Vertigo
Part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary season of the Nottingham Playhouse, Vertigo is an adaptation by Jonathan Holoway based on the novel The Living and the Dead by Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac. The play set in 1940’s France, is a captivating story of Roger Flavileres, an ex-police officer who becomes fixated by Madeleine, the wife of a friend, when he is asked to shadow her, only to be left devastated when she appears to have committed suicide. Years later, during an innocent cinema visit, his life is turned upside down when Madeline appears on screen, sparking a glimmer of hope inside him that she is still alive.
Despite the complex plot and the occasional distraction of props being moved, director Giles Croft and playwright Jonathan Holloway have made the play more understandable and entertaining through the effective use of lighting, a narrative character and the simplistic, clinical set which reminded the audience that many of the events were simply memories, rediscovered through hypnosis and the state of the male protagonist’s mental health.
The audience were thrilled when the play burst the restrictions of the stage and invaded the front row but the main spectacle involved Roger clinging onto the outside of the spiral staircase which, to the horror and delight of the audience, revolved to symbolise his fear of heights.
Overall, Vertigo is an exciting play delving into the mind of a man torn between lust and insanity, full of thrills and surprises. It is suitable for ages sixteen and over who want to be enthralled by such a twisted plot.
Rachael Hoy
Kicking off the Nottingham Playhouse’s 60th anniversary celebration Giles Croft once again dazzles audiences with his skilfully directed version of Vertigo. This new adaption of the classic novel and Hitchcock film, adapted by playwright Jonathan Holloway, is not only beautifully written, directed and performed but is also presented in a manner that leaves each of the audience’s senses tingling.
Set in France during the Second World War, the story is told through the eyes of detective Roger Flavières (Ben Keaton) who is hypnotised during a social experiment being carried out by Dr Jacques Ballard (David Acton) and his nurse (Robin Bowerman) during which Flavières relives the sometimes horrific events of the time when he was sent to investigate the wife of a businessman, Madeline (Phillipa Peak) with whom he falls in love. When Madeline dies Flavières is left empty and seeks help from Ballard who tells him not to worry, relax and "go to the pictures." Whilst at the pictures Flavieres believes he sees his beloved Madeline and goes to Marseille in search of her, finding only a woman by the name of Renée (Peak.) It is at this point that the plot takes a serious twist and leaves the audience breathless.
Bowerman, Acton and Peak have the challenge of playing numerous characters and having to make the audience believe their performances. Each does this brilliantly, especially Peak whose portrayal of Madeline was sleek, stylish and simply mesmerising, a stark contrast to her depiction of Renée in the second act; the rough and ready Londoner who finds herself stalked by Flavières. Peak is, put simply, one of the highlights of the evening. Acton also creates a flawless performance, especially as Dr Ballard. He comes across as enthusiastic, bursting with energy and perfectly cast in the role making his performance utterly convincing. Bowerman also delivers a clean performance and is excellent in many of the roles he has been given. His only flaw, however, was the Irish accent he used whilst playing the bellman of the hotel. This made audience members lose the plot, are the characters in Marseille or are they in Dublin? After all I’ve yet to meet an Irish-Frenchman. Keaton’s performance as the insane Flavières is consistent during the play, brilliantly portraying the emotions of the character, with special note to the scene after Madeline’s death; this was truly heart-wrenching to watch. It is again, unfortunately, Keaton’s accent that subtracts from his superb performance.
A stylish set with many unbelievable optical illusions and breathtaking entrances and exits complimented the actors and the story seamlessly. Vertigo really does defy the heights and goes the extra mile making it an evening of awe, excitement and ’Vertigo’
Philip Pearson
A fantastic opening by David Acton,
Who sets the scene of now and then,
Ben Keaton plays Roger Flaviéres,
Who is confused with life’s troubles and cares,
And finds himself now being hypnotised,
Being forced to show his fears and cries,
So back we go to a different time,
Hired as a detective, solving crimes?
