Witch Theatre Productions presents:
Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812
â Music and lyrics by Dave Malloy
Cast: Lane Corby (Natasha), William Duignan (Pierre), Ăine Gallagher (Sonya), Frankie Leota (Marya), Jade Merematira (HĂ©lĂšne), Glen Horsfall (Andrey/Prince Nikolai), Henry Ashby (Anatole Kuragin), Princess Mary (Rachel McSweeney), Kevin Orlando (Dolokhov), Patrick Jennings (Balaga) Jackson Cordery (Rope Aerialist):
Chorus: Adriana Calabrese, Tess Lavanda, Kirsty Huszka, Mackenzie Htay, Raureti Ormond, Finlay Morris
Music Director – Haydn Taylor/ Stage Director(s) – Maya Handa Naff, Nick Lerew /
Choreographer(s) – Emily McDermott, Greta Casey-Solly / Set and Technical Design – Joshua Tucker-Emerson / Producer and Costume Designer – Ben Tucker-Emerson
Sound – Oliver Devlin / Alex Fisher – Lighting / Vanessa Woodward – Stage Manager and Props / Charlotte Potts – Ticketing and Audience Experience Manager.
Hannah Playhouse, Wellington
Tuesday 30th April 2024
âWhat straightaway grabbed me was our vortex-like transition from foyer to auditorium at the Hannah Playhouse earlier tonight, vertiginously drawing us into what seemed like a different world â a journey which then never let up in its exertion of fascination and wonderment upon both mind and body. It was total immersion into âotherâ realms, to which I unhesitatingly gave myself for the next two-and-a-half hours!â
In the cold, grey light of dawn Iâve quoted myself above, a fleeting impression I managed to scribble down before exhaustion overtook me upon reaching home from my eveningâs adventure at Wellingtonâs Hannah Playhouse last night. I had been at the tender mercies of Witch Music Theatreâs totally compelling production of âNatasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812â, an adaptation for the musical stage by the composer/lyricist Dave Malloy of Part Eight of Leo Tolstoyâs great 1869 novel War and Peace – seventy pages of searing emotional intensity expressed here in unreservedly straight-from-the-shoulder dramatic and musical terms!
Dominating the Playhouseâs stage precincts (via designer Joshua Tucker-Emersonâs hypnotically flowing cascading-tongues series of platforms) were seventeen singers-cum-dancers (plus a heart-in-the-mouth rope aerialist) who made both the teemingly populous and more intimate vistas of the story very much their own. Their individual characters flourished under the visionary direction of Maya Handa-Naff and Nick Lerew, and were beautifully and atmospherically elaborated by choreographers Emily McDermott and Greta Casey-Solly.
Throughout, singers and dancers combined with twelve on-and-offstage musicians directed from a centre-stage piano by music director Hayden Taylor to bring this fragment of a famous story to heartfelt and pulsating life, which was done with great instrumental elan at certain memorable moments. While the musicâs pulsatings occasionally pushed the decibel levels into saturation point, the lines of the voices, both individual and concerted were never seriously obscured, with the diction from the singers remarkably clear in all but the most full-blooded passages â a tribute both to performers and the skills of the sound designer, Oliver Devlin.
Alex Fisherâs atmospheric lighting designs brought out the many variations of intensity required by the stage action, reaching a kind of apex with the appearance of the titleâs Great Comet at the end of the story, but straightaway highlighting the charactersâ various period costumes (designed by Ben Tucker-Emerson) with appropriately pleasing visual significance, with those of the dancers also relishing their characterful variants to whimsical effect.
How to single out so many compelling individual performances? Of course the showâs relatively intertwined musical textures allied to the similarly close-knit physical proximities of the cast on-stage made for an essentially ensembled production, one to which everybody responded magnificently, to the point where all the characters seemed, in Omar Khayyamâs somewhat bowdlerised words, âto come and go, like players in a magic-shadow showâ. Whether alone or ensembled, all played their parts to a kind of perfection.
Of the titular roles, both Lane Corbyâs Natasha and William Duignanâs Pierre negotiated their respective charactersâ journeyings through their various travails with, in places, heartfelt, almost painful self-realisation, each in ways that expressed their essential personalities â Natashaâs spontaneity and impulsiveness, leading her to trouble, guilt and shame in the affair with the dissolute Anatole Kuragin, was eventually run together with Pierreâs own journey through disillusionment to hope in a better life through love, hence their mutually heartwarming and vocally reflective âunderstandingâ at the end of the work.
Ăine Gallagherâs portrayal of Sonya, Natashaâs cousin emphasised her endlessly patient and selfless regard for her cousin Natashaâs well-being throughout the story, including a full-throated avowal to protect her â stirring stuff! And Frankie Leotaâs forthright and principled Marya, Natashaâs godmother, spectacularly and adroitly balanced her disapproval of Natashaâs infatuation over the flashy Anatole with plenty of concern for her young chargeâs well-being â a colourful portrait! She was the opposite of Princess Mary Bolkonsky, whose portrayal by Rachel McSweeney touchingly emphasised her well-meaning kindness and propriety; and still more of a contrast with Jade Merematiraâs sensual good-time girl portrait of HĂ©lĂšne Kuragin, the disdainful wife of Pierre.
Apart from Pierre, the men included Natashaâs betrothed, Prince Andrei, who left Moscow at the storyâs beginning at his fatherâs wishes, respecting the latterâs objection to his sonâs impending marriage. Glenn Horsefall played a soulful Andre on his occasional appearances throughout the story before finally rejecting Natasha in the wake of her dalliance with Anatole. This was in stark contrast to the latter, portrayed with plenty of skin-deep smoulder by Henry Ashby, to splendid effect up until his encounter with an enlightened and vengeful Pierre. The drinking, gambling Dolokhov was given a suitably dissolute air by Kevin Orlando, and teamed up well with Patrick Jennings as âBalagaâ the Troika-driver, in his stage- dominating, energetic all-together âtroikaâ rendition, a character who was obviously the life and soul of any party within sleigh-driving distance!
The remaining unnamed characters, sang, danced and INVOLVED their obviously entranced audience throughout, with the production throwing in unexpected delights such as an Aerial Rope performer, (Jackson Cordery) who gave a breathtaking display of agility and skill, as well as, at other times, charming us with his accordion-playing skills. It was all completely in line with the âwhatâs nextâ kind of spontaneity and energy the show seemed to continually thrive upon.
I was âblown awayâ by all of this in a way I didnât really expect to be, and can thus warm-heartedly recommend the production to anybody who has the merest inkling of the original story (from one of the worldâs truly GREAT novels!); or whatever inclination they might have to introduce themselves to and enjoy something of its uniquely compelling characterisations of universal human behaviour.
âNatasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812â will play at the Hannah Playhouse in Wellington until Saturday 4th May (two performances that day, at 2:00pm and 7:30pm!!)