CHARLOTTE AND THEODORE AT THE ARTS THEATRE CAMBRIDGE
Eve Ponsonby as Charlotte and Kris Marshall as Theodore
“Are you on Twitter?” - “
Good God No!” snaps Theodore.
But when his beloved Charlotte attracts criticism from a Times Journalist, he breaks his ban In fact, he breaks every rule in the book. - ‘Fat-headed’ and ‘intellectually crippled’ have him up before the Head of Department. Far from grateful at his gallantry, Charlotte is furious. He just doesn’t get it.
Seldom do you get to see a play as sharp, sassy and satisfying as this sparkling piece. In a landscape of modified old favourites and re-run classics, however fun, here is the work we have been waiting for – a bold blast at the conflict in society. Culture clash comes perceptively packaged in a play very much for today .
Theodore is a dedicated scholar, who lives and breathes philosophy. Sophisticated and clearly brilliant, he has an analytic mind, a cool sense of humour. The role is a tour de force from an actor we all secretly adore, Kris Marshall: he applies his well-known likeable charm to a University tutor with all before him in his career. I suppose we should not be surprised when an actor known for his gawky lovableness, emerges as a razor sharp academic. Kris Marshall gives us a very human intellectual equipped with the perfect script to colour in the real-life core of his character.
When he interviews for a research assistant, a whirlwind of vitality breezes through the oak door of his study. Charlotte is a startling redhead. Her academic credentials are sound, but it emerges she has lost her previous job – the gibe she got sacked for (addressed to her suspect boss) is unprintable (It merits a gasp from the audience as well as a laugh). The interview hots up when Charlotte drops her admiring tone (she had been keen to tell him she’s a fan of his work). Suddenly she switches to a combative take down of his ideas and outlook. By the end of the interview, she threatens to flounce out – only to find she’s got the job. Theodore has fallen for her brave tenacity as well as her sparky feminine charm. Eve Ponsonby is utterly convincing as a firebrand ferocious intellect – plus she brings such vitality to the stage, the production never flags for a moment.
Ironically Theodore is a bit of a nervous nelly in his department. He has his sights on the professorial Chair and is fearful of The Committee’s pronouncements on staff behaviour so he hangs back from a relationship with the coruscating Charlotte. But it is not long before the tables turn and he is the outlier. Stand by for some off-the-scale outrage at this.
Stimulating hardly covers the dense cerebral badinage between the couple. They swap philosophical remarks of John Stuart Mill with gibes from John Locke in some heated exchanges. Yet this is no arid exchange. The play is full of humour – Theodore warms us up with his cynicism about his children ‘They’re down now, they looks so adorable’ sighs Charlotte ‘“ That’s a trick so you don’t smother them in their sleep’ replies their father. But when the playwright (a clearly brilliant Ryan Craig) ramps up the temperature in the second act is when we see Theodore no longer the confident senior academic but at the end of his tether. His outbursts of frustration at the pronoun-obsessed Committee, his outrage as he feels reduced and patronized are the stuff of major comic drama.
A well-honed exciting - hilarious.- new production, essentially about Cambridge University is a jewel of great price. Its intellectual credentials are irreproachable – but the human story that runs beneath is even more resonant.
I loved the sense of love and loyalty that runs through the play. Charlotte and Theodore are caught in a modern dilemma, and they strain every sinew to solve it. The play is not just about freedom of speech. It explores family life in 2023. Underneath the anger and tension runs a counterpoint of migrating birdsong and the music of Johan Sebastian Bach, a man who enjoyed huge success, but who accepted that a new style of composition (led by his own son Christian) had eclipsed his Baroque pieces. Yet which of them do we remember today?
This is not ‘a sad story’ – it’s about the things we do for love.
