April 25, 2011
Cornerstone Arts Centre, Didcot, 22nd April 2011
I went along to this production wondering how on earth D H Lawrence's classic novel could possibly be adapted for the stage. The answer was: brilliantly, thanks to Hull Truck Theatre Company's compelling interpretation, of which I enjoyed every minute. Constance (Lady Chatterley) is caught in a companionable but sexless marriage to Sir Clifford, who has returned home from The Great War as a wheelchair-bound semi-invalid. Sir Clifford is a wealthy Derbyshire mine-owner, and he and Lady Constance live in his ancestral seat of Wragby Hall, above the mining village of Tevershall. Constance meets and falls passionately in lust with Oliver Mellors, Sir Clifford's gamekeeper, and the play explores sexual love, class, and power against the backdrop of a society experiencing monumental change in the aftermath of The First World War.
The production tackled its complex themes admirably, and held the audience enthralled throughout. I was particularly impressed with Frazer Hammill as Sir Clifford, who is arguably the most complex character of the piece. Sir Clifford is outwardly the perfect gentleman – urbane, cultured, refined – but lacks a sex drive, and manipulates his wife both emotionally and psychologically. Hammill did an excellent job of conveying Sir Clifford's complexity and inner turmoil.
Amie Burns Walker as Lady Constance and Karl Haynes as Mellors also put in sterling performances. Both actors pumped out the passion by the bucketful, brimming over with bubbling sexual tension. Even the few simulated sex scenes worked without seeming gratuitous, and blended into the production pretty seamlessly. However, people of a sensitive disposition should be warned that the play contains graphic language of ancient Ango-Saxon origin, and can only be seen by those of us over 15 years of age.
It was wonderful to see a fairly full theatre for this production on a splendidly sunny Good Friday - and even more wonderful to hear the comments of my fellow theatre-goers at the end of the evening. Noone had a bad word to say about the performance. In a word: it was superb. Hull Truck have really done themselves proud with this one.