Theatre
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Juan or the laies
‘WE'RE ASKING PEOPLE TO BE QUITE SEXUAL AT TIMES'
Misogynist, sex god or libertine? Don Juan is all this and more, as theatre director Jeremy Raison tells Mark Fisher
be late Robert David MacDonald. one ol‘ the triumvirate of directors who ran the (‘iti/cns' Theatre l'or 3i) years. always used to say a
translation was only good for about a decade. [501‘
some reason. classics remain classics in their original
language. but translations pick up the tone of their
times and quickly become dated. So it is apposite that director .Jeremy Raison’s staging of Don Juan is nominally translated by MacDonald. who died in Zilll—i. but actually leatures very little ol the script audiences enjoyed at the (‘it/ in 1903.
‘l was very concerned to make it modern. rather than the Don .Juan myth preserved in aspic.~ says Raison. who is co—directing with Maxine Braham. best known l‘or her work as a dancer and chiireographer. ‘l looked at a framework ol a modern Don Juan who is thrown into that world. so you get the Don Juan myth and our response to it. The more we looked at that. the more we developed a completely new piece.~
:\n early work by (‘arlo (ioldoni. this version ol‘ the Don Juan story was unknown in Britain until MacDonald’s studio staging. The Sunday 'Ii'lm'x loved
the way it was ‘not interested in the glamour of
seduction but only in its dismal results'. while The [is] welcomed its ‘block—buster ingredients: sex and violence. good and evil. low comedy and high bistrionics.' The Financial Times thought it 'astonishing that we have done without' the play since its premiere in Venice in 1736.
Rightly. Raison wanted it to be a play about sexual relations today. which meant not only focusing on the
86 THE LIST -'- ESL-l, ./
lusty Juan. but also the women. who do not always succumb to his charms. including Donna Anna. played by .\'eve McIntosh (pictured. above). ‘T asked myself what it really means in the 21st century.~ he says. ‘Is he just a misogynist'.’ What happens il‘ the women are strong'.’ Is he just a male wish—l‘ullilment l'igure'.’ (‘o-directing with Maxine Braham means we're approaching Don Juan from a male and female perspective. That‘s important. particularly because we‘re asking people to be quite sexual at times.
'What intrigued me about the (ioldoni is that the women are quite strong already. but I wanted to look at what happens when they say no. look at him from a dil’l‘erent perspective or get their revenge.‘
All this will count for nothing unless the lead actor can capture the dangerous charisma of a man who plays Russian roulette with the wronged women who trail in his wake. In Mark Springer. Raison reckons he‘s found just such a star. "The ideal is that people should think. “Wow. that Don Juan is very sexy: oh. I shouldn‘t l‘eel that. he's a bit of a monster".~ he says. ‘He’s a misogynist but he‘s also got phenomenal energy. lie challenges people who settle for mortgages. marriage and kids. Mark Springer walked into the audition and we knew he was who we were looking for He has to be very attractive. And he has to have a danger about him as well as a magnetism. liven it people think he's horrible. they’ve got to think he's a bit l‘anciable as well.’
Don Juan, Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 18 Sep—Sat 1 1 Oct.
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