adapted by April De Angelis from Elena Ferrante's novels
seen at the Rose Theatre, Kingston upon Thames on 23 March 2017
Melly Still directs Niamh Cusack as Elena and Catherine McCormack as Lila in this two-part adaptation of the four Neapolitan novels of Elena Ferrante, with a supporting cast of ten actors taking all the other parts. The set - an all-purpose and inventive use of the whole Rose Theatre stage and the galleries behind it - and costumes are designed by Soutra Gilmour.
This is a compelling piece of theatre with blisteringly good performances from the two women whose careers and experiences diverge drastically from their childhood in post-war Naples. The adaptation of four dense and complex novels into about five and a half hours of playing time is extremely ambitious, but it is triumphantly realised. It is clearly an adaptation from another medium, rather than a newly devised play, but nonetheless it is dramatically sound and intensely involving. I have not (yet) read the books, so I cannot comment on what has been sacrificed or simplified, but as a sheer piece of theatre I found it totally engrossing. I'm not entirely clear on the relations of some of the families - not helped here by the inevitable doubling of roles - but in the heat of the moment it was not much of a disadvantage.
