A Farewell To Arms at The Dukes, Lancaster Review
A Farewell To Arms
The Dukes, Lancaster
10-25 October 2014
Reviewed by Catherine Joyce
The Dukes is easy to find, situated close to the centre of Lancaster with plenty of parking nearby. The car park we used had an evening rate of just £1.40 and was very close to the theatre.
This production by “imitating the dog” is the first stage adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s 1929 book about a love affair between Frederic Henry (played by Jude Monk McGowan), an American serving in the Italian army and Catherine Barkley (played by Laura Atherton), an English nurse. The play is set in Italy during World War 1 where Henry, an ambulance driver, is injured and falls in love with Catherine who quickly becomes pregnant. He returns to the front but is caught up in the Italian’s retreat from the Austrian army. He flees for his life and then escapes with Catherine to Switzerland. The couple then live happily in the mountains until the birth of their child.
Live video, projected images and a constant soundtrack are a big part of this multimedia performance; at times the cast members perform directly to the cameras operated by other players, rather than to the audience. Occasionally the video and audio footage was not quite in sync which was slightly distracting. Throughout the play sections of the text from the book are projected onto the set, depicting how the story is moving along. I thought this was very effective and gave the story a fast paced feel.
Large sections of the dialogue are in Italian or French, with subtitles projected above the cast. Whilst this use of language certainly adds to the atmosphere of the piece and firmly places it in wartime Italy, during longer pieces of speech I did find myself spending more time reading subtitles than actually watching the play.
The narration of the play is taken up by the members of the cast, faultlessly switching from person to person giving an added dimension to the production. American accents are used for the narration whereas convincing Italian, English, Scottish and French accents are used by the other cast members.
I did find the intermission a little unusual as rather than leaving the stage the cast wandered about, getting changed and adjusting pieces of the set; for me this added nothing to the play, and I’m not even sure what the point of it was as the minor adjustments to the set could just as easily have been done before the play restarted.
Overall, we enjoyed the play and the addition of the projection and video effects worked really well with this production. Laura Atherton playing the pregnant Catherine deserves a special mention as her portrayal of the labour scene was so moving and full of emotion.
The play is advertised as being suitable for children over the age of 14, I would agree that this is probably about right, as whilst there is no bad language, some of the themes explored could be upsetting to younger children.
Rating: 4/5
Tickets cost from £8 to £18.50
A Farewell To Arms is at The Dukes in Lancaster until 25 October 2014. For more information or to book tickets click here or call the box office on 01524 598500.
The Dukes, Moor Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1QE | 01524 598500
