The London Merchant

Synopsis

As a trading centre, London has always attracted powerful and ruthless people: the 18th century world of George Barnwell, a young apprentice corrupted by his lover, provides a powerful mirror to the 1980s city trader Justin Treves.

Our Review:

Anne Morley-Priestman - 1 October 2010

Imagine Macbeth where the characters are not kings and high nobility in mid-11th century Scotland but bourgeois in late 16th century London. A good but ambitious man is inveigled to his destruction, both moral and physical, through female malignity. For most of us, George Lillo’s 1731 City tragedy is a mere reference in the theatre history books, though it held the stage both in London and on the Norwich Circuit for a full century after the Drury Lane première.

Now it has been revived as part of the Theatre Royal’s Restoring the Repertoire programme in an audaciously in-the-round production by Colin Blumenau which brings the acting area up to dress circle box level and sets half the audience in tiers on what is usually the stage. This close up, the acting needs to be even more than usually convincing, as do the visual elements of the production. Kit Surrey’s magnificent late Elizabethan costumes look like real clothes worn by real people.

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

David - 28 October 2010:

Saw this on the transfer to Exeter where it enjoyed a very good house at the Northcott on the night I was there. It was obviously written in the days before the soundbite, but that said, it had a resonance and bite that never failed to engage and made it of more than just accademic interest. Congratulations to cast and production team on a revival worth reviving although I can appreciate that some might find a relatively long-winded morality tale a little taxing. But its relentless drive and insight into a world gone by make it a rewarding night out....

Read more and add your own review