Theatre: Marc Devenish
IF you can’t resist a clever couplet, and go weak on witnessing an eloquent epigram, award-winning American playwright David Hirson’s play La Bete, at the Nico Arena in Cape Town, will provide you with a lifetime’s supply of both. If you ever hear another, it may, in fact, be too soon.
Whatever your sentiments about wanton wordplay, this production will leave you reeling at the sheer magnitude of effort that must have been invested in the construction of the script.
>From Diane Wilson’s strident and throaty introduction as the reactionary Elomire, leader of a troupe of French actors, to the last bombastic utterances some two hours down the line, the dialogue is one extended series of poetic witticisms.
It is 1654. We enter the aftermath of a dinner party held at the estate of Prince Conti, patron of Elomire’s troupe. The place is Languedoc, France.
The guests are all members of the troupe, with one exception — Valere (Kurt Wustmann), an overbearing though curiously endearing troubadour. Valere is the proverbial thorn in Elomire’s side, being a genius in the art of rhetoric — a brilliance he is not unaware of. He is also a satirist, a cynic and an egoist, but mostly he is a raving lunatic.
Elomire is gifted in the realm of repartee, but somewhat set in his ways, believing firmly in the preservation of artistic integrity and dedicated to the maintenance of traditional standards. Valere, on the other hand, is a creative being whose expressive edge knows no bounds and whose rumbustious personality simply cannot accommodate the careful considerations of the angst- ridden Elomire.
The result is a sustained post-dinner party duel of words between the two men. The floor is dominated by the more adventurous Valere, who will stop at nothing in his determined prodigious display — his initial monologue spans some 35 minutes.
WUstmann seems born to the role. Not once (and it should be pointed out that I attended a preview) did I see him stumble, and never in any of his fast-paced monologues was there so much as a falter. The result is a flawless rendition of a character steeped in bizarre caprice and cloaked almost excessively in high camp.
Against the overwhelming nature of Valere, the other characters in La Bete seem to pale. This is in itself, though, the very gist of the story. Diane Wilson provides a noble enough challenge to the energetic WUstmann, but he returns time and again to steal the show.
Effective props, stunning set design and a clear technical slickness polish this production to a shine while Capab director, Marthinus Basson, must be commended in what cannot have been an easy task.
La Bete is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. Two hours is a long time to maintain the level of concentration required to appreciate fully the fine literary artistry which is the production’s strength. But it is well worth the effort.
La Bete runs at the Nico Arena, Cape Town, until October 28