It has taken almost 50 years for King Phoenix to rise again.
But Robertson Davies' comic drama about Old King Cole of nursery rhyme fame is rising high in a long-overdue revival by the Ausable Theatre.
Its production of King Phoenix continues today at the McManus Studio Theatre in downtown London.
Inspired by John Turner's fine performance as the merry old Cole, King of Albion, the production achieves the right Davies mix of myth and magic, wit and wisdom.
Set in pre-Roman Britain, the play's themes ring true today. But then a play about such things as misguided idealism, the demand for change and the need for laughter will always be contemporary.
Ausable artistic director Jeff Culbert has led the way in helping renew interest in Davies' dramas. The late Canadian author wrote best-selling novels such as Fifth Business, regarded as among the country's great literary treasures.
But he also wrote plays filled with big ideas, passions and jests. Ausable Theatre has staged five of them and King Phoenix is surely the best of the bunch.
Davies wrote the play in 1948. The Ausable staging appears to be its only production since 1953, when Davies directed the play in a Little Theatre production at Peterborough.
The master's own touch could not have been better than this one. King Phoenix does not, it must be said, read promisingly on the page. But Culbert and his London alt-theatre crew reveal the script's true promise and ensure the phoenix rises on stage and Davies' words take flight.
Veteran actor Turner and his rich voice find a perfect foil in the scheming Druid Cadno (Jason Rip). A bigger presence physically than Turner, Rip is able to suggest his character's hollowness, just as Turner is able to beef up Cole's presence. Cadno longs to take control of Cole's kingdom. But the ageless Cole is determined not to die -- not until it is truly time to go. First, he must coax together the play's shy young lovers, his daughter Helena (Rachel Holden-Jones) and her honour-bound suitor, Prince Leolin (Jan Weir). As with many other pairs of lovers in Davies' works, their love bursts from uncertainty and misdirection.
Other London alt-theatre actors also join in making the play breathe and live as it should. The visiting Phoenician merchant Idomeneus (Tim Culbert) has been selling poison to Cadno. (The Druid has been unsuccessfully poisoning Cole with that merchandise.)
The Phoenician has many of the play's best quips, but Tim Culbert's portrayal also suggests his character's moral rise from glibness to true wisdom through Cole's cheerful influence.
In the comedy-commentary roles of Cole's brewmaster Boon Brigit and the wise shepherd Lug, June Cole (no relation to King Cole) and Serge Saika-Voivod respectively earn their laughs and insight. Saika-Voivod's vocal training pays off when he sings the traditional ballad John Barleycorn, a song about death and renewal. Andrew Gibbes provides the haunting voice of the ghostly giant Gogmagog, who helps Cole understand the need to allow Helena to rise, phoenix-like, when the king is gone.
Meanwhile, the magical set designed by London artist Kevin Bice includes elegant suggestions of Stonehenge. The sound and musical arrangements by London musician Dean Harrison also hit the right Celtic notes.
Davies himself may have wondered if King Phoenix would ever be staged again.
Now, he must be smiling somewhere.
IF YOU GO
What: King Phoenix by Robertson Davies, an Ausable Theatre production directed by Jeff Culbert, featuring John Turner, Jason Rip, Tim Culbert, Rachel Holden-Jones, Jan Weir, June Cole, Serge Saika-Voivod and Andrew Gibbes.
Where: McManus Studio Theatre, downstairs at the Grand Theatre.
When: Continues today at 2 p.m. Resumes Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and continues next Sunday at 2 p.m. Then resumes Wednesday, Oct. 3, to Saturday, Oct. 6, at 8 p.m.
Tickets: $18 for evening performances; 2 p.m. Sunday matinees (today and Sept. 30) are pay-what-you-can. Grand Theatre box office 672-8800.
Rating: ****1/2 (out of five)
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