Torsten the Beautiful Libertine continues at the Above the Stag Theatre, London until 27 March.
Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
By now the theatre world has become accustomed to rock and pop stars moving into musical theatre territory. Joe McElderry is currently winning plaudits as Joseph on tour and of course, Mamma Mia!, Jersey Boys, Beautiful and now Motown the Musical all owe their scores to pop groups.
So when Andy Bell, one half of 1980s electro-pop duo Erasure, decides to create a musical, the easy option would be to tie up a back catalogue of hits with a straightforward story. The truth is that Torsten is far from straightforward. More song cycle than musical, it owes much to the likes of Brecht and Weill with a narrative that hints heavily at Wildean hedonism.
Barney Ashton’s book is a disjointed affair but its poetry has flashes of brilliance and the three central, extraordinary characters ponder longingly for a beauty that is now very much a part of their past. The central figure of Torsten is that rare, ageless beauty who observes the lives of his ageing lovers from a distance. There’s a voluptuous hooker who still considers herself worth the whistle, despite the rapid decline in the standard of her clientele. There is also the ageing roué, resigned to remembering the wild conquests of the past and living vicariously on the sexual conquests of the hooker. Torsten himself has few regrets and while Ashton suggests an emotional struggle, the story lacks a satisfying conclusion.
The musical numbers by Christopher Frost are a mixed bag of tunes richly suited to the talents on stage. Bell’s vocals still have that faintly haunting quality that sang out to us in the 1990s and the narrative nature of the piece exploits this.
This is however a truly difficult piece to stage successfully and it isn’t helped by the fact that Bell is not really used to the dramatic stage. It’s a valiant effort that certainly draws the punters in, but Bell only really comes to life during the musical numbers and in particular the stand-alone hit ‘My Precious One’.
Peter Straker and Lana P – aka Al Pillay – fare much better on the acting front and Miss P in particular masters the pithy, poetic dialogue with gleeful audacity.
Robert McWhir’s ever-thoughtful direction experiments with form and David Shields’ design tosses cultural iconography into a blender to create a fascinating, multi-layered set. Given space, a freer hand with the casting and a choreographic treatment, Torsten may well become more accessible. Until then, it remains a theatrical curiosity rather than a must-see event.
Paul Vale
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