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by Thomas Middleton, adapted by Sean Foley & Phil Porter, directed by Sean Foley
Royal Shakespeare Company, Theatre Royal
March 17-April 11, 2015
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Sir Bounteous: “Who lives by cunning, mark it, his fate's cast;
When he has gulled all, then is himself the last.”
On the one hand, it is a great thing that the Royal Shakespeare Company has chosen tour its production of Thomas Middleton’s <i>A Mad World My Masters</i> around Britain. It would be a way of letting as many people as possible get to know the contemporary of Shakespeare whom T.S. Eliot considered his greatest. On the other hand, the play has been so mucked about by Sean Foley and Phil Porter’s adaptation that audiences are all too likely to see the flaws of Foley and Porter and misattribute them to Middleton. Audience members were heard to remark in Brighton that the second half seemed much better than the first. It’s too bad they couldn’t realize that that was because Foley and Porter focussed their adaptation of Middleton primarily on the first half of the play and pretty much let Middleton be Middleton in the second half.
The first sin Foley and Porter commit against the play is in changing the names of many of the characters in the belief that modern audiences won’t understand the allusions. This is both highhanded of the adaptors and contemptuous of the audience. Should we change the name of Malvolio in Shakespeare’s <i>Twelfth Night</i> to “Ill-Will” or Benvolio in his <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> to “Good-Will” just because people don’t study Italian anymore, or should we allow audiences to discover what these names mean? As is often the case, moderns who think they know better than the ancients they revise often prove more ignorant.
Luckily, Foley and Porter leave the name of the central character, Dick Follywit, alone. They do, however, change the name of his rich grandfather from Sir Bounteous Progress to Sir Bounteous Peersucker. They base this change on the abstruse knowledge that some nobles of Middleton’s day expressly built houses where royalty could stay when they made their “progress” around the country, thus sucking up to the peers. The problem is that “Progress” has more than one meaning and tells us that Sir Bounteous so fawns on peers that that is how he hopes to make progress in the world. “Peersucker” is funny but not as rich in meaning.
Sir Bounteous’ servant is called Gunwater in Middleton but “Spunky” in the adaptation. This is solely so that Foley and Porter can make a stale joke about a slow, aged servant with an inappropriate name – not a good enough reason.
Foley and Porter decide to change the name of a main character of the subplot from Master Shortrod Harebrain to Mr. Littledick. First, this new name gets only half of the point of Middleton’s name for him, which needs no translation. Second, it forces his wife to be called Mrs. Littledick, which makes no sense of her character, instead of Mrs. Harebrain, which does, since she is as mad to have an affair as her husband is mad with jealousy.
Another pointless alteration is changing the prostitute and friend of Mrs. Harebrain from Frank Gullman to Truly Kidman. First, given that there is a well-known actress named Kidman, fewer people will realize the joke in the name. Second, the masculine “Frank” highlights the character’s toughness in a way that “Truly” does not and “gulling” someone, i.e. intentionally deceiving a person, is not the same as merely “kidding” someone. Also, the word “gulled” appears in the play’s summary lines. Foley and Porter change other names, but to alter those of the main characters is a constant irritation and a mark of the insulting sense of superiority of their own wit that the two foist on the play.
Though first performed about 1605, the plot that is so concerned with money and sex clearly looks forward to the themes of Restoration comedy. In telling the story, I will use Middleton’s original names. Follywit (Joe Bannister), who is in constant need of money to fund his wild lifestyle, is put out that his grandfather Sir Bounteous (Ian Redford) spends so much money entertaining aristocrats yet will give him no advance on the inheritance he is to receive upon Sir Bounteous’ death. Follywit’s scheme is to disguise himself as Lord Owemuch and be royally entertained by his grandfather while his cohorts Mawworm (Michael Moreland) and Hoboy (Lee Mengo) – Sponger and Oboe in the adaptation – rob the house of as much as they can.
In the subplot, a country parson Penitent Brothel (Dennis Herdman) – name thankfully unchanged from the original – is hopelessly in love with Mrs. Harebrain (Ellie Beaven) and she with him. The problem is Mrs. Harebrain’s insanely jealous husband Mr. Harebrain (Ben Deery), who doesn’t even allow her to read non-religious literature. Brothel’s ruse is to support Harebrain in his obsession and recommend a religious to him to help keep watch over his wife and keep her morals elevated. This guardian, however, is none other than the prostitute Frank Gullman (Sarah Ridgeway), whose own mother (Ishia Bennison) works as her pimp. Gullman’s entire goal is to lead Mrs. Harebrain and Brothel to have an assignation.
The plot takes many ingenious turns resulting in three unbelievably hilarious scenes. In one, Harebrain overhears the noises his wife and Brothel have during their encounter, but Frank, in the room with them, makes up dialogue to suggest she is giving Mrs. Harebrain religious instruction. In another, Follywit wants to find out where Sir Bounteous conceals his wealth and so disguises himself in drag as a countess, which nearly leads to his being sexually assaulted by his own grandfather. Finally, Follywit’s last ruse is to crash a party of Sir Bounteous, while he and his cohorts are disguised as actors. While their sole goal was to continue their robbery, they eventually find that the guests expect them to put on a play which they awkwardly improvise to side-splitting effect.
