Motoring, Arts & LeisureTheatreTheatre ReviewsDanton's Death - no country for old men Danton's Death - no country for old men
By Robert Tanitch - 30/07/2010
Danton's Death is a play written by a young man about young men - but men that shaped history in bloody fashion. Buchner was only 20, and in danger of being arrested for his political activities, when he wrote Danton’s Death.. The play was published in 1835 but not staged until 1902.
The action is set in 1794 in the final weeks leading up to Danton’s death. The revolution is out of control and devouring its own children. Danton, haunted by guilt, and sickened by the bloodshed, is burnt-out and finds that he no longer has the will to go on. He prefers to be guillotined rather than to guillotine. “They want my head. Let them have it."
However, in his final tirade before the Tribunal he shows that there is life still in the old hurricane. The charismatic Toby Stephens has the energy and the bravado the role needs; but, strictly speaking, he is far too glamorous and could do with a bit of coarseness.
Robespierre (Elliot Levey, excellent) cold-blooded, self-righteous, incorruptible, abominably virtuous, ruthlessly virtuous, is quick to check any moderation or sensitivity as weakness, and is always ready and willing to sacrifice even his colleagues and friends.
Clemency is an ugly word in his vocabulary. Vice must be punished. Virtue must rule through Terror. Danton’s crime is his sensuality.
Saint-Just (Alec Newman, excellent), Robespierre’s closest political ally, emerges as the real villain.
The revolutionaries all died young. Robespierre was 36, Danton 34 and Saint-Just 26 (Buchner died in 1837 of typhoid. He was only 23.)
Danton’s Death is a vast sprawling epic and it has, very sensibly, been ruthlessly cut. Michael Grandage’s extremely efficient and fast production, played without interval, comes in under two hours. The rhetoric, often lifted verbatim from the assemblies and tribunals, is riveting.
The actual guillotining is so convincing that I suspect the National Theatre will have to hire a greater number of understudies than usual.
National Theatre
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