November 9, 2006
Oxford Kiwi's production of Jean-Paul Sartre's Crime Passionnel (Les Mains Sales) makes good Chekov's maxim about guns in the theatre. The revolver we see in the first act does indeed get fired in the last, and from the start it's no mystery who will be shooting whom. What might surprise is that the story we are told isn't so much a 'whodunnit' as a 'whydunnit' exploring the journey of its protagonist and his transformation from setting out to kill for one reason to ultimately doing it for another.
Set in a fictional Eastern European state circa 1944-45, the play centres around eager young communist Hugo on a mission to assassinate charismatic party leader Hoederer who dares to challenge party ideals to form a coalition government with the fascists and nationalists. The majority of the play's running time is related in flashback, leaving behind whatever sense of objectivity a stage play could ever be said to possess. At the end, the murder committed, Hugo remains unsure of the true reasons for his actions. His final recourse is an attempt to reconcile the killing with his evolved point of view, and this is what gives the play its climax.
As the synopsis suggests, and a work by Sartre guarantees, the play is deeply concerned with both communism and existentialism. Each is discussed at length with two scenes in particular dramatically structured as intellectual arguments around these ideas. For the play to work, however, the characters holding these arguments need to live and breathe. It's crucial that emotions take hold and amid these intellectual wrangles take on a palpably humanist dimension. This is the key area in which this production lets the play down. Jack Farthing's Hugo is rather good but - and this might seem like an existential joke - the quality of acting across the board is inconsistent, leaving the impression that each character was in his/her own play. The average level of performance is above that of many student productions but the inconsistency and lack of cogency do cost the production dearly.
Other notable faults included the overly expansive set that looked like a Mondrian without its colour and the lighting design which was often inexplicably sourced and coloured. The second act included a sunrise which, quite ridiculously, was 'turned off' with the flip a switch on a floor lamp then later turned back on again while at no point the lamp itself was illuminated.
Crime Passionnel is rarely performed, so do consider catching this week's run for that reason alone. Even when the delivery is bumpy, the play makes for a nourishing curate's egg.
Set in a fictional Eastern European state circa 1944-45, the play centres around eager young communist Hugo on a mission to assassinate charismatic party leader Hoederer who dares to challenge party ideals to form a coalition government with the fascists and nationalists. The majority of the play's running time is related in flashback, leaving behind whatever sense of objectivity a stage play could ever be said to possess. At the end, the murder committed, Hugo remains unsure of the true reasons for his actions. His final recourse is an attempt to reconcile the killing with his evolved point of view, and this is what gives the play its climax.
As the synopsis suggests, and a work by Sartre guarantees, the play is deeply concerned with both communism and existentialism. Each is discussed at length with two scenes in particular dramatically structured as intellectual arguments around these ideas. For the play to work, however, the characters holding these arguments need to live and breathe. It's crucial that emotions take hold and amid these intellectual wrangles take on a palpably humanist dimension. This is the key area in which this production lets the play down. Jack Farthing's Hugo is rather good but - and this might seem like an existential joke - the quality of acting across the board is inconsistent, leaving the impression that each character was in his/her own play. The average level of performance is above that of many student productions but the inconsistency and lack of cogency do cost the production dearly.
Other notable faults included the overly expansive set that looked like a Mondrian without its colour and the lighting design which was often inexplicably sourced and coloured. The second act included a sunrise which, quite ridiculously, was 'turned off' with the flip a switch on a floor lamp then later turned back on again while at no point the lamp itself was illuminated.
Crime Passionnel is rarely performed, so do consider catching this week's run for that reason alone. Even when the delivery is bumpy, the play makes for a nourishing curate's egg.