Review: George, Omnibus Theatre

Léa des Garets’ debut play George offers an entertaining historical riff on the life of George Sand, now playing at the Omnibus Theatre

“A little lady story with cross-dressing”

When blessed with a name such as Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin, it kinda sucks that it takes adopting the pseudonym George Sand in order to gain one’s deserved recognition, but that’s the patriarchy for you innit. Such was her talent though, that in the 19th century literary establishment, Sand rose to great acclaim across Europe even as she fought valiantly against the strictures of conservative societal norms.

Unafraid of scandalising others, she wore men’s clothes when she liked and took a range of lovers including Frédéric Chopin. Inspired by history but very much making its own suggestive leaps, Léa des Garets’ play George posits that another of those lovers might have been actress Marie Dorval and from there springs a touchingly contemporary tale of the trials of exploring gender identity in the public eye.

We join Sand in 1839 Marseille with barely a sou to her name and suffering from an inconveniently timed bout of writer’s block. Encouraged to write a play, her choice of subject – Gabriel, an Italian prince who discovers they were born a woman but raised as a man as part of a plot to secure an inheritance – leads down a path of personal revelation but as in art in life, society does not present the most welcoming of arms whether in Gabriel’s or George’s experiences, the two contrasting and intersecting throughout.

Des Garets explores this unfortunately timeless topic with an impressive delicacy, a confident humour keeping things much lighter than one might have expected. She also plays Sand, lending a vrai sense of authenticity to this imagined version of the writer and the life she might have led. Strong support comes from Iniki Mariano’s Marie, unafraid to call out poor attitudes whether from the masses or Sand herself.

Ruta Costa’s production looks a treat in the gauziness of Delyth Evans’ design, under Marie Colahan’s sensitive lighting, but there are moments where the lightness of tone is arguably embraced too whole-heartedly. The often manic energy is personified by Conor Dumbrell playing ‘All the Men’ with huge amounts of fun but as the subject matter becomes increasingly weighty, the direction doesn’t transmute in line with it to allow the more reflective mood that the writing seems to suggest. Still a powerful piece of theatre at times though.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *