The Dragon, Southwark Playhouse - theatre review

Yevgeny Schwartz's political fable fuses fairytale elements with subversive allegory
The Dragon: Hannah Boyde as Mayor, Jo Hartland as Elsa / Picture: Alastair Muir
Henry Hitchings22 December 2014

Yevgeny Schwartz, who died in 1958, was a brilliantly astute observer of Soviet tyranny. But he has never been a household name in Britain. The Dragon, presented here in a new adaptation by Daniel Goldman and the Tangram Theatre Company, is probably his best-known work — a political fable dating from the Forties that fuses fairytale elements with subversive allegory.

Justin Butcher’s dragon, a fur-collared villain who bears a more than passing resemblance to Stalin, is oppressing a nameless community — in particular Jo Hartland’s wholesome Elsa. His justification is that he’s protecting the inhabitants from worse foes such as other dragons. Into this mess steps dashing liberator Lancelot, the amusing and scantily clad James Rowland. Yet after Lancelot overcomes the dragon, the local mayor (Hannah Boyde) turns out to be even more despotic.

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1/50

The production strikes a tone that is part panto, part anti-panto. Explicitly embracing dodgy accents and questionable stereotypes, it has a lot of fun weaving pop lyrics and physical comedy into its surreal narrative. Audience members are selected to be guinea pigs or allies, and Rob Witcomb’s narrator injects an especially edgy playfulness.

This is unapologetically rough theatre — starkly staged, inclusive, anti-authoritarian. Although the pace and verve sometimes drop off, at its best it is a funny, provocative show that asks questions about freedom, conscience and responsibility. Above all, it attacks political apathy. Not the most Christmassy subject perhaps, but a necessary one.

Until Jan 10 (020 7407 0234, southwarkplayhouse.co.uk)

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