Georg Buchner died in 1837, having written only three plays. Two tragedies, Danton's Death and Woyzeck, eventually became enormously influential in the shift to prose-driven (as opposed to poetic) and realistic modern drama. They still surface on today's stage from time to time, but his comedy Leonce and Lena is rarely seen.
For that alone, Clonmel's Galloglass company's current production is to be welcomed. Buchner's approach to his comedy is revelatory, evoking continuous associations with various successors. It includes echoes, if I may invert the sequence, with such unlikely bedfellows as the Marx Brothers, Beckett and Flann O'Brien. He also salutes his predecessors, often satirically.
Prince Leonce is an idler who believes that all human activity has its roots in boredom, well-matched with his angst-ridden betrothed, Princess Lena. Valerio, Leonce's servant, is an independent rascal who understands and manipulates his master. A dim-witted king, a governess and sundry minor characters complete the cast. It all steers a course of mordant humour to a happy ending of sorts.
The play now comes across as being more a literary than theatrical work, an appeal to the intellect rather than an assault on the funny-bone. Perhaps to offset this, director Theresia Guschlbauer has broadened its thrust in some ways. Valerio is rather a circus than a Shakespearian clown; devices are employed to facilitate multiple role-playing by actors; some laughs are virtually solicited.
It left me with a sense that the actors - Hope Brown, Mia Gallagher, Virginie Hyvernat, Miriam Devitt and Ciaran Taylor - were not fully authoritative in their roles, with some tension between word delivery/interpretation and appropriate physical accompaniment. To balance this, there are embellishments of costumes, music and - why not? - some hamming. In sum, a serious novelty.
