Prophetess Libuše
Venue: Friargate Theatre
Rating: * *
After productions of Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, an adaptation of Czech fairytales seems a stark departure from the Rubber Duck Theatre’s usual repertoire. The company clearly strove to broaden the work’s appeal by exploiting the comic potential of the tales.
The three male actors provided some light-heartedness by acting in a highly camp style, most notably through an array of comic accents. These ranged from an evil cackle of which any pantomime villain would have been proud, to, oddly for a play about Czech folklore, a gruff Yorkshire burr, which proved uncannily apt for the cynical grumbles of a simple labourer.
However, whilst the male actors appeared convinced that they were in a farce, the female members of the cast were earnestly going about their business in what seemed to be an altogether more grave play. This jarring combination was mirrored in the awkward union of theatrical techniques such as the shadow puppet stage that stood redundant for most of the play.
Equally disconcerting were moments in which it was unclear whether the comedy was intentional: during an apparently serious scene the entire audience seemed tempted to laugh, and were prevented only by the forbidding looks on the faces of the cast. An oddly schizophrenic production, it did not quite reach its potential.
