REVIEW
BRITANNICUS
Theatre Junction
Starring Darcy Dunlop, Michael Schultz and Meg Roe
Directed by Keith Turnbull
Runs until December 14
Betty Mitchell Theatre (Jubilee)
Never one to shrink from a challenge, Theatre Junction has set their sights on a classic 17th century French tragedy that has rarely, if ever, been seen in English Canada. Jean Racine’s Britannicus is a very difficult play that demands much of performers and audience. Although director Keith Turnbull delivers a confident staging with a strong cast, this production has very limited appeal.
French tragedy is an entirely different kind of theatre than what is usually seen in Calgary. This is an extremely formal, overwhelmingly conventional world. All of the dialogue is in verse. The important action takes place offstage. The script consists of a series of confrontations among two or three characters who tend to speak at very great length. The focus is almost entirely on the spoken word and on its polished delivery. How things have changed in 300 years.
Britannicus tells a juicy coming of age story about the Roman Emperor Nero. Put on the throne by the murderous backroom efforts of his mother Agripinna, young Nero is beginning to exercise his power with deadly results. Mom is shut out of his life. In a royal bout of sibling rivalry, Nero kidnaps Junia, his brother’s girlfriend, and demands she marry him instead of Britannicus. A battle of wills is waged among the Emperor’s family and counsellors that ends with a couple of grisly murders, a few more in the works and the empire firmly in the hands of a madman.
The action takes place in a nondescript, empty area just outside of the throne room. While important decisions are made here, they are implemented elsewhere. The play opens with Darcy Dunlop as Agripinna waiting to see Nero. She’s a dangerous woman, devastated by her little boy’s betrayal and desperate to regain her position as the real power behind the throne. Her performance has a regal formality that barely conceals her ruthlessness.
When he arrives, Michael Schultz as Nero is an appealing villain. His relaxed delivery gives him an open and vulnerable veneer that transforms in an instant when he turns on his victims. He is a likable psychopath just beginning to stretch his wings – with deadly results.
Our sympathy is reserved for Junia, played by Meg Roe – as a young woman forced to choose between love and the devil, she achieves a comfortable mix of dignity and vibrant youth.
Presented without an intermission, Britannicus demands quite a bit from the audience. Despite Darrell Moore’s clever lighting design that takes us from sunrise to sunset, the production is visually unappealing. Both set and costumes leave no impression, replacing the setting of Ancient Rome with something indistinguishable.
Britannicus offers a fascinating look at politics and psychology via 17th century France – but only for those prepared for the experience. |
