Reviewed: Salome

Kronos Productions do it again. Details have been perfected, the actors further refined. This show exhibits the very best of Durham’s theatrical talent both on and off the stage.

The seemingly empty auditorium for Salome made my stomach sink as I entered the Assembly Rooms. Realising that in fact the audience were seated on the stage itself, I discovered a highly intimate setting with front row cushions on a good deal of sand. This proximity to the action surpasses the intimacy of the previous Edinburgh Fringe venue, which had been particularly tight. Incense fumes waft across the front row, the sand across the stage cements in the grip of your shoes. The concentration of producer-turned-actress Lucy Smith’s character at work is so close and overtly raw that one feels somewhat arrogant for sitting on cushions as she bears up on a metal box. Such details accompanied by sheets draping across the ceiling create an enclosed world within which we are undoubtedly included. Before the first line is delivered, it is evident that Kronos Productions are equipped to outdo their own Fringe performance.

In the opening Mike Clarke’s total commitment to his young Syrian character is astounding. At such close range, every eye flicker, glance and facial expression, which are all so vulnerable to scrutiny, do not falter once. Light humour emerges more so in this performance than the first at the Fringe through the dialogues between Ed Cherrie’s and Joe Burke’s soldier characters, along with Olivia Fox whose slanderous remarks are delivered with modern colloquialism. However, the shaky recitation of lines lacking belief or feeling marred the entrance of the principle characters. I feared that this would characterise the whole performance but after five minutes of praying otherwise the actors sprung into character full swing, a vitality and energy driving each of their deliveries.

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As demonstrated in Edinburgh, Grace Cheatle commands the characters’ and the audience’s full attention with her eyes, Charlie Warner’s voice reaches beyond the recesses of the theatre, and on stage the pair introduce a heightened sexual tension between Salome and Jokanaan. Cecily Money-Coutts slides effortlessly back into the gilded sandals of Herodias, whilst Felix Stevenson somehow manages to perform Herod more excellently and grotesquely than before. The true despot is embodied in Felix’s Herod; his exaggerated passions when coupled with commands are strongly reminiscent of the formidable power of the tyrants in today’s Middle East. Stevenson’s rendition of Herod is utterly engrossing; his commitment to a character so unlike his gentle self is extraordinary and frequently threatens to steal the show. Herod’s marriage appears empty yet somehow brimming with hate – an indifference towards his wife recompensed with disgust.

Such developments in partnerships prove thoroughly gripping, in particular the illustration of the mother- daughter relationship. As Salome is requested to and subsequently consents to dance, the love, disappointment and protective impulses felt by the Queen towards Salome are all beautifully portrayed by Money- Coutts through an anguished expression, eventually developing into a dark pride. Cheatle’s cold indifference to this gaze adds yet another dimension to Salome’s twisted nature which is consistently excited by the presence of Jokanaan in all his manifestations; whole, vocally or decapitated.

With a classic Wilde script, a fantastic intimate set, a wholly committed and talented cast and a crew obsessed with detail down to the last bloodied nostril of a decapitated head, it is hard to go wrong with Salome. At the Fringe Salome was excellent, here it is superb. I have no doubt that the performance’s intensity and allure will remain throughout the run, nor any doubt about awarding Kronos Productions five stars. Every single member of the cast and crew deserves this commendation for providing the audience with a truly outstanding hour of dramatic entertainment and for doing Wilde’s script such justice.