Thanks to Isle of Arts Festival organisers for supporting VB by paying for this feature. Ed
Classic revenge tragedy gets a comic makeover in Soop-ed up version for Isle of Arts Vindici’s girl is dead. Murdered by a corrupt and lusty old Duke.
What follows is a black comedy of vice and deceit, with twists and turns of a plot that will lead our Vindici to … well, what we nowadays call a rock and a very hard place.
The Revenger’s Tragedy
Hampshire-based SOOP Productions may have a reputation for devising imaginative comic theatre from scratch, but this time they are taking you on a gleeful journey of retribution in a humorous interpretation of Thomas Middleton’s masterpiece, The Revenger’s Tragedy on Sunday 17 April (more detail).
A cast of just four actors, plus striking masks, extraordinary puppets and SOOP’s highly theatrical style reinvigorates Jacobean theatre. Rachel Carter, Alice Corrigan, Henry Oastle, and Nathan Chapman, who also directs, push aside the intervening centuries without a by-your-leave to give clear sight of the wit and clever intrigue ofthe original play.
Strong visual accompaniments
To bring out the brash, comic style, SOOP has employed the services of talented designer Francine Huin-Wah to create masks and puppets to enhance the visuals of the performance.
There are strong parallels with that most famous revenge tragedy of all, Hamlet, with the two plays sharing similar plot elements – The Revenger’s Tragedy even has its very own “skull scene”. But the main difference, according to Chapman, is the central character’s willingness to take action.
“Whereas Hamlet spends four and a half hours wondering whether he should kill his uncle, Vindici jumps straight on in there. There is something very naughty, even gleeful, about the way characters in Revenger’s commit sinful acts. That’s where it is subversive, and where there is material for a black comedy. The Revenger’s Tragedy is like Hamlet without the moralistic thumb-twiddling!” he says.
For more info on the 2011 Isle of Arts Festival, visit their Website
