T.E. Lawrence and Robert Graves’ rebellion
When you’ve been part in the unimaginable slaughter of WWI, what does one do in its aftermath? With the world reshaped through monumental sacrifice, do those men who once lay at the very burning core of events simply become the flotsam of history?
Written by playwright Stephen Massicotte, The Oxford Roof Climber’s Rebellion tells a fictionalized version of events following the end of World War I from the perspective of two men who retire from the army to Oxford, England: T.E. Lawrence (“of Arabia”) and famed poet and author Robert Graves. Massicotte’s script is marvellous writing. It presents their ironic rebellion of practical jokes at Oxford as unfolding in parallel with the global consequences of the Arab rebellion, questioning the extent and intent of Lawrence’s personal and political manipulations (as genuine scholarship does) and showing Graves trying to piece together a semblance of family life. (The play often, and rightfully, refers to Graves’ immortal line “What life to lead and where to go/ After the War, after the War?”)
Director Richard Rose, of GCTC hit No Great Mischief, returns to take up this challenge. His resumé is profoundly deep and the direction here doesn’t disappoint. Rose remains true to the thrust of the script, forsaking any stylistic notions to focus intimately on character. He is armed with a set that, while initially looking ponderous and quite brown, gracefully and marvellously unfolds into assorted offices, rooms, teashops and gardens.
Tom Rooney (This Is Wonderland) presents a genuinely excellent portrayal of Lawrence at the flagging ebb of his energies. With his genius drained dry, all that Lawrence has left is an acerbic and pinpoint sarcasm. Using this wit as a weapon, he speaks with a bored indolence, but when roused the pace speeds and words bubble from his lips. His enunciation was notably good (notwithstanding a few small stumbles), embracing the clipped precision so representative of British genius. The famed charisma of Lawrence seems restrained, but I came to see in it a cunning device: Rooney seems to hold back his physicality, concentrating his energies into language and an internal tension. He bursts only occasionally (and startlingly) into vigorous movement, and teases us with the crumbs of what was once a heroic charisma.
Jonathan Crombie (Anne of Green Gables) plays the fictional Graves with a disarming innocence. One can see flashes of a boyish nature lost in the war, and how his presence begins to warm Lawrence. Suffering from shell shock and lingering wounds, Graves is painted as a man lost in a small circle, trying vainly to find moral direction in a world that spins between the continuing violence of the world, his wife’s (Michelle Giroux) refusal to acknowledge his trauma and Lawrence’s penetrating and wounded presence. He moves occasionally like a lost young man, sitting with legs akimbo or slouching furtively through a doorway.
With beautiful performances from the supporting cast, Massicotte’s play delivers an effective and affecting performance that, when one considers the present military adventures, elicits a return to Graves’ question: “After the War?”
As appeared in the Ottawa XPress – Oct 19, 2006
http://www.ottawaxpress.ca/stage/stage.aspx?iIDArticle=10620
