Shaw Sheet
Man and Superman, at the Lyttelton
by J R Thomas
T E Shaw (the pseudonym of Lawrence of Arabia) is not the only Shaw who inspires The Shaw Sheet. His contemporary and friend was his fellow Anglo-Irishman and exile in England, George Bernard Shaw. With felicitous timing the National Theatre is currently running (GB) Shaw’s “Man and Superman”, starring Ralph Fiennes. By picking out Fiennes as the star in a distinguished cast, no slur is intended on the rest of a very talented company, but this lead role is a most extraordinary feat for any actor to accomplish.
The original ran for five hours; even in the trimmed version here presented by Simon Godwin the running time is well over three hours, and in that time Fiennes as John Tanner is hardly ever off the stage, and rarely silent. Long complex mannered soliloquies and rapid fire exchanges present no trouble at all to Fiennes, who moves quickly and restlessly as the troubled Tanner, always on the run from respectability and the trap of marriage. It is a performance of wondrous talent, leaving the audience, if not Fiennes, breathless.
Shaw was challenged to retell the story of Don Juan. Here the Don is reinvented as Jack Tanner, pursued by Ann (an alarming but superb Indira Varma); but Ann is loved by Octavius. Ann’s deceased father has appointed Tanner as Ann’s guardian, jointly with the much older and saintly Roebuck Ramsden (Nicholas Le Prevost). Octavius’s sister is secretly married to the lovestruck son of an American millionaire; she, we suspect, is more worldly than to have love as her sole motive. Tanner’s chauffeur is a sarf’ London Jeeves to the world weary Jack, no Wooster he. There are anxious mothers, grumpy sisters, and quarrelling bandits. Even the American millionaire turns up.
It may sound like something Alan Ayckbourn might present to us; but Shaw has much to say to us, about morals, the sexes, the way we lived then – not dissimilar to the way we live now; and nothing is going to stop him saying it.
The play was initially regarded as unstageable, because of its length, the demands on the lead actor, and the twists of morality which Shaw drew out of his version. In Godwin’s witty and more or less modern dress version the time flies past most agreeably (the comfortable seats of the National help).
The long dream act, set in hell, is often omitted to keep the length within reasonable bounds. Here hell is designed perhaps by Richard Rogers, with a Russell Brand’ish devil rising languidly through the floor with a cocktail shaker. Godwin rightly sees this subterranean scene as the core of Shaw’s invitation to consider the complex guidelines of modern Darwinist morality. But even in the after-life will anybody be happy with their lot? Or will statues come crashing through walls?
Shaw (GB) was of course a great campaigner for the rights of women; here he takes a sideways step to campaign for the rights of men, at least when it comes to marital matters. Modern men in the audience would do well to brood upon the musings of Tanner.
Until 17th May, at the Lyttelton.
