Ship of Fools

By Derek - 26th Feb 2007

This fine production flatters a play which has high ideals but low delivery. In 1492 in Basel the town council banishes undesirable citizens in a “Ship of Fools”. In Britain in 2007 a selection of long-term unemployed are similarly “exported” from London to the northern countryside. In trying to balance the two stories and examine their parallels, Andrew Bovell dilutes the impact of both. The modern characters are sanitised, middle-class creatures – I doubt any would qualify as first choice to be removed from society when they hardly qualify as outsiders in modern London. Their fear of officials is unrealistic – more often the officials fear the characters they are tasked with helping off state benefit.

The story of the original ship is more appealing, but suffers from a surfeit of reported speech. One after another, characters enter to tell what they saw. Don’t tell us, show us! The decision to run the show without an interval means that the audience tire well before the end, and our ability in take in more reports threatens the denouement.

As you enter Theatre 503 you see an amazing transformation. The space has been re-modelled to the interior of a ship or a wood panelled meeting room. The cast use the space excellently. From the ominous start, subtle sound and evocative lighting move us from the council chamber to the ship, from employment offices to the moors. Simple costume suggests rank and time and allows swift changes for the cast playing multiple roles.

Andrew Buchan establishes the style of the play, switching easily from Simon to the Fool – subtle changes, but significant, which invite us to accept an actor changing role in a second. His Fool shows delight in unfolding the complexity of the story and challenging Pietro de Convinso. Jonathan Oliver, playing this priest, becomes the driver of the story – metaphorically in Basel and literally in UK. Oliver succeeds in offering two credible alternative agents of the state. Lucy Briers is most memorable for Rachel, the modern character who most deserves to be further explored by the writer. Briers shows her emptiness and despair best in her seduction of Marko. In him, Richard Attlee gives us the one UK character which is fully rounded in writing and performance with a tasty contrast in hypocrisy from his portrayal of the Bishop. Maggie O’Brian is perfectly irritating in her Louise and manages to raise her Mayor above the unfortunate level of the fart running gag. Sarah Corbett fills Sunny with wistful sadness and become the focus of hope for the British exiles.

Toby Frow uses actors and space imaginatively to give a visual dimension to what is primarily an aural piece. I was impressed with the way scenes from each story bled into each other which effectively highlighted the playwright’s wish to contrast them. The storytelling limits his ability to vary the pace until we get to the climax, which he unravels very satisfyingly.

Beautiful and eerie staging along with high quality performances propel an interesting but unbalanced play into a satisfying production.

Derek Benfield