Theatre review: Mephisto [A Rhapsody]

Deconstructing itself as it goes along, Samuel Gallet's Mephisto [A Rhapsody] is based on a novel by Klaus Mann which was banned for decades – as argued successfully in court by his family, the real-life target of his satire was all-too-easily identifiable. That target was a German actor whose liberal principles went out the window when he realised the Nazis could be good for his career, and ended up performing Faust for Hitler. Gallet transposes the action to present-day France, and the actor making a deal with a metaphorical devil is Aymeric (Leo Bill,) a company member in a provincial rep. They tour Chekhov around a region with poor transport links to the rest of the country, which leaves it a financial and cultural backwater, and a centre for the rise of neo-fascism. Aymeric, along with colleagues Luca (Elizabeth Chan) and Nicole (Subika Anwar-Khan) urge the artistic director Eva (Tamzin Griffin) to ditch the classics in favour of more urgent work addressing the current political crisis.

Theatre review: Right Now

You'd expect French Canadians to basically be like regular Canadians with added baguettes, but if Québécois playwright Catherine-Anne Toupin's Right Now is anything to go by, just speaking the language seems to inspire the kind of theatrical mindfuck favoured by French writers like Florian Zeller. Alice (Lindsey Campbell) and Ben (Sean Biggerstaff) are a young couple who've been living in their flat for about six months; they seem settled enough but there's an underlying awkwardness, and the occasional sound of a crying baby that only Alice can hear is a pretty big clue to the cause of the tension. The sense of walking on eggshells is smashed when the neighbours across the hall decide to introduce themselves - Juliette (Maureen Beattie,) her husband Gilles (Guy Williams) and son François (Dyfan Dwyfor) are soon inviting themselves round and making themselves more than comfortable.