‘Tess – a bold vision of Hardy’s classic novel’ exclaims the posters for Ockham’s Razor’s latest production. Bold indeed – for this is the story of Tess of the d’Urbervilles depicted through theatre, dance and even circus.
I was intrigued; how were they going to pull off this high-wire performance I wondered sceptically, as we wove our way into the Oxford Playhouse to re-examine Hardy’s novel about a young working-class woman living in rural 19th century England.
‘The whole show was like a somersault on a high-wire; tension… drum-roll… silence… gasps…Relief! It shouldn’t work but it does’
There, Tess will suffer not only at the hands of the individuals in her life: her father, employer and husband, but also the institutions that should have supported her: her family, her religion and the law. But dance? Circus? How were they going to do this?
With beauty, style and grace was the answer, a stage full of rags and swishing skirts and lots of planks being pushed, pulled, flipped and twirled as the performers used them to creating a perpetual forward motion, driving the story to its inevitable conclusion.
This is all done in time to an elegant, hypnotic musical soundtrack that sounds old, traditional, modern and trance-like all at the same time.
And Tess? There are two of them. Narrator Tess (Anna Crichlow) who reads Hardy’s original text, while silent Dancer Tess (Lila Naruse) stays in the centre of the action. It shouldn’t work but it does. Fittingly, one Tess voices her inner distress; the other is stoical as she’s pushed and pulled by the injustices meted out to her.
‘There are so many highlights in this show’
There are so many highlights in this show: the creepy, predatory Alec D’Urberville (Joshua Frazer) spinning around in his seer wheel, supposed good-guy Angel Clare (Nat Whittingham) helping the outrageously-flirting milkmaids across a flooded stream, inflatable cows, a rope dance, murder, birth and moments of dramatic silence when nothing happens and everything is felt.
The whole show was indeed like a somersault on a high-wire: tension… drum-roll… silence… gasps….relief…. the crowd cheering! And in this case a thoroughly deserved standing ovation from the Oxford Playhouse audience.
Tess is at Oxford Playhouse until Thursday March 6. Book here https://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/events/tess
Edward Bliss
