Kneehigh, the theatre company responsible for this adaptation of the 60s French film by Jacques Demy, had enormous success a couple of years back with 'Brief Encounter'. That was an altogether wilder reworking of seminal British cinema with the explosive moments of theatrical daring clearly counterpointing the safe, staid atmosphere of the original film.
In many ways 'Cherbourg' is less successful because it doesn't have the room to play with audience expectations and the material quite as much. Which isn't to say it's a failure by any means just not quite a success.
The sung play covers Guy and Geneviève's love affair as they have to deal with the interference of Geneviève's mother and the inconvenience of the Algerian war. At the conclusion of the six years, our hero and heroine aren't quite where you expect them to be but the story still manages to be romantic and humane.
All the performers do a wonderful job of keeping the recitative bouncing along which, while odd at the start of the evening, seems strangely natural and emotional at the end. Joanna Riding has a studied sixties elegance about her even when being wheeled around which is not something everybody could manage.
Less successful is the choreography of the actors around the stage. The constantly mobile state of the cast and set seemed to draw away from the quieter, more personal moments of the show. And it wasn't quite smooth and effortless enough to not draw you out of the action.
It is probably instructive that the most successful parts of the production are the additions. Presenting the town as a scale model at the start, transitions written on just about any prop you can think of, a balloon tango sequence and the joyous silliness of the shop door bell.
Maîtresse as performed by the cabaret artist Meow Meow, is a scintillating presence guiding us through the melodrama with sympathy but also a hint of darkness. And the final lovers reunion which leads into an astonishing coup de thèâtre or, rather, a sequence of them reminds us what this company is capable of when in complete control of their art.
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