The Count of Monte Cristo - Brighton Open Air Theatre

There are a couple of ways you can approach classical literature when adapting it for the stage. You can play it straight like the recent production of Sherlock Holmes – The Valley of Fear which can be a little boring and po-faced or you can attack it and deconstruct it like that hardy perennial The Thirty Nine Steps which seems to be forever on tour and is great fun. Thankfully the production company Rather Nifty have gone the latter route in their adaptation of Alexander Dumas’s sprawling novel, ‘The Count Of Monte Cristo’, a tale of revenge, love and Napoleon set in France, Italy and the islands of the Mediterranean between 1815-1839 – it’s a very long book as is explained to the audience before the play starts.

There are myriad characters in the novel but in this production, there are just twenty-five or so. However, as there are only three performers in the cast, there’s a lot – and I mean a lot – of doubling-up! The cast consists of Oliver Malam (who also helped write the show), who is mainly the Count but also plays King Louis XVIII and others, Adam Elliott who plays Napoleon and eight other characters, and who not only wrote the show but directed it too and Christina Baston who plays at least twelve different characters – all three play both male and female roles.

The script is very funny at times with echoes of Monty Python, the “Goes Wrong” series of plays etc. and the three actors change characters at a great pace, with lots of energy and brio. On a tiny budget, there is a lot of creativity and originality with the use of puppets, toy soldiers, galleons, a mannequin in a wheelchair, wooden spoons and a policeman’s helmet complete with flashing blue light – not sure if Dumas would have approved but he’s been dead for over 150 years! Malam, Elliott and Baston are all superb, changing characters at the drop of a hat (sometimes literally) and occasionally playing two characters at the same time whilst fighting with themselves – no easy feat! But they do it with great aplomb, interacting with the audience and ad-libbing at will – it’s all great fun – I’m not sure how true to the original book it is but that’s probably a good thing.

With a simple set (if you can call it that) played out in front of what looks like an abstract modernist painting of a map of France, behind which the many props are hidden, Brighton Open Air Theatre (known as locally BOAT which is appropriate as it’s a stone’s throw from the sea), is a superb space. It’s basically an amphitheatre surrounding a horseshoe-shaped stage and works well for this production, giving the three actors room to showcase their physicality. Special mention must be made for the sound design which was excellent and gives another layer to the production which helps as there is no lighting – impossible as the show starts and finishes in the daylight!

As much as I enjoyed the show and the performances of the three actors, there is one major flaw – it’s way too long. On the BOAT website it’s billed as a runtime of 150 minutes (including an interval) but thankfully after one of the sunniest days of the year, as the sun went down it got a little chilly, it only ran for about 125 minutes but that was still too long. The cast kept their energy levels high but after a while the jokes fell a little flat and the story meandered introducing unnecessary characters such as Leopold The Dancing Horse amongst others! This is an inventive and creative piece of theatre but after a 45-minute first act where everything zipped along, the second act went on far too long and the narrative slowed to a crawl and became a little self-indulgent and weary. If you’re cutting down a sprawling classic novel, why not cut it down even further and at 75 minutes or so, Rather Nifty would have written a classic of their own.

Review by Alan Fitter

Alexandre Dumas’ celebrated novel is a favourite of readers all over the world, but it rarely makes an appearance on our stages or screens. And certainly never like this… So join three intrepid actors in this fast paced and furiously funny retelling of the greatest revenge tale ever told.

The year is 1815. France is divided. Napoleon plots his return to power, and humble sailor Edmond Dantes is living a simple honest life. Or so he thinks. Betrayed by those who know him, accused of treason, Edmund is imprisoned in the depths of the prison island The Chateau D’If. Forsaken and forgotten, he begins to weave an intricate web of vengeance.

Expect revenge, redemption and a whole load of ridiculousness as all 1200 pages of French epic are stuffed onto stage in this brand-new comedy adaptation. Bringing to life the original jailbreak story… probably… I mean it’s fairly old.

The Count of Monte Cristo is an epic tale of vengeance, redemption and how far one man will go for justice.

CAST
Oliver Malam
Adam Elliott
Christina Baston
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director – Adam Elliott
Production Design – Rather Nifty (Adam Elliott and Oliver Malam)
Costume Design – Rowena Bird and Rather Nifty

Rather Nifty presents
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO
Written by Adam Elliott and Oliver Malam
Based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas
Brighton Open Air Theatre
11 to 13 July 2024