There is a kind of European theatre, quite distinct from anything produced in this country, that combines torrents of words and philosophical discourse with rich but heavy visuals to produce evenings that have an almost operatic quality. These productions are like very large, ornate pieces of furniture - some people find them beautiful and some find them cumbersome and ugly. Teatro Malandro's version of the Cervantes story of the dreamer Don Quixote and his faithful servant Sancho is like one of those pieces of furniture. I wouldn't give it house room.
Cervantes's story is as much philosophy as it is narrative, and transferring it to the stage is not an easy task. None the less, past experience suggests that when done with simplicity, the anti-hero's mad visions and adventures can have an engaging quality. Here Don Quixote and Sancho are reduced to two white-streaked, loincloth-clad figures (the whole piece has strong religious overtones ending with a vision of Dulcinea as the Virgin Mary) amid an extended masque or gaudy and very expensive pantomime. When Sancho announces, "I reckon ants move faster than we do," he could be commenting on this evening.
A few sequences work well. The opening moment, when a dot of light expands to fill the stage and reveal a child's rocking horse in silhouette, is not just fabulous to watch but underlines Quixote's childlike nature and the sense that all life is an illusion. There is also a lovely moment of transformation during the wedding party: the whole story of the beautiful peasant girl and the shepherd who loves her to death is done with a lightness of touch that is lacking elsewhere.
Overall, this looks like a piece of theatre that is too pleased with itself and the pretty images that it can create. Most of the audience, it has to be said, treated the entire 100 minutes with extraordinary reverence. But to my mind the theatre is not an altar where we come to genuflect but a place of entertainment, and sometimes wonder.
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