REVIEW: The Two Noble Kinsmen
Could it be that The Two Noble Kinsmen is just one big mickey take?
It was the last thing Shakespeare wrote — teaming up with junior scribe John Fletcher to seemingly bang the thing out in 1614.
It regurgitates Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale to tell the story of young gentleman soldiers, Palamon and Arcite, who are imprisoned by Duke Theseus of Athens after he defeats the tyrannical King Creon. From their prison, the two buddies spot the comely Emilia lolling about the garden, and promptly fall in love with her and fall out with each other.
What this novel and compelling production from much-feted young director Blanche McIntyre and inventive designer Anna Fleischle joyously brings out is the absurdities of the bananas and clumsy plot.
Take the opening scene. On paper it’s a painfully waffling affair: on his wedding day to Hippolyta (sister of Emilia) Theseus is visited by three widowed queens who are seeking retribution after their husbands are slain by Creon. Here the queens drop down from the rafters into the proceedings like a SWAT team. Sod the boring implorations, the kick-ass feminists are here! What’s more they are dressed like comic book ante-heroes and instantly bond with the equally feisty females of the court (Emilia, Hippolyta et al) also dazzling in wondrous warrior chic… At one point Allison McKenzie (cool, blonde, in control) even saunters on with a don’t-mess-with-me chainsaw. I also especially loved that one of the queens sports a breastplate in the shape of breasts… how fearlessly militant!
It is of course crazy that Palamon and Arcite should go from being the best and most loving of pals (Palamon famously gushes “Is there record of any two that loved better than we do, Arcite?”) to engaging in mortal combat over a woman who they have never met.
However, the flawed plot is part saved by the flawless acting of Jamie Wilkes (an assured, mature Arcite) and James Corrigan (the wilder, passionate Palamon). The real-life friends bring a believable bromance-style heart to their relationship. As they argue through the opposing wire mesh walls of their prisons, the “I saw her first!” argument over Emilia seems modern, fresh and hilarious. Corrigan in particular has great comic timing.
One of the curious/ridiculous things about the play is that it pilfers scenes, themes and allusions from much of Shakespeare’s glorious canon. There’s an obvious Ophelia — the jailer’s daughter driven mad by unrequited love (a charming Danusia Samal), and a chorus of gods/buffoons à la A Midsummer Night’s Dream (much fun had here with saucy costumes and battling inflatable phallic-shaped horses).
So is The Two Noble Kinsmen a pastiche of the Bard’s work? A homage? Or the aforementioned mickey take/send up? Maybe the playwrights and the audience were in on an early pre-postmodern joke? In which case the curiously self-aware surrealness that this production taps into is bang on the money.
Perhaps prompted by the sad death of Gene Wilder this week, seeing it reminded me of his and Mel Brooks’ 1968 film The Producers, where a conniving producer and accountant contrive to have a Broadway flop, which ironically turns out to be a hit...
Despite itself, mirth and magic gleamed through the awful bits.
