Pull the other one: Travesties at the Apollo Theatre
Travesties
Apollo Theatre
7 April 2017
Dress Circle B31, £20
http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/travesties/apollo-theatre/
My faith in my Stoppard appreciation (admittedly, not very much examined over the past ten years) was shaken recently by the Old Vic production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead – not, though, that I didn't enjoy it. Travesties I enjoyed rather more, although it provides more ammunition for my suspicion that Stoppard is theatre's Don DeLillo: insistently dependent on the work of other artists, in a way that is sometimes illuminating, sometimes frustrating.
I caught Patrick Marber's production at the West End transfer after its successful first run at the Menier Chocolate Factory (to which can you believe I've still never been). Marber's production is solid and sometimes ingenious, and very attractively designed by Tim Hatley. The performances were perhaps accomplished rather than spontaneous, although the super-super-rehearsed style arguably rather suits the material. It was only in the final sing-song (which I think also was the only unnecessary one) that I felt a touch of pity for the cast and their rictus grins.
Still, they are all very well selected. I, probably like most people, went principally to see Tom Hollander, but he's a team player in this ensemble piece. Freddie Fox as Tzara speaks too fast and too shouty when he gets excited but is otherwise a joy, a tour de force of youthful, febrile energy. Peter McDonald does an extremely decent impression of Joyce delivered with impeccable comic timing. I have a soft spot for Tim Wallers as Bennett, who consistently draws wit and nuance from what might otherwise have been the rather thankless role as the Socialist Wildean butler. Forbes Masson looks amazingly like Lenin and Shakespeare, with extra points for his pleasant falsetto. I'm not really that enamoured with Stoppard's women in this piece (I guess he really did have to call them Cecily and Gwendolen, but I find it hard to take), but Amy Morgan as the latter made a fun sparring partner for Hollander in the second half.
I do treasure Travesties for its exploration of the purpose of art and the role of the artist. David says its derivativeness is part of that discussion, and I guess you can't argue with that – if you took The Importance of Being Earnest out of Travesties you wouldn't have very much left. But the largest laugh of the evening was lifted wholesale from Wilde, and I find that quite annoying. Stoppard is well capable of writing his own gags.
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