December 2, 2009
Angela Carter has enjoyed a good run in Oxford student theatre this term, with the lavish success of the musical Nights at the Circus earlier this year, and now an adaptation of her short story The Bloody Chamber (and for loyal fans, The Magic Toyshop is a work-in-progress). Rather than an adaptation, the play is, in the director’s words, a “response”, exploring the themes of gender & sexuality from the story, applied to the pathologies of modern society. The tagline ‘enter at your peril’ is well applied; you have been warned.
Labelled the most risqué show in Oxford in years, from the very beginning, the swearing, sexual language and brutality hits hard, and does not abate. Like in the novel, the bloody chamber that fills the stage is the site of punishment: where the malevolent, chauvinistic but impotent Duke (played by Tomlinson) terrorises the other characters to submission using a very phallic gun, with his wife (Orrock) as both accomplice and victim. We are forced to see, very graphically, how those who do not fit the defined gender roles suffer. The narrow stage of the BT fits the claustrophobic atmosphere of the play well: where character-victims – the girl, the lesbian, the homosexual are tortured, exposed, but allowed to speak out their neuroses and oppression with earnest, sometimes heartwrenching ferocity.
The play reminded me more of something from Sade’s 120 days of Sodom than Carter – apart from a few borrowed lines, the rest of the script is orignal writing, and blasphemy-heavy. If you feel lost without a logical, coherent plot in your theatre, look elsewhere. Ditto for the easily offended. Everything in the play is gratuitous: the sexual imagery, swearing, nudity, the roaring melodramatic opera soundtrack, and even the fake blood and body bits are designed to unsettle and disturb the audience, feeling sometimes almost pornographic (dead bodies of characters do not walk off either – they litter the bloody chamber and become part of the stage). The overarching religious motifs add to the oppressive themes and a perverted retelling of the Adam and Eve tale was cleverly done, both darkly humorous as well as disturbing. “Shit.” says Girl-Eve simply, after realising she has taken the apple.
The play is daring, yes, and certainly provocative, and sometimes falls under the weight of its own audacity – there are times where the depravity is excessive to the point of farcical, and you were unsure whether to laugh. Yet its audacity must be applauded; powerful acting from all the cast – Turnbull as the pathetic, persecuted ‘Boy’ was particularly compelling to watch – and a provocative, if expletive-rich, script make for a thought-provoking and certainly visually impacting production, if not the most easy to digest.
Labelled the most risqué show in Oxford in years, from the very beginning, the swearing, sexual language and brutality hits hard, and does not abate. Like in the novel, the bloody chamber that fills the stage is the site of punishment: where the malevolent, chauvinistic but impotent Duke (played by Tomlinson) terrorises the other characters to submission using a very phallic gun, with his wife (Orrock) as both accomplice and victim. We are forced to see, very graphically, how those who do not fit the defined gender roles suffer. The narrow stage of the BT fits the claustrophobic atmosphere of the play well: where character-victims – the girl, the lesbian, the homosexual are tortured, exposed, but allowed to speak out their neuroses and oppression with earnest, sometimes heartwrenching ferocity.
The play reminded me more of something from Sade’s 120 days of Sodom than Carter – apart from a few borrowed lines, the rest of the script is orignal writing, and blasphemy-heavy. If you feel lost without a logical, coherent plot in your theatre, look elsewhere. Ditto for the easily offended. Everything in the play is gratuitous: the sexual imagery, swearing, nudity, the roaring melodramatic opera soundtrack, and even the fake blood and body bits are designed to unsettle and disturb the audience, feeling sometimes almost pornographic (dead bodies of characters do not walk off either – they litter the bloody chamber and become part of the stage). The overarching religious motifs add to the oppressive themes and a perverted retelling of the Adam and Eve tale was cleverly done, both darkly humorous as well as disturbing. “Shit.” says Girl-Eve simply, after realising she has taken the apple.
The play is daring, yes, and certainly provocative, and sometimes falls under the weight of its own audacity – there are times where the depravity is excessive to the point of farcical, and you were unsure whether to laugh. Yet its audacity must be applauded; powerful acting from all the cast – Turnbull as the pathetic, persecuted ‘Boy’ was particularly compelling to watch – and a provocative, if expletive-rich, script make for a thought-provoking and certainly visually impacting production, if not the most easy to digest.