For Rufus Norris’s debut production as the
new artistic director at the National Theatre Everyman deserves to be classed as big, bold, eclectic and entirely
relevant. For a start its lead character, Everyman is performed by Award
Winning Actor, Chiwetel Ejiofor who yanked our
heartstrings in the Oscar Winning film, 12
Years A Slave. Secondly, the contemporary and electric coloured set is
actually a backdrop for a morality play originally written in the 15th
century. And, on top of that, you have poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy writing reams
of poetry and script for this adapted production. (Norris stated that Duffy
began with twenty pages of script, which ended with
seventy-two pages for the show.)
I wasn’t there at the National Theatre.
Tonight [July 16], I was at the Gate Cinema in Notting Hill with cinema audiences who also
enjoy watching live theatre from the comfort of their local cinema. This was the first time I had seen the production and whilst viewing it on the big screen, it
seemed to work really well considering the versatility of
Ian MacNeil’s brilliant staging and visual elements, not to mention Ejiofor who, we know, looks
good on film.
As we see NT audiences get settled in
the auditorium, we watch as a cleaning lady sweeps the Olivier theatre stage, yet
even before the show has began, we’re unsure if she’s part of the show
or a NT staff member. All is confirmed when she turns around, projects
her voice and speaks at the audience. Actress, Kate Duchêne, says ‘Enjoy it
while it lasts!’ Before we know it’s actually God ranting about the falsehood of man in a dirty apron simultaneously
brushing dust off the floor. Yet the quiet is instantly destroyed by an ambush of electro, dub
step and high intensity club music.
Everyman celebrates his 40th
birthday with coke, alcohol, debauchery and sin, and whilst this is happening the entire stage looks like a visually intensifying (and amusing) music video.
Choreographer and Movement Director, Javier De Frutos adds in the intimate slow-mo,
vitality and dynamics to this corrupt scene with a neatly casted team
(up-to 22 supporting actors and actresses).
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| Courtesy of The Stage/National Theatre |
With a pair of rubber gloves and a
plastic carrier bag, Irish actor Dermot Crowley makes his entrance as
Death, yet don't let the humour and sarcasm fool you - there’s still a glimmer of evil in his eyes. There’s no dark cloak
or nightmarish hood to identify him – just a snappy and scary persona that
forces Everyman to look back at his life for a meaningful act he had committed. The rest of the show is the hair raising journey Everyman takes.
Everyman goes back to his mother,
father, sister, so-called clubbing pals and a load of abstract characters
(Vanity, Knowledge and Goods, etc.,) in search of a good deed yet nothing
is redeemable, nor attainable. He has a reflective moment when he meets his
younger self, Everyboy (played by Jeshaiah Murray) and says to him, ‘You’re so
lucky!’’ Through Everyman’s desperation Ejiofor
convinces us that we’ve had a few moments asking ourselves similar questions: ‘What
have I done?’ or ‘What is my good deed?’ That once, we have doubted ourselves
and regretted a thing, or two.
Yet, with all such brilliant staging
and acting, there are scenes that move super fast, from one abstract character
to another, that it's hard to keep up with the pace, including the toing and froing from old English and casual slang. In one scene, Everyman is in prayer talking
about the Act of Contrition and in another has a revelatory dialogue in plain verse with Vanity about his secular love for
credit cards and bling bling. But these tiny blips didn't change how together the message of the play was cleverly delivered.
Duffy, naturally, has a way with words,
which shaped the story exquisitely. Paul Arditti also deserves
his due as sound designer as well as the ensemble of musicians directed by Williams
Lyons. This included interesting instrumentation from a hurdy gurdy, racket,
crumhorn, recorder, bagpipes, gittern and many more.
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| Photo by Richard Hubert Smith |
The encore showing of Everyman NT is on Tuesday 21st at 12pm Gate Cinema and showing at live a National Theatre until August 30th. Click on the links to provide more information and purchase tickets.
