Saturday 23 June 2012

‘The Rest is Silence’ - Riverside Studios - Thursday 21st June 2012


(Rated 4/5 )

Please Note: If you want to skip the pre-show drama then please go straight to 'AND FINALLY'

The drama around booking, potentially unbooking and going to see or rapidly-limping a mile from this highly unusual production of Hamlet, was almost more dramatic than the play itself - though actually this was more like a black farce than one of the greatest tragedies of all time. Loving Hamlet, I felt very excited at the prospect of seeing something that was billed as a dreamlike meditation on it. Of all the offerings from The World Shakespeare Festival, this was the one which most appealed and I booked well in advance. So much so as not to know what the unusual aspects entailed. As the friend who went with me later commented, the least you expect from going to the theatre is to sit in a seat for the performance and watch the actors in front of you on stage - that said of course in Shakespeare's time those in the pit did not have that luxury. Weeks later an email comes regarding seating for the performance. There is none! In addition those who suffer from claustrophobia are advised to ring the box office to discuss that. Yikes! I have suffered from that a couple of times - on both occasions stuck in an MRI machine to analyse my hips - thank goodness it was my hips and not higher up in my body - I think to have had my head in that machine would have created a major claustrophobia-induced panic attack. And so I rang - I explained that I fall (no pun intended) into both categories - disabled and claustrophobic. So I got assigned a shooting stick - I explained I have a walking seat and could bring that, but the reply was that no, I must not do that and must use one the allocated sticks. Okay. So then I asked about what might induce claustrophobia. It's explained to me that the production takes place in a confined space, the auditorium is blacked out, with just a few lights around the promenade by which the audience can see. OMG! I said I need to think about whether I can manage all that and was told I can cancel the booking if I do so by a certain date. My friend had previously thought it all sounded exciting. So we discussed her maybe going with someone else if I couldn't manage - meanwhile I swung from 'Oh yes I can do it' to 'How mad to put myself through agony and potential panic attacks - possibly a trip to A&E - for some poncy art'. We did even get to the point of giving up on it as I would have had to go anyway to collect on my credit card... I phoned to cancel in time and was told I could not as they have a no cancellation policy! A case of different people saying different things. So friend and I resigned ourselves to going and agreed that if I couldn't cope we'd just have a drink instead. As it came closer to the time I wound myself up a little more and almost had panic attacks thinking about what could possibly go wrong. The night before we decided we should also book to eat before the show - last time at the Riverside, the restaurant was packed. I rang to try to do so and, after getting a bizarre noise on the phone twice before, managed to get through the third time. Apparently the restaurant area was booked for an event, but if we wished we could use the film cafe at the front of the building. 
On the evening concerned, I met friend. She suggested we eat somewhere else before we go to the Riverside. Thank goodness she did. We got to Riverside Studios to find the film cafe was closed! Our response was humour at this point. In fact so much so that I'd forgotten to be worried. Then the worry was triggered again by the safety sheet we were given with out tickets - it warned us again of what we were facing - standing in a confined space for 90 mins, nudity and a loud bang - leaving us to imagine all of all the possible calamities that may get triggered as a result! After my palpitations at the Donmar from the double dose of male nudity I was adding in yet another thing that could send me to A&E. We came up with our own little strategy. If either of us couldn't cope we'd leave but the other could stay if they were enjoying it. And we'd text to let the other know whether we'd left and gone home or were waiting out of the confined space. 
It was almost time and we were called to Studio 2. We followed directions, only to be told we were going the wrong way and had to go out of the building and round the side to join a queue to go in. Again, I started to imagine 'bad' reasons why there might be a queue! 

AND FINALLY we were in the purpose-built confined-space set/theatre for The Rest is Silence. It was quite a large room in which we could all freely walk. Neither the 'lift-size' nor the restricted-raised corridor-like promenade I had imagined/feared. So I felt no danger from claustrophobia- or acrophobia-induced panic attacks. I tried out sitting on the shooting stick - it seemed okay though a little hard to balance, but using my own stick as well seemed okay. I felt as ready as I could be :). Around us the walls appeared black. A circle of dim lights lit the room from the ceiling. And then they went out. For a few seconds we were in pitch black - 'Keep breathing, it's all okay' self-talk - and then meditative music. I'm okay! This is nice. A film on one wall of the death of Hamlet's father (Thorston Manderlay). And then on comes light revealing a room built within another wall - a bedroom - a naked Claudius (Phillip Edgerley) waking abruptly after a nightmare. He dresses - that's the nudity done and I'm still okay. And so the action carries on. We are introduced to Hamlet (Edward Hogg), Gertrude (Ruth Lass), Ophelia (Bethan Cullinane), Polonius (Richard Clews) and Laertes (Ben Ingles). In fact, in this version of the story, there are just two more characters - the humour-providing Rosencrantz (Michael Bryher) and Guildenstern (Stewart Heffernan) - to join the unmerry band. This is a much shortened version of the play, and though all mixed up with dialogue from different scenes put together in one, all the text used is from the original Shakespeare's Hamlet. The action takes place in different rooms built into the walls all around the main auditorium. I was very impressed. It gives the feeling of all the characters being restricted, confined, imprisoned by their beliefs, conceptions and lack of trust in each other. It has the audience - who ironically in this situation, and contrary to expectation, feel more free than the characters, questioning all these things in themselves. In fact in some ways it did indeed - as intended by the company dreamthinkspeak - raise new perspectives and insights into the conflicts, feelings and themes of the play. 'Get thee to a nunnery' now becomes a scene with Hamlet challenging Ophelia and Gertrude - which makes sense psychologically - his feelings and relationship with his mother impacting on that with Ophelia. 'To be or not to be' becomes a meditation by the whole cast - done in staggered unison; round. This and the rest of the production actually make it feel like all the characters are equal in this piece. Hamlet isn't the lead role any more. If anything I felt Claudius and Gertrude had more to do. And Rosencrantz and Guildernstern also made a greater impression than in other productions I have seen. The use of film as well - for R&G in a kind of life-raft out at sea and Ophelia's drowning contributed beautifully to the whole feeling of the piece. And I did feel even more at one with the actors watching them in their personal spaces (living-rooms, bedrooms, offices) going through their traumas and psychological journeys - just perspex between us. All were good. If anything I found Hamlet himself slightly lacking BUT I have seen some absolutely superb embodiments of him - most notable for me David Tennant - and with dialogue taken away from him, in a sense he was somewhat disabled in potential.
The audience moved around a fair bit - I noticed like me - those with shooting sticks were using them to lean on rather than sit on - they didn't feel very stable! I stayed in the same general area. For the finale I found myself in the front row centre. As the cast took their bows we applauded. They were all smiles. I was absolutely beaming. Such a shared experience! And that was acknowledged in a sense by them applauding us too. We'd done through the trauma, drama, psychology of the play and been challenged psychologically and physically too - what an achievement - and actually well worth it.

The Rest is Silence – Review by TheRestrictedReviewer © 2012


Twitter: @RestrictReview

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