No, hired to shadow a friend’s wife,
Who is evidently leading a troubled life,
Robin Bowerman fills in all the holes,
Helping tell the story, playing many roles,
Phillipa Peak playing both the female parts,
One woman posh and one a tart,
Madeleine or Reneé? Mad or crazy?
Remembering the past, no detail can be hazy.
Is it the truth or has she lied?
You know that she commit suicide.
Thoroughly enjoyable, strange and shocking,
What to do when the past comes knocking?
Alice Blackburn
Vertigo
Review by Rosie Preston
‘Vertigo’ follows protagonist Roger Flavières (Ben Keaton) as he struggles against madness, delusion, death and obsession. Jonathon Holloway’s new adaptation integrates a subplot, set in a psychologist’s lecture theatre, a brave contemporary twist, which only adds to the dramatic tension. The audience are indirectly involved as students at a psychological lecture. Under hypnosis, Roger Flavières relives the haunting mystery central to ‘Vertigo’ through memories. The Original and effective use of space, allow the actors to create other locations clearly, using only the props already on stage.
A clinical white set dominates the stage. As we take our seats, Robin Bowermann (the Nurse) is acknowledging the audience, immediately establishing the theme of appearance and reality before the play has even begun.
Each member of the cast gave powerful performances. The actors double as more than one character, adding to the sense of paranoia. Phillipa Peak contrasted comedy with tragedy magnificently: poignant and haunting as Madeleine, coarse and common as Renee. Phillipa delivered dead-pan lines with flawless comic timing. Ben Keaton gave an impressive yet unsettling performance as the psychologically unstable protagonist.
‘Vertigo’ has plenty of shocks throughout, climaxing in a powerful and harrowing last scene. However, this version of ‘Vertigo’ isn’t completely dark, there are plenty of comic interjections, such as David Acton putting his head into a gramophone to simulate a radio broadcast. Smooth scene transitions and clever uses of levels keep ‘Vertigo’ engaging from start to finish.
This stunning new adaptation has the uncanny knack of leaving behind a deathly silence in the auditorium, although this could be because it was unclear as to whether the play had ended.
Vertigo
Vertigo is a brilliant psychological play based on a french novel written by Jonathan Holloway. This play follows an ex-police man, Flavirès (Ben Keaton) who uncontrollably suffers from vertigo and as a result failed to save the life of one of his colleagues during a fight on the roof of a building which is reenacted early on in the performance. the play kicks off with a descriptive introduction by Dr Jacques Ballard (David Acton) who involves the audience into the play very successfully by telling us why flavierès is in his current state as a vulnerable quiete man in a 1940’s hospital. Ballard becomes the narrator of the piece who unlike the other characters can interact with both the audience and the characters, this is extremely useful and effective as he marks the beginning and the end of each scene and highlights Flavierès feelings during each scene which amounted to him becoming this vulnerable patient.
Although the entire performance is set in this hospital the clever use of props such as a rotating staircase and multipurpose chairs creates enough atmosphere to introduce new settings without having to take the original away. Once Dr Ballard relaxes Flavierès into a deep sleep he starts to draw the deep memories from him. This is when the play really gets going as we then learn about Madeline (philipa peak) a beautiful yet shady character. Flavierès is given the task of an old friend to follow his wife (Madeline) as he explains that she has been behaving rather oddly lately, and so Flavierès does as he is asked but soon enough he becomes intrigued and falls deeply in love with her. But one day while Flavierès is out with Madeline she commits suicide. This scene is the climax of the performance and is acted out very well by both Keaton and Peak.
