Theatre review: The Changeling, Glasgow

CONDENSING Thomas Middleton and William Rowley’s unsettling English Renaissance tragedy into 45 minutes was always going to demand savage cuts.

Oran Mor

****

Yet with this lean, and indeed, well-oiled version set on the beach, director Alan McKendrick banishes the notion that Rowley’s comedic sub-plot of lusty madhouse scenes are required to augment Beatrice-Joanna’s bizarre hate-love fixation with hired killer De Flores.

Instead, Middleton’s plot is backed by the cheerily predatory commentary of Eric Weber’s 1970s seduction manual Picking Up Girls Made Easy, retaining the innuendo and double-meanings that bring about the main characters’ downfall.

Sunbathing’s lazily vague passage of time abets the compression of five acts into one, while the swelter reflects the unabashed desire of De Flores (Samuel Keefe) and Alsemero (Ross Mann) for Beatrice-Joanna (Paksie Vernon), the only remaining characters.

The humour feels altogether more measured without Rowley’s nudge-nudge contributions, although with the production’s kitschy Elvis-in-Hawaii vibe, it’s not always subtle.

Mann manages to keep his besotted suitor sympathetic, even while strutting around in tigerskin trunks or serenading to the sounds of the suave Gene McDaniel crooning the dementedly upbeat Point of No Return.

Keefe, meanwhile, careers impressively from lovesick pathetic to focused psychopath, his dramatic re-emergence, bathed in the blood of the murdered Alonso, projecting swivel-eyed intensity before cooling into clear-sighted, controlling abuse.

Vernon has the toughest role, her manipulations and motivations the hardest to pin down. Every bit as driven by desire, her actions are nevertheless defined by her inexperience and over-confidence.

Initially imbuing the character with spoiled aristocratic hauteur, her transformation is painfully eked out, even in the fleeting timeframe, her naivety regarding men’s carnal recklessness brutally exposed. Such vital, humane performances keep this Changeling blood-pumping rather than a bleak, dark affair.