Started off in with a little something in the Salisbury, little changed from the days when I used the place reasonably regularly, say once every couple of months or so. A fine establishment.
Garrick Theatre looking very smart with lashings of smart new gold leaf in the upper regions. Stalls maybe three quarters full, audience enthusiastic. And being an evening performance, a more theatrical looking lot than we get at our usual matinées. Even a fair sprinkling of people of working age, less than fifty even. At least one celebrity (B list).
The reviews were right in that there were a lot of coarse gags and that a lot of political gags had been inserted, perhaps replacing originally topical gags from the days of the Sun King. Quite a lot of interaction with the audience, but the chap doing it - Maître Jacques - seemed to know his business, only selecting people from the front few rows who looked as if they could manage. We were safe, 10 rows back or so, in any case the sort of distance that I like, not being keen on the very front rows, not least because of the risk of spittle.
But I thought that they were wrong in that translating a comedy, not to say farce, which has been written in rhyming French verse was a tall order, and it was probably inevitable that a large proportion of the original was going to get lost in the process. Probably inevitable that end of the pier stuff was going to fill up the gap. All this probably being why Molière does not appear in London very often.
A bit disappointed in the two leads, Griff Rhys Jones and Lee Mack. But the ensemble as a whole was fine. Costumes a bit overdone. Stage (as nearly always seems to be the case these days) good. Got to the end happily enough, but I would have trouble telling you what the story was now, apart from it being about a miser with a couple of children to marry off on the cheap.
Interested to read in the programme about Molière's strong links to the commedia dell'arte, noticed after a fashion at references 1 and 2.
Wondered about the relationship, if any, between 'miser' and 'misery'. Checking, I find that they are indeed related. Furthermore, there is a drink called miser made from the washings of beehives and a well boring tool called a miser. That apart, the more usual meanings.
With thanks to C. and J. Goodfriend for the illustration. Entitled 'Allons vite, des commissaires' and described as 'Lithograph, 1833-34, 233 x 275 mm., Bibliothèque National Inventaire 9, pl. 270. A very fine impression on white wove paper with good margins. The image shows a scene from Molière’s comedy, usually called in English 'The Miser', but the figure on stage here is clearly Louis Philippe and the print is a satire on the avarice of the citizen king. Desperet, a contemporary of Daumier and one of many great caricaturists of the time, was born in Lyon and worked frequently in conjunction with Grandville'. Not clear how freely the print has translated from the production concerned.
A rather expensive evening, but we were glad to have sampled the French master at last, a near contemporary of our own Shakespeare and as famous in his country as the latter is in ours. Not sure what Twiggy would have made of it all, said to have graced the opening night.
Now the proud owner of a parallel text on the kindle, arranged one paragraph/speech in French, then repeated down the page in English. Probably better for reference than for reading, so I shall look out for a school edition with footnotes and paraphernalia, from Bute Street (South Kensington), next time I am down that way.
Raynes Park platform library inaccessible on the way home. Looked reasonably well stocked.
PS: I read today in the French wikipedia that Maître Jacques carries baggage as 'un personnage symbolique du Compagnonnage', whatever that might mean.
Reference 1: http://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=commedia.
Reference 2: http://psmv2.blogspot.co.uk/search?q=commedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment