The Suit (Le Costume)

Synopsis

In the dusty heat of a 1950s South African township, a young worker returns home to find his wife in bed with her lover. The lover escapes, leaving behind his suit. The only revenge the husband takes is to instruct his wife to treat the suit as an honoured guest. But how long can she endure this cruel and pitiless sentence?

Our Review:

Theo Bosanquet - 24 May 2012

After the hotly-debated Three Kingdoms and the much-maligned Babel, the latest production in the World Stages London Festival (strapline “world stories for a world city”) is Peter Brook’s reworking of his previously lauded production Le Costume.

Translated back into English, this adaptation of Can Themba’s dark allegorical short story is surprisingly light and breezy.

The simple narrative is straightforwardly told. Loving husband Philemon (William Nadylam) returns home one morning after a tip-off to discover his wife Matilda (Nonhlanhla Kheswa) in bed with another man. The lover flees, leaving behind a suit that Philemon uses to humiliate his wife and exact a strangely masochistic revenge.

The action, played out on a space chillingly framed by clothing rails, is studded with jazz standards and African spirituals that both serve to highlight Philemon’s singing talent an...

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Latest User Review

steveatplays - 21 June 2012:

I also thought this was superb. Like a passive aggressive Othello, seeking revenge on his arrant wife through mind games, William Nadylam's mervellous Philemon tortures her psychologically, wearing a pained yet charming smile. His suffering wife, Matilda, played with stolid yet gradually breaking resilience by Nonhlanhla Kheswa, has passages where she sings beautifully, putting her suffering briefly into relief, only for it to reemerge more furiously. The performances, the music, the simple set, it was all just perfect....

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