“Franz Woyzeck” by Daniel McVey
Nottingham New Theatre

Franz is home, with his loving wife Marie, and both are as safe as they can be from the war that is still going on. So why is it that he cannot seem to relax or trust anybody?

He barely acknowledge the existence of his baby daughter. Why is happiness eluding him and his family?

Marie earns a little money by doing menial jobs and it's this involvement with others that plays on Franz's mind, convincing him that she is unfaithful to him and is a sinner. With the effects of the war playing on his mind and his suspicions, Franz takes drastic action!

Loosely based on Georg Buchner’s incomplete 19th century German classic Woyzeck, this is a modern adaptation focusing on remembering victims of war, and questioning how it is we remember them.

The narration also gives a timeline of other casualties of war, always stating that this will happen never again, but how many times down through history have we heard that?

A good piece of theatre will evoke some kind of emotion from the audience and that is certainly true of this play.You could see the climax coming but even though you were expecting it, it still came as a smack in the face.

Daniel McVey has taken the bones of the story and has fleshed it out in a very modern way with physical theatre and choreography which never at any time detracts from the horror of the story being told.

Playing Woyzeck is Arthur Mckechnie, and possibly the most emotive and passionate role I've seen him perform. At times almost trance like as he told us of the voices in his head. We see the deterioration of his mental health and his downward spiral into what he believes to be true. His final monologue ringing true about the past war victims and the atrocious way they met their end.

Marie is played by Charlotte Brough, this being her debut NNT role. Like so many NNT debut performances I have seen over the last couple of years, Charlotte's confidence in the role makes it impossible to realise that she debuts here. She also puts a lot of trust in her fellow actors in several of the more physical sections.

Drummer is an interesting role and there is insinuation through the dance that Marie has a "thing" with Drummer which erupts in Woyzeck's anger against both Drummer and Marie. Playing the complex and chameleonic role is Yasmine Dankworth who has one of those expressive faces that tells you exactly the mood of the character she is playing.

Two other roles labelled "A" and "B" are Gemma Walton and Rosiella Sutherland who stitch the scenes together smoothly with commentary and even dance.

Loved the sound design in this play (Emily Dimino) and although the lighting design was quite haphazard (Laura Wolczyk) in a strange way it worked because it was like being inside Woyzeck's mind - or am I thinking a bit too out of the box here?

Tying everything technical together was Ben Woodford, creating a claustrophobic but electric atmosphere.

A very clever use of props which meant that the main actors weren't saddled with stuff like babies and bottles as they were on poles - the props not the actors - and were positioned for the actors to just take up and then relinquished of them, unhindered.

This adaptation of the play really got people talking afterwards which is a really good indication as to it's future success as it is also one of the show entries for the Sunday Times 2019 National Student Drama Festival.