Marcello Magni and Kathryn Hunter in The Chairs
(Picture: Helen Murray)Kathryn Hunter’s performance is the main draw in this rare and laborious revival of Eugene Ionesco’s absurdist 1952 play. You can’t take your eyes off her as a clownish nonagenarian literally rearranging the furniture at the end of the world. Otherwise, this knowing, apocalyptic slapstick raises titters rather than belly laughs. Omar Elerian’s meandering production feels like a curiosity for aficionados rather than a triumphant reboot of a classic.
It’s metatheatrical throughout. We first hear Hunter and her real-life husband Marcello Magni, playing actors playing characters called Old Woman and Old Man, arguing over the tannoy about whether to go on or not. “Too may words… it’s a difficult play,” he moans. A stage manager (Toby Sedgwick) shunts them in front of the audience and feeds them confusing props, cues and prompts that they make into an even bigger mess. Imagine The Play That Goes Wrong done by Samuel Beckett, and you’re halfway there.
