The two part saga of Charles Dickens's Nicholas Nickleby closed on April 20th after an eight week run at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre. Hailing from London's West End, the Chichister Festival production was a main piece of the Mirvish 2008 subscription season.
The three hour performance of the first instalment opened upon what appeared at first to be a rather bare stage. With a rear balcony and staircase the only real stage pieces, the set lacked the over-embellished detail that we have come to expect today. This did not detract from the performance, however, but rather provided an ever changing landscape with nothing to link it to one place. Trees became smokestacks; one minute the story was set in the Yorkshire moors, the next hundreds of miles away in London, and yet the set was arranged in such away that this change required no more than a change in costume of the actors themselves. Although a minimalist approach was taken with the set, it was more than made up for in the exuberant costumes.
Costuming in this performance was infinitely more important than in most stage plays, for the cast of 27 was required to play over 100 different roles. Not only did the costuming manage to portray the characters however, they added subtle detail as well. When Nickleby's sister was at work in the dress store, her innocent character wore white against the harsh black-robed backdrop of the other worldly-wise seamstresses. In addition to this, the costuming also affected the mood. A move from the darker range during the realistic setting of the first part to brighter colours during a parody of Romeo and Juliet managed to lighten the atmosphere and helped draw the many laughs from the audience.
Perhaps the aspect of the performance that stood out the most from the classical retelling of such a story was the use of narrative. Rather than leave the audience guessing at the numerous scene changes and introduction of new characters, the entire cast took turns narrating both their own actions, as well as those of others. This added a more familiar feel to the production, seemingly combining radio drama with stage play, something quite original. It also seemed to tie together the threads of the story well, however nothing worked as well to create a sense of broken unity than the use of choral speaking.
The play opened to the entire cast on center stage, providing a broken narration as to the setting. Rarely is this seen, however it was very effective in ting together the intertwining storylines, providing a hint at each characters relationship with Nickleby. The different accents also provided a sense of location, helping the audience identify from where the character hailed. The changing faces and accents of the cast emphasized the constant nature of the main character, Nicholas Nickleby.
As the main character in this epic saga, it is important to create a very three dimensional character that the audience can relate to and therefore harbour a certain underlying feeling toward. In the case of this production, the role of Nickleby was underplayed at first and thus did not reach its full potential. This was one of the reasons it seemed slow on its feet, however it sped up as it continued, and the well-received parody at the end was a fitting close to the piece.
The parody itself was a drastic change to the realistic mood that the performance seemed to try for. The aforementioned costume change was only one of the unexpected turns the play took. The actors also began what was to look like a quasi-improvised performance of a happy-ending Romeo and Juliet, pretending to act with all the embellishments of Elizabethan theatre. The use of the hands was particularly effective in the comedic touch. The parody was carefully constructed to emphasize the differences between characters. It was what a caricature is to visual art: and over-the-top impression of each character in a different role. This was quite effective overall, and its placement couldn't have been better, for it captured the audience's attention for the lead-up to the finale, and was a large factor in the housewide standing ovation the cast and crew received.
The final touch added to this performance was the addition of choral music, often involving the entire cast singing in harmony. This, coupled with the narrative provided by the cast, gave the production the feel of a Broadway musical with most of its songs cut out of it. They did manage to keep the audience's attention however, which was useful in a performance of such length.
Nicholas Nickleby was by no means a regular performance. Straying from convention, it attempted to mesh different styles of theatre that would not normally be associated with a work such as this. The combined product however, was very effective in not only painting a perfect picture of the ins and outs of Dickensonian society, but at the same time showing the main plot of the struggle of the innocent Nicholas Nickleby as he is thrust alone into the world.
Article Rating (5 stars):
- Article Word Count: 845
- |
- Total Views: 103
- |
- permalink