Although Act 1 is very exciting and captures the audiences attention brilliantly especially during the last scene, you would think it would be a hard act to follow but Act 2 is even better as the structure contains an essence of farce achieved mainly by Robin Bowerman who plays many characters throughout, such as a nurse, cab driver and Madeline’s husband. In act 2 some time has passed since Madelines death but Flavierès watches a newsreel which contains a woman who looks uncannily like Madeline. Flavierès then seeks this woman who turns out to be called Renèe (also played by Phillipa Peak) and once again he falls deeply in love, except this time it is simply because Renèe resembles Madeline and along with his love for her he has a strong yearning for her to be Madeline and so he begins an unhealthy obsessed with the fact that Renèe must recreate herself into madeline. Eventually Flavierès pushes Renèe more and more until she breaks and the performance comes to a breath taking conclusion.
Vertigo is an incredible play within a play and is a credit to Giles croft.
By Jennifer Hulman
Review for ‘Vertigo’
Hearing the name ‘Vertigo’ will, undoubtedly bring to most minds Alfred Hitchcock’s thrilling masterpiece, but in my opinion, Giles Croft has masterfully directed this play to comparable excellence.
‘Vertigo’, is the story of a man obsessed by his love, and his dissension into a hospitalised condition, the tale of Roger Flavières (Ben Keaton). The play begins with an introduction by Dr. Jacques Ballard (David Acton), the psychologist who hypnotises Flavières into a state where he begins to retell the story of his unhealthy and fatal infatuation with the woman, Madeleine. Nurse Gratin (Robin Bowerman) and Ballard begin to act out the characters and friends of Flavières as the story unfolds, and in his imagination Flavières also interacts with the beautiful Madeleine (Phillipa Peak). In the past as we soon find out, an old acquaintance of Flavières’ asks him to shadow his wife (Madeleine) as she has been taken to strange wanderings and excursions. As Flavières gets to know the sophisticated and troubled young lady he falls helplessly in love with her, and when she takes her own life, jumping off the top of a church tower (where he cannot reach her because of his vertigo) he leaves Paris in wretched misery. However the story does not end here...while at the cinema Flavières sees who he thinks is Madeleine on a newsreel, and he begins his hunt to find her.
The beauty of this production is not in the plot line itself, but in the clarity with which the complexity of the story is told. The original novel or film does not include the sub plot of a man in hospital being hypnotised (this idea was introduced by the play write Jonathon Hollaway), but this added to the play a sense of depth and a wonderful excuse for more philosophical awareness; there was wisdom in the lines and Flavières’ tale was given a new dimension. The set design very much helped portray the two parallel plots; the whole of the stage was a hospital ward but the props and staging were used to very good effect, and the actors gave the audience a clear idea of the location changes, one had no doubt when the characters were in a restaurant, a hotel reception, next to a river...But the best bit of set design were the light switches at each end of the stage; every time there was a change from the hospital to another location one of the actors on stage would flick one of the switches and the lights would change with a satisfying clunk of old light bulbs going on and off. This made the scene changes clear, precise and impossible to miss. Another part of the production that had the potential to flummox the audience (but didn’t) was the fact that Bowerman and Acton changed the identity of their characters continually throughout the play as to enable Flavières to act out his experiences. And Acton and (especially) Bowerman did this very well; with changes of accents, body language and minor costume accessories they pulled off several personas each with smooth ease.
In terms of the cast, it was a seamless performance, with no noticeable hiccups at all. Peaks’ character of Madeleine got stronger as the play went on, changing form the breathy and fragile Madeleine in act one, to the bolshy and abused character of Renee in act two. Bowerman was our definite comedy man, with his loud mannerisms as the husband of Madeleine, and his monopoly of accents for various shopkeepers, receptionists, taxi drivers and the like. Keaton’s interpretation of Flavières’ persona was very convincing, and it was brilliant how throughout the play, even when he wasn’t acting hospital scenes, he kept within the character of the patient, shuffling and slightly heavy limbed, with his white hair sticking up in the air. The only flaw in his performance seemed to be an occasional slip of the accent, and when worked up on stage his voice slipped into slight Americanisms. Acton was a powerful character on stage, and his interpretation of the Doctor was very enrapturing as an audience, it was hard to pull oneself away once he had begun to talk. His monologues commanded attention of us, and he gave us every reason to listen to him as our ‘superior’.
