THEATRE: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin at Mercury Theatre

On All Hallows Eve, Erin Summers Norman attended Mercury Theatre’s outstanding production, Capain Corelli’s Mandolin, to report back to readers of The Colchester Circle.

Natalie Kakhidze as Pelagia with the puppet Pelagia

It was the perfect night to be in the audience of such a haunting and atmospheric play. Written by Louis de Bernieres and adapted for the stage by Mike Maran, Captain Corelli’s Mandolin sets out to achieve what initially sounds to be a big ask of the audience. Namely, to produce a serious, humorous, and moving play using only six actors, and a whole lot of puppet mastery.

The thirty or so puppets used in the play were designed and made by the very talented Nino Namitcheishvili, and operated by a team of cooperative cast members dressed in unobtrusive black. Throughout, they managed to create a surprisingly mobile and expressive set of bonus actors. Each puppet requires three people to operate, so as you may imagine there was (at times) quite a crowd bustling about on the stage; the puppets dancing on long tables and actors playing around them. The immediate but only hurdle in this play is getting beyond a point where you obsessively study the operators and into the more emotional aspect of the story. However, once you’ve crossed that barrier you find yourself surprisingly glad that the puppets are playing their parts. There is no great difficulty in relating them to the characters they are meant to represent. In fact, one of the stars of the show was undoubtedly the scene stealing puppet goat called Bastardo.

Tony Casement as Captain Corelli and Natalie Kakhidze as Pelagia

Taking place primarily during the Italian occupation of Greece during World War II, the minimal props, brilliant audio contributions, musical score and impressive special effects give a great sense of time and place. The story is one of love triumphing over hate and building bridges in place of waging war. Captain Corelli, playing his mandolin, arrives with his Italian regiment to occupy a hostile Greek village. Taking his housing in the home of Dr. Iannis, he quickly falls in love with the doctors daughter, Pelagia. However she is betrothed to Mandras, a fisherman gone off to fight for the Greeks. He returns, terribly wounded and half insane with hatred towards all, especially Pelagia and the enemy living within her house. Pelagia ends her betrothal to Mandras and quite reluctantly falls for the charms of the rather sweet Captain Corelli, despite the mutual animosity between the Greeks and the Italians.

After Greece is taken by the Allies, fate tears the lovers apart when the Germans order the entire Italian regiment to be killed by firing squad. This scene was particularly harrowing; in the dark theatre the sounds of dozens of gun shots resonated as puppet after puppet staggered and fell. Suddenly it occurs to you how perfect the medium of puppetry is to tell the story of mass slaughter against people being crushed by the demands of their oppressors.

Mike Maran as Dr Iannis with puppet villagers

Dr. Iannis, who opened the play by reading aloud news of the war to the tombstone of his wife, says throughout “God knows we are all in need of miracles.” And that is exactly what they get, though not perhaps as they would have precisely wished. For Captain Corelli manages to survive, and with the help of the Dr. Iannis, Pelagia and the mandolin, they are left to continue their quest for freedom and unity in love against the odds.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin was an inspiring production; thought provoking, entertaining and challenging. I congratulate the cast and crew for pulling off such an ambitious play and I highly recommend seeing it if you can.

Captain Corelli’s Mandolin is on at the Mercury Theatre now until Saturday 12th November 2011. To book tickets phone 01206 573948 or click here to book online.