Queanbeyan City Council. The Q Theatre. 6 Feb 2014
It’s a tough job interpreting a tale of such epic and world-renowned status as A Tale of Two Cities for a contemporary audience; one needs to appeal to their sensibilities, expectations and attention span while remaining true to the original work. This Queanbeyan City Council production has managed to some degree to pull this feat off.
As with many theatre companies today, this version of the Charles Dickens classic (deftly adapted by Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud) injects modern cultural references and aesthetics into a relatively faithful retelling of the story. The hipster trend seems to particularly resonate with production teams involved in these kinds of projects, with black skinny jeans and t-shirts once again the order of the day for the male protagonists.
But while other productions have remained consistent with their production styles and values, this one was noteworthy for being quite random. There seemed to be little rhyme or reason in terms of not only the costuming (by Miriam Miley-Read) for the cast as a whole, but also the approach to sound (sharing roaming microphones on long and OH&S-risk leads during the courtroom scene?) that seemed a sloppy solution to audibility. The use of accents, although predominately Australian, was also indecisive.
Starting off in a somewhat lacklustre fashion, it was initially difficult to feel the chemistry between the cast members. Fortunately, as the story developed and intensified, a deepening and nuancing of each character began to occur to the point that one was able to perceive a meaningful connection among them.
While some characters were more successfully portrayed than others, the stand outs of the evening would have to be Calen Robinson as the camp, flamboyant and devious Marquis de St Everemonde and Hannah Ley in all her various and polarised roles (Madame Defarge, Edward Stryver and minor characters). Both served to spice up the production and gave colour and movement to the long and complex storyline. Robinson in the role of the boorish and indolent Sydney Carton didn’t work as well as it might of, with his character proving to be quite tedious until the final heroic scenes of the play.
Given that all but two performers had the chance to display a good range of their talents through multiple roles, the majority had their moment at one time or another during the show where they really shone and endeared themselves to the audience. The only character that remained a mystery was Daniel Greiss as Charles Darnay, who had little opportunity to delve into the layers of this protagonist.
Laura Dawson as the much adored and earnest Lucie Manette had all the necessary attributes to pull the part off convincingly, and really came into her own in the thrilling second act. Her heart melting portrayal of the ill-fated French child was also noteworthy. Peter Dark as Jervis Lorry, Don Smith as Dr Manette and Barbara Denham as Miss Pross – among their other characterisations – gave solid, sterling performances and grounded the production with their respective depths of experience. Dim Ristevski as Ernest Defarge and David McNamara as John Barsad were also highly effective in their more minor roles.
The watchtower set by Brian Scudding was both striking and utilitarian, with the cast making full use of its potential; serving as a horse and carriage in one scene, the next as a French Revolutionary refuge – to great effect. Similarly, the lighting by Hamish McConchie had some fantastically creative moments when combined with stirring, well-chosen music from members of the ‘27 Club’, particularly during the surreal and mesmerising climax where these elements replaced the use of any dialogue.
Overall, this production left one with a sense of satisfaction – although it took a while to warm up, in the end it did Dickens’ work proud. And while there was a lack of coherence in terms of production choices, the strength of the show overall faded these elements into irrelevance by the conclusion. This play is well worth seeing.
Deborah Hawke
When: 5 to 15 Feb
Where: The Q Theatre
Bookings: theq.net.au