BREVIEW: The Exorcist @ REP 21.10 – 05.11.16

Joseph Wilkins as Father Joe and Clare Louise Connolly as Regan in The Exorcist / By Robert Day

Words by Ed King / Production pics from Robert Day

The Exorcist didn’t scare me, when I first saw Blatty’s existential/ethereal see-saw on screen at the Odeon. It was a midnight showing, the entire audience was under some influence or another, and I was a precocious 18 year old not about to be frightened by ‘the scariest movie of all time’. Surely nothing was going to be that shocking, not even the violent and blasphemous masturbation of a possessed 10 year old. Pass the popcorn mother.

As the REP fills out tonight I am reminded of that witching hour screening. Nervous laughter rolls around the packed auditorium, fueled by the tacit titillation you find in an Alton Towers queue, whilst an ominous swirling sound escorts us to our seats. Fun and fear are both thick in the air. I jump at a loud bang through the tannoy, then laugh, then notice that the REP has deep red carpets.

Todd Boyce as Doctor Strong Clare Louise Connolly as Regan and Jenny Seagrove as Chris in The Exorcist / By Robert DayI also notice the potential pitfall to this production, as my friend points out all the film t-shirts being worn in homage tonight. The Exorcist is a spectacle, and for Pielmeier’s redrafted stage adaptation to claw back any sense of serious threat there is considerable work to do. Even if you’ve never seen the 1973 film or read the 1971 book, chances are you’ll know some of the story’s iconography. And we all want to see her head turn round 180 degrees.

I begin to wonder if this was such a good idea, culturally speaking, before the house lights are ripped away and we are thrown into an elongated darkness. Are we on the cusp of another, albeit darker, Rocky Horror Picture Show? In years to come will the audience be squirting silly string instead of projectile vomit? Will we shout ‘Ronald’ when the dialogue says ‘Regan’?

More laughter, more darkness. Less laughter, more darkness. More darkness. Silence now. More darkness. Mist appears and we are no longer alone. The spotlight falls on Father Merrin discovering the statue of Pazuzu, as he turns and voices a weary fear to the world.

More darkness.

Enter the MacNeils…

Beautifully lit, with obvious but well timed transitions from stark light to pitch black, The Exorcist looks great on stage. The MacNeil’s house is represented through a detached attic, a comfortably lit living room, nervous hallways, and of course that bedroom. We move from inside to out, from safety to danger, with simple yet effective techniques maintaining the necessary menace. Imagery of tortured souls and restrained torsos illuminate the occasional shadowy corner, whilst the projected wall paper surrounding Regan’s bed is manipulated to superb effect. Only the apocryphal stone stairs – that claim two bodies in the film adaptation – are left unseen.

Sound also plays a large part in delivering The Exorcist on stage – especially in our distinctions between good and evil, with the guttural shift in Ian McKellan’s Captain Howdy/The Devil voice over marking the rising anger of the beast. Never has the word ‘prize’ been uttered with such icy intent. Arguably though, even more could have been done here, with the audio lacking some of the punches that the visual throws out; if we’re going to get blinded, we can be deafened a bit too.

The cast has been stripped back to the principals akin to the Batty penned original, with Pielmeier’s sophomore stage show having had ‘a major re-write, refocusing the script entirely’ – eradicating some oddly superfluous support characters and reference points. No one mentions Rwanda on stage tonight.

Jenny Seagrove plays a wholly believable and tortured matriarch, if not a little stuck in her character at times, bouncing off the solid support from a divisively alcohol dependent Uncle Burke – played by Tristram Wymark. Ancillary characters come and go, providing useful context and bite sized development but having no real moment to shine. Likewise, Andy Garcia is given only a handful of chances to show the despair and internal rage that controls the conflicted Karras – and therefore the story’s premise. Two minutes with a punch bag and an internal monologue just isn’t enough.

But the absolute success from The Exorcist’s cast list is Claire Louise Connolly, who turns the cloying Regan into a sarcastic Satan – armed with a frighteningly endearing volley of retorts to Karras’s questions, assumptions and accusations… with a little help from Ian McKellan. But the interaction between these two (or three) characters, especially when dissecting Jesus’s martyrdom, is wonderful – and even with her hands tied, Connolly owns every facet of each character she is a conduit for. Superb stuff.

Joseph Wilkins as Father Joe and Adam Garcia as Father Damien Karras in The Exorcist / By Robert DayThe weakness with The Exorcist, as adapted for the stage, comes in the writing. Presented like a series of sketches we miss the chance to see more character development, to feel the tension build through the actors and not just the acts. The oddly dependent, supportive, yet potentially dangerous world of ego and one liners that Chris (Seagrove) and Burke (Wymark) share could have blossomed into something so much more; both actors had a firm grip but not enough road.

