Reviews: 'Goya' @ Gate Theatre

I’d Rather Goya Robbed Me of My Sleep Than Some Other Arsehole

Gate Theatre, March 10, 2014

A title with one letter per minute of the show, Roderigo Garcia’s whirlwind piece takes us through one man’s mind-fuck of a mid-life crisis. A play originally written in Spanish and translated by William Gregory, Stefan Rhodri simply and honestly interprets this odd one-man drama back to us.

His character, unnamed, is a father looking to get unstuck and give a life-changing experience to his two young sons. Determined to give culture to boys who would rather be in Disneyland Paris, Rhodri takes us through the journey of a man spending his life savings of €5,000 in one night, breaking into the Prado to stare at Goya all night. 

Director Jude Christian keeps our focus on the story, opting for a blank box-set of white tiles with a rotating kitchen unit on the back wall – spinning in time with the bleak rotation of an unchanging life. Add Rhodri’s ragged clothing, a thick layer of grime upon the kitchen, along with a greying pillow and we receive the full effect of stagnation before the monologue even begins. 

Making their stage debut, two piglets are brought on to portray the man’s two young sons. With well-timed, though unintended grunts and squeals, these two trotters give us (and Rhodri) a focus whenever he references his sons. Truly capitalizing on her unique cast, Christian even has Rhodri eating a bacon sandwich when he’s being stern with his ‘children’.

The props used throughout range from childlike toys being splayed across the stage as Madrid to a Winnie-the-Pooh cab driver. The effect of which emphasizes Rhodri’s character’s state of confused recklessness that drives the action. After all, his reasoning for all his choices is ‘because I fucking feel like it’.

Not an average piece of theatre in London, Garcia’s non-traditional story and structure is an enjoyably concise exploration of an issue we all face: the overpowering fear of a mundane existence. While not a piece to lift spirits, Rhodri and his hooved costars keep the audience engaged, at times laughing, and left with a lot to consider at the end. Not a long piece of theatre, clocking in at just forty-five minutes, ‘Goya’, gives a full picture of a man who needs to do something, lest stillness of life suffocates him.