Review: The Sun Also Rises - Passion and Tension in Europe
“Montoya could forgive anything of a bull-fighter who had aficion. He could forgive attacks of nerves, panic, bad
unexplainable actions, all sorts of lapses. For one who had aficion he could forgive anything. At once he forgave me for
all of my friends. Without his ever saying anything they were simply a little something shameful between us, like the
spilling open of the horses in bull-fighting.” Hemmingway, The Sun Also Rises.
Aficion is Spanish for passion - and it is passion that stands out in the performance of Elevator Repair Service’s
verbatim theatrical staging of Hemmingway’s classic novel in “The Select (The Sun Also Rises)” in the New Zealand
Festival.
Montoya is the hotelier in Pamplona, where the play’s climactic scenes take place, and the friends the narrator Jake
discusses are the cast of post-WWI US and English vagabonds accompanying him. This play sees them running amok from
Paris to Pamplona searching for the next fiesta or fix to fill up the emptiness they feel inside.
The cast manage to play a range of obnoxious, bullying, abusive and manipulative drunks while remaining relatable. There
is a palpable feeling of their sadness and emptiness being filled with liquor and fast living with little regard for
their own or others’ wellbeing. They really bring to life Hemmingway’s exploration of the clash of manners and culture
between the waspy Americans, aristocratic English, Jews and the Spanish in this tense post-war society.
The narrator, Jake Barnes (Mike Iveson) did an excellent job alternating between being the central character and
storyteller providing for some laughs in the process.
The cast manage superbly to perform 3 hours straight of various states of intoxication (mostly extreme), which must be
commended. This was never overdone, but provided excellent slapstick and physical comedy to offset the often tragic and
hopeless narrative.
A basic ‘fine and good’ set design by David Zinn features a wooden panelled European barroom and lino floors is used to
good effect here. The long wooden bar tables double as beds, huge trout and even sprout bullhorns to become the bulls
enacting Hemmingway’s famous scenes describing in great detail the art of bullfighting.
This play sees the colourful cast raging from party to party in Paris and the running of the bulls fiesta in Pamplona
and the music, dialogue and wine all flow like blood in the final scene of Hamlet.
The only miscasting for me was the casting of a female actress in one of the central male characters of 19 year old
bullfighter Pedro Romero. In the book this character exudes a kind of Hispanic machismo, beauty and arrogance that
really cannot be faked. The main female role Lucy Taylor as the heartbreaking Brett Ashley was desire personified,
however it felt that she did not have a strong male counterpart to balance her and their chemistry just fell flat as a
result.
The music and sound design was excellent throughout Matt Tierney (who portrays Robert Cohn, the novel’s Jewish target)
alternates between this character and live mixing the sound from a desk at the back of stage. The soundtrack is an
excellent mix of authentic and lively French and Spanish period music and a constant stream of Foley sounds that bring
the on stage action to life.
This was a quality piece of theatre. I was sceptical of how they would manage to pull off a verbatim production of such
a classic novel, but was suitably impressed. The power of the literature itself was allowed to do its work and the
director’s touches simply added texture and feeling. To me this brought the novel to life more than any film adaption
could hope to do.