Review of Absurd: Princess Ivona
 | "Great potential, disappointing amateurish conclusion" by Alexandra Roumbas Goldstein for remotegoat on 20/12/07 |
Princess Ivona, an Absurdist play, is the story of a bored prince who chooses to spice up his languid existence by proposing marriage to the ugliest, most uncommunicative girl in the kingdom.
The overwhelming impression I was left with after this production was that one of its greatest strengths eventually became its greatest weakness. Packed into a tiny hall with minimalist set design and a simple, powerful lighting scheme, the intimate setting meant a first act that slowly reeled in and fascinated the audience. The school play costumes and simple make up conceit - everyone in cadaverous white and grey except Prince Philip who has some ability to see through the surface, albeit cruelly - worked well at first. However, in the second act it became clear that they would have been better off standing there in nothing but black; the hokey costume cupboard appearance became distracting when heightened by the quite deliberate daftness of the plot and a few ill-conceived musical cues.
It's a shame that an initially promising production dwindles into feeling so amateurish towards the end. It is particularly irritating because there is a wealth of real talent among the company. Standouts were Toby Spearpoint as the prince, Coren Fitzgerald as a consistently moving, weird and wonderful Ivona, and, at moments, Victoria Strachan as Queen Margaret. Although Strachan let a touch of Patricia Routledge creep into her performance, she was also channelling more than a touch of Fiona Shaw, and that was welcome and impressive. Alexander Andreou was, to my mind, miscast as the bluff King Ignatius, much better at the aggressive rants than the sly interchanges with Benjamin Reeves's excellent Lord Chamberlain, but still watchable. Only some very minor parts were weak, with Ivona's maiden aunts appearing far too young and vibrant to be in any way convincing, and her erstwhile lover a tad clunky, although in fairness it is extremely hard to breathe life into a part that exists just to deliver a monologue lampooning modern society.
Such semi-didactic plays can be hard to warm to generally, but there were clever moments and a few that sparked genuine, honest laughter from the audience.
An earth-shattering evening of modern theatre? No. But I would encourage anyone in the area to go along and support the company through donations in spite of that, because some of the talent in this company really deserves a wider audience. With a little funding, there's a lot of potential to be mined here.Add your review? Have your say, add your review
Other recent reviews of Absurd: Princess Ivona
 | | Absurd: Princess Ivona by Robert Rowe |
|  | Absurd: Princess Ivona by Chris Bearne |
| | Absurd: Princess Ivona by Sam Figuerola |
| | Absurd: Princess Ivona by Richard Cauldwin |
| | Absurd: Princess Ivona by Alexander Andreou |
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