God and Gold make a story. And to tell it, The Royal Hunt of the Sun will use so much fabric that it could span twice the length of an Olympic sized swimming pool! Twice. That’s right, enough to drown in. When you read the production notes on the sheer amount of gold glint used to embellish the stage and the 10 months it has taken to make all the intricate head-gear and artefacts, well it is very impressive. We will see the Oxford Playhouse being illuminated by Inca bracelets, bangles, anklets, necklaces, and all numbers of exotic priceless stage dressings. But there’s a nagging feeling that creeps up inside.
Could this entire visual spectacle be an elaborate distraction from the actual acting? It’s hard to tell because there is still so much time left for improvement before the show opens in 3rd week. Peter Shaffer’s play is a romanticised re-telling of the 16th century Spanish expedition led against the Inca civilisation. This play is intended to be grand, with an epic musical score and stylised dialogue to capture the audience’s imagination. Unfortunately, the acting seemed to fall short of the hype aroused by its production team – not across the entire cast– but in the two main characters of Francisco Pizarro and the King of the Incas Atahuallpa.
The problem may have been the high level of intensity that Jacob Taee’s Pizarro had to maintain throughout the play. When this somewhat larger-than-life character is being wracked with doubt about his Christian faith, the acting came off as petulant ranting. When Pizarro was being heroic striving to defend his new friend, the King of the Incas, there was an absence of playable emotion and instead, quite a lot of shouting. When the King of the Incas himself, played by Joe Robertson, clapped together his palms and spoke with the tongue of a god, the effect was disappointing, lacking the regal flourish and confidence required to make such a moment work. Not a flop but altogether unpersuasive, these great men weren’t as we wanted them to be, and if there was any humour or affection between them then it was drowned out by the hum of pan-pipes, the fluttering of fabric and the gleam of the gold leaf.
What held the principal players together in this large cast of over 20 actors, were the Cassie Barraclough and Marcel Miller’s Incan generals. With towering stilts that allowed them to bound across the stage and thundering voices, they pierce through gabble of quarrelling Spanish ministers and make their onstage presence mysterious and powerful. And Alfie Enoch’s De Soto was able to bring the impassioned speech and valour that playing a Spanish conquistador demands. The other Spanish soldiers kept the pace exciting, whilst the omnipotent narration given by Jonathan Webb (playing his older-self long after the expedition had taken place) is a good dramatic device that keeps the audience engaged with the nicely choreographed scenes taking place on stage.
The play is definitely unique and an ambitious task for a student budget. If this potentially strong cast can through the teething problems of making somewhat two-dimensional characters come to life in a satisfying way, then this production of Royal Hunt promises to be astounding and mesmerising.
