Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller, is set in the Spanish Court during the 16th century, but to me it seemed no different than watching, say Shakespeare's Hamlet, in a tale involving so-called incest,
deceit, misunderstandings, manipulations and lies. A tale most will hold synonymous to society today.
The very first production staged by Tom Burke and director Gadi Roll's theatrical company, Ara is a monumental production in itself.
Don Carlos (Samuel Valentine) heir to the Spanish throne has feelings for his stepmother, Elizabeth (Kelly Gough) who share similarities in their free thinking of humanity and basic rights. Carlos's long time friend, Posa (Tom Burke) who hopes to get Carlos to focus on the happenings within the Netherlands. He's up in arms as Elizabeth I of England takes in the Dutch people and leaving the Netherlands to its own devices.
The ending where King Philip (Darrell D'Silva) shoots the Marquis Posa as he takes on the responsibility and fault of being the one who wrote the letters to Elizabeth and not Carlos. Carlos being distraught over his death, that of a great man and visionary. Then the King is counselled by the Grand inquisitor (cue Tom again) wearing dark glasses and portraying a feeble man.
[Of course the upshot of this is you can interpret this how you want, it doesn't necessarily follow you have to think along the same lines as everyone else. But it was rather funny and perhaps my imagination playing on overtime; but I thought the Inquisitor was actually Posa in disguise and had been playing the king for all those years. Especially since he came across as being rather full of himself, as if he did get one over him after all.]
Until Carlos decides he's leaving and says his farewells to Elizabeth. A shot fires out and Elizabeth is dead!! Of Course the Inquisitor is the direct opposite of Posa and regards religion in all its esteem, did he talk the king into actually ridding what he may deem "enemies of the state" of Spain (its Inquisition) and their thoughts of freedom.
But were they really in league with each other, Posa and the king, the king and the Inquisitor in getting his own way and disposing of the Queen, his wife, so he could now be free to marry the Princess, as was the implication there were letters passed between the two and perhaps they were having an illicit affair too. Much deceit in the form of the courtiers too and the king's subjects and direct, loyal staff.
The costumes are very modern and dark and the stage is sparse; which is fine as the object is to focus on the dialogue at hand - of which there was plenty and not really the surroundings. Tom Burke gives his usual performance of 100% and forgoes the role of Carlos for Posa which does do him justice in how he portrays the man trying to help his friend and steer him away from trouble when he could be so good for the Spanish throne in the future.
The rest of the ensemble cast includes Alexandra Dowling (Tom's co-star in The Musketeers - where she played royalty) as Princess Eboli. Jason Morell as Domingo, Vinta Morgan as Alba.
Many people I believe found it hard to stomach as quite a number left in their droves during the interval. The play was long at about three hours, but I really don't know what they were expecting when they bought tickets, though granted some may have had trains to catch. Others I suspect wanted the novelty to watch Tom (aka BBC's Strike) in person and didn't expect the heaviness of the script. Though to be honest, yes there were loud moments, but I disagree it just all involved 'shouting' on the part of the cast, as some people have said. If you put your mind to it, there was nothing difficult to follow or understand about it, still enjoyable viewing none-the-less!
Funny moment when Tom overstepped his mark on the stage at the end during the curtain call and applause!
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