Designer Alice Power has updated the setting from Middleton’s own time to 1950s Soho. Power’s best idea is to have Sir Bounteous’ party at the end a Jacobean fancy dress ball so that the play concludes with everyone in period costume. One of the worst gimmicks is to have the switch to reveal Sir Bounteous’ safe be the penis of a copy of Michelangelo’s David to which Foley pays far too much attention. Foley has also decided that the band in the balcony of the Soho nightclub where he has the action begins should remain present on stage throughout the action. While the band is excellent and the vocals of Linda John-Pierre one of the pleasures of the show, it is always a mistake to have people on stage doing nothing while frantic action goes on below. Foley even has the cast break into ‘50s songs on occasion as if he were trying to turn Middleton’s play into a musical.
What makes the play enjoyable despite all of Foley and Porter’s meddling is the acting of the cast that is of a uniformly high level. Joe Bannister’s bright engaging personality captures just the right note of Dick Follywit – a joyful enthusiasm and knack for thinking up wild schemes while being rather dim about how he will carry the schemes off. His vivacity is contagious and we are on his side no matter how wacky his plans may be.
Ian Redford plays Sir Bounteous rather like an older version of Follywit. It’s quite possible that Middleton intended us to see irrationality and injustice in an older man who denies his grandson money while feting people who are already rich. If Foley had had Redford emphasize that aspect, the conflict between youth and age would be more pronounced. As it is Redford makes Sir Bounteous as sympathetic as Follywit. This still works because the humour then derives from a conflict of two people who are too alike but don’t realize it.
Ben Deery plays Mr. Harebrain as a kind of ferocious nerd. He’s so insanely jealous because he can’t believe anyone as lovely as Mrs. Harebrain would marry him. Deery moves Harebrain’s jealousy almost past the point of comedy since possessiveness, especially in the ‘50s setting, seems more like a mental illness than a zany character trait.
Ellie Beaven is wonderful as Mrs. Harebrain, able to make her longing for a satisfying sexual encounter somehow seem perfectly innocent. She makes the conformist ‘50s setting work very well since her desire shows she is willing to break convention, despite her outward meekness. When Penitent Brothel finally calls an end to the affair, Foley wisely allows Beaven to play her part seriously. There is no happy ending for her and her sadness becomes the prime element that gives depth to all the frivolity around her.
Dennis Herdman’s Penitent Brothel, as his name suggests, is a man torn by inner conflict and is not an inherently comic figure. Foley tries to make Brothel’s crisis of faith, when he envisions Mrs. Harebrain as a succubus, into a farcical pyrotechnic showpiece. It really should not be so, since afterwards Brothel is quite earnest when cuts his ties with Mrs. Harebrain and is as unhappy about it as she is. Stealing and giving away possessions may be comic in the main plot, but Middleton twists the traditional comic jealous husband format of the subplot so that it’s topic of possession is much more serious than usual.
As Mrs. Harebrain’s guardian, Sarah Ridgeway is an ideal Frank Gullman. Her character’s sardonic matter-of-factness about her profession is more like a character in <i>The Threepenny Opera</i> than in Jacobean comedy. Ridgeway plays her as the tough independent woman Middleton means her to be, and as such, an unusual figure in Jacobean comedy. Ishia Bennison is hilarious as her mother/pimp. She’s all calculation when talking with her daughter but suddenly puts on a the façade of motherly pride when speaking with a prospective customer, all the while emphasizing the inexperience and virtue of her flowerlike daughter.
Foley’s inspiration for a farce mixed in with musical interludes seems to be <i>One Man, Two Guvnors</i>, Richard Bean’s hit 2011 adaptation of a play from 1743 by Carlo Goldoni for the National Theatre. The difference is that Bean’s play was a translation where Bean had complete control of the language and needed only to follow, however loosely, Goldoni’s scenario. Middleton’s in an English comedy by a playwright famed for his language and his skill at plotting.
In bringing such an English rarity to a new audience, one would have hoped the director would honour Middleton’s language and then discover the pacing inherent in the play. Foley does neither. Nevertheless, if the RSC’s tour of Foley’s production makes more people aware and interested in Middleton it will have done some good. If, however, people mistake the flaws of Foley’s alterations for Middleton’s, Foley and Porter will have done Middleton a great disservice. I hope, in spite of everything, that people are able to see through all of Foley and Porter’s gimmickry to the real play beneath it. At least the two make that easier after the interval when they tone down their interference. The cast is clearly inspired by the play and that alone should make us hope for more Middleton to come.
©Christopher Hoile
Running time: 2 hours, 45 minutes, including intermission.
Tour stops completed after Brighton:
• Malvern Theatres, Malvern,
March 24-28, 2015;
• Hall for Cornwall, Truro,
March 31-April, 4, 2015;
• Theatre Royal, Bath,
April 7-11, 2015
• Darlington Civic Theatre, Darlington,
April 14-18, 2015
• Cambridge Arts Theatre, Cambridge,
April 21-25, 2015
• Barbican, London
April 29-May 9, 2015
Note: This review is a <i>Stage Door</i> exclusive.
Photos: (from top) Sarah Ridgeway and Ellie Beaven; Ben Deery as Mr. Littledick/Mr. Harebrain; Joe Bannister as Dick Follywit; Ian Redford as Sir Bounteous. ©2015 Manuel Harlan.
For tickets,, visit <a href="http://www.rsc.org.uk">www.rsc.org.uk</a>.
<b>2015-03-15</b>
<b>Brighton, GBR: </b><b>A Mad World My Masters</b>