Total Eclipse

Synopsis

Total Eclipse is the story of renowned 19th century French poets Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine, who endured a passionate and volatile relationship that has inspired generations of artists from Picasso and TS Eliot to Jim Morrison and Bob Dylan. Verlaine is living with his young wife Mathilde in the oppressive atmosphere of her parents home when his life is turned upside down by the arrival of teenage prodigy Rimbaud, brimming with lively rebellion and an insatiable intensity. Seduced by his brilliance and beauty, Verlaine abandons his conventional existence to live an extraordinary life unbound by rules or convention. But the explosive world in which he and Rimbaud exist cannot last forever. Impoverished, transient and trapped in a destructive romantic triangle, something - or someone - has to give...

Our Review:

29 March 2007

As Dorothy Parker once said, Verlaine was always chasing Rimbauds, although in Christopher Hampton’s enduringly fascinating 1968 play, the impetus is very much the other way round. The 16-year-old boy genius Arthur Rimbaud arrives in Paris to disrupt and unsettle not only Paul Verlaine’s poetic eminence, but also his marriage.

Strikingly staged by Paul Miller on a raised wooden platform bisecting the Menier audience in a traverse arrangement, Total Eclipse can be viewed in many ways: as a debate about artistic daring, as a doomed public love story along the lines of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas, and as a companion piece to Hampton’s currently revived Treats, an emotional triangle with Verlaine at the apex of a two-way struggle with Rimbaud and his own virginal young wife, Mathilde.

One thing is absolutely right at the Menier: the look of the casting of Daniel Evans as the bearded, jumpy older poet and newcomer ...

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Latest User Review

Nicola Armitt - 6 May 2007:

Yesterday I went to the Menier Theatre at London Bridge for a matinee performance of Christopher Hampton's "Total Eclipse". The Menier, which was once a chocolate factory, has been a theatre and gallery for about 3 years now and offers top quality productions. This play is about the two French poets, Verlaine and Rimbaud and their homosexual relationship and friendship. It was a stormy companionship, mainly due to Rimbaud's wild streak and the older Verlaine's inability to make a decision and stick to it - unwilling to give up either Rimbaud or his wife and addicted to Absinthe. I was surprised when I entered the auditorium. The usual stage area and tiered bench seating were gone. In their place a rectangular, slightly raised, wooden platform was in the centre of the room and there were rows of wooden chairs either side for the audience. The set involved several chairs, beds and tables that were carried on and off stage for different scenes and then lined the walls at the side when not in use. I found this minimalistic approach very effective, especially when coupled with the atmospheric lighting and music. The cast accessed the stage from all round the room, coming on behind you or from the side. All the performances were amazing but Daniel Evans and Jamie Doyle commanded the stage as the leads. There was a remarkable chemistry between these two actors and the tension was high indeed. Daniel Evans showed his amazing skills as an actor yet again and Jamie Doyle clearly has a great future ahead of him! This is an exciting piece of theatre that really brings the relationship of these two men and the time in which they lived to life. I was transfixed throughout the whole show and not even the uncomfortable seats could spoil my enjoyment. There are still a few weeks left before the end of the run and I can highly recommend a trip to see the show - you won't be disappointed. I raise my glass of Absinthe to the cast and the creative team....

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