Jack Studio Theatre – until 27 September 2025
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
3***
Oscar Wilde’s first play is a brave choice for Third Thing Productions’ debut. A disastrous history – cancelled in London because of a recent Russian assassination and fears of allowing an Irishman to stage nihilist terrorism; directorial misjudgement in a New York production creating a swiftly closing flop savaged by the critics – has meant that this has never been staged professionally in London. If Vera were of Wilde’s polished best, this would be unimaginable, and the play is a bit of a mess, but it is fascinating to see the struggle between Wilde’s intention of a serious examination of the violence of revolution and his sharp wit.
Celia Thoden van Velzen has reconceptualised the play into an 85-minute production with care and precision. Ruth Varela’s set of angular white screens creates a sterile icy atmosphere for the hot-headed action. But the plot feels like a template for a Hollywood potboiler. Vera Sabouroff (Natasha Culzac) is horrified when the army starts marching prisoners past her father’s tavern. An act of kindness leads to her discovering that one of the prisoners is her own brother, who the family thought was studying in Moscow, but had joined with the nihilists. Vera leaves for Moscow and her fury and drive launch her to become a fearless and lethal member of the group, and a target for the Czar’s men. Although the nihilists have sworn off love, Vera falls for Alexi (George Airey) who is viewed with suspicion by lovelorn Michael (Finn Samuels) and trailed back to the imperial palace. It turns out that Alexi is actually the Czar’s son, but unlike his father he has a vision of change to ease the suffering of the people. The Czar (Jonathan Hansler) is paranoid and feeble, manipulated and closely guarded by Prime Minister Maraloffski (Kat Kim). Vera’s mission to assassinate the Czar results in a final confrontation with Alexi as he tries to dissuade her from violence and explain his vision of peaceful revolution through votes and freedoms.
The political and moral discussions are all meant to be very serious, but Wilde couldn’t resist slipping in a witticism here and there. The tone changes rapidly when the conniving ministers are on stage, with even this well-meaning production unable to keep them from appearing as pantomime villains exchanging barbs. The character of the Prime Minister feels like it is from a completely different play. It is easy to see why the doomed American production played the entire story as comedy when you watch these scenes.
The committed cast and creatives give their all, but the writing of the characters (with the exception of Alexi) is not well-rounded and their fates don’t have any emotional weight. It is an interesting exercise to see this well-staged production, but the audience leaves with a clear understanding of why this play has been left to history.