SPRING AWAKENING

Oxford University Dramatic Society @ The Oxford Playhouse, 20th -23rd
February

Martin Roe's production of Spring Awakening is at times tender, at times risible, but always ambitious. He and his cast hold an obvious affection for the children whose innocence is lost as Wedekind's story is told, and by its end, we too as an audience cannot help but care for each of its tortured adolescents.

We're told that almost every scene of the play corresponds to an actual incident in the life of the playwright or his schoolfellows, and this young company does a credible job of bringing this series of bizarre incidents to life: James Copp's heartfelt Melchior plucks most melodiously at the strings of teenage angst, Andy King's suicidal Moritz is engaging throughout, particularly upon his ghostly return from the grave, and Polly Findlay is charming as the lamb-like Wendla Bergman, led to the slaughter by adolescent lust and a mother's pride.

The play is not without humour, and this is amply provided by Christopher Ryan Richards' excellent Hanschen Rilow, exemplified by his almost Wildean pastoral exploration of young male lust in the second act. It is disappointing that the most resonant words of the play are reduced to farce by the puerile antics of the school custodians; and ironic that the final condemnation of our hero is drowned out by the slapstick comedy of his masters.

The adults of the piece are well-played, if not well represented - Laura McNaught's Frau Gabor is excellent, and Tom Wood's Herr Gabor portrays a sharp picture of a man attempting to control both a wayward son and equally disobedient facial hair. Emma Campbell Webster's enchanting Isle is sharply directed as she gives our poor Moritz his only true glimpse of passion.

The show is poorly lit, and we struggle to find our characters' faces within the constant shadows of the stage; the accompanying music is an enervating annoyance throughout, and the lengthy scene changes only serve to interrupt our sympathy. In contrast, the childlike, expressionist set serves the ritual elements of the production well, and often adds a clear sense of place to the play's wildly explorative action.

This is indeed a raw exploration of natural instinct, chance, morality and the challenges of our transition from innocence to experience. It is not a production which shys from the depiction of the erotic or auto-erotic. Ted
Hughes' translation brings a quality of verse previously lacking in earlier versions of the play, and a vitality that compares favourably with the original.

Courageous, instinctive and uncompromising: this is university drama as it should be; take your chances.

- James Dare