Arthur Miller's seminal text, A View From The Bridge, is now standard fayre for scholastic study, and remains a firm favourite for theatres both sides of the pond. It's not an easy play - none of Miller's works are - and again, like many of Miller's better plays, it has a very Greek Tragedy style to the narrative. The dialogue is multi-layered, the imagery thick, the characters edgy, flawed and multi-dimensional, it is very easy to become bogged-down by metaphor, meaning, and trying to find the 'truth' of these plays. They can and very often do become very 'heavy' and introvert.
In this evening's production at Altrincham's Garrick, directed by Mark Butt, this play was very much in danger of becoming thus. The pace was at times inexorably slow, and the actors were giving too much weight to their speeches and leaving many meaningful and moody pauses between. I could see the idea behind Butt's directing, creating a sort of 'Film Noir' effect on stage, however, it is my dearest hope that the cast find a slightly more pacey and lighter rhythm over the next few performances, or the whole thing will descend into melodrama of the worst kind. The acting in this play is exceptional. I truly mean that. And the characters have been excellently built and their on-stage chemistry and their relationships have been crafted superbly. The tensions are real, the Italianate highs and lows of emotion played superbly. I am simply aware that the cast are playing absolutely on the edge of the knife right now, and if allowed to continue that way it will drag and become slow and sentimental.
The play tells the story, in retrospect, of a longshoreman, Eddie Carbone, his wife and his niece. Eddie lives in a part of 1950s New York which is inhabited in the main by American-Italians, and he works on the docks. His marriage is sex-less but he has desires on his young and pretty niece however which are obviously more than just being a good uncle. He announces to his 'family' that his wife's two cousins have arrived a little early from Italy and will be staying with them. They are illegal immigrants and will work on the docks and earn money to send back home to their families in Sicily. It is only when these two cousins, Marco, a thoughtful man of few words, and Rodolpho, a younger and far more loquacious and gregarious one, actually arrive do things to start on their downward spiral.
Alfieri, the family lawyer narrates the story with a sense of impending tragedy. He already knows what happens, and as we see the flashbacks, we become more and more engrossed in their family feuding.
The protagonist Eddie Carbone was played this evening with utter sincerity and Italian fire by Matthew Banwell. His long-suffering dutiful wife was Caroline Knight, and Charlotte Jobling took on the rather difficult role of niece Catherine with aplomb. This tight family unit was sealed and packaged and felt authentic. It also felt right that Catherine should have a much more natural American accent compared with the Italian sounds of her parents. Into this came the two cousins. Jack Hawkins played a broody and sullen Marco with malevolence lurking under the surface, whilst the singing happy-go-lucky Rodolpho was Charlie Gallagher. I always find it fascinating to wonder whether or not the director and actors have decided just exactly what Rodolpho's motivation is. Does he truly love Catherine and want to settle down as her husband, or does he just want to be American and is using her for his own opportunistic goals?
In this production Alfieri, the lawyer who narrates this story was played by Nick Sample. Overall, an excellent interpretation of the worn-out, over-worked, stressed and above all empathetic family lawyer, but sadly the Italian accent caught him out on several occasions and this morphed from Germanic to Greek and back again, taking in all that lies between.
The set also, I found rather strange and obfuscating, in the sense that there was a complete clash of style being shown and the strange almost harp-like structures used for walls jarred stylistically with both the furniture and the play's date. The metal staircase was unnecessary- or maybe it represented 'the bridge' (?) and the lawyer's office was nothing more than a lighting change on the apron front. Sadly the set simply didn't work, for me at least, and was out of style and kilter with the realness and depth of insight given to the text.
Final verdict: Truly powerful performances and a coherent and intelligent, poignant and immediate narrative, which, despite a certain sluggishness due to self-indulgent directing, still punches high and delivers; therefore, with such absolutely superb acting and characterisations, it would be a shame to see this play become too slow and reflective. Keep it light and pacier and it will certainly be a sure-fire winner!
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 15/10/18
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