Manfred

I went to see Manfred at The King's Head Theatre, Islington on Sunday. The part of Manfred was being read by Harry Lloyd (Will Scarlett in BBC's Robin Hood). The play was part of the Forgotten Classics series of readings by Primavera.

Manfred is the story of a noble who lives in the Bernes Alps. Tortured by the memory of an incestuous relationship with his sister which has somehow led to her death (by his or her own hand is not made clear. Manfred seeks forgetfulness and asks the Spirits/Destinies of the Earth to grant it, but this they are unable to do. He wanders the alps and is prevented from committing suicide only by the intervention of a passing chamois hunter. His torture continues and he visits the Underworld to challenge the King Arimanes where he encounters the Destinies again. They are enraged by his refusal to pay homage to Arimanes, but they produce the spirit of his love Astarte, but she refuses to speak and Manfred sees that as proof she has not forgiven him his crime against her.

Returning to his Castle, an Abbot tries to persuade him of the power of redemption through God, but Manfred refuses to seek that path and dies.

The play by Lord Byron is seen as semi-autobiographical. Its was written after he had fled England following his acrimonious separation from his wife Arabella Millbanke. Amongst gossip that Byron had taken part in sodomy and other (as were seen at the time) deviant practices, was the accusation that he had an incestuous relationship with his half-sister Augusta Leigh. The play was banned in Byron's lifetime, possibly as a result of its content, and possibly because of the vitriol felt towards him by members of English Society.

I have now seen Harry Lloyd in two plays (or readings) and he really has impressed me. At times he is quite stilted in Robin Hood, but here he was all passion, guilt and self loathing as the eponymous Manfred. He had no problems with the language and I never noticed him stumble over one word, which is more than be said for some of his fellow actors.

The other cast members of note were Phil Nice (lately seen in Bonkers on TV) as the Chamois Hunter and Herman, a servant of Manfred, Timothy Allsop as Manuel another servant and Davina Silver who brought a sprightliness and pertness to Spirit 1/Destiny 1. there was one part where Herman and Manuel were gearing up for a gossip, and the actors, restricted by their seats, managed to draw the audience in by their body language, leaning into each other in a conspiratorial way.

Its a shame this work is so overlooked, the poetry is at times beautiful, especially the introductions of the Destinies, and whilst it does lend itself very well to a reading where you can concentrate on the beauty of the dialogue, it would be interesting to see it performed as Byron meant it to be.

I went to see the play with 2 girls from the AA forum - Suzieq and PG and they were great company. An enjoyable evening was had by all and we had a lovely chat about all sorts, movies, actors, the AA, Robin Hood et al. This was added to by the fact Harry Lloyd stood chatting next to us for a while. In fact he knocked my arm and nearly spilt my drink - but I'd forgive him after that wonderful performance.

Equus

Chloe, Mes and I went to see Peter Shaffer's play Equus last night. The play at the Gielgud Theatre has been attracting a lot of attention, mainly due to the fact that it stars Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame and the fact he is required as part of his role to appear on stage completely naked. Its a shame that most of the talk concerns that rather than what a compelling, disturbing play it is.

Alan Strang (Radcliffe) has blinded 6 horses in his care with a hoofpick. He obviously loves and has an affinity with horses, so what has driven him to this awful action. Rather than be sent to jail he is placed in the care of Psychiatrist Martin Dysart to attempt to find out why he acted and to treat him. What follows is Dysart attempting to get Alan to open up about the night in question and to work out what drove him to harm the animals. At first Alan will not even speak, communicating only by singing TV advert jingles. As the relationship between the two grows, and Dysart learns more about Alan's home life, his parents opposed on matters of religion, it becomes more apparent why Alan acted why he did. His feelings towards horses twisted by transference of Jesus/God Like status onto them, and his confusion about sexual relations.

The first disappointment we had was that Richard Griffiths who plays Dysart was ill and did not appear. His place was taken by Colin Haigh. He aquited himself well, but at times I would find myself imagining Griffiths in his place and how he would have played it. Also for the entire second half, he was referring to what at first glance appeared to be a prop - a notebook, but which was obviously the script. This was extremely distracting. Second disappointment was Jenny Agutter. She seemed to be shouting her lines, I know we were in the Gods but the other cast members managed to project their voices whilst still sounding natural. Her scenes were with Dysart and while he was having a conversation it seemed like she was shouting at him all the time.

Now to the good things. Daniel Radcliffe was extremely good, capturing Alan's confusion, anger and wonderment perfectly. At first he seemed a little stilted but as the evening went on, he became more comfortable and yes that includes the infamous nude scene, which leads up to the plays denouement. You could have heard a pin drop in the theatre as he and Joanna Christie disrobed, but it wasn't well for me at least because of who he was or what he was doing, but rather because of the sympathy you felt towards his character, a young boy on the verge of his first sexual experience. You could feel his confusion and trepidation. The silence broken by Alan's frenzied attack on the horses.

The staging - The set is stark, a centrepiece with blocks and surrounding it in a semi circle the six stables. Everything is bought to life by the lighting - transforming the stage into a beach with the sea swirling round the edges, picking out the horses fear and panic when attacked, enhancing the feeling of frenzy during the attack scene.

The horses looked amazing. Dancers clad in brown with amazing metal horse head cages. There was one part where their eyes were lit and it looked absolutely stunning whilst reinforcing Alan's obsession with their eyes and the feeling the were omnipresent and watching him. The movement of the dancers playing the horses, and the sound of their hooves clipping on the stage, made you think of them as horses, added to that the soundtrack of neighs and whinnies.

I would recommend seeing Equus. Its very atmosperic and disturbing and was a spellbinding portrayal by Daniel Radcliffe of a very disturbed young man.