**** (4 stars)
“Outstanding”
Well, that was a trip down memory lane, alright… I’m not old enough to have seen the Bogart/Bergman film when it first came out, but for as long as I can remember it’s been a part of my life – the ultimate wartime romance ending in noble sacrifice for the good of the cause just as the two star-crossed lovers are reunited after a tragically misunderstood parting.
This is both an affectionate hommage to a classic film and a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek humorous reworking of many little moments in the original which lend themselves to other interpretations. It’s also a splendid example of how three actors in their show can play an almost unbelievable number of parts, and in two realities – Shakespeare would have been proud of them…
Gavin Mitchell, Clare Waugh and Kevin Lennon between them do a brilliant job of playing not only all the main characters but also many bit parts, both on and off stage. In this they are supported by a superb musician, who gets her bow but is not credited on the flyer: neither is the singer who is determined to be heard to the end of her songs despite the valiant efforts of the cast to cut her short. A pity, because they were both excellent.
Gavin Mitchell is outstanding in his rendition of Humphrey Bogart’s playing of cynical, world-weary cafe owner Rick, whose hard-bitten exterior conceals a heart of gold. Clare Waugh does a splendid job of doubling his long-lost love Ilse and the evil Major Strasse of the Gestapo. But for me, Kevin Lennon takes the crown / wins all the laurels for his portrayals of the weak, slimy underworld crook Ugate, the charming, debonair but venal Captain Renaud and the incredibly correct, stiff-upper-lipped Vincent Laszlo, hero of the Resistance, husband of Ilse, and hope of the whole free world.
What is most admirable about this show is the skill with which the actors switch in the blink of an eye from dead straight acting, full of unspoken deep emotion and almost scarily exactly replicating the original film, to the deadpan comic interjections – the oddball film facts, the extraordinary contortions required at some points to indicate going through several rooms while manoeuvring themselves around a very small and crowded set – and the overlapping of two realities – the drama they are playing out on stage, and the interactions of the three actors playing all those parts.
We the audience are involved from the very first moments, when we are invited to join the cabaret singer in her rendition of la vie en rose. By the time we reach the scene of the defiant singing of la Marseillaise, we are so engaged in the plot that we virtually raise the roof.
It’s amazing to me that the tension of the drama is not lost despite all the comic interventions. We know we’re watching three actors recreate something which was in itself a creation, a pretence of real life. The fourth wall is continuously broken. And yet… and yet we still believe every moment of the intensely emotional exchanges, even as they are carried out with hammed up physical movements and expressions, especially from Rick, to some degree from Ilse, and virtually all the time from the many ‘lesser’ characters on stage.
Existing in two realities at the same time, we are able both to enjoy the homage to the original drama and at the same time laugh at all its absurdities, including the constant references to an injected subplot of the presence of a casting director in the house who’s looking to cast Singin’ in the Rain….
Which explains why there’s a tap dance finale to Good mornin’, good mornin’, an inflatable sofa that falls out of the wings for Rick, Ilse and Renaud to collapse onto at the end of the number, and a special round of applause for Sophie who made it happen.
No wonder the performance is greeted with a storm of applause!
Casablanca:The Gin Joint Cut, Ghillie Dhu (Venue 410) for more information go tohttps://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/casablanca-the-gin-joint-cut
ScotsGay Arts 