exchanges or monologues. As usual in Shaffer’s work, events were brought to the audience’s attention through the narration of an old character, a Spanish fighter called Martin Ruiz, who looked back with sorrow at the way he had followed Pizarro’s lead when he was a young man. The older Martin was played brilliantly by Jonathan Webb who has a velvet voice. He seemed to blend into the portrait of his younger self, played by Robert Hoare Naime. Indeed, the two could have been separated at birth such is their physical similarity and it was most effective. Together, they introduced us to the dilemmas facing the men who had ravaged the Inca-land. The centre of the dilemma was the morality of invasion and the role of the Church. As the men told us, after the Officers and the Church, what riches would they be likely to get from the plunder? The Church of that time was very well portrayed in the roles created by the priests, Adam Baghdadi and James Leveson. They were funny, slightly arrogant befitting their standing at the time and also conveyed an expected humility in their matching black gowns, as they sneered about the Inca’s customs and traditions.

Charlotte Beynon made the Inca-land exotic, it provided a translucent radiance to contrast with the dour wood and browns of the Spanish world seen in the opening scene of blacksmiths, tailors, washer women - grafting away at a hard life from which it was not difficult for Pizarro to entice in search of gold in a foreign land. The murky mists that swept the stage maintained the dream-like state throughout but the brilliance of the Inca-land shone through and its alien nature to the Spanish men, so well captured in the eerie pirouetting on stilts by the Inca and the costumes so well created by Anouska Lester.

It was demanding but hats off, including the magnificent golden one worn by the crowned Inca-King, Atahullpa, to the Director and her tremendous company for a production that glowed as brilliantly as the set.

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