REVIEW: The Way Of The World, Donmar Warehouse ✭✭✭
The Donmar Warehouse production of The Way Of The World looks fabulous, with Anna Fleishle’s design and Ilona Karas and her costume team being the stars of the show.
The Donmar Warehouse production of The Way Of The World looks fabulous, with Anna Fleishle’s design and Ilona Karas and her costume team being the stars of the show.
Red Velvet touches on a number of very difficult subjects regarding race, and does so in a compelling and thoughtful manner. The play is generally well written – with a number of excellent touches – and this production contains a host of fine performances, not least Adrian Lester as Ira Aldridge. Nevertheless, Aldridge is an incomplete protagonist, and too many aspects of his life are told to us, rather than shown. This means that, in spite of the play’s many strong qualities, it cannot achieve its full dramatic potential.
Tom Scutt’s design is overwhelmingly attractive. Seductive blue and gold enhances the structures where the action occurs – a garishly compelling sense of Venice and Las Vegas: time and space are fused in the bauble land where Antonio and Shylock take their commercial risks. Greed and choice become the central focus here.