Manuel Harlan
Details
Venue: The Rose Theatre, Kingston
Price: from £10 for each play
Upcoming Shows & Times:
Wed 3rd October – Sunday 21 October
Part One: The Art of Success Wed 3 Oct - 7.30pm, Thu 4 Oct - 2.30pm, Thu 11 Oct - 2.30pm, Fri 12 Oct - 8pm, Wed 17 Oct - 7.30pm, Thu 18 Oct - 2.30pm, Fri 19 Oct - 8pm.
Part Two: The Taste of the Town Thu 4 Oct - 7.30pm, Fri 5 Oct - 8pm, Wed 10 Oct - 2.30pm, Thu 11 Oct - 7.30pm, Thu 18 Oct - 7.30pm
Double Bill (parts 1 & 2): Sat 6 Oct, Sun 7 Oct, Sat 13 Oct, Sun 14 Oct, Sat 20 Oct & Sun 21 Oct at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.
Tickets: rosetheatrekingston.org
Our Verdict: 4/5 STARS
As an immersive opportunity to experience eighteenth-century metropolitan life Nick Dear’s rumbustious double bill is highly entertaining, but both his plays revolving around artist William Hogarth can be enjoyed too as separate entities. The Art of Success was first seen over thirty years ago, its companion piece The Taste of the Town is now receiving its world premiere.
In the first play, we witness William Hogarth early in his career, full of boundless energy, often foul-mouthed, angry at the Establishment and determined not to be marginalized because of his humble origins or lack of patronage. He’s newly married to wife Jane ( an appealing Ruby Bentall) yet still familiar with London’s seamier side, its brothels and inns where he and friends like young writer Henry Fielding happily carouse whilst debating the merits of their respective careers. They judge that the public “love to be shocked because it makes them feel broad-minded,” as the men proclaim with worldly certainty.
The play’s title is an apt one for it explores both the nature of art and the circuitous route to achieving success in a world strictly controlled by a conventional hierarchy. Bryan Dick is in great form as the free-wheeling young Hogarth, torn between conscience and carnal desire, a man newly famed for his innovative, ‘Progresses’ which Hogarth called “ modern moral subjects”; a new form of art that launched Hogarth as a printmaker and satirical artist and one responsible for the 1735 Copyright Act that bears his name.
Andrew Edwards’ stage set, a blank canvas onto which paintings and scenes are projected is an ideal backdrop for the play’s richly diverse locations, from Hogarth’s home to the prison where Hogarth attempts to capture the likeness of a woman condemned to hang. Jasmine Jones is outstanding as the convicted Sarah, a woman more concerned with protecting her picture than the nature of her awaiting fate; she commands every scene she’s in, bringing a dynamic energy to the production that’s fantastic to watch.
As we rejoin proceedings in The Taste of the Town thirty years have passed and a largely successful, affluent Hogarth (still potty-mouthed) has now retreated with his wife to his villa at Chiswick, a place dismissed with withering contempt by his mother-in-law ( Sylvestra Le Touzel on fine form) who clearly considers it a provincial backwater. Jealous of society painter Joshua Reynolds and spending much time with his actor friend David Garrick, a grumpy, verbally abusive Hogarth cannot be happy with his achievements, vainly determined to earn society’s respect for his other work and piqued at the lack of appreciation for his Sigismunda painting.
Manuel Harlan
Keith Allen captures the artist’s often drunk belligerence perfectly, the scene between him and effete aesthete Horace Walpole at the latter’s Strawberry Hill villa providing one of the play’s best scenes, two very different men united by their grief for their lost dogs. Mark Umbers (memorable too as a menacing Robert Walpole in the first play) is absolutely superb as the flamboyant Garrick, a personable man who always steers the conversation around to himself and is never reluctant to acknowledge his many merits.
The Art of Success brims with more dramatic vigour than its successor and has by the far the best finale as Henry Fielding discusses a new form of literature – the novel – with a prostitute, giving a knowing nod to the audience. Both plays have their fair share of enjoyable moments, some bittersweet, some funny, some very poignant. Overall the two plays offer an interesting perspective on the life of a truly pioneering artist and boast a terrific cast who bring both energy and conviction to each production.
