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 Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre
“One gets carried away by glamour, and personality, and magnetism,
they’re such beastly, treacherous things.”
So goes the tagline to The Vortex, a dark comedy dissecting the
desperation behind the decadence of the post-war 1920s which first
catapulted writer Noel Coward to fame.
Pop idol Will Young is brilliant in his theatre debut as lead figure
Nicky Lancaster, a talented musician who finds the world around him
spiralling into a vortex of pretension and deceit.
When Nicky returns home from a debauched year in Paris, he finds that
things are not as they used to be.
Whilst his father’s spirit has been crushed by the decedent goings on in
the Lancaster house, his mother Florence is merrily acting as a catalyst
for those goings on, vehemently intent on living a fabulously glamorous
life filled with cocktails, dancing and looking ‘divine’ at all times.
She’s even got a new toy boy in tow.
As if all this wasn’t enough to contend with, Nicky not only has to come
to terms with the fact that he and his fiancé, Bunty, a beautiful
free-spirited sort who ‘does nothing much’ except ‘write occasionally’,
have very little in common, but he also needs to deal with his secret
demons, which are less secret than he would’ve hoped.
Yet through all this, there’s one person who hasn’t quite lost the plot
yet, and that’s Helen, a friend of the family who isn’t as drunk on
decadence as the rest and acts as the calm voice of reason who tugs on
the others’ true selves throughout.
Other characters include a Scottish writer who doesn’t seem to do much
other than be not very good at things, a flamboyant young starlet who’s
M.O is seemingly to drink much and dance more, and marvellously jazzy
old chap who rather reminds us of Penguin from Batman.
Yet this trio seem to be mainly making up the numbers and providing
further interaction for Nicky, Florence, Bunty and Tom the toy boy as
Helen darts in and out amongst them trying in vain to slap a sense of
reality back into them.
At times, all of this can be distracting.
Whilst the Exchange’s rounded layout and a dazzling set design,
consisting of a maze of spirals contorting around a circular centre
piece, both lend themselves to the idea of a whirling vortex, it also
unfortunately means that, as the actors stalk one another about the
stage, it’s hard to keep track of the action.
This poses a problem when added to the fact that the pacing of The
Vortex seems at times to be all over the show.
Throughout many scenes of this play, there seems to be about a million
things all going on at once. The audience’s task then, is to say alert
and pick out the few relevant plot details in an abundance of drinking,
dancing and lighting cigarettes.
Whilst the action moves like lightning, the plot itself plods along at a
just about steady pace, reaching an ending that, although poignant and
offering some resolution to the estranged relationship between Nicky and
mother Florence, seems to arrive rather too soon and offers too little
closure in terms of the other characters.
Indeed, if this were a film, it could readily benefit from a sequel.
But it isn’t a film, it’s a play, and despite its aforementioned flaws,
it’s a pretty decent play too.
OK, so we had a hard time keeping up in places, but on the whole, The
Vortex was everything we could hope for. A string of brilliantly written
one liners make it funny in all the right places, the sentiment and
underlying emotions of the characters really come through when needed,
with a great air of tension built up between them that really consumes
the entire theatre.
Young and his fellow cast are engaging too, really bringing the roaring
twenties to life in a fascinating, if occasionally befuddling
performance.
The Vortex, staring Will Young, runs until March 10th 2007 at
Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. Call the special booking line on
0161 615 6815 for more details.
Recommended Links:
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www.royalexchange.co.uk
►
www.willyoung.co.uk
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