What made this production however, was not the acting, the set or the plot (although they were very helpful contributors); it was Croft’s surprises that kept the audience on the edge of their seats. We were shocked by the spiral staircase spinning with Keaton clinging on, we were gasping when Peak appeared through an apparently solid screen, we were craning our necks when she appeared out of the floor, and we were most definitely dazed when Peak jumped soaking wet out of a seemingly empty bath. These bolts form the blue kept us as enraptured and as enthralled as in Hitchcock’s original suspense thriller. This production was a sensation; with laughs to keep it from being unnecessarily un-cheery and with actors great enough to compliment the distinction of the set, this startling yet astute play is definitely a must see.
Rebecca White
Croft Reaches new heights with Vertigo
Existing already as a renowned novel by the crime-writing duo Pierre Boilaeu and Thomas Narcejac, and subsequently as one of Hitchcock’s most famous films, Vertigo undoubtedly has a lot to live up to. However Jonathon Holloway’s latest version was not short of its own thrills and twists that even the most avid fans of the established productions would not have seen coming. As well as successfully adapting the novel from page to stage, Holloway also added his own subplot; taking the original story and cleverly retelling it through the eyes of a mental patient looking back on the extravagant series of events through hypnosis and psychological manipulatio
Vertigo is the story of Roger Flavières, a retired police detective, asked by a friend to shadow his wife through suspicion of affair or even madness. During this period of following the elusive Madeleine however, things start to complicate themselves for Flavières when he is forced to sacrifice his anonymousness and save her from an attempted suicide. In the days following this event, the two spend a lot of time together and soon fall in love, their mere acquaintance still unbeknownst to Madeleine’s husband. Flavières is soon shattered though, when his attempts to save her from a second suicide are thwarted by his overpowering fear of heights.
Escaping France in the grips of German occupancy, Flavières begins 5 fragile years of recovery only to return to Paris and immediately bump into someone he is convinced is Madeleine…
Coupled with Holloway’s brilliantly clever script were strong performances from all 4 cast members, notably Ben Keaton (Casualty) as Flavières and Phillipa Peak, playing both Madeleine and her apparently unconnected double. Both were individually outstanding, although their chemistry on stage was occasionally questionable.
Highly in-demand designer, Jamie Vartan, contributed an ingeniously ambiguous set, in which simple props from the mental hospital like chairs or tables suddenly became a taxi or a receptionist’s desk as the Doctor and Nurse took on the roles of significant characters in order for Flavières to retell his story.
When I first heard that the show would included a rotating spiral staircase, I feared it may rely on this technical wizardry to capture the audience; however it was used in such a way that I felt it was both incredibly well directed and visually spectacular.
In charge of Vertigo is Giles Croft, the Playhouse’s Artistic Director, who has achieved what I consider to be a captivating masterpiece throughout which I was riveted and intrigued.
Benjamin Norris
Alfred Hitchcock’s iconic film,Vertigo has overshadowed the novel D’entre les morts, by the French duo Pierre Boilea and Thomas Narcejac on which the film was based. Jonathan Holloway has gone back to the original tale and faithfully adapted it for the stage, preserving the original setting of wartime Paris.
The heart of the story is about Flavières, a severely traumatised man (Ben Keaton) and how he fell obsessively in love with the ghost of Madeline, a woman who he initially had been paid to shadow, before she took her own life. Racked with guilt about being unable to save his love, played bewitchingly by Phillipa Peak, because of his fear of heights Flavières spirals into madness which builds to a dizzying climax when he tracks down a woman who he is utterly convinced is the reincarnation of Madeline uncovering a passionate plot of murder and shattering all his hopes.
Flavières’s tale is narrated by Dr Jacques Ballard (David Acton) and his male nurse (Robin Bowerman) presenting Flavières as a medical case study under hypnotism. The performances of David Acton and especially Robin Bowerman were marvellously convincing when in role in Flavières’s past. However, as storytellers, their interrupting of the action to point out and over-explain key phrases, which the audience should be given more credit to work out, grew increasingly annoying and ruined the flow of the play.
