Anne Boleyn theatre review

ATC's latest production makes quite a splash with its bold, colourful costumes and use of drums to underscore the drama.  Stephen Lovatt makes quite a splash as the flamboyant, large-living King James I.  That's all the splashing there is, though.  Nothing else manages to meet these elements on quite the same level of high drama and high camp.  While George Henare's Cecil  provides Lovatt with a perfect foil and excuses himself from such excesses with his claims he lacks imagination, I found the lack of imagination in the rest of the cast unexpected and unaccounted for.

To be clear: the cast do a great job of telling the fascinating story of Anne Boleyn's influence over England, its monarch and the predominant religion, and the story reveals fascinating theories of her motives.  But stylistically, I felt that the actors were often not united with the tone set by the pithy script and the outlandish costumes.  Well...were the costumes outlandish?  Yes and no.  Some were.  Some were not.  As with the actors making bold interesting choices: some did and some did not.  

I can't blame the cast, as I know these people can act.  I won't blame the script, because the script is consistent within itself and ekes out the plot points at a perfect pace.  I could blame the costumes for leading my expectations astray - but I feel the flashier costumes were right on the money.  So I will blame the director, Mr Colin McColl.  

McColl failed to get his whole team to perform within the same genre.  Was the end result part of his vision?  Did he want naturalism?  Did he fail to communicate his vision to the cast?  The vision was certainly not communicated to the audience.  Whatever the cause, the result is that Anne Boleyn lacks the finesse it often implies it ought to have.  Certainly, it was well rehearsed.  The show is tight, and it tells the story effectively.  It just lacks a certain spark that is hinted at by Lovatt, Elizabeth Whiting's costumes, and Simon Prast's delightfully dastardly Thomas Cromwell.  I would have preferred a more heightened drama that embraces the anachronistic vernacular and fashion sense.  I feel that would have best served the script, and today's audiences.

What else to say?  The many actors deliver perfectly adequate portrayals of their (even more) many characters.  Their stagecraft is hard to fault, with every action and intention reading clearly, every consonant reaching to the back of the room.  However, from the supporting roles I would have liked a little scenery chewing.  That would have felt right.  From the lead roles, I would have liked to have seen greater emotional connection.  The laughter didn't sound like true laughter.  The (potentially) tender moments did not provoke true tears.  Anne Boleyn failed to make me care about her plight or her feelings, indeed I wasn't sure she had any.  And considering the story is driven by her courtship with Henry VIII, I would have like to have seen some kind of chemistry between them.

It was just dry.  Why the lack of imagination?

See this show for the first chance in years to see some of Auckland's most luminary actors perform perfunctory roles in an interesting story.  See this show if you like colourful costumes.