Not a natural fit for the stage, you might think, Hemmingway’s spartan epic in which a monosyllabic man chases an (entirely silent) 18-foot-fish across the sea, for three days. Surface technicalities aside (boat, sea, 18-foot-fish), it’s the solitary psychological deterioration that’d seem prohibitive.
How frustrating, then, that in Rob Young’s free adaptation, directed by Laura Casey, this young company nail the vitals of Hemmingway’s masterpiece, only to fall down on its ephemera.
Using a clutch of 'poor theatre' techniques – pebbles rasping on a tray, water splashing in a drum – a soundscape of the sea is effortlessly conjured. And sat centre stage on an old crate, Bill Hutchens delivers a transfixing, magnificently bearded, physical performance as the Old Man, stoically rowing his complaining body across the bay. It’s magnetic viewing, lent depth by Vernon Nxumalo’s wistful narration and characterization of birds, boys, and the spirit of a fish.
The problem is Emily Bevan’s sea. Anthropomorphically embodied as a young woman, the Sea sardonically pecks the Old Man, sings ditties, or delivers quick-fire monologues on the effects of dehydration, infuriated by his attempt to kill the fish: her ‘baby’. Bevan’s comedy is effective, but the sea is badly belittled by this wisecracking contemporary characterization, and the epic tale is shorn of timeless grandeur. Hemmingway’s classic comes tantalizingly close, then, but at the last gasp slips the hook of this production.