Manalive!
The arrival of Mr Innocent Smith at the gothic wrought iron gate of Beacon House is the cause of much alarm and exclamation among the residents of Diana Duke’s boarding house, among them the heiress Rosamund Hunt, the journalist Michael Moon, the aging Doctor Herbert Werner and the newly arrived Mary Gray.
“As big as a bull and as excitable as a kitten,” he comes into their midst, exploring the house before vanishing through a trapdoor to the roof, inviting his fellow lodgers to come with him, to see things from a different perspective. At first the presence of Mr Smith is invigorating, but he is also unpredictable, a whirlwind come into their lives carrying with him firearms and followed by accusations of murder.
Miss Gray, whom Mr Smith has asked to marry him only hours after meeting her, will hear nothing of it, nor of the stories that he has met other women previously and absconded with them on only the briefest acquaintance, the women never seen again. But with Smith himself having suggested the Court of Beacon be convened, it seems he is the first to be tried on the evidence presented, much of it contradictory and open to interpretation.
Having chilled and delighted Fringe audiences in 2014 with their adaptation of M R James’ sinister Casting the Runes, Box Tale Soup have returned to the capital with a more uplifting production, G K Chesterton’s 1912 novella Manalive. With clear voices and each carrying diverse defined characters, Antonia Christophers and Noel Byrne perform the whole cast, the various residents and the authors of the many depositions heard in the trial, each performed as humorous verse.
Sharing the stage with Christophers and Byrne are their puppets, each dressed in the same style as their masters in brightly coordinated colours with sashes of text from a variety of sources, each distinctly finished from the blonde cardboard quiff and curls of Mr Smith to the copper tones of Miss Gray and the shot-up top hat of the balding Doctor Warner, with surprising character drawn from the base physical templates.
While the story is of its time and despite considerable judicious editing is still challengingly verbose, enhanced by Dan Melrose’s original score the hour flies past, and amongst all the noise of the festival month it would be a shame if a quieter approach to theatre were to be overlooked simply because it chooses to capably mix a variety of traditional and timeless styles rather than opt for the expected modernity.
Manalive! continues until Saturday 29th August
