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| Volpone - 1990 |
| Directed by Nicholas Hytner and written by Ben Jonson. Presented from 3-5 April, 1990 at the Almeida Theatre. Cast: Volpone - Ian McDiarmid Mosca - Denis Lawson Voltore - Philip Locke Corbaccio - Cyril Shaps Corvino - Timothy Walker Nano - Malcolm Dixon Castrone - Mike Burnside Androgyno - Darlene Johnson Bonario - Marc Warren Celia - Cate Harmer Reviews: "...As the parasitic Mosca, Denis Lawson combines a compelling physical performance with consummate verse speaking, wringing every ounce of venom from Jonson's poisoned pen. ..." McAfee, Evening Standard |
| "...All the mean mouth and calculating eyes, Denis Lawson's punky, plastic-trousered Mosca spots this vulnerability at once and starts to exploit it. Face always to close to his interlocutors (as though he might at any second head-butt them) Lawson has a way of making flattery sound more intimidating than a threat. You are never in any doubt that this is a worm that will turn. But if Mosca is the cleverer of the two, Volpone (as this production increasingly emphasises) is much the less limited man. ..." Paul Taylor, The Independent "...Denis Lawson's prim Mosca shares the intrigue with Ian McDiarmid's caressingly feline Volpone - more poisonous insect than vulpine magnifico. This unusual partnership works perfectly, but the partners could easily exchange roles." Irving Wardle, Independent on Sunday "...McDiarmid's foxy red mane tapers to a torso of sprouting ginger down. His wiles are callously instigated by the cruelly detached, street-cool Mosca of Denis Lawson. They form a lethal, revenging Scots double act, whose capitalist stooges are inspirationally cast and brutally well played. ..." Michael Coveney, Observer "...And what is striking here is how Ian McDiarmid's hero and Denis Lawson's Mosca get a tangible sexual excitement out of cony-catching. Their faces are constantly pressed close together. Mosca lovingly applies a sickly make-up to his master's features and, after their most spectacular coup, Volpone starts to undress his accomplice crying: "O, that I could now transform thee to a Venus." This is the first production in which I have seen the sexuality of deceit made so explict. ...Mr. Lawson's Mosca not only shows a similar savour for language but also wittily suggests that inside this sealskin-trousered parasite there is a cigar-chomping bully itching to get out. ..." Michael Billington, The Guardian "...Everyone else is consumed and distorted by greed, and the fact that the audience instinctively identifies with Volpone and his parasitical side-kick Mosca is due entirely to the glamour of evil. They are, quite simply, greedier, cleverer and more heartless than anyone else and as a result exude a hideous fascination. Volpone is a great comic role, and Ian McDiarmid rises gleefully to the challenge. Swathed in an enormous fur coat and with his hair dyed red, he looks every bit as foxy as he should, effortlessly commanding the stage despite his short stature. His prostrate scenes on the sick-bed are hilarious. Wearing a ludicrous balaclava, speaking in a croak and wheezing horribly, he cuts a wonderfully grotesque figure and it will be a long time before I forget the sight of his hand closing like a sprung trap on a proffered diamond. ...Denis Lawson offers excellent value as Mosca, razorsharp, funny and disturbingly attractive. ... This is a bleak, invigorating evening of comedy at its venomous best." Charles Spence, Daily Telegraph |
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| "...McDiarmid catches perfectly the character's odd mix of acquistiveness and world weary cynicism. Controlled and often very funny, Volpone is a cold voluptuary. Discontent nags at his soul. The is more than a touch of Fellini in his choice of private entertainment; he summons from illuminated chests his performing eunuch, dwarf and heraphrodite. He is well matched in Denis Lawson's coolly detached Mosca, a cocky Scotch wheeler-deeler in black plastic trousers and a punk hair-do. ..." Christopher Edwards, The Spectator Thanks to Alice's Requiem and Helen!!! |