Angela Carter’s gothic fairytale, The Bloody Chamber, is transformed into a staged retelling at The Malthouse Theatre that does justice not only to the original text, but also to the dark and sinister overtones of Carter’s writing.
In keeping with Carter’s tradition of revisiting folk stories and drawing out the dark and depraved in order to offer readers a twist on the tale’s morality and meaning, The Bloody Chamber tells the story of a young girl married to a much older and sinister Marquis (based on the character of Bluebeard). Sent to live with him in his foreboding castle, cut off from the mainland by the sea, she is isolated from everything and everyone that she knows and loves, and exposed to the sharp realities of sex, desire and power instead of the elegance and excitement of marriage that she hoped for. Upon discovering a bloody chamber in the depths of the castle, the woman is confronted by the terrible facts of her husband’s true nature and the realisation that she must now fight for her life.
Van Badham, Associate Artist (Writing) at the Malthouse and creator of the performance text for The Bloody Chamber has cut more than 80% of Carter’s original story but retained her style, creating a piece that often feels closer to a performed reading of the text than a theatrical staging of it. Enacted as an admirable 80 minute near-monologue by Alison Whyte, her performance has been stripped down to its minimalist bones, focusing almost purely on vocal expression rather than action. This makes the evening very word-heavy and doesn’t always make for easy viewing – if you are unaware of the original story, you may want to revise this before you go.
Whyte’s performance, however, is excellent, and despite her restricted capacity to do much on stage, her voice fluidly captures the complex layers within Carter’s story, adeptly moving the character through innocence, womanhood and towards her final moments of terror. Although the first half runs at a slow pace, the second half is truly captivating as she descends into the bloody chamber. As her horror takes hold of the space, an eerie stillness falls over the audience as we hold our collective breath in anticipation of what is to come.
Director Matthew Lutton has made some interesting and brave decisions with this piece and he carries the minimalist style through into the set and staging, where three black blocks hide snippets of the castle beneath them, controlling the audience’s view and perpetuating the sense of power and threat that exists in the young girl’s new life with the Marquis. Three harpists play live on the stage and the music creates a distorted accompaniment to Whyte’s narrative, increasing the discomforting feel of the piece.
Elements of horror and threat are often elusive in theatre, with many a production failing to adequately build up the suspense and create a palpable sense of danger. In a similar way to Angela Carter’s literature, this performance relies heavily on the power of imagination and builds towards the terrible climax through what is spoken rather than what is seen. This is a supreme lesson on the power of voice and the impact of clever lighting effects; the result is a sense of darkness and threat that is rarely felt in live performance.
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
The Bloody Chamber
By Angela Carter
Directed by Matthew Lutton
Music by David Chisholm
Performance Text by Van Badham
Set & Costume Design: Anna Cordingley
Lighting Design: Paul Jackson
Sound Design: Jethro Woodward
Cast: Alison Whyte and Shelly Lauman
Musicians: Jacinta Dennett, Jess Fotinos and Yinuo Mu
Merlyn Theatre, The Malthouse, Melbourne
2 – 10 August
