Fine acting saves sexed-up script

LOLITA
Lion and Unicorn

This raunchy and up-to-date adaptation of Lolita is a poor imitation of the novel. Victor Sobchak has sped up the plot and included explicit language and sexy dance routines, which makes the story seem nasty rather than tragic.
The play opens with Lolita dancing like a stripper for her teenage lover. Because Lolita is very interested in sex from the start of the play it is difficult to tell what effect her affair with the hairy Mr Humbert is supposed to have on her.
Later on her mother dances to the same song for Mr Humbert. She dances for a long time. It seems the writer has included as much sex in this play as he could just for the sake of it.
The actors do well in spite of this. Mark Marlowe cleverly portrays Humbert’s fixation with Lolita. He almost visibly sweats and shakes when she appears on stage. The moment when Humbert realises he is the legal guardian of Lolita is both sinister and comic because of the swift change in Marlowe’s behaviour.
Sophie Brooke looks right for the part of Lolita and her imitation of a young teenager is believable. Her interactions with Humbert seem real even though the bad script blurs their relationship.
Tanya Winsor is sufficiently repellent as Lolita’s middle-aged mother. She delivers her bad jokes badly and hangs on Humbert as she is supposed to.
The story of Lolita occasionally comes to life because of the acting but for the most part it is made to seem too much like a late-night soft porn film because of the bad script.
Until May 28
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