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The Review - THEATRE by AOIFE NI DHALAIGH
Published: 31 May 2007

No flesh please, we’re fringe

LA RONDE
Lion and Unicorn

ARTHUR Schnitzler’s famous work is based on 10 interlocking love stories – or, rather, ‘love’ because this play is about sex. Desire, seduction and the disparity between pre- and post-coital conversations are set out in a series of short sketches connected by the theme of lust and its outcome.
The result is a disjointed structure, with no plot as such, and a play driven entirely by its characters.
This is director Dumle Kogbara’s second stab at La Ronde, and he coaxes some engrossing performances from the young cast, notably Anna Blades as the delightfully manipulative wife and Mathew Delgaram Nejad as the overblown poet.
However, there is no sense of period to contextualise the attitudes of men towards women, which causes confusion.
Also, in a work so concerned with the flesh, the decision not to have the actors strip fully lessens the ‘realness’ of the play’s world.
However, in a theatre of this size – with those on stage prancing around in underwear – it can feel like you’ve accidentally wandered into someone’s bedroom, so perhaps this was a wise directorial decision to prevent traumatising the audience with close-range naked cavorting.
Act Provocateur is the resident company of the Lion and Unicorn and it shows in its confident use of the small theatre.
The atmosphere was spoiled slightly by music drifting up from the pub below, but the sheer energy of the performers was enough to let minor quibbles be forgotten and savour the production.
Until June 17
020 7482 0850

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