Novecento

Company Theatre de Quat'Sous
Venue the Royal Lyceum Theatre
Address Grindlay St nr Usher Hall
Reviewer Thelma Good

You enter the auditorium and are surrounded in the ship's steam and the throb of the engines crossing the Atlantic back and forth. Infinitesimally as you look towards the blacked out stage the lighting changes till you just make out a figure in the murk.

It happen every time the figure speaks and his voice takes us into his sway, and like a sea anchor we are held by his pull. Tom McCamus as Tom Tooley tells the tale of his friend Novecento. He's born on the first day of a new century on the Atlantic and borne by the ship, The Virginian back and forth across that ocean. Never setting foot on land, playing the piano in the ship's Atlantic Jazz Band, for Novecento the world is the ship he never leaves.

The production and performance of Alessandro Baricco's lyrical script is intense, rocking us into the world of the self contained ship populated by fat cats in first class, travellers in the second and immigrants stowed in steerage. Tim Tooley meets Novecento when he takes a notion to play his trumpet with the floating band, for six years he plays and lives like Novecento on the ocean. But he sees Novecento's specialness and tells us not only about his friend but about himself and the world they float in. He spins the yarn seated in bowels of the ship in a nearly empty coal bunker. The vastness of the vessel eloquently conveyed by Francois Sguin's eerie set where massive hawsers now hang idle where once was noise and heat.

The lightening by Marc Parent and sound design by Nancy Tobin are outstanding, control and atmosphere tuned so they enhances this new forte of the actors craft. All is riveting as we hear the engines strain to counter the Atlantic swell and listen to Tom McCamus who sits throughout almost still capturing us by his outstandingly performance. On 13 - 15 and 17 & 18 at 19:30 Matinee 18 at 14:30 Performance of the original French production with the actor Pierpe Lebeau who originated the role in April 2001 for Theatre de Quat'Sous
© Thelma Good 14 August 2001