Likewise Andy Garcia had much more to give us, with the philosophical banter between Regan/The Devil and Father Karras being stand out scenes in terms of dialogue – there just aren’t enough of them. Even Peter Bowles, who works immediately as the perturbed and detached Father Merrin, is so oddly cut out of the end narrative I almost wonder if Equity were involved. The second half of The Exorcist was just too quick and too dirty, with a rather hurried text missing opportunities to elevate itself above an evil pantomime. And once you see a child stick a silver cross where the sun doesn’t shine, you don’t really need to see it again.

Friedkin’s film excelled on the gore, and maintained some of the religious and intellectual threads that bound Blatty’s original prose together; The Exorcist is about a possessed girl, and all the horror that comes with her, but it’s Father Karras’s struggle with his own faith that defines the novel. The subtext is morality and martyrdom; if there is a loving God, then why… and all that introspection. But John Pielmeier’s adaptation to the stage still lacks gravitas, linguistically at least, with some dialogue even feeling verbatim to that in the film. And whilst I have not yet found the balls (or time) to cross reference this fully, I feel a little cheated.

You could easily, happily, and arguably should, add 30mins to the second half of The Exorcist as a stage production, writing a handful of (new) dialogue led scenes and evolving the conversations with The Devil (especially about its seeming focus of “burning another priest on my fire”) to make this a much richer tapestry.the-exorcist-text-webcol-crop

Although The Exorcist on stage, this time around, is a triumph for the actors involved – one so well earned it made me stand up to clap. Something I’m not overly eager to do. Using used often stale and trite lines, or bizarrely spoon feed plot points, the cast still managed to make me care.

Sean Mathias has delivered his creative brief with aplomb (one which could have fallen into the trap of over familiarity or schlock horror) through a hard working ensemble who simply deserved better words to work with. The Exorcist currently being performed is definatley worth seeing, even if you’ve never cared for its previous incarnations.

And whilst The Exorcist is still not scary, I can live with being able to sleep well at night. Just give me an intelligent battle between good and evil to mull over when the lights go out.

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The Exorcist runs at the Birmingham REP until 5th November. For direct info, including show times & online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-exorcist 

For more from the Birmingham REP, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

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BPREVIEW: The Exorcist @ REP 21.10 – 05.11.16

The Exorcist @ REP 21.10 – 05.11.16

Words by Ed King 

On Friday 21st October, the UK stage première of The Exorcist opens at the Birmingham REP – as presented by REP in association with Bill Kenwright.main-with-web-colour-bcg-lr

Running until Saturday 5th November, evening performances of The Exorcist will be held every day except Sunday – with matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays, excluding 22nd October.

Standard tickets are priced from £15 with a reduced £10 standard charge for the opening two preview nights. N.B. At the time of writing Sat 22nd October is sold out. For direct details on show times and tickets, click here.

So… how are they going to make her head spin round, live on stage? That and other production challenges have been floating around (no pun intended) the Birmingham Review editorial bike shed since we first saw the REP had bagged this UK debut.

the-exorcist-text-webcol-cropJohn Pielmeier, a man with experience bringing evils alive on stage and on screen (spiritual or otherwise), started adapting William Peter Blatty’s 1970’s horror stalwart back in early 2008. The first, and to date only, run of The Exorcist stage play launched at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles four years later – starring Brooke Shields as Chris MacNeil, Richard Chamberlain as Father Merrin, and David Wilson Barnes as Father Damien Karras.

‘Mixed reviews’ was the polite response (along with ‘but the audience enjoyed it’) with director John Doyle telling the LA Times “We can’t do what the movie did. We’re having to find a theatrical storytelling language that helps us — and hopefully the audience — to find a way of inhabiting the world of the play and the novel that doesn’t use the imagery that is now so iconic to people.” So that answers my head spinning question.

Doyle also cast a 23year old UCLA graduate, Emily Yetter, as the 12 year old demonically possessed Regan – reportedly to protect the more sensitive audience members from youthful profanity. This raises another question, why he took the job in the first place considering a tortured adolescence is at the centre of the narrative? John Pielmeier has further stated ‘I did a major re-write, refocusing the script entirely’ for The Exorcist’s sophomore stage production.rep-logo-trans

But with seasoned director Sean Mathias now at the helm, British theatre goers will no doubt be spared such artistic mollycoddling. A credible track record on both stage and screen, Mathias is arguably as a safe pair of hands as any – albeit not steeped in quite so much blood (…gore, searing flesh, projectile vomiting). Alongside a solid cast, The Exorcist‘s reborn on stage presence is a genuinely/potentially quite exciting affair.

