In the world of literature love often seems to lead to murder, but what happens when the victim is a bed-bound war veteran? In many ways Somerset Maugham’s “The Sacred Flame” is a classic murder mystery, leading us through a series of dramatic scenes as the evidence stacks against the main suspect before the shocking truth is revealed in the final, not-so surprising twist. It’s also a play that raises puzzling, deep ethical questions about the sacrifices that a permanently disabled person and their friends and family have to make. Maugham’s play premiered in New York in 1928 and then came to London in 1929, before returning in 1967 with Gladys Cooper playing the matriarchal Mrs Tabret. Since then the play has slipped into the background until Director Mathew Dunster’s decision to stage a revival with English Touring Theatre. Having recently worked with the Pet Shop Boys and choreographer Javier de Frutos at Sadler’s Wells, directed “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”, based on Sillitoe’s novel, and staged his own play “Children’s Children” at the Almeida, Dunster’s versatility is striking, and a characteristic which perhaps makes his choice of Maugham’s 1920s murder mystery a little less surprising.
It’s
easy to spot the challenges facing Dunster in updating “The Sacred Flame” to
suit the palate of a modern audience. Dunster has kept occasional
archaic-sounding lines to add humour, and although initially these sound
strained it doesn’t take long for us to fully accept that this is the 1920s.
What has been completely altered, though, is the set. We are presented with a
modernist construction of crossing metal bars, large transparent plastic doors
and large off-white walls which look like concrete. It is an interesting
decision, but the clash of eras between language and set confuses and
disconcerts more than it provides a clean, uncluttered background on which to
present the play for today’s audience.
There
can be little doubt, though, that Dunster’s bold decision to revive “The Sacred
Flame” has paid off. Maugham’s play is packed with heady emotional impact and
incisive empathy which leaves our loyalties and ethics torn. We want to
sympathise with the young, beautiful wife, Stella, and her impossible
situation, while at the same time understanding the awfulness of taking another
human life and the need for justice. This tension is well delivered, with
particularly moving performances from Sarah Churm, as the Nurse Wayland who
obstinately seeks justice and the truth, and Beatriz Romilly as Stella, the
young wife struggling to deal with the changes to her marriage brought by her
husband’s accident. Mrs Tabret, the matriarch of the play, is played by Margot
Leicester, who also gives a strong performance, although some lines sounded
strained and unnatural.
Dunster’s
staging of “The Sacred Flame” proves that old, almost forgotten works can be
successfully revived and hold their strong emotional impact. Maugham is better
known today for his novels, particularly “The Painted Veil”, recently
transformed into a popular film, but the power of English Touring Theatre’s
production proves that treasures can still be found in the back catalogue of
English drama.
The
Sacred Flame is at the Rose Theatre in Kingston until Saturday 22nd
of September and then continues its national tour until the 24th of
November, visiting the Northern Stage in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Oxford
Playhouse, The New Wolsey in Ipswich, the Liverpool Playhouse, Guildford’s
Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, The Theatre Royal in Brighton, The Nuffield in
Southampton and the Cambridge Arts Theatre. For more information and to book
tickets, visit the English Touring Theatre website.
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