The Spire
Salisbury Playhouse, Salisbury
The next production I saw at the Salisbury Playhouse was a new play called The Spire, an adaptation of William Golding's novel of the same name. Although it is never referenced, the book makes allusions to Salisbury and the Cathedral with the tallest spire in the United Kingdom. It therefore seems natural for the city's playhouse to adapt the book to put on their stage.
This production is rather hard to describe in detail because the biggest problem is that the playwright had taken so much from the book in telling the story of the spire being built, that he had forgotten to make the play emotionally engaging. It was split into three acts, and it was plain to see that each act ended with the only dramatic moments in the play, though they themselves lacked drama. The end of the first act for instance shows an uprising by the workers who were building the spire. Weirdly the production team decided to show the event in freeze frames, which took away any tension it may have had. Even the end of the second act was building up to a conflict that went by so quickly, with the climax happening offstage, which left me slightly confused. Yet, for the most part the play is telling the audience 'this happened and this happened, and he did this and she did that'. Whether or not it is actually based on the Salisbury Spire, it felt like a history lesson. It is however an interesting history lesson to follow.
The two main characters, Dean Jocelin (Mark Meadows) and Roger Mason (Vincenzo Pellegrino), are the only interesting characters in the play, since they are given the most attention to by the story. Dean Jocelin decided to have the spire built after receiving what he believed was a sign from God. From the start Mark Meadows displays the character's ecstatic enthusiasm for such a daring project. The story tells how Jocelin's faith is put to the test against reason, which is voiced by Roger Mason. Vincenzo Pellegrino plays the pessimistic builder as he tells the reasons why it is impossible to build the spire on swampy grounds without strong foundations. The audience gets to see the ideas and theories he puts into use in order to accomplish the impossible. Again the audience was not engaged emotionally with the play, yet it still showed how Jocelin's life spiraled out of control as he made every effort to complete the project, to the point where he was a broken man by the end.
Once again the Salisbury Theatre has done wonders with the set design. It is bare at first, comprising of towering grey stone walls. But as the building commences parts of the stage is removed, whilst the walls reveal the construction work of the spire. This and the story were worth seeing alone, but the story and the characters were not engaging. This play was average at best and if you are interested in history then it would have been worth a Low Bargain.
This production is rather hard to describe in detail because the biggest problem is that the playwright had taken so much from the book in telling the story of the spire being built, that he had forgotten to make the play emotionally engaging. It was split into three acts, and it was plain to see that each act ended with the only dramatic moments in the play, though they themselves lacked drama. The end of the first act for instance shows an uprising by the workers who were building the spire. Weirdly the production team decided to show the event in freeze frames, which took away any tension it may have had. Even the end of the second act was building up to a conflict that went by so quickly, with the climax happening offstage, which left me slightly confused. Yet, for the most part the play is telling the audience 'this happened and this happened, and he did this and she did that'. Whether or not it is actually based on the Salisbury Spire, it felt like a history lesson. It is however an interesting history lesson to follow.
The two main characters, Dean Jocelin (Mark Meadows) and Roger Mason (Vincenzo Pellegrino), are the only interesting characters in the play, since they are given the most attention to by the story. Dean Jocelin decided to have the spire built after receiving what he believed was a sign from God. From the start Mark Meadows displays the character's ecstatic enthusiasm for such a daring project. The story tells how Jocelin's faith is put to the test against reason, which is voiced by Roger Mason. Vincenzo Pellegrino plays the pessimistic builder as he tells the reasons why it is impossible to build the spire on swampy grounds without strong foundations. The audience gets to see the ideas and theories he puts into use in order to accomplish the impossible. Again the audience was not engaged emotionally with the play, yet it still showed how Jocelin's life spiraled out of control as he made every effort to complete the project, to the point where he was a broken man by the end.
Once again the Salisbury Theatre has done wonders with the set design. It is bare at first, comprising of towering grey stone walls. But as the building commences parts of the stage is removed, whilst the walls reveal the construction work of the spire. This and the story were worth seeing alone, but the story and the characters were not engaging. This play was average at best and if you are interested in history then it would have been worth a Low Bargain.
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