The Rape of Lucrece - Review by Joe Calleri.

What – The Rape of Lucrece

Where – Southbank Theatre, The Sumner

When – 31 January to 10 February, 2013

Reviewer - Joe Calleri
Stars - 5

When Irish Royal Shakespeare Company performer, Camille O’Sullivan walks onto the stage at the Sumner Theatre to introduce first herself, and her piano accompanist, Feargal Murray, and then calmly announces that she will recount William Shakespeare’s dark poem of The Rape of Lucrece, there is little inkling of the masterful, transformational piece of theatre that audiences will witness during the next 80 minutes. Yes, it is so difficult to describe this performance without over-using and abusing many adjectives and superlatives.

O’Sullivan tells the audience that Shakespeare was a mere 28 years of age when he wrote the poem of Tarquin's defilement Lucrece, who shamed, commits suicide. Lucrece’s rape led to the eventual founding of the Roman republic.

With her smoky voice that would not be out of place in a cigarette smoke-filled room at some dingy cabaret venue, and the sensitive, unobtrusive piano accompaniment provided by Feargal Murray, O’Sullivan alternatively utters, and sings of the events that lead to the evil defilement of the chaste Lucrece, before O’Sullivan inhabits the body and soul of the distraught, vulnerable, sobbing rape victim.

Throughout their entrancing performance, O’Sullivan and Murray inhabit a suitably dark, foreboding space so deliberately and carefully lit by Vince Herbert, and a set created by Lily Arnold that consists of stacks of papers, torn floor-boards, paintings, and a pair of virginal white women’s shoes.

I have seen a lot of theatre recently that sacrifices the subtleties of character development and narrative for special effects driven grand spectacle. The net result of all that sound and fury and assault on my senses has left me empty and hungry for more. This powerful, memorable, one-person performance has for the moment sated my hunger and provided to me yet once more resounding evidence of the magical power of character and story-telling to completely hold an audience breathlessly spellbound for an hour or more. Highly recommended!