March 30, 2008
This truly was a shared experience; the actors took me on an epic journey over two long but glorious nights, always assuring me that they knew what they were doing, and asking me to trust their safe theatrical hands, which I did, and which I was right to do. Helen Edmundson’s brilliant adaptation has been over ten years in gestation, and is now ripe for fifteen hard-working actors, working closely as a group, and a willing audience, which duly turned up at the Oxford Playhouse.
We’re at a huge, musty art gallery, in 2008,under bright fluorescent and house lights, watching our hero, in his green anorak, messy hair, and make-you-squint spectacles, as he politely asks questions of an attendant who wants to go home – it’s closing time. But as the questions elicit answers that have more and more detail, about all the characters from Russia’s wonderful past as personified in the enormous old paintings, and as the attendant becomes more and more passionate about his topic, we are slowly transported 200 years back in time, to meet Napoleon (and many others) – invading Russia and proposing “One single European state”. We are whirled, Wizard-of-Oz style, into a world of colour, vibrancy, emotional upheaval, and searing personal ambition, and there’s no turning back. I quickly settled into observing dozens of people, each with dozens of problems, as the pace warmed up and the relentless pursuit of destinies evolved.
It’s impossible to try to tell you the story in the space I have, [see Wikipedia's War and Peace plot synopsis for details ] but I can say that these were two evenings of total theatricality, involving invention, danger, a highly gifted and cohesive ensemble, and a sense of magic. The production is visually stunning, with beautiful costumes that seem truly lived in by their inhabitants, a clever and sumptuous design, which uses boxes, huge picture frames and a piano with flair, and flawless, detailed lighting that seems to change every few seconds.
Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale marshal their troops superbly, and they take us to battlefields, the opera (complete with arias), a hunt, banquets, and many large drawing rooms in grand houses. The canvas constantly changes in detail but it is always large, and contains brash, bold, and confident artistic strokes. The well-drilled company become, in turns, soldiers, dogs, statesmen, opera singers, lovers, and misfits. All the production values are of the highest standard, and all the players do their jobs with verve and relish. I can’t remember a theatrical experience that was so complete or thrilling as this. It was long – over five hours altogether – but I’m planning to see it again, and maybe again.
We’re at a huge, musty art gallery, in 2008,under bright fluorescent and house lights, watching our hero, in his green anorak, messy hair, and make-you-squint spectacles, as he politely asks questions of an attendant who wants to go home – it’s closing time. But as the questions elicit answers that have more and more detail, about all the characters from Russia’s wonderful past as personified in the enormous old paintings, and as the attendant becomes more and more passionate about his topic, we are slowly transported 200 years back in time, to meet Napoleon (and many others) – invading Russia and proposing “One single European state”. We are whirled, Wizard-of-Oz style, into a world of colour, vibrancy, emotional upheaval, and searing personal ambition, and there’s no turning back. I quickly settled into observing dozens of people, each with dozens of problems, as the pace warmed up and the relentless pursuit of destinies evolved.
It’s impossible to try to tell you the story in the space I have, [see Wikipedia's War and Peace plot synopsis for details ] but I can say that these were two evenings of total theatricality, involving invention, danger, a highly gifted and cohesive ensemble, and a sense of magic. The production is visually stunning, with beautiful costumes that seem truly lived in by their inhabitants, a clever and sumptuous design, which uses boxes, huge picture frames and a piano with flair, and flawless, detailed lighting that seems to change every few seconds.
Nancy Meckler and Polly Teale marshal their troops superbly, and they take us to battlefields, the opera (complete with arias), a hunt, banquets, and many large drawing rooms in grand houses. The canvas constantly changes in detail but it is always large, and contains brash, bold, and confident artistic strokes. The well-drilled company become, in turns, soldiers, dogs, statesmen, opera singers, lovers, and misfits. All the production values are of the highest standard, and all the players do their jobs with verve and relish. I can’t remember a theatrical experience that was so complete or thrilling as this. It was long – over five hours altogether – but I’m planning to see it again, and maybe again.