FOUR STARS
He may have been best
known for his 1930s films Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein
but Dudley-born Hollywood director James Whale was also responsible
for plenty of others.
These include Journey’s
End and what many widely consider the definitive film version of
Showboat – something he is at pains to point out in Gods And
Monsters, an imagined retelling of Whale’s last days by playwright
Russell Labey.
The play, now on at the
Southwark Playhouse, shows Whale to be a somewhat lonely figure -
indeed a shadow of his former successful self.
Now abandoned by the
studios, he is left alone, haunted by the ghosts – and monsters –
in his head and by a series of strokes which have left him feeling at
times feeble and frustrated at his failing health.
That is until a new
gardener, Clayton Boone, turns up at the house. Whale, an openly gay
man, can’t resist him or trying to seduce him and employs every
subtle trick in the book to do so – including persuading him to be
a life model for his painting.
Boone, played admirably
by Will Austin, is all muscle and although somewhat sceptical
initially of posing for his painting, eventually becomes a friend and
confidante to Whale.
The play successfully
mixes the fact and the fiction and intertwines the past with the
present beautifully.
Indeed it is a funny,
dramatic, clever and absorbing piece of theatre, well staged and
beautifully acted by the five-strong cast – particularly by Ian
Gelder as Whale.
He brings sensitivity,
longing, intelligence and plenty of emotion to Whale in what is an
incredibly moving performance.
Gods And Monsters is on
at Southwark Playhouse, Newington Causeway until Saturday, March 7.
Tickets cost £18. Visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk or call the box
office on 020 7407 0234.
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