Dundee.
LET THE RIGHT ONE IN
by Jack Thorne adapted from the film by and novel by John Ajvide Lindquist.
Dundee Rep Theatre Tay Square DD1 1PB To 29 June 2013.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat & 13 June 2.30pm.
Audio-described 27 June.
BSL Signed 28 June.
Captioned 26 June.
Runs 2hr 25min One interval.
TICKETS: 01382 2223530.
www.dundeerep.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 8 June.
The play of the film of the novel works well.
“Cold. Bleak,” was the answer I got from someone who doesn’t know the piece, when I was wondering why Scotland’s National Theatre wanted to adapt a Swedish vampire film.
The cold’s certainly there, from the moment John Tiffany’s production not so much starts as emerges on a stage transformed into a cold woodland, where the director helps adapter Jack Thorne do his duty by vampirism with several brief shocks before a big climax.
Action moves easily between the wood where murders are being committed, the home of teenager Oskar, and his school, where a bully and his sidekick have their metaphorical teeth into him at every opportunity, hurting and humiliating the lad.
Thorne and Tiffany also do their duty by theatre, where story comes second to character. They show adults as ineffectual, be it Oskar’s heavy-drinking mum, his absent dad, the teacher who doesn’t prevent bullying or the local policeman.
Playing is reserved, keeping audiences at a distance. Beset by the sullenness of a teenager who has no comfort at home, Martin Quinn’s Oskar seems to accept victimhood as part of life. He fantasises about fighting back, but in practice a violent response brings him more trouble.
Until he lets newly-arrived Eli into his life. She recognises a fellow isolated individual in the local victim and as she feeds on others’ blood (remember the murders) and watches, often from on high – being seen observing from up a tree, looking through a top-floor hospital window – she comes to Oskar’s rescue as the worst is happens.
That too is tactfully yet forcefully staged, as is the final scene where Oskar escapes, his vampire tucked-up during a daytime rail journey in her chest. It’s quiet for a happy ending, making space to ask how happy that ending is. Is this love, or has Eli just sought out a new human helper for the next phase of being undead?
Rebecca Benson’s Eli leaves a range of possibilities open, in a beautifully-judged performance that implies sympathy and regret, always with reserve rather than explanation, in a production that’s the more forceful for being carefully understated.
Eli: Rebecca Benson.
Kurt/Jocke/Nils/Dad/Stefan: Paul Thomas Hickey.
Oskar’s Mum: Lorraine M McIntosh.
Torkel/Janne/Jimmy: Angus Miller.
Micke: Cristian Ortega.
Oskar: Martin Quinn.
Halmberg/Mr Avila: Chris Reilly.
Jonny: Stuart Ryan.
Hakan: Ewan Stewart.
Director: John Tiffany.
Designer/Costume: Christine Jones.
Lighting: Chahine Yavroyan.
Sound: Gareth Fry.
Music: Òlafur Arnalds.
Special Effects: Jeremy Chernick.
Associate director: Steven Hoggett.
Assistant director: Justin Martin.
Associate costume: Aileen Sherry.
Eli: Rebecca Benson.
Kurt/Jocke/Nils/Dad/Stefan: Paul Thomas Hickey.
Oskar’s Mum: Lorraine M McIntosh.
Torkel/Janne/Jimmy: Angus Miller.
Micke: Cristian Ortega.
Oskar: Martin Quinn.
Halmberg/Mr Avila: Chris Reilly.
Jonny: Stuart Ryan.
Hakan: Ewan Stewart.
Director: John Tiffany.
Designer/Costume: Christine Jones.
Lighting: Chahine Yavroyan.
Sound: Gareth Fry.
Music: Òlafur Arnalds.
Special Effects: Jeremy Chernick.
Associate director: Steven Hoggett.
Assistant director: Justin Martin.
Associate costume: Aileen Sherry.
2013-06-12 08:56:48
