Everything Theatre Reviews, interviews and news for theatre lovers, London and beyond
Hen and Chickens Theatre
Sketchy portrait of a Bohemian legend.Summary
Rating
Ok
I’m fond of biographical theatre that seeks to throw light on historical figures who have a certain profile but whose lives aren’t particularly well known to me. The 19th-century artist Comte Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (more commonly abbreviated to Toulouse-Lautrec) fits that bill. I knew of his association with the notorious Moulin Rouge and was familiar with the iconic posters he designed for the club, but that was about it, so I ventured up to the lovely Hen & Chickens in Highbury to find out more.
Writer and performer Fergus Rattigan first became aware of Lautrec via Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film Moulin Rouge, in which the artist is played by national treasure Jim Broadbent. Rattigan’s curiosity about Lautrec has led to this two-hander in which Rattigan plays the man himself (and occasionally Lautrec’s father, a transformation involving a change of hat) and Marie Drisch provides a number of other characters for him to interact with.
The play begins with Rattigan’s Lautrec addressing the audience in French, until establishing that we’re Brits, upon which discovery he switches to English for our benefit. It’s a light-hearted and charming start, building up a store of goodwill in the audience. Unfortunately, what follows doesn’t manage to sustain that level of theatrical deftness.
The production’s tagline describes Lautrec as “Born to nobility, disabled by fate, reborn through art!”, a pitch which promises a grander and more fulfilling narrative than the play delivers, that self-indulgent exclamation mark unfortunately setting the show up for failure. What we actually get is a potted history of a man that’s sadly missing a sense of his humanity.
In his programme notes, Rattigan says his play is “not a direct biography” and that he’s included fictional characters to join the dots of Lautrec’s life. That’s fair enough – imperative, even – when presenting a 50-minute snapshot of a person’s life, but Rattigan hasn’t chosen the dots with enough narrative focus. We get a brief description of the conditions which led to him being disabled, and the burden of living with a shortened stature. We get his focus on art and his attraction to the seedier side of Paris nightlife. What we don’t get is a glimpse of his soul.
Rattigan gives a committed performance, and this is clearly a passion project for him. Drisch multi-roles as various significant figures, from artistic mentors to prostitutes, but she doesn’t seem to be on top of her lines, and none of these secondary characters forms a strong enough relationship with Lautrec to hook us into the story.
At various points in the show, small prints of some of Lautrec’s work are revealed. These are nice to see, but increase one’s sense of frustration that the play isn’t communicating the essence of the man who overcame disadvantage to make a lasting mark on artistic and cultural history.
Abruptly, he’s dead – and I don’t feel that I ever got to know him.
Written by: Fergus Rattigan
Directed by: Natalie Winter
Produced by: Tamara Ritthaler, for Shadowmask Theatre
Lautrec plays at Hen and Chickens until 17 August. Further information and bookings can be found here.