And with The Exorcist‘s opening UK run being held in Birmingham, I don’t think a swearing 12 year old will turn too many heads. Again, no pun intended. Well maybe a little.

The Exorcist – Official trailer, UK stage production

Cast: Jenny Seagrove (Chris MacNeil), Peter Bowles (Father Merrin), Adam Garcia (Father Damien Karras), Clare Louise Connolly (Regan MacNeil), Todd Boyce (Doctor Strong), Mitchell Mullen (Doctor Klein), Joseph Wilkins (Father Joe), Tristram Wymark (Burke)

Crew: Sean Mathias (Director). Anna Fleischle (Designer), Tim Mitchell (Lighting Designer), Adam Cork (Composer & Sound Designer), Duncan McLean (Video & Projection Designer), Ben Hart (Illusions).

Accessible Performances: Audio Described Performance – Tues 1st Nov, 7.30pm / Captioned Performance – Weds 2nd Nov, 7.30pm / BSL Interpreted Performance – Thurs 3rd Nov, 7.30pm (Interpreted by Harjit Jagdev)

The Exorcist was written by William James Blatty – adapted for the stage by John Pielmeier.

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For more on The Exorcist at the Birmingham REP, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/whats-on/the-exorcist

For more from the Birmingham REP, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

For more from Bill Kenwright, visit www.kenwright.com

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BPREVIEW: Séance @ Centenary Square 18-29.10.16

Séance @ Centenary Square 18-29.10.16 / Pic of Medium Eva Carrière taken from the book Phenomena of Materialisation – first published by Baron Von Schrenck-Notzing (1913)

Words by Ed King / Lead pic of Medium Eva Carrière taken from the book Phenomena of Materialisation – first published by Baron Von Schrenck-Notzing (1913)

On Tuesday 18th October, Séance comes to Birmingham – held inside a shipping container based set on Centenary Square.main-with-web-colour-bcg-lr

Running until Saturday 29th October, Séance will hold thirteen (but of course) shows every day except the Lord’s Day – each one served up as ‘a 15 minute presentation in total darkness’, between 5pm and 9.45pm.

Tickets are priced at £8 and available through the REP Theatre. For direct event information & ticket sales you can call the REP Box Office on 0121 236 4455 or visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

Séance carries an ‘age recommendation’ of 18+

The latest piece of immersive theatre from David Rosenberg & Glen Neath, along with producer Andrea Salazar, Séance is the first show from Darkfield – a company that uses shipping container based sets to present ‘a series of irrational spaces that are at odds with their physical appearance’.

Previously showcased at this years’ Deralict Contemporary Performance & Live Arts Festival in Preston, and the Overtly Young, Wealthy & Substance Guzzling Latitude Festival in Suffolk, Séance makes its non festival debut in Birmingham on Tuesday 18th October.

rep-logo-transDescribed by The Guardian’s theatre critic, Lyn Gardner, as ‘Rosenberg and Neath’s best collaboration to date’, Séance is the third ‘total darkness’ theatre piece from the sensory depriving duo that brought you Ring and Fiction – this time using the isolated setting of a shipping container to set their stage.

No doubt evolving the idea from The Boy Who Climbed Out Of His Face, another shipping container based show that Shunt – Rosenberg’s ‘London based performance collective’ – launched in 2014, Séance is seemingly clearer in focus. It’s meant to scare you, whilst manipulating the power of superstition and suggestive empathy. Like a séance.

And as with both Ring and Fiction, Séance is led by a central protagonist whilst the audience members fill in the creative blanks with their own sensory deprived minds. This time it’s Tom Lyall, another Shunt founder and a man with a Twitter feed so restrained and funny I want to use it as wallpaper. But in such a literally confined performance space, with only 20 audience members at any one show, I have a spooky feeling Séance’s narrative will be a lot more… immediate.

Having toe dipped into the pitch black shenanigans of Fiction when it came to mac a couple of years ago (read my Birmingham Review of Fiction here) I can vouch for the darkness of a Messers Rosenberg & Neath production. But I’d be interested to see (or not see) what shakes its way to the surface when their creative mandate is as simple as fear. Although I do suffer from chronic claustrophobia and violent outbursts of panic… is there a form I can fill out? It’ll be fine.the-exorcist-text-webcol-crop

Séance is a standalone theatre production, but runs as an arguable precursor to The Exorcist – the UK’s stage set première of Blatty’s 1971 horror stalwart, opening at the REP on Friday 21st October. For more on The Exorcist at the REP, click here.

Séance runs in Birmingham from 18th – 29th October, held in a special shipping container based set in Centenary Square. For direct info & online ticket sales, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk/event/seance

For more on Darkfield, the production company behind Séance, visit www.darkfield.org

For more from the Birmingham REP, visit www.birmingham-rep.co.uk

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