The London County Hall is an impressive building in its own right, and a spectacular setting for this production. Very clever thinking to set a courtroom story in a kind of courtroom, as it really helped bring the production to life. As the building itself constitutes the set, very little else is needed, and the minimal additional set, props and lighting only serve to add a bit of colour. The London Country Hall also provided one of the most comfortable seats that I have ever sat in to watch a production - a pity that all theatres can’t have such padded and spacious seats!
The main thing that struck me about this show is how fast and furious it is when it comes to words, but how still it is otherwise. Other than a bit of pacing during a client conference, and some pomp and circumstance from counsel during the trial (spoiler alert: such behaviour from counsel doesn’t happen very often in a real courtroom; trust me!), this is a very stationary production. Daniel Solbe’s Leonard Vole sits practically stationary throughout the court proceedings in the first act; and although you are not really looking at him because you are focussed on the witness box and the advocates, he is acting throughout. He is both simultaneously the centre of attention, because he is right in the middle of the stage, and on the periphery because he doesn’t feature in much of the prosecution’s case. The bench is still, making notes as the evidence comes out with the occasional intervention, and the witnesses aren’t moving that much as they are in the witness box giving evidence.
Admittedly counsel - Jasper Britton as Sir Wilfrid Robarts and William Chubb as Mr Myers QC - are walking around during their advocacy, but that is only because you would have a completely stationary scene if they weren’t. It is actually pretty impressive that something so still and word dependent can captivate an audience.
That, I think, is down to the brilliant cast performances: Solbe’s naive and innocent Vole; Britton’s intelligent and charismatic Sir Wilfrid; Phoebe Marshall’s scheming and ruthless Romaine Vole. The acting, characterisation and performance in the delivery of the lines, being constrained as they are by the formality and static nature of a courtroom, is brilliant.
It is a pity that the production favours Sir Wilfrid as defence counsel and portrays prosecution counsel as a bit of a bumbling fool - it would have been nice, and quite effective I think, to have counsel equally matched and both brilliant and charismatic. Admittedly it makes for character variation, but the portrayal of Mr Myers QC did not make him seem the adversary that Sir Wilfrid speaks of.
This production is excellent although, because it is so sedantary it will not be to everyone’s liking; but there is nothing sedentary about the lines, and it is the lines and the delivery/performance of those lines that make this production. This is one case where you should actively seek jury service.