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Becket

  • opened: 10/27/2004
  • closed: 12/11/2004
  • Haymarket Theatre Royal
  • Box Office: 0870 901 3356
  • Details:
  • Summary: Visit theARCHIVE to hear a theatreVOICE discussion. In the 50s, Jean Anouilh's appropriation of the story of the fatal falling out between Henry II and his suddenly zealous Archbishop of Canterbury would have spoken to French audiences of life under the Occupation. But what does it say today, in a revival starring Dougray Scott as Becket and Jasper Britton as the King and directed for a major West End house by John Caird? Blessed little, appears to the response of every critic on the block. The Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer didn’t mince his words: 'The play is so second-rate, dusty and hermetically 'theatrical'... The dramatist is less interested in examining the vexed relationship between religion and politics than in providing glib psychological profiles and lame jokes during an insufferably verbose historical cartoon strip... John Caird's present production gives the impression of a gifted director who has entirely lost interest in the play he finds himself lumbered with, the whole evening featuring some truly dismal supporting performances, conveying a sense of depressed, dogged duty.' In the Guardian, Michael Billington opined: 'It matters little that Anouilh plays fast and loose with history: Shakespeare did as much in Richard III. Less easy to forgive is that Anouilh's characters are far less interesting than their factual counterparts. The discrepancies between historical fact and Anouilh's fiction are underscored by this irredeemably vulgar adaptation by Frederic and Stephen Raphael, in which Becket is characteristically referred to as 'an insolent little shit'.' Benedict Nightingale in the Times was similarly perplexed: 'I am bothered by the shallow, spurious notion that Henry's posthumous reconciliation with Becket ended the rancour between a racist Norman establishment and a brutalised Saxon peasantry. But that worried me less than the wordy (and, as colloquially translated by Frederic and Stephen Raphael, occasionally four-letter-wordy) text and the sometimes weak acting. Should a French king described by Anouilh as 'burly with intelligent eyes' really morph into an arch fop in shiny silver pyjamas? Surely not.' The Evening Standard's Nicholas de Jongh was mildly impressed at the bisexual overtone: 'The blatancy of Britton's gay emphasis gives a shot in the vitals to Jean Anouilh's creaky old 1958 costume drama..' The Independent's Paul Taylor looked with kindlier eyes on it: 'a clear, fluently staged, if faintly hollow production by John Caird with Jason Britton as a splendidly excitable and jokey Henry II and Dougray Scott cutting a handsome, charismatic and tantalisingly unfathomable figure as the man who is first made Chancellor and then Archbishop of Canterbury... By no means a great play, nor a great staging (the horseback scenes on huge vaulting horses are a terrible embarrassment). But it's a piece that ripples with unofficial energy.' Quentin Letts in the Daily Maily liked the design, again criticised the translation and concluded that after a reasonable first half, the production descended ‘beyond credibility... Jasper Britton's Henry unravels badly, unable to decide if he is serious or not... Not so much Anouilh as ennui.' Alastair Macaulay in the Financial Times was perplexed: 'Why revive Becket without two performances of weight, panache and glamour? As Henry, Jasper Britton is the best thing on stage. Though he badly exaggerates the climactic call for Becket's death, he brings the play a lively small-scale blokeishness that suits its no-nonsense tone... Missing, however, is any real sense of love for Becket in either his voice or body language. He never shows the emotion he continually protests. But then Dougray Scott, though good-looking, is an unlovable Becket: grey of spirit, dull of voice, talking assertively to God as to a past rugby coach.' A comment echoed by Susannah Clapp in ther Observer review: 'In the past, Becket has been carried by actors and stars: Laurence Olivier, Christopher Plummer, Robert Lindsay and, in the 1964 film, Peter O'Toole (being regal) and Richard Burton. But this latest pairing is dangerously lopsided. Jasper Britton puts in a performance of considerable fizz and force... But Dougray Scott does little to fill in the blank which is Becket. He occasionally adopts a look of mild anxiety, and from time to time spreads his arms towards the audience: the rest of the time he might as well be a decorative cathedral pillar.' In the Sunday Times, Victoria Segal suggested: 'There is a sneaking suspicion that this play has been revived as a timely reminder of the abuses - and the limits - of power. 'All wars are holy. Name me a single bloodthirsty butcher who hasn't got God on his side,' says the king, to audience laughter. Despite this questing for topicality, Becket seems dated, stylistically leaden, lacking emotional edge, the grand themes somehow drifting into repetition and ennui.' One star from Mark Shenton in the Sunday Express who was 'bored rigid': 'This drably designed, pretentiously staged production maroons some good actors in what's little more than a clunky costume drama about the tensions between State, Church and friendship... Britton gives all (and shows all, too, in an unnecessary bit of full-frontal nudity), but the play defeats his best efforts.' In the Mail on Sunday, Patrick Marmion also handed out a meagre one-star: 'Whoever it was who killed the play, John Caird gave the orders. Anouilh's drama is much more profound than Caird allows. Its structure in the mould of Greek tragedy, is ridden over roughshod. Reported sequences are crassly mimed and a ragbag of theatrical styles are adopted and culminate in our heroes galloping about on wooden horses.' In the Sunday Independent, Kate Bassett decided: 'This play grows heavy-handed, as the action veers towards the didactic and resorts to crass comic relief. Anouilh induces increasing ennui and Caird's production is not always finely judged, with several poor cameos and slow pacing.. Becket's murder is.. feeble, with a clumsy segue into the whipping with much slow-mo sword waving. Sometimes you wonder who is suffering most: Britton, Scott or the audience.' In the Sunday Telegraph, John Gross suggested: 'Anouilh wrote some plays which would be well worth reviving - Poor Bitos, for example - but after this production I'm inclined to think that Becket ought to be given a long rest.'
  • Author: Jean Anouilh/ Frederic and Stephen Raphael
  • Director: John Caird
  • Composer: John Cameron
  • Lyricist: Set Designer: Stephen Brimson Lewis
  • Lighting Designer: Peter Mumford
  • Costume Designer:
  • Choreographer:
  • Cast Details: Dougray Scott (Thomas Becket); Jasper Britton (King Henry II); John Quentin (Archbishop of Canterbury)...