Have you ever seen a jazz clarinet playing Hades? Or a mincing French Hermes? No? Funnily enough, I thought not. To fill that almighty hole in your life, you should get along to the Battersea Arts Centre and see Orpheus. Staged in the art deco depth of this old town hall, Orpheus tells the story of this famous Greek myth re-imagined as a 1930s Parisian music hall.
Little Bulb Theatre’s production is an all playing, all singing, all dancing, if slightly bizarre and chaotic, wonder. ‘Django Reinhardt’ (who, my programme tells me, is actually a jazz musician born in 1910, so not too sure what is going on there) plays Orpheus, the legendary poet and prophet who here is our guitar-wielding, moustached romantic hero. We are hosted for the evening by Yvette Pepin who switches seamlessly between an aged French songstress and the wood nymph Eurydice, wife of Orpheus.
You don’t realise quite how authentic the whole thing is until you get home and have a proper look at your programme. Reinhardt the character is playing Orpheus the role. Through layers of theatre we are transported first into this jazzy music hall underworld, then introduced further into the famous story of Eurydice’s death by snakebite and how Orpheus, armed only with his guitar, journeys into the underworld to save her.
I would not normally be so candid with the plot details here. However, in this case do not fear spoilers because in true Greek epic style we are given the story outline in the first ten minutes of the show via the prologue. This story is all about the delivery and not the suspense, although this did not stop me being on tenterhooks when it came to crunch time.
The prologue, along with much more of the show, is sung by the genius trio of Claire Beresford, Miriam Gould and Shamira Turner. The leads of Orpheus are truly wonderful but I must admit it was the ensemble who made it for me. They (along with Tony Penn and Alexander Scott) are the band, the chorus and a plethora of gods, monsters and men. Memorably, they create the three-headed dog Cerberus and the most surprisingly moving performance of Persephone (trapped wife of Hades) you could imagine.
The whole thing is a masterclass in comic timing. As well as the cast, hats must go off to the crazy creativity of director, Alexander Scott as well as the whole design and lighting team. Charlie Penn is a delight on the piano and organ, and the music (thanks to musical director Dominic Conway) is a show in itself.
Developed over two years as part of Battersea Arts Centre’s Scratch events, Orpheus seems to have hit perfection. It caused me to snort with laughter, shift to the edge of my seat in suspense, broke my heart a little bit and even made me rather terrified of a puppet snake (yes, really). It is an utter, irreverent joy and should not be missed, even if only for the dancing pig, rabbit, donkey, birds and bear. They are hilarious.
Orpheus is playing at Battersea Arts Center until 17 May. For more information and tickets, see the Battersea Arts Centre website. Photo by John Hunter for Ruler.