Theatre review: Beat the Devil

My first visit in nearly six months to an actual theatre for a live show takes me to the Bridge, and while there's a kind of minor triumph to a limited number of venues finding a way around social distancing to present shows despite the indifference of the powers that be, I was also acutely aware of being in the same place where I saw my 2019 Show of the Year: The large space with its seating capacity greatly reduced to allow distance between audience groups, standing in stark contrast to the heaving bodies at last year's Shakespearean party. I guess it would also have been nice if my first tentative venture back out into live theatre had been for some escapism from what's kept us apart all these months, but instead we're right in the thick of it as playwright David Hare came down with Covid-19 at the same time that a belated lockdown was introduced in the UK; Beat the Devil is his furious memoir of his time suffering from a "mediaeval" disease and the actions of those he squarely blames for his having contracted it.

Hare, played on stage by Ralph Fiennes in Nicholas Hytner's production, alternates between describing his weeks laid down by the virus, and relating the actions that Boris Johnson and his government were taking, or failing to take, at the same time.

The former largely focuses on the famous symptom of losing one's sense of taste and smell; a symptom Hare didn't have, but almost wished he did as instead he had the sensation of a taste and smell of sewage for ten solid days. In some ways watching Beat the Devil didn't feel great for my own health, my mental health at least, as being plunged into the first-person account brought back some of the early panic attacks around the unseen, unknown enemy whose effects remain unpredictable and unknown - Hare describes Covid-19 as a "dirty bomb" that causes as much damage as it can to a body without caring how it does it. Although it does seem to have a pattern of targeting playwrights of a certain generation, as Hare reveals Howard Brenton had gone through it just before him.

But the core of the piece is in Hare's fierce rants against Johnson, Matt Hancock, Priti Patel and all the other usual government suspects whose ineptitude, compulsive lying and self-interest proved, and continues to prove, lethal. Arriving on stage in the speed it has, and from a playwright with an occasional tendency to struggle to find the theatrical in a big topic (I'm thinking of The Power of Yes here,) it's not a huge surprise if Beat the Devil is something of a blunt instrument. Its anger at Johnson (with occasional forays into anger at Trump) in some ways feels like a rehash of arguments we've all had many times over the last few months, but there is a personal touch in there that provides a saving grace: Just as the description of his symptoms comes to life when Hare talks about his stalwart wife's efforts to get him through them, so his vicious and distinctive wit brings highlights to the anger at the politicians' response. Covid-19 might be a biblical plague that Brenton described to Hare as a demon being exorcised from the body when it finally eases, but by the end there's little doubt what devil he really wants to beat.

Beat the Devil by David Hare is booking in repertory until the 31st of October at the Bridge Theatre.

Running time: 50 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.