I commented in a recent review of the Baxter’s production of Fugard’s Exits and Entrances about the changing style of acting – a pivotal theme to Fugard’s play – about how theatre styles outdate. We’ve moved away from “theatricality” in the sense of foregrounded technique – the magnified gestures, the trick of the voice – the kind of extravagant acting that earned Laurence Olivier’s Othello the nickname Hello Golly!
And that was my problem with Sean Taylor – brilliant in the part of Huguenet performing on and off stage as Huguenet – but not making the transition when he is required to be the man Huguenet contemplating suicide on the Baxter stage as a character in a 21st century Fugard play. Taylor is a 1980s actor. There is still much nostalgia for this style of acting in Cape Town – it fits with a large part of the audience’s preconception or idea of what good acting is. The shadow of the old style also stalks Goodman – though he is more convincing, whereas Taylor is compelling, but not believable. However, he may work better now that Exits and Entrances has moved to the Concert Hall, though I believe the Studio was the right space for this piece.
The shift is partly the influence of film and television, but it has also been the nature of the material, the characters and the style of writing, in the same way that politicians now no longer give great rhetorical speeches (the last was probably Kennedy), except perhaps Castro!
There is one twist in this tale of styles – and that is Steven Berkoff. His one man performances are all about foregrounded technique and exaggerated gesture. But it works brilliantly, because he creates his own alphabet and teaches it to the audience during the course of his performance. It is an integral and wholly consistent part of the experience.
