THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD | UK TOUR @ FESTIVAL THEATRE, EDINBURGH
★★★
“Entertaining, if languid storytelling…”
In The Circus that is British Intelligence, it’s impossible to distinguish friends from enemies, let alone when you are being played. John Le Carre’s 1963 espionage thriller, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold, highlights this with a forensic detachment as layer upon layer of intrigue and duplicity intertwine, all in the name of the greater good.
That creates a challenge for David Eldridge, who has adapted the Cold War story for the stage, bringing Le Carre’s now iconic creations George Smiley, Control and Alec Leamas to life in the confines of a fixed set and just under two hour running time. It’s a big ask and not always as engaging as it should be even with Max Jones’ oppressive stage design conjuring up the period evocatively, boasting as it does the foreboding spectre of the Berlin Wall, which looms large in the background. Welcome to a shadow world of people who do despicable, sometimes wicked, things so the rest of us can sleep safely in our beds at night.
Haunted by the loss one of British Intelligence’s finest and his friend Karl Riemeck, shot while attempting to escape from East Berlin, Alec Leamas, the world-weary British Head of Berlin Station, comes in from the cold only to agree to one last mission; a return to East Germany under the pretence of being a defector. The plan, to bring down rival counter-intelligence officer Hans-Dieter Mundt, the man responsible for the death of his friend and the collapse of his entire Berlin operation… but as a myriad of relationships converge, who can he trust?
If Eldridge at times struggles to hold the attention – with so much to cram in, exposition is heavy – the fragmented nature of his adaptation ensures the tale is told with the flow of the story telling picking up in the second act.
Leading the company, Ralf Little makes for a committed, if somewhat lightweight, Leamas, but works well with both Nicholas Murchie’s suave, quintessentially English Control, and Tony Turner’s inscrutable George Smiley. Gráinne Dromgoole too impresses as Leamas’ admirer Liz Gold. All too often, however, performances lack the required gravitas, a failing of the production in general.
Director Jeremy Herrin keeps principal performances focussed with a nice use of stillness, while movement director Lucy Cullingford injects stylised physicality into the piece – more of which would be welcome.
A generally languid affair, the urgency of the piece builds during a set piece tribunal at which the web of lies and deceit unravels, and one last dramatic visit to the Berlin Wall, but after just one hour and 49 minutes in their company, like Little’s emotionally detached Leamas, any feeling connection to these Cold War characters remains vague at best.
Full tour details and tickets HERE
