Synopsis It is the late eighteenth century and on both sides of the Atlantic the world seems filled with exciting new possibilities for humanity: old yokes can at last be cast off, ancient hierarchies dissolved. Chief among those lighting the fire is the English radical Thomas Paine, a man of great compassion, brutal honesty and a political writer of genius. Whether answering the call of an America chafing under the tyranny of the British Crown, riding the storm of revolutionary France, or challenging a conservative backlash in Britain, Paine is at the heart of things, ardent in his search for love, passionate in his pursuit of liberty. The much loved and greatly respected writer Trevor Griffiths (Comedians, Reds) fills this moving story of the life and loves of the author of The Rights of Man with songs, music and the huge carnival spirit of a world turned upside down. World Premiere. In association with Richard Attenborough. Young Hearts Season
The world premiere of A New World, an epic new play by acclaimed dramatist Trevor Griffiths (Comedians, Reds), opened last week at Shakespeare's Globe (3 September, previews from 29 August).
The final production in the Globe's Young Hearts season (See News, 12 Feb 2009), it's helmed by artistic director Dominic Dromgoole and celebrates the life and work of Thomas Paine in the year that marks the 200th anniversary of the English radical’s death.
John Light, whose stage credits include Julius Caesar and The Tempest for the RSC and Apologia at the Bush, leads the 20-strong cast as Thomas Paine. Tim Shortall designs a production that features music by Academy Award winning composer Stephen Warbeck.
Overnight and weekend critics were divided. On the pro side, the Guardian's Michael Billington writes that Griffiths “has the priceless ability to show the power of Paine's ideas and to make history come alive”. On the con side, Henry Hitchings of the Evening Standard found the play “dramatically stunted”, echoing the sentiments of several of his colleagues. Length and density were issues for many, with Whatsonstage.com's Maxwell Cooter suggesting A New World would work better as a “mini-series” rather than a play. Most were agreed however that despite any structural flaws, the play certainly provides a timely celebration of our “greatest exile”.
Maxwell Cooter in Whatsonstage.com (three stars) – “Griffiths is determined to give us every facet of Paine’s life – but a life so richly lived offers much too much material to be tackled in one play; this might have made a decent mini-series but over the course of the evening, it drags. The first half crackles with wit and passion with some acute political comment. If it had ended at the interval, it would have been a better play … Paine is too good a writer to ignore, so Griffiths has stuffed the play with readings from his works – but detached from the original context they lose some of their power. John Light makes for an attractive Paine – possibly too attractive, as by all accounts he could be an awkward person to know, someone who fell out with all his friends ... As a wry Benjamin Franklin, the narrator of the story, Keith Bartlett gets much of the laughs, and there’s a strong performance too from Laura Rogers as Paine’s part-time lover/collaborator. Plaudits too for Sean Kearns who has to act for most of the play on one leg as Paine’s enemy Gouverneur Morris.”
Michael Billington inThe Guardian (four stars) – “A moving and informative tribute to the man Michael Foot once called 'the greatest exile ever to leave these shores' … Griffiths has the priceless ability to show the power of Paine's ideas and to make history come alive … the corresponding virtue of Dominic Dromgoole's fine production is that it never loses sight of the individuals beneath the epic events. John Light shines out strong and clear as a doggedly uncompromising Paine who never loses his faith in reason and the potential for revolution. And there is first-rate support from Keith Bartlett as the jovial narrator Benjamin Franklin, Jamie Parker as a laconic Jefferson and Alix Riemer as Paine's French translator, helpmate and lover, who stuck with him to the last. Adorned with rousing songs by Stephen Warbeck, this is an intelligent historical spectacle packed with contemporary resonance.”
Benedict Nightingale in The Times (three stars) – “The dramatic problem is that Griffiths comes too close to idolising a man who was the foe of idolatry … The complexity that marked his Occupations and Comedians, meaning the ability to bring vividly to life opposing sides of an argument, is less often on show: vestigially in a row between John Light’s intense Paine and Philip Bird’s authoritarian Burke, most strongly in Paine’s debates with James Garnon’s swaggering Danton. Yet, with Keith Bartlett’s Ben Franklin as a humorously observant narrator, Griffiths’ play has impressive sweep. The production, which is by Dromgoole, fills both stage and yard with turbulent figures, catching the excitement of the era. The private Paine needs more attention, but time makes that difficult; anyway, it’s the public Paine that matters here. The result is a salutory reminder of his eloquence, his integrity, his still-relevant fears and foresight, and his passionate belief that beggar, slave, every human being deserves respect, attention, care - and love.”
Henry Hitchings in Evening Standard (two stars) - “A New World … feels politically noble yet dramatically stunted. It’s a play of incessant exits and entrances, punctuated with big statements. For instance, at the heart of Tim Shortall’s design is a bulging golden globe, symbolic of the Age of Enlightenment’s opulence of opportunity … Dominic Dromgoole’s production is a mix of bold flourishes, closely worked incidents, picayune interludes and mess, amid which Paine’s character never fully comes to life … Although John Light suggests Paine’s unmannerly, sardonic, dangerous qualities, his performance feels too modest, a few outbursts aside, and his accent wanders curiously. There is decent work from others: Jamie Parker, whose multiple roles include Jefferson and Marat, and Dominic Rowan, imposing as George Washington. But James Garnon’s Danton is an overblown roisterer, all locker-room virility and garlicky charisma. And the important lines - those most freighted with political substance - are highlighted like the key arguments of a PowerPoint presentation.”
