DramaLondonReview

The Devil May Care – Southwark Playhouse Borough, London

Reviewer: Maryam Philpott

Writer and Director: Mark Giesser

What does the devil really look like and does changing the era alter his face? That is the question posed by writer/director Mark Gleisser who brings an adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play The Devil’s Disciple forward by a century to sit in this new production at Southwark Playhouse during the American war with the Philippines in 1899. Considering the sacrifices a man might make when he has no codes to live by, this exploration of freedom is a little stymied in Gleisser’s slow-moving production that aims for commentary on American imperialism but struggles to marshal the characters’ racism, various love affairs, family dramas and religious and secular interactions.

Learning of the sudden death of his father, army lieutenant Elias and his mother Adele assume they will shortly inherit the house and other assets but are shocked to find a late codicil leaves it all to Elias’ erstwhile brother Richard who soon arrives to claim his rights. Stating he is in thrall to the devil and demonstrating it with loose morals, Richard makes an impression on several of the local residents but surprises even himself when a vicar is charged with sedition and through accident of circumstance, Richard takes his place determined to sacrifice himself.

This adaptation, now titled The Devil May Care, seems trapped between its two worlds – Shaw’s original and Gleisser’s desire to draw out modern parallels with contemporary politics and morality, but setting the play so squarely in 1899 prevents the writer from fully exploring the historical terminology and attitudes for which this play carries a content warning. While characters like Adele and the American soldiers reveal an ingrained prejudice that makes them irredeemably dislikable, Richard’s overt humanism, support for Philippine independence and demonstrative inclusiveness make him a man ahead of his time and thus sympathetic to the audience, hardly the dubious devil’s disciple as the play’s morality suggests.

Through two hours of performance, this updating of Shaw struggles to explain itself, bringing some aspects of the story up to date while leaving some in both the original era and its 1899 context. So much insightful work has been done in recent years by staging classics in more timeless spaces without obvious era or setting, where their universal themes can resonate more clearly with the audience, but tying this one to the fight for Philippine independence offers a military context, a state of some emergency and an underground movement, but leaves character motivation and narrative sense stranded, particularly for Richard whose excesses and capriciousness are dwarfed by the excessive plotting.

There is a lot to keep track of in Shaw so limiting an adaptation to two hours is challenging, especially as Glessier has created a sometime family drama that delves into the awkward reunion of two brothers as well as mother and son; a sometime romance as the brilliant vicar’s wife cum lawyer Judith falls for the more virile Richard; a sometime military base drama plotting the advancing local position and a sometime legal drama with the climactic courtroom scene meandering between all of the above. Yet The Devil May Care never focuses long enough on any of these themes to make a statement about either the bullishness of America or the vagaries of human nature. There are some strong scenes between Callum Woodhouse’s Richard and Beth Burrows’ Judith in particular but once you get into the detail of this play, the devil is nowhere to be found.

Runs until 1 February 2025

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The Reviews Hub London is under the editorship of Richard Maguire. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.

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