The Rose Theatre is an awe-inspiring place. One of the first Elizabethan theatres of its time, its structural remains were discovered in 1989 during the construction of a new office block. After a campaign to save it, the Rose Theatre Trust was established to preserve the ruins for the public. While playhouses such as The Globe seek to recreate the past, The Rose reveals it; thrusting a small stage and auditorium out from a balcony that overlooks the ruins.
Its current production, Saint Joan, is most successful when it acknowledges this atmospheric space. The action is predominantly resigned to the small stage but we live for the moments when they defy these confines to stand among the ruins, with light casting long shadows against its ancient walls like long dead Shakespearian actors come to witness one last performance. It’s a haunting setting and yet this lively retelling of Bernard Shaw’s play maintains a great deal of playfulness despite its sombre subject. This sense of mischief is embodied in the excellent performances and particularly resonates with Suzanne Marie as Joan of Arc herself.
Of all her military victories, Joan’s latest conquest appears to be the raiding of Hot Topic. Depicting Joan as a teenage heavy metal fan maybe a slightly clichéd way to exhibit her nonconformity, yet Marie pulls it off with aplomb, managing to appear both dedicated to her cause and endearing. She leaps and throws herself across the stage, radiating such an infectious energy that one can easily understand how she gained such an immense following in such a short amount of time. Screaming amongst the theatre’s ruins as the smoke engulfs her, one feels the need to hold up a lighter as the ultimate rebel burns to the sounds of The Sex Pistols. Spencer Lee Osborne also shines in his multiple roles, injecting a great deal of humour into the proceedings, particularly as the pompous Earl of Warwick.
While the production boasts great performances, the ending falls flat. Its great asset is its interaction with the space and yet for Joan’s farewell speech, it feels the need to withdraw from it completely and project it as a video onto the wall. I can understand why director Constanza Hola chose this medium as a detached way for Joan to communicate from beyond the grave, but unfortunately it is poorly executed. Things take a turn for the surreal when we witness the characters on film performing their farewells to Joan on what, as the bus conductor in the back ground announces, is the bus terminating at Kingston. I am unsure as to the reasoning behind decisions such as this, as well as music that sounds more at home in your local Nandos, and it does jar what is enjoyable production. But it’s also fun and spunky like Joan herself and ultimately elements of corniness can be forgiven for enthusiastic performances and a great interaction with the fantastic space.
Saint Joan is playing until 1 June. For more information and tickets, see the Rose Theatre website.
As You Like It is Shakespeare’s cross-dressing pastoral comedy of gender reversal, mistaken identity and love. Rosalind (disguised as a young man, Ganymede) and her cousin Celia (disguised as shepherd girl Aliena) find sanctuary from Rosalind’s usurped uncle’s court in the Forest of Arden. Young gentleman of the kingdom, Orlando, in love with Rosalind, travels around Arden carving love poems for her into the trees. He encounters ‘Ganymede’ who agrees to coach him on how to act out his affair with Rosalind. Meanwhile, shepherdess Phebe has fallen in love with Ganymede, shepherd Silvius has fallen in love with Phebe, and all the youthful hormones quickly bubble to the inevitable revelations and confrontations.