It’s an interesting multilayered play of crime, deceit, guilt, love, obsession and passion with a story within a story which will keep you on the edge of your seat all night. Don’t come to see this play presuming to see a Hitchcock thriller, set all your expectations aside and let your self be captivated by this helter-skelter of a performance.
Lizzie Hubbard
Giles Croft’s ‘Vertigo’ is described as a ‘gripping genre-hopping psychological thriller’ and it certainly lives up to this title. Roger Flavieres is an ex-police man suffering with vertigo (thus the title) is persuaded by an old friend to shadow his wife, a beautiful woman on whom Roger is soon obsessed. When she commits suicide he is shattered, but the story doesn’t end there, five years later, a trip to the movies starts digging up history that should be let lie.
The entire story is set in a hospital where Flavieres is kept. The series of events is shown through Flavieres thoughts and memories with a Doctor - Dr. Jacques Ballard and his assistant Nurse, stepping in to fill the roles when necessary.
David Action portrays Roger Flavieres well and convincingly however for me it was Phillipa Peak that made this performance, she plays the quiet, reserved Madeline wearing conservative apparel, in act 1 and the contrast in act 2 couldn’t be any better. She executes the role of the loud, cruder; Renée perfectly and at no point slips between the two characters.
A small detail I particularly enjoyed was the change of lighting by the onstage ‘light switch’ which changes the scene also. This I feel was cleverly done.
The play provides many twists and turns, thrills and points of dry humour. I would definitely recommend it to anyone requiring a good night out at the theatre, so book your tickets now and enjoy a well done play.
Pippa Waite
Vertigo
Directed by Giles Croft
Having not read the original 1950’s French novel or seen the Hitchcock movie adaptation, I did not really know what to expect when I went to see Vertigo performed at the Playhouse. I had been equipped with a brief outline of the plot (of which, I had found out, the playwright Jonathan Holloway had twisted and turned yet further than the original) and couldn’t wait to see what sounded like a gripping storyline. And I can’t say that I was disappointed.
Vertigo is the story of Roger, a lawyer who becomes caught up in a wild love affair having been asked by an old friend to follow his mysterious wife, Madeleine. He falls in dangerously in love and is devastated when Madeleine commits suicide from the top of a bell tower. Haunted by not having been able to save her (due to his eponymous condition) he spends the following five years trying to find her reincarnated self in another woman. Alongside this appetizing storyline, the audience must remember at all times that this is just one of two central plots and Flaviéres himself is actually revisiting his unsolved past with the doctor in a mental hospital. The audience are lead on a whirlwind of puzzles and unanswered questions as Flaviéres tries to discover who his suicidal love, Madeleine, really was and indeed, whether sh
What the critics say (19-Sep-08)
One can’t have seen every movie in the world…
So Giles Croft’s production of Jonathan Holloway’s stage adaptation will not be given a compare ’n’ contrast job by me. Nor can I contribute any knowledge of the French crime novel on which the screenplay was based …
I can report only what Croft, Holloway and their cast of four do, which is to create a puzzle that is simple to solve (that’s the plot bit) but holds our attention by making us keen to discover how the characters solve it.
… what we see is a re-enacted trauma, with the doctor and his nurse (Robin Bowerman) playing peripheral characters, all taking place upon James Vartan’s wonderful hospital set, where his wall of silhouetted bottles and pill boxes resembles a monochrome Damien Hirst.
The final catastrophe is included, which is good drama though rotten medical practice, but in other respects Holloway’s structure works admirably in showing Ben Keaton’s Roger, the former detective who let a colleague fall to his death, being entrapped in a plot that leads him to witness the beautiful Madeleine’s suicide. Or is it murder? And is she Madeleine?
