Dantons Death

Never mind the actors, what about the design?  That's not the normal question I ask at the theatre, but this production of Buechner's classic about the French revolution features an outstanding, pared-down but elegant set by Christopher Oram.  I suggest an outing from Stratford to London's National Theatre for those responsible for the grossly over-designed RSC production of King Lear I saw in July.  This is how it's done -- simple and uncluttered, leaving space for the actors to do their stuff.  Oram's work with director Michael Grandage is mostly seen across the river at the Donmar, whose stage is about one tenth the size of the Olivier's vast expanse.  Here the stage is a Gallic hexagon, suggesting the rationalist perfection of the Enlightenment, topped by a narrow balcony with shuttered windows.  On this symmetrical platform the human beings act out scenes of irrationality and terror, climaxing in a frightening re-enactment of the guillotining of Danton and his moderate comrades.  Yes, I know they didn't really lose their heads, but it certainly felt and looked like it from the back of the stalls. I winced as the blade came down, which is another testament to the way a good theatre designer can make the eyes deceive the brain.  It recalled my desire during War Horse to give Joey the puppet horse a carrot. 

I was curious after my disappointment at the mangled 'version' by Dennis Kelly of The Prince of Homburg, seen this week at the Donmar, to see how Howard Brenton treated Buechner's text.  Would he change the ending or the story, or stay faithful to what the playwright wrote?  The answer turns out to be complex;  Brenton's text is a revised version of his original, staged at the National in 1982.  In a fascinating interview  with the online review ArtsDesk, Brenton makes clear his view that modern audiences will no longer tolerate what he calls 'library' theatre -- unvarnished translations of great foreign classics.  Re-reading his 1982 version, he couldn't make head or tail of it.  'I couldn't believe the audience had sat through it.'  So the new version (Buechner for the short-attention-span generation) runs for 105 minutes without an interval;  the Methuen playscript runs to just 60 pages (on sale in the NT bookshop at an outrageous £8.99).  Brenton cuts ruthlessly, omitting most of the crowd scenes, the role of Tom Payne, and the final two scenes around the scaffold, but mostly remains faithful to what Buechner wrote.  I never saw the original longer Brenton version on stage, but my feeling is that something has been lost by creating what is essentially a chamber version of the play. Let's be thankful for small mercies;  if Dennis Kelly had been responsible for this version, Danton would probably have lived happily ever after. 

What of the acting?  Toby Stephens makes a workmanlike job of playing Danton, but doesn't bring anything exceptional to the role.  Elliot Levey, however, gives a chilling portrait of Robespierre and his orchestration of Danton's arrest and execution. 

This is an astonishing play, written by a 21-year-old revolutionary.  I wonder if anything comparable by an English dramatist survives from the 1830s, or even from the whole of the 19th century?  I suspect not.  Buechner's grasp of stagecraft and his modern, muscular language just take the breath away.  Although I liked some of Brenton's inventions, such as a bedroom scene where the fussily elegant Robespierre dresses and puts on his wig, I left the theatre feeling cheated.  Given that this play only comes around once every two decades or so, I would rather have seen it as Buechner wrote it.

Comments

[John Morrison]

I certainly didn't see the colours. It all looked a uniform grey to me. Well spotted...

[MartaR73]

I agree with you about the set design for Danton's Death. But there is a flaw, and I wondered if you noticed something--the upper level of the set, with the balcony/catwalk, has a three panel background. The panels were very very subtly washed with the colors of the French flag. It was so subtle that I didn't even notice it until it was pointed out to me by a NT backstage tour guide. BUT the problem is (and the same problem is seen in the ads for the play) is that the colors' proper order is reversed. The French flag is known as the tricouleur, and the three colors are bleu, blanc et rouge. But on the set and on the ad the colors are displayed in the opposite order--which is the US color order. An amateur error for such a prestigious entity as the NT. Otherwise a great production.