Amadeus

Mozart on a Tightrope

Amadeus

by Peter Schaffer

Putney Theatre Company at Putney Arts Theatre until 18^th November

Review by Andrew Lawston

With a verbose script, a daunting running time of almost three hours, and huge themes of seething creative jealousy, the ephemeral nature of genius, and the unpredictable question of which art endures for posterity and which is forgotten, not to mention a huge number of 18th century costumes and endless musical cues, Peter Schaffer’s Amadeus is a bold and ambitious choice for any theatre company, but one which Putney Theatre Company have attacked with great gusto at Putney Arts Theatre.

Amadeus ostensibly tells the story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s final years in Vienna, but the play belongs to Antonio Salieri, the sweet-toothed court composer and devout Catholic who, appalled at Mozart’s immature and coarse behaviour, resents his enormous talent and his arrogance, and vows to destroy him to spite God.  The play zips along at a tremendous pace thanks to director Ian Higham, and three enjoyable hours fly by.

Salieri is played by Paul Dineen in a virtuoso performance that sees him move from his old age to a youthful thirty-four (Dineen cites this particular age with a splendid wink to the audience), and back again.  Nathan Chatelier’s mercurial Mozart provides a brilliant foil to Dineen’s respectable and authoritative Salieri.  In this play, Mozart has the potential to be a somewhat irritating character, and Chatelier walks that tightrope carefully, retaining the audience’s sympathy even at his most grotesque.

As the two composers grapple their way through life, the “Venticelli” act as a chorus to relate important off-stage events, generally to Salieri.  The effortlessly suave duo, played by Joe Bradley and Alberto Lais, entertain on every appearance, even when delivering the most tragic tidings.

The secret war that Salieri wages against his rival is largely centred around courting the favour of Joseph II, Emperor of Austria.  Played here with cheerful panache by Govind Hodgson, Joseph II remains entertainingly oblivious to the intrigues that swirl around his court, punctuating his decisions with a sometimes confused but always final, “Well, there it is!”

Court in Vienna is represented by Kim Dyas as a lugubrious Count Johann Killian von Strack, Jean Pierre Agius as Count Franz Orsini-Rosenberg, an occasional opera director, and Bill Boyd as the avuncular Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who initiates Mozart into the Masons.

Meanwhile, Emily McCormick gives an arresting performance as Constanze, Mozart’s wife, who becomes aware of Salieri’s ill intentions after he makes a disastrous first act-closing attempt to seduce her.  With her broad accent and pragmatic attitude, Constanze is a breath of fresh air every time she makes an entrance, under-cutting the male rivalry that dominates the rest of the play.

A talented ensemble fills out the rest of the cast, with Ally Dixon particularly prominent as the musical prodigy Katherina Cavalieri throughout the show.

The drama plays out against a stark set featuring two proscenium arches and a wonderfully detailed floor, with a piano at one end and a harpsichord at the other.  The set, designed by the director Ian Higham, proves to be remarkably versatile throughout the play, often thanks to Martin Jessop’s array of lighting filters.  Simon Crump’s costumes are also a constant delight, with some actors sporting several different period costumes throughout the show, the wardrobe in itself looks like it must have been an industrial scale undertaking.

Given the play’s title character, the music is obviously excellent throughout.  The ensemble gamely mime along to Mozart’s music, often while Salieri waxes lyrical about his rival’s virtuosity.  These scenes require great timing, and it’s a credit to sound operator Annie Spencer that the effect is mostly flawless.

As Salieri’s campaign against Mozart grinds on over the years, the court composer frequently observes to the audience that his own career was going from strength to strength while Mozart’s faltered, despite him being a more talented composer.  This mixture of seething jealousy and awestruck admiration is a potent mix that makes for powerful scenes throughout the play.

Salieri tells the audience that by confessing to Mozart’s murder, his name will always be linked to the great composer, and that he will achieve immortality by proxy.  In an irony that would surely not be lost on the playwright, this may well turn out to be true for Peter Schaffer, whose 1979 play has now endured for well over forty years, and will continue to thrive for as long as productions of the piece maintain these high standards.

Andrew Lawston, November 2023

Photography courtesy of PTC