THEATRE
Volpone. By Ben Jonson. (Theatre Royal, How often is it that we sec a really good set on the London stage? And by a really good set I mean a piece of stage architecture and not the kind of chi-chi interior decorating which West End audiences tend to clap as the curtain goes up? The question is worth asking because it raises in a small way the whys and where- fores of the general decadence that has come upon the English theatre in recent years. And perhaps the correct method of tackling the problem is to mark out a small area in which all the data can be seen clearly. Now in the case of stage sets it is fairly obvious that, as has been said above, the trouble is due to an outbreak of preciosity and fashionable decora- tion on a scale that has created the risk of theatrical design becoming indistinguishable from the sordid monuments to gracious living which the curious may regard any day of the week in the pages of any glossy magazine. And might not this theory be more generally applied? I have continually stated in this column that I object to the predominance of fashion in the contemporary English theatre, and have praised and shall continue to praise those few producers, actors and playwrights who react against it. Yet, while one knows per- fectly well what fashion is when one sees it, to define it, above all to define its causes, is difficult. No doubt, they are social, and may have something to do With the mood of 'Let's pretend' which has descended on the upper and middle classes of this country since the war, and which makes them abhor realistic and intellectual drama. The correct comparison, no doubt, is with the rise of the masque and play of magic at the Jacobean court, where a divorce between a limited class and reality also became apparent.
I must apologise to my readers for offering them the intensive ratiocination of the preced- ing paragraph instead of a more particular notice of the two plays listed at the head of it. but it all started by the fact that Theatre Workshop have a really excellent Palladian set for their production of Volpone. designed by John Bury, and the shock of surprise was too much for me. Indeed, it is an excellent pro- duction, the modern dress giving new point to the humours and Joan Littlewood making an exquisitely funny old Roedean girl of Lady Would-be. The only thing that seemed quite wrong was the truncated ending. To leave Mosca in triumph and cut Volpone's speech, in which the whole intrigue is pulled down on the heads of its contrivers, seems to me to ruin the whole play, and I cannot see why the pro- ducer, Joan Littlewood. after having done such an excellent job, should have chosen to sabot- age her own work.
The Old Vic's As You Like It is by far the most successful production of this kind of Shakespearian play that I have seen recently at this theatre, though here a certain amount of chi-chi was present in costumes and staging. However, the playing of the smaller parts was so much better drilled than in past produc- tions, the speaking of the verse so much improved and the pace so much better main- tained that I can only conclude that it was due to the presence of a new producer, Robert Helpmann. John Neville did very well with Orlando and Paul Rogers made an original Touchstone, and, though Virginia McKcnna was not exactly the Rosalind of my dreams, I get a good deal of pleasure out of watching her. This production is a cheering symptom in a patient we had long given up for lost. But how many questions remain unanswered!
ANTHONY HARTLEY
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