At Loving the Cotswolds, we chose Volpone, Swan Theatre, RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon as part of our 101 reasons because it captures something distinctive about this much-loved part of England.
So, whether you are planning a visit or simply enjoying a little Cotswold inspiration, we hope this helps you understand why Volpone, Swan Theatre, RSC, Stratford-upon-Avon deserves its place in the list.
13/07/2015
Rating: **** By Colin Davison @IamColinDavison
It’s 12 years since Henry Goodman, with typical flourish, stuck his head around a velvet curtain to present his Richard III at the RSC as a cheeky Victorian showman dressed in top hat and tails.
It’s 12 years since Henry Goodman, with typical flourish, stuck his head around a velvet curtain to present his Richard III at the RSC as a cheeky Victorian showman dressed in top hat and tails.
Now he’s back as that slyly malicious grasper Volpone, and he dominates the stage again, in what becomes at times a one-man tour de force.
Volpone pretends to be at death’s door in order to fool his wealthy, obsequious hangers-on into handing over precious gifts in the hope of a rich inheritance.
Here is a bed-ridden Goodman, glassy-eyed, drooling, with lolling tongue, but suddenly leaping from the sheets, transformed into bow-tied crooner to seduce, or if needs be rape, the beautiful Celia, fetchingly played by Rhiannon Handy with a Russian accent.
It is in his disguise as the Italian doctor Scoto, however, that Goodman ascends an apogee of brilliant nonsense.
A glorious, over-the-top and I suspect at least partly improvised harangue promotes his marvellous and naturally bogus medicines, curing all including constipation – cue expressions of expansive expulsion – and diarrhoea – ditto in reverse – before bursting, so to speak, into a passable version of O sole mio!
Elsewhere the text has been freely adapted by Ranjit Bolt, with modern allusions that sometime fall rather flat, although oddly enough the line about dying like Romans after living like Grecians is in the original.
The production also marks the return of former RSC director Trevor Nunn, who sets the scene with Volpone kneeling as if in prayer before his cabinets of idols, gold bars and plate, while stock prices roll across an overhead screen.
I rather wonder at Nunn’s judgement, however, in casting the relatively unknown actor Orion Lee as Mosca, Volpone’s supposedly compliant assistant and co-conspirator, who outfoxes the old fox himself.
Lee is as buttoned up as the tight-fitting suit he wears, as if afraid to put a foot wrong, or over-awed by the blazing fire of the star alongside him.
Miles Richardson is the unprincipled and crafty lawyer Voltore, splendidly hesitating as if reluctant to utter the terrible untrue truths about his victims. Matthew Kelly gives a spirited account of Corvino, with Geoffrey Freshwater completing the terrible trio of hopeful spongers, looking like a frog that has swallowed too many flies.
Special mention goes also to Steven Pacey and Annette McLaughlin as the improbable Lord and Lady Politic Would-Be, characters of no importance beyond the fun of their gloriously silly representation.
Volpone continues until 12 September 2015. Tickets: 0844 800 1110 and at www.rsc.org.uk.
Colin Davison
Volpone pretends to be at death’s door in order to fool his wealthy, obsequious hangers-on into handing over precious gifts in the hope of a rich inheritance.
Here is a bed-ridden Goodman, glassy-eyed, drooling, with lolling tongue, but suddenly leaping from the sheets, transformed into bow-tied crooner to seduce, or if needs be rape, the beautiful Celia, fetchingly played by Rhiannon Handy with a Russian accent.
It is in his disguise as the Italian doctor Scoto, however, that Goodman ascends an apogee of brilliant nonsense.
A glorious, over-the-top and I suspect at least partly improvised harangue promotes his marvellous and naturally bogus medicines, curing all including constipation – cue expressions of expansive expulsion – and diarrhoea – ditto in reverse – before bursting, so to speak, into a passable version of O sole mio!
Elsewhere the text has been freely adapted by Ranjit Bolt, with modern allusions that sometime fall rather flat, although oddly enough the line about dying like Romans after living like Grecians is in the original.
The production also marks the return of former RSC director Trevor Nunn, who sets the scene with Volpone kneeling as if in prayer before his cabinets of idols, gold bars and plate, while stock prices roll across an overhead screen.
I rather wonder at Nunn’s judgement, however, in casting the relatively unknown actor Orion Lee as Mosca, Volpone’s supposedly compliant assistant and co-conspirator, who outfoxes the old fox himself.
Lee is as buttoned up as the tight-fitting suit he wears, as if afraid to put a foot wrong, or over-awed by the blazing fire of the star alongside him.
Miles Richardson is the unprincipled and crafty lawyer Voltore, splendidly hesitating as if reluctant to utter the terrible untrue truths about his victims. Matthew Kelly gives a spirited account of Corvino, with Geoffrey Freshwater completing the terrible trio of hopeful spongers, looking like a frog that has swallowed too many flies.
Special mention goes also to Steven Pacey and Annette McLaughlin as the improbable Lord and Lady Politic Would-Be, characters of no importance beyond the fun of their gloriously silly representation.
Volpone continues until 12 September 2015. Tickets: 0844 800 1110 and at www.rsc.org.uk.
Colin Davison
