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A CurtainUp 
London Review
London ReviewVersailles
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"Squeeze the German lemon until the pips squeak." — What they are saying in Ainsworth's Gentlemen's Club
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Gwilym Lee as Lawrence and Tom Hughes as Gerald (Photo: Johan Persson) |
With the benefit of hindsight we know that the draconian measures meted out to Germany in terms of the products of her coal mines, her iron ore and even her dairy herds given to other countries at Versailles have in them the seeds of the Great Depression, the fall of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis under Adolf Hitler. Lawrence is tasked with deciding what happens to coal from the coal mines of Saarbrucken near the border with France.
In Kent, in her drawing room, Edith Rawlinson (Francesca Annis) and her neighbour Marjorie Chater (Barbara Flynn) compare notes on the planting of a camellia. Edith's daughter Mabel (Tamla Kari) is a difficult girl with a sulky, contrary disposition and is resisting the advances of shell shocked soldier Hugh Skidmore (John O'Connor). Their neighbour, landowner Geoffrey Ainsworth (Adrian Lukis) tells us about the anti-German sentiments being expressed in his London club while flirting with Constance Fitch (Helen Bradbury) a pacifist friend of Lawrence's who wants a treaty that will prevent further war.
The First World War is of course a social watershed as families learn to do without servants and women have the right to vote. Ainsworth is of the Victorian age of hypocrisy with his kept woman and child in the Gray's Inn Road and we remember that Adrian Lukis played Mr Wickham in a BBC serialisation of Pride and Prejudice long before Colin Firth as Darcy climbed out of the lake in his wet shirt. Lukis plays characters that have charm but no principles. Ainsworth says, "Will it work and what's best for me?"
Peter Gill's play runs at just over three hours and is stuffed with discussion. I really did need a text to recall all of the points. A critic friend said to me , "What a literary play!" I said I found it wordy. Same findings, differing reactions. The play touches very briefly on the Balfour declaration and the impact of that protectorate for Palestine.. This allows Mrs Chater to express both anti-Semitic views and, to our hundred year later ears, shocking racism. We are told that Colonel TE Lawrence is there dressed in Arabic clothing as the Middle East is divided up and we all picture the late Peter O'Toole.
Perhaps the most interesting character is that of the ghostly Gerald Chater. He walks determinedly in wearing army uniform with 4 pips on his epaulettes and pleads for Lawrence to represent the lost generation and to take the peace forward and use the opportunity for change. Chater reminds us that a trench was a gardening term. In Paris a senior adviser, The Honourable Frederick Gibb (Simon Williams) is concerned about the threat of Bolshevism to Western Europe. Gibb represents the upper classes and their regret at the middle class ascendance.
I found one item in Act Three rather odd. That's when mending stockings and gloves, Mabel and Edith say there is no shortage of thimbles. Where I work was once a hospital for seamen and one of the former wards is called "The Silver Thimble Ward" because in the First World War women were asked to donate small items of silver towards the cost of the care for the sailors. But I think the point is that these middle class women are having to do their own mending.
In the final act Lawrence's letters to Gerald are returned to him by the Chaters. They talk about being careful about what they write so that the family is not shocked by their homosexuality. Peter Gill is both the playwright and the director and although I can see the attraction of bringing your play to the stage, I often wonder whether another director would tighten the focus. Richard Hudson's sets are beautifully in period, the clothes are Edwardian to a T and the ensemble performances are finely honed. I was reminded of one of Harley Granville Barker's plays with that wonderful sense of an era about to change.
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| Versailles
Written and directed by Peter Gill Starring: Francesca Annis, Adrian Lukis, Gwilym Lee, Barbara Flynn, Tom Hughes With: Tamla Kari, Helen Bradbury, Josh O'Connor, Eleanor Yates, Edward Killingback, Selina Griffiths, Simon Williams, Christopher Godwin Designed by Richard Hudson Music Consultant: Terry Davies Movement: Aline David Sound: Gregory Clarke Lighting: Paul Pyant Running time: Three hours five minutes with two intervals Box Office: 0844 871 7624 Booking to 5th April 2014 Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge based on 1st March 2014 matinee performance at the Donmar Warehouse , 41 Earlham Street, London WC2H 9LX (Rail/Tube: Waterloo) |
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