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Ministry of Fear @Oxford Playhouse
On UK tour until 22.05.10
Kathryn Johnson
“It was slick, fast-paced, and made the most of the novel’s heady mixture of melodrama, romance and psychological danger. ”
I’ve read Graham Greene’s 1940s spy novel The Ministry of Fear so many times that my copy is falling apart at the spine, but even without the element of suspense this adaptation by Theatre Alibi kept me on the edge of my seat. It was slick, fast-paced, and made the most of the novel’s heady mixture of melodrama, romance and psychological danger. Its strength lay in a pared down script, inventive staging, a subtly emotive musical score, and the ability of each actor in this small company to change age, sex and character with impressive speed. The set, an ingenious tangle of broken steel grey girders and scaffolding, offered endless opportunities for actors to make unexpected reappearances under an altered guise. This created some genuinely unnerving moments, when combined with equally sudden and dream-like shifts in mood between fantasy and reality, comedy and horror. Despite the complicated and sprawling scope of the story, which jumps rapidly between a village fete, London’s bombed streets, Paddington Station and more, there were no major scene changes. Transformations were created with minimal props; a central curving structure was brought into play as a bridge or bed, telephones and lamps were hung at strategic points, and a real air raid siren dating from 1939 gave an eerily authentic feel to action. Clever lighting on the bleak set structure created looming shadows and lurid highlights; a nod towards film noir and the iconic film The Third Man (1949) created by Greene and Carol Reed. Theatre Alibi have gained a well deserved reputation for resourceful and imaginative staging, but director Nikki Sved was keen to point out that they avoid invention for its own sake; the story always comes first. This production certainly delivered a genuine emotional kick, but at the same time, would be well worth watching if only for the moments at which you nudge the next person and say ‘…did you see that?!’. And if you want to know what they are, there’s only one way to find out….