Elsewhere
Elsewhere
✭✭✭✭✩
by David Greig & Rufus Norris, directed by Rufus Norris
Young Vic, Barbican Theatre
December 14, 2005-January 21, 2006
The Young Vic’s production of HERGE’S ADVENTURES OF TINTIN at the Barbican Theatre is based on Hergé’s 1960 comic book “Tintin in Tibet” adapted by David Greig and director Rufus Norris. I was curious to see it because the same creative team that produced the marvellous “Festen” was in charge, and I wanted to see how they would treat such very different material. As it turned out, the show was an utter joy.
It was the perfect example of what a show for the whole family should be. It had an exciting story that children could get caught up in, but was executed with level of theatrical and wit so high that only an adult would be able fully to appreciate it. Ian MacNeil’s set sloping off in multiple directions suggested both the Alps and the Himalayas where the action is set. His use of a large frame within the proscenium gave numerous scenes the sense of Hergé’s cartoon panels come to life. Joan Wedge’s costumes faithfully reproduced those of Hergé’s characters.
As one might expect, the one notable exception was Tintin’s dog Snowy. The play began by using a real dog. When the action shifted to Katmandu, a puppet was cleverly substituted and thrown off stage only to roll back in as actor Simon Trinder, significantly not in a dog costume. He was all in white--boots, baggy pants, long sweater--with his hair in short white spikes. Trinder gave a fantastic performance. The scene where Snowy debates with himself whether to drink a bottle of whisky in terms of whether he is a “good dog” or a “bad dog” was absolutely hilarious. Sam Cox was wonderful as the blustering Captain Haddock and Russell Tovey played Tintin with a wide range of emotions giving Tintin an idealism that struggles with doubt as he persists in his belief that his friend Chang is alive despite all the evidence.
The show consisted of one highly imaginative scene after the next, whether it was Tintin’s surreal nightmare that opens the show; our first glimpse of bustling Katmandu full of hawkers and bicycles; the superbly mimed staging of the mountaineering crew trekking through deep snow, Haddock rushing to the lead, then falling behind; Tintin and crew, including Snowy, rock-climbing an invisible mountain from the stage floor to above the proscenium; the cave of the Abominable Snowman or most chillingly the scene when a wrecked airplane section appears from below, dead passengers still strapped in their seats and singing in Tintin’s mind about how cold they are. This encounter with death that closed Act 1, gave the play a sense of depth in its exploration of the value of friendship that helps us cope with life, its trials and its brevity. Greig and Norris’s adaptation thus went far beyond anything that might be called a “children’s play”. I was merely hoping for a pleasant entertainment. I didn’t expect to be so amazed or so moved.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in the London Theatre Guide 2006-01-31.
Photo: Russell Tovey as Tintin. ©2005 Tristram Kenton.
2006-01-31
London, GBR: Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin