At the Vaults
This is a production to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Moliere
A combination by the Theatre Lab Company and Exchange theatre present Don Juan with alternating dialogue in English and French. Don Juan is a play by the greatest French playwright. It is played by a band of bilingual actors and the director Anastasia Revi, all of whom understand the entertaining quality of Don Juan. And it is entertainment gone mad.
As an onlooker I felt a little like foreigners feel when they see an English pantomime. Something crazy not totally understood but lots of laughs, music, singing, dancing and knockabout comedy.
In this instance some of the cast wear masks – not the covid ones – some with the beaks, some black, some full faces whited out, all manners of disguise. This of course muffles the sound a little, but the plot is quite easy to follow once you get used to the bilingualism of it.
Don Juan is of course a sexual adventurer, a philandereer. Using the words “I love you” and “Will you marry me” as a matter of course, in order to achieve sexual pleasure but getting him in constant trouble from the dozens of ladies to whom he has spoken those words.
In the play he is newly married but still looking for love outside the marriage. But he is helped out of scrapes by his servant Sgnarelle played by the astonishing and highly revered actor David Furlong. He is the whipping boy, always managing to receive the blows meant for his master, loves him to the end. He tries very hard to reform him, but, alas, Don Juan is set in his lubricious ways.
The director Anastasia Revi has directed it for the greatest amount of fun, using wonderful appropriate songs like ‘Je ne regrette rien’ A true sentiment from the Don Juan ‘Show me the way to the next whisky bar’ sung by the statue or God or an angel whatever he is and the rest of the cast joining in the singing and dancing..
The weird thing is that when they do the curtain call, you realise there are only six people in the cast. The masks and other disguises make one think there are lots more.
After the show we went to the bar and were given a most delicious Religieuse – made of chou pastry and filled with chocolate creme patisserie. I did know why at the time, but I’ve forgotten
The most unusual evening I’ve had for ages. Memories of the Comedie Francaise and teenage passions including Gerard Philippe were abounding in an extremely entertaining and jolly evening.
Aline Waites
pyekan 