Review- The Real Inspector Hound- Shadow Players
30-4-15
By: Nikil Inaya
The Real Inspector Hound exemplifies the fascinating style that is the Theatre of the Absurd, juxtaposing laugh-out-loud humour with surprisingly intellectual themes to provide a strong emphasis on the nature of meta-theatricality.
For obvious purposes, there’s a sense of mystery to the whole thing even as the audience enters the hall: three actors are already onstage but are motionless and silent – mind you, one of them is a corpse. Uncannily, the stillness onstage seemed to influence the audience’s own silence – this mirroring of ways, even from a pre-plot position, hints at the parallels and the strong connections between reality and the theatre.
The set is cleverly designed and also practical as there is a clear division between the manor (that is, where the play-within-the-play is set) and the critics’ booth where Birdboot (Joseph Lin) and Moon (Jeannette Lee) sit and watch the show. Joseph plays a pompous, almost charming, definitely pretentious, socially awkward Birdboot, which works very well with Jeannette’s dark, brooding, cynical, proud Moon. What’s interesting is how these actors react to the sealing of their fates onstage – whether be it sorrow and fear on Jeannette’s part or ambition and Joseph's anxiety. Both actors were not only humorous but also thought provoking.
The blurred distinction between realism and fiction is further demonstrated through an odd arrangement of the set pieces. The mundane, naturalised-like set pieces are placed in the manor (conventionally not matching this expressionistic space) whilst the grandiose, postmodernist recreations of seats are placed in the critics’ booth (conventionally not matching this realistic space). The interesting juxtaposition seems to address theatre conventions and then blatantly disregard them for absurdist effect.
This is one of Stoppard’s most popularly produced plays and so something that really caught my attention was the script adaptor’s (Jessie Chuen) ability to retain the playwright’s wicked sense of humour and deeper philosophical insights, whilst also making this show much more relatable to a wider audience in Hong Kong. For instance, four characters play Mah-jong and instead of using the original heavy exchange of esoteric British references, the lines are written in similar humour but now take into account the current audience (the change was well received based on the hysterical laughter). This was cleverly done especially considering this play’s exploring of relationships between actor and audience.
Another well-placed Cantonese-based adaptation was this show’s version of the maid Mrs Drudge, played by the hilarious Joanne Leung. In the original text, Drudge uses a cockney accent which adds contrast and thereby provides humour in Stoppard’s play; in this version, she uses the Hong Kong counterpart and actor nailed it perfectly with comic beats and all. Even the clueless Clouseau-like eponymous detective, portrayed by the energetic Dorcas Wan, worked perfectly based on the “madly officious policewoman” stock character from local movies and soaps. This made her performance accessible and relatable to local audiences but also resulted in unanimous laughter and applause, breaking all barriers in the end.
Minna Cheung plays Constance, another soap-inspired caricature with elegance and top-of-the-notch expressions and body posture that she beautifully and ridiculously holds throughout the entire run. Her character works excellently with Simon Anderson (Magnus Korsaeth) who seems to prowl naturally onstage as an eccentric, flamboyant and mysterious romantic. Overall, an extremely strong ensemble cast that brought even minor characters to life with style and flourish.
A suggestion I have for improvement is that the initial exchanges between the two critics should be done with more clarity. Although the information here seems irrelevant to the viewer at first, it serves as crucial backstory for the characters to recall. The playwright places this expository material here at the very start so that the audience only gradually begins to see the parallels between the critics’ world and the actors’. In order for these connections to be strong, these first scenes and any mention of character names must be clearly emphasised.
Pacing was an issue in the show last night. At times the show went too quickly, so we as audience members couldn't catch important information or have time to enjoy a joke. It might benefit the show to take an occasional pause and breathe. Overall, The Real Inspector Hound is a very strong production with a few opening night kinks that are sure to be worked out over the course of the run.
This is a play in which everyone clearly acknowledges the conventions of the theatre; including calling out deliberately contrived slaps or providing never-ending over the top death glares – if you think anything seems “fake” in this play, it's because the actors are doing exactly what they should be doing in this witty, absurd play.
Buy a ticket but listen very carefully to everything that’s said, even it seems trivial. Never underestimate the critics.
The Real Inspector Hound is playing through Sunday. For more information, click here.
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