And the Music Was Ace!

Let's hear it for the boys — and the orchestra too — because both bring a vibrant and intriguing air to Tom Stoppard's provocative drama spectacular, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, which recently finished its run at the National. Maintaining a delicate balancing act between frail enlightenment and overwhelming darkness is not the production's only feat — its flair for provoking bleak laughter while questioning society's beliefs about what is normal and the audience's perceptions of insanity and sanity makes the show truly impossible to ignore.

Set in Soviet Russia, the play follows political dissident Alexander Ivanov (played by Joseph Millson), who is imprisoned in a mental institution for voicing his beliefs. In a classic sardonic Stoppard twist, his cellmate shares Alexander's name, but not his belief that sane people are locked up in mental institutions. Rather, Ivanov (Toby Jones) stubbornly insists that he is the conductor of his own orchestra — fully deployed on-stage, but invisible and inaudible to every other character.

Not only do the musicians play André Previn's sweeping compositions masterfully, but they also interact with the cast — at one point thrusting themselves and their instruments headfirst into a surprisingly satisfying quasi-interpretive dance/fight sequence — and serve as a central symbolic character in this dark, vexing comedy. The orchestra's on-stage presence also adds an air of extravagant opulence that compliments the scenic and lighting design style flawlessly.

Even the title fits in with everything — ‘Every Good Boy Deserves Favour’ (or Fudge, as my 5th grade band director said) is a popular mnemonic device for remembering the notes that appear on the lines of the treble clef: E, G, B, D, F. But Stoppard’s cleverness doesn’t end there. When Alexander describes to us what happened to his other dissident friends, he names them after musical notes: A, B, C, D, E, F and G.

Millson's performance is truly one of the best I've seen so far in London. He makes evoking deeply unsettling thoughts and emotions seem effortless. Opposite his wide-eyed son Sacha (played by actress, yes actress, Bryony Hannah), Millson's Alexander is harsh and stern, but remains an inspiring character because of his firm assertions. At one point, the psychiatrist (also a member of the orchestra) explains to Alexander that he can be released if he admits that his beliefs are false.

Your opinions are your symptoms.
Your disease is dissent.

But Alexander refuses to yield to the powers-that-be. But while Millson's performance is profoundly weighty, Jones has no trouble providing a comic relief with his obscure, yet compelling wit. Oh, and did I mention he also happens to be another Harry Potter film alum? He voices Dobby in the series. I'm beginning to see a trend here: HP actors go straight back to their roots in the London theatre when they're not busy shooting the cult flicks.

Though I didn't leave the theatre humming Previn's melodies, they did strike an emotional chord (no pun intended) with me, as did Stoppard's message, despite it being masked beneath a thick layer of his disparaging, comic dialogue. Soviet Russia may be a faint memory of the past, but the themes still hold relevance in today's world. Many countries still cling to the theory of 'arrest now, ask questions later', imprisoning dissenters for expressing beliefs that are, for the moment, unpopular (at least among those in power).

It's a shame that the show isn't playing anymore (it closed Feb. 25) and that it will unlikely be performed anywhere else in the near future. The difficulty of finding, blocking and rehearsing a play with a full-sized orchestra is both a financial and logistical nightmare for most theatres to wrap their heads around. Nonetheless, the full-theatre experience was spectacular and unforgettable.