Alma Tavern Theatre
17th-20th February 2010
Director: Matthew Marlon
Produced and Supported by the University of Bristol Falstaff Society
I think I am in love, and that’s not a good thing because I am in love with Don Juan. Actually most women would probably fall in love with Don Juan; the myth of the notorious womanizer has survived in European culture since the 17th century. Artists from many genres have attempted to depict this libertine, famously Lord Byron with the epic poem ‘Don Juan’ and Mozart with the opera ‘Don Giovanni'. We have been obsessed with this figure for hundreds of years and the play ‘Don Juan in Soho’, written in 2006, is a continuation of that tradition. Written by Patrick Marber ‘Don Juan in Soho’ is a modern interpretation in which the hero goes round seducing women accompanied by his pathetic sidekick Stan (Ben Behrens). Don Juan quite literally gets his hands on many women over the course of the action, including two Russian beauties and an innocent Elvira (played by Eleanor Henderson). However, in the end the rogue gets his just desserts as he is dragged to Hell by the father of one of the countless girls who had fallen victim to his seductive charm. The women have a constant love/hate relationship with Don Juan but, nevertheless, he is an extremely comical character and played to perfection by Kit Buchan The play would have been incredibly flat without Buchan's presence. He struts around the stage with arrogance and charm, shaking his impressive flowing locks; the perfect modern day Don Juan. His performance was matched by a truly hilarious performance by Holly McKinlay as Lottie, a brash, foul-mouthed woman who, like all the others, becomes well acquaintanced with Don Juan. Ben Behrens also gave a good comic performance but many of the cast could have performed with more refinement; many were not convincingly realistic but merely had the effect of caricatures. This may, however, have been a deliberate attempt at humorous over-exaggeration. In fact, the cast had altered the script to make it even more relevant to today; in the words of Alex Ereira, playing Aloysius, the cast quite rightly did a ‘fab job’.
Coco Creme