… Philippa Peak’s … early gravity and later panic are well done, and Keaton’s doomed hero moves steadily from eerie detachment to rage and takes us into the dangerous heart of obsessive desire.
Jeremy Kingston, The Times
IT’S a superb clinic set, all gleaming taps and white tiles and towels. And, as is often the case when Giles Croft directs, it’s very linear, and on two levels, which in this instance are connected by a metal spiral staircase.
A psychologist/psychiatrist begins to lecture us on drive and instinct and how a collision between them can result in vertigo. He has a catatonic patient in pyjamas as an exhibit, and a male nurse is standing by. The patient is hypnotised into reliving his past. A tantalising start.
… David Acton, who’s good at slightly crazed, self-satisfied scientific types, does Dr Jacques Ballard well. Phillipa Peak, as Madeleine and Renée, is sexy and convincing, and she fills and unfills those forties costumes splendidly. Ben Keaton does well.
This play is adapted from the same French novel as the notable fifties film with James Stewart and Kim Novak. It makes you want to see that film if you haven’t already done so, and, perhaps even more, read the novel, Cold Sweat: From Among the Dead, if it’s still available.
But, what with its twist ending, this makes a good evening’s entertainment in its own right.
Alan Geary, Nottingham Evening Post
It’s no surprise that adapter, Jonathan Holloway, takes a purist line and returns to the ambience and starkness of the original novel by French thriller writers, Peirre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac.
… We are guided through the action by psychologist, Dr Jacques Ballard (David Acton), with his assistant Gratin (Robin Bowerman), who, with theatrical economy and intensity, play multiple roles to recreate the plot. The set (courtesy of Jamie Vartan) is a clinical staging of consulting room, couch, hospital bed with the all important spiral stairway to represent the high tower and the inner turmoil of Flavieres’ vertigo. It’s a good set with an important feeling of height. But it is also a stage for us the audience to watch the show, recalling the way these circus shows of hypnotising people were fashionable entertainment in France in the early 40s.
Central to the plot is the mysterious Madeleine, played hauntingly by Phillipa Peak. Beautiful and elegant, she lures Flavieres into madness. She, too, switches roles to good effect. Keaton (Flavieres) is particularly effective moving between persona - the mentally unbalanced patient, the man overwhelmed by the femme fatale and the duped, enraged lover.
This new adaptation cuts out some of the more ludicrous aspects of Hitchcock’s film, no bad thing for a sophisticated modern audience. It substantially differs from the story in the film, adapting to the more confined space of a theatre stage. Director Giles Croft resists well the temptation to use video film as a backdrop, distancing himself totally from the film. His economy of action is a tribute to his skill of imaginative portrayal of the story.
… full marks for the ending – strong and totally convincing!
Theatreworld
The twisty melodrama holds the attention
Metro
The vertiginous theme is underlined by the sense of a city teetering on the brink of occupation; the production also brings out the Orpheus and Eurydice theme, explicit in the novel, which Hitchcock chose to ignore. Roger Flavieres, a former detective with a poor head for heights, has a fleeting opportunity to reclaim the woman he loves from death: Orpheus was instructed never to look back, Roger must remember not to look down.
…
Turning Boileau and Narcejac’s story into a psychoanalytic treatise is a bold experiment
Alfred Hickling, The Guardian
Remarkably, playwright Jonathan Holloway seems to have accomplished a pretty mammoth task with almost enviable ease in his adaptation of the popular novel and film. Whereas some of the casting seemed initially bizarre (Ben Keaton takes on the role of dashing retired policeman Roger Flavieres, who is best known to me as boring Father Austin Purcell in popular 90s sitcom Father Ted), the obvious experience and collective talent of the cast shines through to create an atmosphere that oscillates between severe tension, hysteria and detached calmness. ...
Obviously, you can google it to find out what happens if you don’t already know, but I recommend you don’t as the twisting, turning and unpredictable narrative is one of the joys of this tale. … this is an impressive effort from an established production team.
Michelle Dhillon, NG Magazine
