Helen, Globe Theatre, August 2009

This Euripides play was given in a new translation by Frank McGuinness, and I liked it, but fear it may sound odd in a few years’ time with expressions like done and dusted. However it worked well here, directed by Deborah Bruce, with designs by Gideon Davy, in a production that took the story lightly. That story, about the real Helen going to Egypt and remaining faithful to her husband Menelaus, while a fake went to Troy as the wife of Priam, became popular in Greece as it let Helen off the hook for the deaths of so many men in a ten-year war. The story was taken up by Hugo von Hofmannsthal as a libretto for Richard Strauss’s opera The Egyptian Helen (Die Ägyptische Helena, which I saw in February in Berlin). The opera is a more elaborate affair, and for this reason doesn’t work well on stage. But this play does work, and at ninety minutes with no interval is far shorter than the opera.

I thought Penny Downie did well as Helen, with Paul McGann giving an excellent portrayal of Menelaus. Rawiri Paratene was Theoclymenes, the Egyptian king who wants to marry Helen, and his all-seeing sister Theonoe was well performed by Diveen Henry. The appearance of Helen’s heavenly brothers Castor and Pollux at the end, as gardeners and odd-job men with angelic wings was pure nonsense, but fun. They were there before the play started, painting the stage, showing that none of this stuff should be taken too seriously, and the whole production was meant to be comic, with Helen expressing an oh-my-god-is-it-really-you attitude, and Theoclymenes hamming it up as a pompous but easily deceived king.

Romeo and Juliet, Globe Theatre, May 2009

This production by Dominic Dromgoole, designed by Simon Daw, gave a claustrophobic intensity to the drama, while the music composed by Nigel Hess with choreography by Sian Williams helped lighten the atmosphere. As Romeo we had Adetomiwa Edun giving a passionate performance, and commanding the stage with his presence. Unfortunately I found Ellie Kendrick’s Juliet no match for him, and one wondered why he and Paris took any interest in this dull girl. Rawiri Paratene was an impassioned Friar Lawrence, Ian Redford an irascibly intense Capulet, Ukweli Roach a sneeringly dangerous Tybalt, and Fergal McElherron was superbly engaging as Peter, a servant in the Capulet household. These men made the drama work, aided by Philip Cambus as a slightly wild Mercutio, Jack Farthing as an emollient Benvolio, Tom Stuart as a keen and callow Paris, Penny Laden as the nurse, and Andrew Vincent showing good stage presence as prince of Verona. The fight scenes were entirely convincing, and I thought the monks carrying Juliet’s body through the audience in the pit added a very effective touch. Altogether a successful production of the play, though I wish the nurse, Juliet and her mother had come over a little more strongly.