Brunel Tunnel, Rotherhithe, London – until Saturday 11th August 2018.
Reviewed by Antonia Hebbert
2**
In 1843 you could pay a penny to descend a 50 foot shaft into the first tunnel under the Thames. Scraped out by miners dodging methane flames and sewage, it was the ‘eighth wonder of the world’, designed by Marc Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel – who nearly drowned when the Thames broke through and roared up the shaft.
Now the tunnel shaft is a deep, dry, bare concrete performance space, where shows are eerily accompanied by the rumble of subterranean trains. You might think there would be lots of potential here to evoke the deep, dark Indian jungle, for an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. But you would be disappointed: the potential is lost in this uninventive production, directed by Jessica Jane, and oddly lacking in theatrical magic. On the good side, the cast are very enthusiastic and throw themselves into their roles. Joe Newton is sleek and authoritative as Bagheera, Maximilian L’Olive is convincingly crazed as Tabaqui the jackal, and Joanna Harker achieves a fine roaring tone as Shere Khan, a role she stepped into at the last minute. There are some moments: singing, chanting and other music are atmospheric in this resonant space. But there is an awful lot of naturalistic talking that is hard to hear and hard to follow. The script (Joe Newton) is sometimes very faithful to Kipling’s book (where interactions between jungle animals are rather formal and serious), and sometimes wildly different and sentimental – more like the Walt Disney version but without the colour, coherence or fun. It gets clunkier towards the end, when Tabaqui’s life is saved – what?? That sound you hear isn’t a train, it is Kipling spinning in his grave.
The Brunel’s had many false starts, and perhaps deep in this play there is the making of something good. But the miners need to get back to work with their little spades, and do a lot, lot more digging.