A review of the April 21st show at Picasso Point by Equus Productions
A wily young murderer decides to rent a room from a woman who is in the frustrating throes of a midlife crisis. Hoping to embark on a life of sexual fulfillment with her new house guest, the coquette tries her best but is stifled by her untrusting father and misogynistic brother.
In a nutshell, this is the plot of Entertaining Mr. Sloane, one of Joe Orton’s greatest plays, which stirs up all the dark humor and controversy of his other works. I thought that the strength of the script alone could carry most casts with a non-too-shabby result, so was interested to see what the well-respected Equus productions could produce.
The set, all chintz and hideous boot-sale ornaments, made good use of the underground space and was lit effectively to evoke a sense of unnerving twee. The space was well managed by the house-proud Kath, played by Sylvia Llewelyn, who dusted, primped and preened with all the enthusiasm of an eternal empty nester. Llewelyn put in a confident performance as a woman who battles to balance a maternal longing with raw lust. At times I felt that the character was seduced into the realms of caricature though, and would have benefited from a less vacuous line delivery. Moreover, I’m sure Llewelyn won’t mind me saying that she has the body of a twenty year old (which was revealed in a see-through chiffon number used to seduce the sexual mascot of the piece, Sloane). Someone more mumsy and less sexy may have succeeded in producing the heady mix of wild laughter and wince which the play begs for.
Daniel Hall was a matchless Ed and put in a standout performance as Kath’s sexually repressed brother. He handled Orton’s colorful dialogue with impressive dexterity and was a strong physical presence on stage. Ed exercises a frightening control over his father and hapless sister yet is fighting an internal battle with his own sexual hunger – for Sloane. Sadly, Miklós Béres as Sloane wasn’t quite so convincing and was clearly miscast. Much of the innuendo-laced dialogue was lost in his delivery and the performance was at times anemic. I am sure that he could do justice to a more suitable role though and have to say that he modeled the skintight leather suit with admirable courage.
The play’s director, Rhett Stevens, created a deliciously cantankerous Kemp, and had clearly worked hard on the physical attributes of his character. Eminently believable, he managed to rouse a blend of shock, laughter and eventually, sympathy from the audience.
The main problem seemed to stem from a confusion over whether to perform the play straight or not. This led to an unintentional clash of styles, which at times made for awkward viewing. Nevertheless, there were plenty of laugh out loud moments and I would certainly be interested to see what Equus come up with next.
Entertaining Mr Sloane was shown from April 14th – May 6th at Picasso Point (1065 Budapest, Hajós utca 31). For more information about upcoming shows fromEquus Productions go to http://equusproductions.googlepages.com.
Joanna Singleton