Theatre Review: Rebecca

The Production: Rebecca adapted from the novel by Daphne du Maurier

The Company: Melbourne Theatre Company

The Theatre: The Southbank Theatre

Runtime: One hour, 45 minutes (No interval)

Until: 5 November

Stars: 4

Rebecca is one of those books/movies/plays which I think will leave me underwhelmed? Why? Well, gothic isn't my favourite genre and they like to do over this Du Maurier classic every few years, either on television or film. The last bash at it had Armie Hammer as Max de Winter, just before he got cancelled. But audience love this tale of a young, guileless woman with few prospects marrying a very rich man, who's beloved first wife has died under mysterious circumstances. 

I went in knowing the story. I also went in hoping I wasn't going to have the tits bored off of me. An hour and forty-five minutes in the Sumner's rock-hard seats is never easy, particularly when the auditorium is packed. 

Thankfully, this Rebecca is done extremely well. 

There are some great things about this play. 

First up, the cast are some of Australia's best. It's a four-hander. Nikki Sheilds is wonderful as the second Mrs de Winter. She's never given a name and is excellent as the proxy narrator of the story. Her chief antagonist is Pamela Rabe, who never puts in a bad performance. She's chilling as the eponymous Mrs Danvers, as well as being hilarious as Mrs Van Hopper and Max's spiteful sister Beatrice. 

Maxim de Winter is portrayed with the right amount of disdain by Stephen Phillips and Toby Truslove holds his own as the two minor male characters used for intrigue and setting the scene around Manderlay.

Director Anne-Louise Sarks, working with dramaturgs, Jennifer Medway and Zoey Dawson have taken Du Maurier's beloved novel and created something great. The runtime was perfect. A boring play would have dragged - this didn't.

My favourite thing of this production was the staging and costumes. Marg Horwell's set and costumes are incredible, which are set off by Paul Jackson's moody and effective lighting scheme.

All of this makes for a very entertaining evening of theatre. And yes, I think I'll forever be on the fence about Rebecca, because I'm not that fond of gothic literature and I'm very put off by you never knowing the second Mrs de Winter's Christian name (so rude, so patriarchal - it's like they want to eliminate her... okay, which is sort of the point), this is a very, very good production. 

Get in quickly - tickets are becoming harder to find - but this is worth a look, if not for Nikki Sheils and Pamela Rabe's performances, but the staging alone. 

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