Travelling Light. National Theatre. Leeds Grand Theatre. 24-03-12

Damien Molony as Motl Mendl and Lauren O’Neill as Anna Mazowiecka. Production photograph by Johan Persson.

Nicholas Wright’s new play Travelling Light takes us back to the Jewish origins of early American cinema and into the heart of a small shtetl community. It is about the birth of storytelling in cinema- the moment when people moved beyond simply amazing people by showing them footage of themselves and their neighbours and realised that they themselves could make things happen on screen. It was a revelation which led to an explosion of creativity and a new obsession for the waiting audiences and it changed the lives of those who were the pioneers of the new industry. It is a tremendous subject.

Antony Sher as Jacob Bindl and Damien Molony as Motl Mendl. Production photo by Johann Persson.

Like many of the original Jewish cinema pioneers and moguls Motl Mendl, (Damien Molony) the young hero of Travelling Light, is restless and dynamic and he has ideas which are far too big for him to be able to stay close to his roots. He needs money to fulfil his ambitions which Jacob Bindl (Antony Sher) a wealthy timber merchant, is able to provide on condition that he stays at home. To the bafflement and admiration of his small community he uses the money to start to tell their stories on screen, using his neighbours as actors and the shtetl as a setting. The whole community becomes involved, too involved, and his creativity becomes compromised. Jacob wants to direct and he also wants the woman who is at the centre of Motl’s life and creativity. The situation is never going to be resolved without great cost and sacrifice.

Damien Molony as Motl Mendl and Lauren O’Neill as Anna Mazowiecka. Production photo by Johan Persson.

The production is beautiful to look at. Bob Crowley’s design gives us a realistic Shtetl community and Bruno Poet’s lighting design is atmospheric and haunting. A giant screen across the back allows us to see film extracts which can be both touching and funny. The supporting cast do an excellent job of peopling the Shtetl with warmth and humour, and make a believable community. Lauren O’Neil has a nice dignified presence as Anna, Motl’s love, and Antony Sher is a wonderful actor who has no difficulty whatsoever in giving us Jacob, with all his warmth, enthusiasm and irritating contradictions and interferences. The stand out performance, however, comes from Damien Molony as Motl. The part needs a young actor who is dynamic and full of conviction as the play relies on the audience buying into his passion for cinema and willing him to succeed, and it has found one. This is only Damien Molony’s second stage role, after a stunning stage debut as Giovanni in Tis Pity She’s a Whore at the West Yorkshire Playhouse and he is a joy to watch. He is able to play strong emotion with great economy and truth and that is a real gift.

There is a lot to admire about this production then, and a lot that is interesting and engaging. My only sadness comes from the fact that some of Nicholas Wright’s writing doesn’t quite match up to the quality of the production which it is given by Nicholas Hytner as director, and his company. The ending is a little rushed, with too much information given rather too suddenly, and the device of having an older Motl looking back at his early life isn’t quite made to work well enough. It is not bad writing- I would hate anyone to think that- but I feel quite strongly that this story had the potential to be a great play rather than a good one which was helped along by a talented cast, a clever production and a beautiful stage design and that is a shame.

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. West Yorkshire Playhouse. 19-05-11

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore has always had the power to shock, ever since it was first published in 1633, and it isn’t just because of the themes of incest, violence and murder which storm their way through the plot, it is also the ambiguity of John Ford’s treatment of them. Horrific violence is sanctioned by the cold and corrupt church, while the incestuous lovers, brother and sister Annabella and Giovanni, are young, innocent and thoroughly likeable. They are victims of both the society which they live in and the passion which they are unable to control rather than wicked sinners, and they are well aware of it. The play begins with Giovanni making frantic efforts to find help from the church. He is terrified of the eternal damnation which he is risking if he allows his passion full rein. He needs help, but all he finds when he makes his confession is shocked condemnation and an order to repent. If only love was that easy to extinguish, if it were then many of the characters in ‘Tis Pity would be alive and happy at the end and we could all go home early. As you watch the terrible consequences of loving the wrong people being played out you find yourself wondering along with Giovanni whether their love can ever really be so wrong. That is what shocks. Love is capricious, powerful and dangerous, and it can destroy lives but we don’t like to face up to that, we prefer me to you bears and hearts and flowers. That is John Ford’s real subject in this play. Arabella has other suitors, including a terrific candidate in Soranzo, a kind, good looking rich young man who loves her deeply, but it makes no difference. It isn’t him that she wants and needs. Soranzo himself has the devotion of Hippolita a stunning married woman who he has had an affair with. He has made some unwise promises of marriage along the way and she has believed them and packed off her husband on a dangerous (and ultimately fatal) voyage for Soranzo’s sake. She is driven to eventual destruction when he refuses to fulfil his promises and condemns her actions. Nothing she can do is going to make any difference. He doesn’t want her any more. She was no more than a dalliance whatever she was made to believe. Violence is an everyday part of the society in which the play is set, and a scene of horrific carnage is the end result of this simple inability to love where it is convenient and requited. This play is very strong meat indeed and no wonder people have found it hard to take. There are no easy judgements for an audience to hide behind and no avoiding of terrible consequences. Little hope is left for anyone at the end when youth and hope lie massacred. Only the empty meaningless words of the cardinal are left as cold comfort, and when he speaks the final line. “ ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore”, we have been very clearly shown how little credence we should give his false pity.

A play like this needs a great production. You had better have enormous truth and self belief as a company if you are going to avoid the pitfalls. This is very in your face theatre, close to grand guignol if it were done badly, and you really don’t want an actor to get laughs in the wrong places. Putting it on is always going to be a risk. The team at the West Yorkshire Playhouse have really done John Ford proud. The sex and violence is perfectly handled, totally explicit while revealing little, and the complex nature of the characters and their relationships is fully explored and developed. The direction is exact and unfussy and the play is beautifully staged on sets which make good use of the vast space of the Quarry Theatre and move the play along like an express train heading towards the buffers. The 1960’s Italian setting which has been chosen fits the play perfectly. It allows for the stifling obsession with family, violence and religion which are a major part of the play and gives an opportunity for lots of style. It also allows Annabella and Hypollita to give chillingly powerful performances of Secret Love and Anyone Who Had a Heart. There is a horribly apt undercurrent of danger beneath the simple schmaltz as they sing which freezes your blood.

I can’t remember the last time that I looked for the name of the casting director in a theatre programme but Sam Jones, a former head of casting for the RSC, certainly deserves a mention. This production is strongly and cleverly cast, with young, inexperienced but extremely talented actors in the young lead roles backed up by very experienced actors in the older parts. This was a brave choice and it has really paid off. Damien Molony gives the best stage debut as Giovanni that I have ever seen in over thirty years of theatre going. He is very touching at the start, young, vulnerable and anxious to do the right thing. When he is unable to resist consummating his love and the incest finally becomes public his life is destroyed. Love me or kill me has been the mantra of the couple and now that he can no longer love his sister there is only one choice left. He is quite terrifying as he casts caution to the wind, half unhinged, holding her heart skewered on a knife above his head, knowing that nothing can hurt him now, not even eternal damnation. Quite a part, and quite an actor and I am glad that they found each other. Sara Vickers is a worthy partner for him as Annabella, gentle simple hearted and loving- anything but a whore. I also liked Sebastian Reid very much as Soranzo. He gave a very stylish and truthful performance and one which I could thoroughly sympathise with.

Among the more experienced players the stand out performance for me was that of Sally Dexter as Hippolita, a knockout of a stylish, experienced older Italian woman and one who would most certainly have attracted the attentions of a good looking young man like Soranzo. She was full of passion and desperation and I felt for her.

I left the theatre very moved and quite shaken. I wonder how many plays written today will still have the capacity to do that to people after almost four hundred years?

The photographs are production stills by Ellie Kurttz, used by kind permission of the West Yorkshire Playhouse.