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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewDon Juan Comes Back From the War
by Neil Dowden
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The party’s not over. The party’s . . . . — Don Juan
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The Cast (Photo: Richard Davenport) |
This 1936 play, written two years before his bizarrely accidental death at the age of 37, is a brilliant updating of the Don Juan legend for post-world War I Germany, in which the downward spiral of the anti-hero suggests the country’s descent into moral oblivion.
At the start we see the notorious lover Don Juan, having survived the horrors of the Great War, apparently determined to carry on where he left off in 1914. As ‘The only living man in Berlin’, he sits in a bathtub quaffing champagne and puffing on a cigar, surrounded by a bevy of young women in their underwear. But this is ‘the beginning of the end’ for the ageing Lothario, whose heart can no longer keep pace with his hedonistic lifestyle, as well as for defeated and bankrupt old Germany, whose body politic is cracking up.
Now aware of his own mortality, Don Juan tries to reform. But with his reputation preceding him (as ‘The most famous penis in Germany’) he cannot resist the temptations of the women who still throw themselves at him. He fails to find comfort from nurses, nuns or prostitutes, hoistedThis 1936 play, written two years before his bizarrely accidental death at the age of 37, is a brilliant updating of the Don Juan legend for post-world War I Germany, in which the downward spiral of the anti-hero suggests the country’s descent into moral oblivion by his own petard. In particular, he is guiltily haunted by a woman he had jilted on the eve of their wedding before the war, who later committed suicide in an asylum, with his recurring line ‘You remind me of someone’. But he blows his chance of redemption in a series of encounters with women, in each of which he is assaulted, as he pays for his previous misogyny.
This terse, punchy new version of the play by Duncan Macmillan brings home von Horváth’s powerful message of personal and political breakdown, a self-inflicted destruction. Although perhaps the mordant humour could have been pointed up more, Andrea Ferran directs with real flair and feeling, while Ellan Parry’s evocative design takes us from antiseptic hospital ward and holy church altar to earthy graveyard. Neill Brinkworth adds moments of expressionistic lighting, and Edward Lewis’s atmospheric sound includes booming guns of the war front and rumbling urban trains.
In the title role, Zubin Varla gives an intense, compelling performance as a playboy past his sell-by date, alternating defiance and despair, with sexual magnetism being replaced by self-loathing. Six actresses play multiple roles with considerable skill, with Rosie Thomson standing out as the most individualised character, a former conquest who movingly gives Don Juan one last chance for a loving relationship but even if his spirit is willing, the flesh is weak.
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| Don Juan Comes Back From the War
Written by Ödön von Horváth in a new version by Duncan Macmillan Directed by Andrea Ferran Starring: Zubin Varla With: Charlie Cameron, Laura Dos Santos, Eileen Nicholas, Sarah Sweeney, Rosie Thomson, Leah Whitaker Design: Ellan Parry Lighting: Neill Brinkworth Sound: Edward Lewis Running time: One hour and 45 minutes without an interval Box Office: 020 7993 7420 Booking to 24 March 2012 Reviewed by Neil Dowden based on March 1st performance at Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED (Tube: Earls Court) |
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