Review – Travesties at The Old Rep, Birmingham
Thursday 22nd September 2011, 12:23PM BST.
Travesties
The Old Rep, Birmingham
Review by Jerald Smith
In 1917, Lenin, James Joyce and Tristan Tzara found themselves in Zurich, according to Tom Stoppard’s play, working on their various projects at the library and meeting many people socially.
Lenin went on to lead Russia, Joyce became a great literary figure and Tzara led the movement that became Surrealism.
Their pivotal roles in history are remembered by British consular official Henry Carr, although he has a habit of confusing people and places, and it’s all mixed up with a production of The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as bits of Shakespeare, Gilbert & Sullivan and George Bernard Shaw.
Travesties is a surrealist reworking of Wilde’s best play. Roger Ringrose is an enigmatic Lenin, plotting his Russian revolution, while Nick Caldecott is the impecunious Joyce scraping a living. Tom Davey is the unconventional artist set on overturning the art establishment, and Matthew Douglas is memory-challenged Henry Carr.
Stoppard’s cerebral, multi-layered and complex play is paired with The Importance of Being Earnest and runs until October 22.
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