The Artist by Lindsey Ferrentino and Drew McOnie, Theatre Royal Plymouth until 25 May 2024. 3✩✩✩ Review: Cormac Richards
The Artist by Lindsey Ferrentino and Drew McOnie, Theatre Royal Plymouth until 25 May 2024.
3✩✩✩ Review: Cormac Richards.
“Suffers from style over substance.”
The 2011 film ‘The Artist’ broke many of the techniques of 21st century film making, playing homage to the silent era of cinema in its production as well as its story-telling. Covering the same ground as ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ along with attendant love story, ‘The Artist’ became the first wholly black and white film to win the Academy Award for best picture since ‘The Apartment’ in 1960 and the first film presented in the 4:3 aspect ratio to win since ‘From Here to Eternity’ in 1953.
Director and writer, Michel Hazanavicius and his production team’s attention to detail saw them use props and other materials from the silent era and enhanced the film with carefully researched lighting techniques and minutely speeded up the picture to replicate how it might have been seen in the 1920s. The film is silent barring a few spoken lines at the very end and some audible sound effects; the musical accompaniment plays background to the action and the dialogue cards as part of the period as anything else. It is an undeniably charming film which is performed and produced with verve, care and a deep love of the cinema. The story of the fading silent star, George Valentin and the successful ingenue, Peppy Miller is a delight.
An adaptation for the stage faces huge challenges and Lindsey Ferrentino and Drew McOnie have made some major alterations to create the finished show. What immediately hits the audience is the startling duotone designs; the spirit of the black and white film is taken to the nth degree and it is full of style and atmosphere. It then becomes very obvious that this is a dance show as much as anything else; it later becomes a musical; the whole punctuated by film – it is quite a mix.
The first half (and the show runs for 110 minutes without an interval) is similar to the original film, all silent, with projections of words appearing here and there; but the one thing missing which in silent films was so important is the faces of the performers. The lighting is often dark or dim and the actors some distance away, expressions cannot be seen. This creates a strange disconnection from the piece – while you are reading the words, you don’t look at the faces anyway – on film you see the words as separate entities. This distances the audience from the performers.
In the second half of the show, the stage version veers away from the film – while the ‘talkies’ arrive and all the characters start speaking, Valentin can’t speak, seemingly trapped in the past which he is struggling to come to terms with; it is suddenly surreal and it doesn’t work. Thus George continues to have speech slides while all around him (including Uggie) actually vocalise their words; it results in lengthy and awkward stretches of dialogue. The narrative throughout becomes a victim; dramatic sequences are raced through in order to fit in another dance sequence, or an unnecessary subplot with Valentin’s wife and a gardener.
Missing is any chemistry between Valentin and Miller – until the very end of the show their attraction to each other is virtually non-existent – thus, the emotion created so delicately in the film is missing also. There is a clinical feel to the whole and the heart has been squeezed out of it. It is in the form of Uggie (Valentin’s dog – manipulated with huge skill by Thomas Walton) that any heart strings are pulled.
Robbie Fairchild is a fine performer and dancer as George Valentin, but the charisma and nonchalance the character should emit is sadly lacking. Briana Craig is a bright and likeable Peppy who can dance and cartwheel with the best of them. The ever reliable Gary Wilmot as the director/producer Al Zimmer can do little wrong and he is as strong as anyone and Tiffany Graves is fun as the invented character Gertie Gams – more or less a copy of the celebrity announcer and gossip Dora Bailey from ‘Singin’ in the Rain’. Any ensemble which numbers the hugely talented Will Bozier amongst them is going to be good and this group is very, very good indeed; McOnie’s choreography is fun and inventive – though with a nod to 42nd Street at the end. The score is a mix of original and period music by Simon Hale which fits the mood well and it is excellently performed by just four musicians.
Production values are very high and the show has so much going for it, but currently I feel it is suffering from style over substance with the storyline bleached of humanity, charm and emotion. That said, this is a very original piece of theatre and an ambitious one and I can only applaud Theatre Royal Plymouth and the McOnie Company for producing it, I just wish it had connected with me more.
CAST:
Robbie Fairchild George Valentin
Gary Wilmot Al Zimmer
Brianna Craig Peppy Miller
Nicole Alphonce Offstage Swing/Dance Captain
Alexander Bean Clifton
Will Bozier Ensemble
Matthew Caputo Ensemble/Boyfriend
Tiffany Graves Gertie Gams
Tim Hodges Swing
Lukas Hunt Offstage Swing/Dance Captain
Lily Laight Ensemble
Deja Linton Ensemble
Tyler Lotzof Ensemble
Louis Mackrodt Ensemble
Shayna McPherson Swing
Ebony Molina Doris Valentin
Rachel Muldoon Constance
Mark Samaras Ensemble
Thomas Walton Uggie
Daisy West Ensemble/Fluffy
BAND:
Isaac McCullough, Matt Herbert, Shane Forbes, Claire Shaw
CREATIVES:
Based on the film by Michel Hazanavicius
Co-Adaptors – Lindsey Ferrentino & Drew McOnie
Director & Choreographer – Drew McOnie
Composer and Arranger – Simon Hale
Set & Costume Design - Christopher Oram
Lighting – Zoe Spurr
Sound Design – Simon Baker
Video Design – Ash J Woodward