It is exam results season in England and much has been made of the decline and fall of foreign languages at both GCSE and A-Level; with commentators unanimous in declaring insularity and ignorance as inevitable outcomes.
I am able to nod smugly and sagely in agreement because, back in the early 90s, I did French and Spanish at both GCSE and A Level. Tant pis for me when I went to see Danton’s Death in the Olivier at the National Theatre and discovered, with some consternation, that I had never studied and knew almost nothing about the French Revolution. GCSE History in the years of the Major government consisted of Bismarck & Garibaldi, Versailles & Weimar and writing ‘empathy essays’ about ‘source material’ (usually faded pictures of bored, blonde cub-scouts who turned out to be in the Hitler Youth).
If you too find yourself drowning in a vat of historical ignorance then you could do a lot worse than go and see Howard Brenton’s new version of Georg Buchner’s only play. Far from being an impediment to enjoyment of 105 uninterrupted minutes of excellent theatre, lack of familiarity with the Reign of Terror helps you get swept along in the mesmerising whirl of intrigue and betrayal between the former friends and founders of the French Revolution. The title should tell you – even if you’re without language GCSEs – that there isn’t a happy ending for Danton but, like all the best historical drama, the tension remains even when the outcome is known.
Toby Stephens is at his imperious best as the swaggering, eponymous hero while Eliot Levey very nearly steals the whole thing with his complex, compelling portrait of a sociopathic Robespierre. Chrisopher Oram’s vast and brooding set is cleverly lit to represent a series of interior scenes while the mob in the streets outside remains an unseen character ever threatening to burst onto the stage.
It is almost a relief when the guillotine finally makes its inevitable appearance and the horror of the executions is tempered only by gasps of wonder as audience members try to see through the stagecraft involved in the seemingly real decapitations of Danton and his followers. I wish I could tell you how it’s done but I’m just some idiot who doesn’t even know anything about the French Revolution.
Danton’s Death
By Georg Büchner
In a new version by Howard Brenton
Until 14th October
Olivier Theatre
National Theatre
South Bank, London. SE1 9PX
For more information go to:
http://nationaltheatre.org.uk
