REVIEW: BRIDESHEAD REVISITED

NUFFIELD THEATRE, SOUTHAMPTON

THIS is the world premiere of Evelyn Waugh’s unforgettable novel adapted for the stage. And it works brilliantly.

Co-produced by English Touring Theatre and York Theatre Royal, this imaginative adaptation by talented playwright Bryony Lavery utilises Waugh’s key narrative and dialogue, managing to sweep the audience across the world and through the decades in two hours of compelling dramatic storytelling.

Set in 1943 during the Second World War, Captain Charles Ryder finds himself in the grounds of Brideshead Castle, a place he knew from his days as an Oxford student, with his friend Sebastian.

The stage set is wonderfully creative, music and lighting subtly evocative, and direction by Damian Cruden is flawless.

Locations are beautifully established, from the aristocratic English countryside, through Oxford University, to exotic Venice and Tangiers. The stormy Atlantic crossing is masterfully and realistically conveyed.

As the sexually curious and artistic Charles Ryder, Brian Ferguson is utterly convincing. Playing the damaged and doomed alcoholic Sebastian, Christopher Simpson elicits sympathy, despair, and love from other characters and the audience.

Among nine superb actors playing a wide variety of characters, Nick Blakely is outstanding as the dissolutely perceptive stammerer Anthony Blanche.

The powerful deathbed scene is ingeniously handled, and the final image as agnostic Captain Ryder rediscovers the ruined Brideshead Castle chapel and ultimately accepts the power of Catholicism, is movingly stunning.

This excellent stage adaptation of the classic novel Brideshead Revisited runs until Saturday May 14.

Brendan McCusker