Brilliant! Just brilliant! This Grinning Woman walked out of The
Old Vic and immediately started telling everyone they must go and see The
Grinning Man for themselves. Based on Victor Hugo's The Man who Laughs and
adapted for the stage by playwright Carl Grose, The Grinning Man is unmissable
for its incredible writing, performance, direction and production.
I was intrigued and engaged from the moment I opened the door to
the already crowded theatre. The expectation in the auditorium was palpable:
heightened by the huge jeering grin spanning the stage; setting the scene for
the marvel to follow. The sets continued to bring the performances to
life throughout: a performance within a performance; a stage within a stage; a
huge grin; a church; a throne room; a dungeon. The sets morphed effortlessly
and seamlessly to change not only settings but mood from heartbreak and despair
to joy, and sprinkled with humour throughout.
The cast for The Grinning Man were incredible. They had beautiful
voices that sang the haunting melodies of Grinpayne's tragic life. I was
particularly inspired by Louis Maskell who played Grinpayne. His voice
portrayed a quiet belief, a desperate hope and a childish innocence and
curiosity. This was contrasted by the harsh, prideful character of the clown,
whom the audience are encouraged to distrust. As an audience member I often
felt moved to protect Grinpayne from the pain of his past, as well as his
physical pain. We were taken along his journey, with him, as he discovered his
true identity beneath the smile.
The use of puppets was particularly fascinating, and so effective
that I initially thought it was a real little boy running across the stage. I
have never watched War Horse, but had always wanted to see how they used
puppets, so having the opportunity to watch the same puppet company at work was
amazing. I loved how realistic it was, and how you often forgot that there were
people controlling the puppets’ arms and legs.
I think the thing that captured my heart most in this performance
was the fact that it made me both laugh and cry. I'm not going to say that's a
hard thing to do, because it's not. I am quite easily moved to both laughter
and tears when watching performances, however it is rare to find a performance
that does both, certainly not in such a beautiful way as this.
In case you
haven’t guessed it already: I recommend watching The Grinning Man 100%! It is
the sort of performance you can watch again, and again, and pick up new things
from the plot and the cast each time. Grab some friends and some tickets and go
see it. I dare you not to come out grinning.
