The Peacock Theatre, London – until 3rd February 2024
Reviewed by Ava Clarkson
4****
Tess is an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel, Tess of the D’Urbervilles. It has been adapted and directed by Alex Harvey and Charlotte Mooney and It is performed by Ockhams Razor, a contemporary circus troupe who combine theatre, physical performance and circus style stunts and contemporary dance.
The Peacock Theatre in Londons West End, is a large venue which hosts a range of different performances under the banner of ‘Sadlers Wells in the West End’. Sadlers Wells invites and hosts dance performances at this historic site, which boasts the first (identified) woman to tread the boards of a London theatre, on 8 December 1660, in a performance of Othello. This makes The Peacock the perfect venue for contemporary and daring new ideas.
The stage is minimal, with hanging cloth and wooden boards. The cast too only consists of 7 performers. We have the scene set by one of two Tess Durbeyfields on stage, our narrator for the evening Macadie Amorosco. Narrator Tess watches with us and talks us through the journey as we move through the Wessex Countryside. The performance is true to the story and shows Tess’s struggles through her short life and explores privilege, class, poverty, desires and friendship. The story weaves over the stage as the cast jump, spin, flip and throw themselves around the boards. There are structures built in front of our eyes, the whole cast climb and balance along planks of wood and all over each other. Ockhams Razor has a history of showing the strength and capability of the female form and it is shown throughout this performance.
The villain of the night, Alec Durbeyfield played by Joshua Frazer looms over Tess. His performance on the Cyr Wheel in which he encircles Tess is amazing and one of the highlights of the show. The hero and love interest Angel Clare is played by Nat Whittingham and shows a lighter side to the show with Tess’s friends fawning and literally falling over themselves to get his attention.
The play is told in 7 chapters. The harrowing and emotional parts of the play such as the rape of the innocent Tess, the burial of her infant son and indeed her demise by hanging, are told beautifully and carefully. The music which accompanies these moments is haunting and the illustrative backdrop by Daniel Denton brings the atmosphere to the otherwise sparse stage.
The play’s run time is 2 hours 30 minutes with one interval. There are times throughout when the plank movement and acrobatics seem very laboured and similar. This makes the performance feel much longer than it could have been. The acoustics and speeches from our narrator were sometimes hard to hear and chunks of the story were sadly missed because of this. Despite this, you can see that this is groundbreaking and challenging, showing how the world of contemporary dance and classic literature come together. The dance is hard, thumping and meaningful. The performers use their bodies to show the physicality of how hard Tess’s life was and her experiences of desire, her heroism and the pure emotion of such a classic piece of literature. All in all, a very different performance to remember.
Following the run at The peacock, Tess is about to embark on a tour all around the UK. All tour info can be found here: https://ockhamsrazor.co.uk/tess