Tim Walker in the Sunday Telegraph (five stars) - “A New World … symbolises everything that this unsubsidised and all-too-often underestimated venue is about: it's big, bawdy, hugely ambitious, jaw-droppingly original and imbued with a tremendous sense of fun. It's also executed, as everything always is under Dromgoole, with faultless professionalism … John Light plays Paine with an interesting tranquillity and stillness which contrasts with the frenetic action that goes on all around him for the three hours that the production runs … Tim Shortall, the designer, has fashioned a versatile set cluttered with old globes and printing presses which capture the spirit of the times … Shortall invests the proceedings with some of the good looks of Les Miserables ... The dialogue is pacy and often very funny.”
Paul Taylor in the Independent (three stars) - “No modern dramatist has wrestled with the issues raised by revolutions more keenly than Griffiths. But in this piece, his talent for sinewy dialectics can't come into its own because the opposing arguments aren't allowed a sufficiently forceful hearing. Paine's bitter encounter with his sometime friend and great adversary Burke, for example, is prematurely terminated here. There are exhilarating stretches though. John Light's fine Paine commands attention as a dogged, one-man awkward squad. And the hairs stand up on the back of your neck whenever his works are directly quoted, bringing home how words can change worlds, and how our own world still lags shamefully behind the hero's hopes.”
Charles Spencer in the Daily Telegraph (two stars) - “Lightweight that I am, I once again had a ball at Oliver! and felt as if I were in purgatory during Griffiths’ history lesson which lasts an interminable three hours. Although we are supplied with explicatory narration from Keith Bartlett as Benjamin Franklin, it’s often damnably hard to follow what the hell is going on in A New World and work out who everyone is. Once we get to France, there is an excruciating outbreak of comic ’Allo ’Allo! French accents and the show is cursed throughout by a mixture of unfunny jokes and earnest lecturing that puts one in mind of a history teacher desperately trying to be popular with his class, and failing miserably. By the end, and certainly not helped by John Light’s curiously buttoned-up and unrevealing performance in the leading role, I didn’t feel that I knew much more about Paine than I did at the start. Both play and Dominic Dromgoole’s tiresomely busy, jocular production are a well-meaning, spirit-sapping mess."
By any measure, Thomas Paine had a remarkable life. A writer, editor, inventor, soldier and philosopher, he was a leading light in the American War of Independence and the French Revolution and a thorn in the flesh to all sides.
It’s a pity then, that Trevor Griffiths’ play on his life is such a mess. Griffiths is determined to give us every facet of Paine’s life – but a life so richly lived offers much too much material to be tackled in one play; this might have made a decent mini-series but over the course of the evening, it drags.
The play is split into two halves, the first primarily dealing with the War of Independence, the second with the French Revolution and its aftermath. The first half crackles with wit and passion with some acute political comment. If it had ended at the interval, it would have been a better play.
The second half offers us more of the same: there’s little sense of any development of character and the events of the French Revolution are passed over in minutes – there’s also a romantic sub-plot that is too much of a distraction. Characters like Robespierre and Marat appear for just minutes and while Danton (a rumbustious performance from James Garnon) has more of a presence, the events are telescoped together too quickly to have any sense of what’s happening.
There’s also a lot of padding. Paine is too good a writer to ignore, so Griffiths has stuffed the play with readings from his works – but detached from the original context they lose some of their power.
John Light makes for an attractive Paine – possibly too attractive, as by all accounts he could be an awkward person to know, someone who fell out with all his friends. Light seems to have little of the fire and none of the cussedness. As a wry Benjamin Franklin, the narrator of the story, Keith Bartlett gets much of the laughs, and there’s a strong performance too from Laura Rogers as Paine’s part-time lover/collaborator. Plaudits too for Sean Kearns who has to act for most of the play on one leg as Paine’s enemy Gouverneur Morris. There are also some good songs, courtesy of composer Stephen Warbeck.
We can see why Paine is an attractive subject for Griffiths. Opinionated, stubborn with a refusal to compromise, he’s a perfect fit for a playwright whose socialist vision seems so out of step with the time. The whole of A New World is a paean to the power of the writer. “Never wrong a king or a writer, they both will make you sorry for it” as Griffiths says. This play is a marvellous tribute to the power of words but it’s less of a tribute to a remarkable man – more’s the pity.
The play forces you as a British person to look at our relationship with monarchy. It is very clever in the way the central thought is not explicit but implicit within the epic story. France and America at that time responded to radical ideas. Why didn't Britain and is our system of Monarchy one we have really thought about in depth? Paine's ability to be radical and humane was made clear. It was a production that sinks in later rather than at the time. The cast were lacking in energy and verve on the evening I went, although the principals had clear characterization. The singing was weak and need much more attention. - hilary
12 Sep 09
What a let down: this show promised so much and delivered so little. The play was overblown, confusing to all but expert Tom Paine-ites. The character of Paine was given little room for development - and there were very few moments of passion and conviction. The direction was astonishingly wooden and there were very few moments of pure theatricality. What a let down. - Mike Levy
12 Sep 09
I disagree that Griffiths' socialism is, as you say, out of step with our time. In the current world crisis, the interest in socialism has never been greater worldwide. The interest in Paine and his writing is commensurate with that revival. - Carolyn
07 Sep 09
For me, both halves of the play lacked any sense of character development, not just the second half. There was virtually no drama, tension or suspense to speak of in what could have been a vastly dramatic play, and it was without any insight into one of history's most influential and dynamic characters. An opportunity missed. - Carl
A rebuild of Shakespeare's original Globe theatre close to the original site. Society of London Theatre member. Note: Booking opened March 3rd 1996. Tickets for performances range from £5 (standing in the yard) to £37.50 for the best gallery seats). Induction loop facilities. Wheelchair facilities. Extensive education programme. Restaurant, cafe and bar. Dark during the winter but the museum and venue remain open. One of the few London venues with Sunday performances. The Globe Theatre Season runs from April to October. The Globe Education Centre is located in Park Street and runs an educational autumn season.
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