Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic

Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic

30 March, 2011
by: Naima Khan

Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic is an uneven, lacklustre production of a Terence Rattigan classic.

Anne Marie Duff (of Virgin Queen and Shameless) fame sounds perfect as the licentious Alma Rattenbury in Terence Rattigan's 1930s tale of murder and crime. In Cause Célèbre she's directed by Thea Sharrock, previously at the helm of the award-winning After The Dance (also by Rattigan) at the National Theatre. Staged at the grand Old Vic, Cause Célèbre should be brilliant. It's not.


The first half has me drifting in and out of consciousness. Where Ovaltine just won't cut it, Cause Célèbre will. The story follows Alma's trial as she and her teenage lover stand accused of the murder of her husband. A lacklustre secondary storyline looks at the moral dilemma of the jury's forewoman Edith Davenport (Niamh Cusack) as she fights an out-of-court custody battle for her seventeen year old son. Though Rattigan's script doesn't exactly ignite the audience's emotions, it could be turned into something urgent and captivating.


It heads in this direction after the interval when Alma stops being a drunk flirt and starts telling us her side of things. This is when Duff comes into her own and get us on side with those sorrowful eyes and much hand-wringing. Her pace and pleading tone of voice carry us through to the end, but where was this calibre of acting in the first half? In fairness, Rattigan hasn't given her much to work with before the interval but Sharrock's direction makes things worse. It gives us a predictable set-up and another annoying female character, much like the unnecessary forewoman.


The best thing about Cause Célèbre is the supporting cast. Jenny Galloway as Alma's companion is tough, caring and a wee bit batty, which is why we love her. Edith Devenport's friend – desperate to use Devenport's courtroom insights to place a bet on the verdict – is also a standout character. The stars of the show come in the form of the barristers for the prosecution and defence. In particular, Nicholas Jones as Alma's lawyer lights up the stage with his humour, and makes us miss him when he's not around.


A lot of Cause Célèbre's best aspects are underplayed in Sharrock's production. Rattigan gives much time to the media hype, and the powerplay between much older and much younger lovers, but this isn't highlighted here. Instead, it's swallowed by an intensely dull sub-plot and excessive efforts at depicting English attitudes to sex between the wars.


Designer Hildegard Bechtler's work is going to be divisive. It adds depth to the stage and uses the full range of it. But if you're in the stalls it can feel like the action is far away. Sitting higher up you get a great view of Alma's raised, bare prison cell which doubles as her bedroom, and you can see everything happening at the back and the front of the stage.


Considering that Sharrock and Duff are of such pedigree, Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic is disappointingly substandard.

Cause Célèbre runs at The Old Vic until 11th June.

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Naima Khan