Volcano

There are times when it becomes completely apparent why a play, by a famous author, is seldom, if ever, performed. Volcano is one such play. Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter remains one of his best works, moving, sensitive and at the time controversial. Volcano, in comparison, was clumsy and cliched and despite the best efforts of most of the company, failed to engage on any level.

Jenny Seagrove seemed uncomfortable in the role from the start. Maybe the effect she was looking for was reserve or restraint – but it came across as wooden and unemotional which is a shame, because the entire purpose of the play hangs around her character. Instead her flat performance, the lack of emotional engagement and the obsessive attention to minor business like sweeping up a broken glass, simply distracted from the already thin plot.

Volcano is all a case of who’s sleeping with who, a sexual whodunnit in which the twist comes as no surprise. It may have been shocking back then, but now in our metrosexual world few would be shocked or care.

The rest of the company managed to create a sense of time, Robin Sebastian was excellent and Finty Williams too. Jason Durr is certainly attractive as the sexual mercenary, but with a plot as lame as this there is little for him to go with it.

The excellent set and lighting are worth a mention but as for the whole, the clunky parallel of the erupting volcano and the exploding intrigues of infidelity can be summed up by Ms Seagrove who, the night after the disaster, walks around the set with a cloth dusting the rattan furniture.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 23 July 2012
[rating: 1.5]
Andrew Kay