Theatre
‘THE PRODUCTION HAS PRETENDED THAT THE FILM DOESN'T EXIST '
Enviromentally Greene
A new staging of Graham Greene’s THE THIRD MAN has more to say about environment, than you might expect, as Steve Cramer finds out.
onsciousness does not determine lil‘e. Lil'e determines c‘tltlsc‘ititlsltcss. \Vttil. It‘s UK: you can continue reading. that‘s the last time 1‘“ quote Marx and lingels at you. But these spare btit very enlightening sentences are at the very beating heart ol‘ artistic production. and seldom more so than in The Third Man. whether we‘re talking abotit the
film. (iraham (ireene’s noy'ella. or this adaptation of. the latter by .lonathon Holloway. artistic director of'
Red Shift. lior rarely has a narratiye so brilliantly exposed the l‘act that how we feel. with regard to anything from line to sex to the simple emotional economics of eating. emironment. and the material circumstances we find ourselves in.
lians ol‘ the lilm will know the rough story of Holly Martins' journey to post-war Vienna in search of his old pal llarry' Lime. and the resultant tlisco\'et'_\' that Lime has turned to drug peddling and racketeering in the upside down world created by Iiurope's great trauma. Yet this new Version created by this accomplished. Visually exciting and highly literate linglish company. is a little different. "I‘here‘s no dotibt that it‘ people come to the production wanting to see a staging ol’ the film. then they will be disappointed. The production has deliberately pretended that the film incarnation doesn't exist.’ says Holloway. "This production addresses itself to the noyella that (iraham (ireene wrote as a blue print for the film. as well as material he wrote separately for the screenplay. some of which was altered or deleted in the film.‘
But should we be disappointed by the loss of such improy'ised elements ot‘ the film as Orson Welles lamous Cuckoo Clock speech‘.’ Hardly. Holloway
84 THE LIST 4‘ dd“ 5 93';
is determined by our
lieels there is much to admire in the original: ‘lt‘s a great movie. but the moxie is less robust. lcss gritty. and less edgy than the original story. The story is quite brutal.’ And the brutality is one imposed by the circumstances people find themselyes in. not some inherent sense of good and eyil within people.
Iiy'en our sexuality is determined for us by the world we inhabit. .'\s Holloway points out: ‘llolly is a traumatised early middle-aged man. w ho's gone through the war. He‘s on the side of" the \iclors. and he‘s surrounded by the y'antluished. .»\ lot of the assumptions he makes about people like Harry Lime‘s girlfriend are ycry tmpalatable. Some of the resonances in the story led its in rehearsals directly to Iraq. What would it be like to be in that situation. so Vulnerable. nothing that you can hold onto that's consistent from day to day '.’ And how do you regard the \‘ictors. and how do you rcinyent yourself."
The enormous emotional power ol‘ both film and book deriye from the impossibility of the characters'
situations. and their determination to impose forms of
order upon the chaos of their world. Yet these forms of order we seek often result in our imposing black and white morality on complex. ambiyalent situations. What fills one with anticipation about this particular production is the way in which this company ol'ten presents shitting points of" \iew through an exceptional \‘istlitl lilair. a case of suiting the company perfectly to the narratiye. Multimedia effects will no doubt add much to your enjoyment of this multifaceted story. linjoy.
Brunton Theatre, Musselburgh, Thu 27-Fri 28 Feb, then touring.
Ilit
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* Russell Maliphant High quality contemporary dance from one of Britain's most up and coming names. The pungent and very contemporary edge to this work makes it a must see. Maliphant won the 2003 South Bank Show prize. a deserved testament to his technical abilities. This treble bill opens with a solo from Maliphant himself. Traverse Theatre. Edinburgh, Thu 37 Jan.
>l< The Third Man The highly literate and accomplished English company Red Shift presents this new adaptation of Graham Greene's novella. It's not a version of the film, yet the company's use of light and visual effect might well make this a parallel experience. No Orson Welles. but plenty to enjoy here. with multimedia effects combining with more traditional smoke and mirrors technique. Touring.
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a: Love, Sex and Older Paul Charlton’s play. addressing adolescent anxiety in a park in Durham, showed a flair for both humour and emotional truth on its debut in the Fringe of 2003. This production holds the same promise. and contains much criticism of the way in which hedonism has supplanted thought in contemporary society to all our detriments. Touring.