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Autumn Sonata
By Ingmar Bergman
Adapted and directed by Dumle Kogbara
Act Provocateur Int
Lion & Unicorn Theatre
Gaiford Rd London N1
Call 07 838 968 097
Tues - Sat 7.30pm
Running time 65 mins no intermission
Through January
It’s All About Me
With daring, originality and optimism (some might say chutzpah) adaptor/director Dumle Kogbara brings to the tiny Lion and Unicorn Theatre in north London his version of the great Swedish writer/director, Ingmar Bergman’s deeply personal and revered work. Autumn Sonata was Bergman’s chamber cinema at its exquisite peak, and given the richness of the dialogue and priceless acting roles for the women protagonists, it is amazing that there has been no previous stage adaptation for the divas of today’s stage or remake for the screen.
The provenance does not end there. The film from which this adaptation derives, revelled in the casting of Liv Ullman and Ingrid Bergman in her last, and Oscar nominated, screen role and her one and only film collaboration with her namesake. The story is telescoped here into a collection of naked exchanges, some verbal, some written, all painful, in which the intensely personal drama of the troubled relationship between a self obsessed concert pianist mother, Charlotte, played by Annie Labura and Faye Billing as her emotionally starved daughter, Eva, is finally faced head on. It had to happen, it seems. The beautifully autumnal Chopin and Beethoven music, such an intrinsic part of the characters’ lives, plays its part in the story and in the drama.
Miss Billings brings to Eva a yearning vulnerability. The sense of a wasted life invokes a deep melancholy in her, and makes possible the awkward revelations between her and the simmering, repressed Charlotte of Miss Labura. The only thing the two women share is the bottle which loosens their tongues, and it is an irony that until then their words seemed more for their own benefit than the other’s. But that, after all, is what’s at the heart of their struggle.
The other characters in the story are either heard in a disembodied narration by Albert Clack (Eva’s husband) or simply not included, except by reference, but in this play about a mother from hell’s visit, there is plenty to keep one entertained, given careful treatment. When pared to the bone, performances are paramount, and sensitive direction vital, but the stiffly uncomfortable staging in this offering relied too heavily on the dialogue, and it was difficult to pull the self pity out of the verbal fireworks.
With no credit given on the programme as to lighting or stage design, I assume Mr Kogbara contributed these elements. It would serve him to engage the talents of someone whose skill lies in these areas. London is littered with arts graduates desperate for an opportunity such as this.
Scheduled to be part of a double bill with Celebration Concerto, Kogbara’s own writer/director debut, an actor’s illness meant that this half of the evening’s fare will be available from next week.
Somewhat Recommended
Saul Reichlin
London correspondent
www.ChicagoCritic.com
Date reviewed 11 January 2008
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