OUR VERDICT
This brilliant stage adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 1989 Booker Prize winning novel, which is also the subject of a celebrated film, reveals the elusive emotions of the main characters more fully than either the book or the film. It is a sad love story with moments of poignant humour, set in an electrifying political context, and grips the attention from first to last.
In 1956, after decades of service at Darlington Hall, Stevens, an ageing butler, embarks on a motoring tour of the West Country. His journey will culminate in a meeting with Miss Kenton, formerly a housekeeper on his staff, whom he hopes to bring back into service. On the road, he remembers key moments and turning points in their relationship – her attempts to make it more personal and his determination to keep it professional. It is obvious, to the audience at least, that she admires him and is intent on drawing an emotional response from him. However, in his reminiscences Stevens is revealed to us if not to himself, as a person deeply fearful of emotional expression and involvement of any kind and who struggles to deny, suppress and avoid any discussion of his feelings – for Miss Kenton, for his dying father or about the increasingly questionable political leanings of his employer, Lord Darlington.
Interwoven with this sad, intermittently funny love story, are scenes from two of the great international political controversies of 20th century: in the 1920s, the effects on German society of the Treaty of Versailles; in the late 1930s, the attempts by the Nazis to engage the sympathy and support of the British aristocracy, here represented by the fictional Lord Darlington. A question raised with startling relevance to politics now is about whether the views of ordinary people on complex political questions can be trusted, and should be respected by, their political masters.
Stevens is professionally dedicated, obsessively dutiful and loyal. He has a philosophy of service and ponders questions about what makes a great butler. It is essential to his view of himself and his profession that his employer should be a good person who is working for peace, and he sees himself as contributing to that noble aim by running the household in a way that makes it a suitable venue for international conferences. However, his belief in Lord Darlington’s is gradually eroded by the latter’s support for dialogue with the Nazis and his antisemitism. Stevens conceals these doubts from himself for many years but they ultimately cause him to feel that he has given his life to the wrong thing.
The clever staging and fluid movement within and between scenes set in three different time frames (the 1920s, 1930s and 1950s) enable us to see and understand the continuous interplay between Stevens’ memories and his current perceptions.
Stephen Boxer gives a riveting performance as Stevens, a man locked in and isolated by his inability to feel or to reach out. The great drama of the play is his battle with himself, which does, in the end, achieve some resolution. Niamh Cusack as Miss Kenton is equally magnetic in her heroic quest to draw him out. She plays the part with great verve and emotional range, from flirtatiousness through bafflement, anger and exasperation to sad resignation.
The combination of an intimate personal story with high political drama engages the mind on many levels and produces a fascinating theatrical experience.
Venue: Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford
Dates: 10 April - 13 April
Google
Yahoo
Outlook
ical
