I guess I should fess up right at the start here and say, I’ve never read The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s been on my ‘things to read’ list for about eight years, but I’ve been trying to find a handbag big enough to lug the book around in before I actually crack on with the reading. Through my, admittedly limited, knowledge of the book, I knew three things; it’s long, there’s an extended prison stay involved and a lot of revenge.
As I took my seat in The Courtyard Theatre last night at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, I wondered how Joel Horwood, writer of the play, went about adapting such an epic piece of work for the stage. But there wasn’t much time to think about it as the curtain flew up and we got stuck right in to the story.
The first half saw all six cast members on stage at all times, moving from scene to scene with effortless fluidity. Here we see the basis of Dantes’ story: a young man of 19, just got a promotion, built up the courage to ask his childhood sweetheart to marry him, only for it all to be stripped away and him dragged off to prison over what appears to be, a bit of a mix up. Nonetheless, he spends 14 years in solitary confinement. These scenes were played remarkably well, especially when we were introduced to ‘Prisoner 27’, a delightfully nutty character.
During those 14 years, Dante obviously had a bit of time on his hands to figure out who had betrayed him and landed him in this predicament in the first place. He escapes from prison, hellbent on revenge (as you would be).
Onto Act Two! Dantes is now The Count of Monte Cristo and is systematically tracking down anyone who’s ever wronged him. It was at this point that the story got somewhat confusing for me. With a cast of only six, each actor was playing multiple roles throughout the play and this kicked into overdrive in the second half. One actor could change characters a couple of times within a scene, by just adding a prop or a hat. Though I lost the thread of the plot a couple of times and got a little confused about which characters related to which, it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the performance overall.
But let’s take a moment to focus on this incredible cast. For the range of characters, accents, costume changes and scenes they had to pull off, I was astonished they managed to remember their lines. They were nothing short of brilliant. A special mention goes to Oliver Senton, playing Mondego (and a host of other characters) who has comedic timing and the mannerisms of a woman down pat.
Having been to a string of plays recently that all involved new media in one form or another (which seems to be a bit of trend in theatre at the moment), what I enjoyed most about The Count of Monte Cristo was its simplicity. There were no special effects, just acting and props. Be it creating a boat, simulating digging through a tunnel, using mannequins on wheels as dancing partners or having three or four costume changes within a scene, all of these things came together with remarkable ease and made a weighty story very fun to watch.
And on top of all that, there’s a bit of singing and dancing, a pistol demonstration and a very carefully choreographed sword fight. What’s not to love?!
A great cast, play and production, ‘The Count’ is a must see. I’d even go and see it again, but I’m busy for the next two and a half years, having finally decided to read the book.
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