The Masque of the Red Death
December 8, 2008
The Happiness Patrol
Old Joint Stock Theatre - Birmingham
Date reviewed: 5th December 2008.
A fantastic, involving and thoughtful production of this Poe classic brought back to the Old Joint Stock by The Happiness Patrol.
The production is a two hander with Gareth Nicholls giving a tightly wound and quite enervating performance as Prince Prospero and the adapter/director Philip Holyman giving a completely silent but engaging performance as “Manservant” and later as Death.
The opening is a recorded monologue read by Victoria Grainger. This back story, told in complete darkness, sets the background and tone to the rest of the play.
From then on the Prince outlines his superiority, his palace’s lay out, his confidence, his fears and his contempt for his guests (the guests in the story sheltering from the titular plague and representedby the audience).
There is a lovely and well handled light interlude where the Prince lightly interrogates a guest (unsuspecting audience member on the front row) about the colours of the spectrum. She was subsequently rewarded with a gift of champagne….
As the story progresses the Prince’s contempt for his guests grows as does his surface confidence about beating the plague. Very stylised sound effects (from Forbidden Planet) and stage sets soon drag the audience in to the Prince’s escalating paranoia and determination to survive. His eventual end is very well handled and left the entire audience almost literally breathless.
A perfect example of how imagination and ability can deliver a quite complex story in a simplified, stylised and engaging manner. All memories of the Roger Corman/Vincent Price film were quickly overcome by this quite stunning production.
A wonderful pre-Christmas chiller!
- Ted HeathÂ
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