I can't tip my hat to this Prince of Homburg

"Weirdly mannered": Ian McDiarmid as the Elector
10 April 2012

The Prince of Homburg is a brave choice for the Donmar Warehouse’s summer offering: a cerebral serving of early-19th-century German drama, pregnant in this new version by Dennis Kelly with more than just a whiff of the Nazi jackboot.

The original is the work of Heinrich von Kleist. Besides being a Romantic poet, Kleist was a noted philosopher of aesthetics who shot himself aged 34. The Prince of Homburg is now regarded as the best of the seven plays he managed to complete.

The titular prince is the commander of the cavalry of the Prussian army — in which Kleist had served, giving up his commission in disgust at the military’s rigidity. For the prince, as for Kleist, the Prussian army appears defined by a steely adherence to protocol, which leaves little room for spontaneous action.

The Prince is more poetic. An erratic dreamer, he finds his spirit is at odds with the authoritarian values of his society, which are embodied most ominously by the Elector of Brandenburg. This leads to conflict, opening up questions about the nature of honour and duty.

Kelly’s rendition suggests the modernity of Kleist’s writing, particularly in its scrutiny of anxieties and embarrassments. However, the highly-strung wit of Kleist’s verse is lost in a welter of rhetoric, and Kelly has unnecessarily amended Kleist’s ending.

Charlie Cox effectively evokes the prince’s adolescent brand of disquiet. But he never really engages us. Better when passionate than when contemplative, he too often seems merely earnest. More memorable, though not happily so, is Ian McDiarmid as the Elector, who veers between a Blackadder-ish smoulder and the strangled rage of a cartoon fascist. He has moments of wintry gravity, yet his performance is weirdly mannered.

There is some deft work from Harry Hadden-Paton and David Burke. But Jonathan Munby’s production is either too static or bombastic, and it accentuates without much subtlety the play’s relevance to Hitler’s Germany.

The material is historically opaque, only the two main roles are sufficiently delineated, and it’s all rather uninvolving. True, there are flickers of familiar Donmar dazzle, mainly in the stronger second half, and Angela Davies’s design is ingenious. But The Prince of Homburg is a misfire from this so often excellent theatre.
Until September 4. Information 0870 060 6624.

The Prince Of Homburg
Donmar Warehouse
Earlham Street, Seven Dials, WC2H 9LX

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