THE choice of a one-man show for his West End debut was nothing short of an extremely brave choice for American actor Richard Schiff.
Indeed, many fine actors have shied away from the prospect of going solo, if only because of the huge burden that follows in keeping the audience enraptured for a full 90 minutes or more.
But Schiff, who is best known for his multi award-winning performance as Toby Ziegler in The West Wing, more than pulled it off at the London premiere of Glen Berger's Underneath The Lintel earlier this week.
advertisementNot a shuffle was heard throughout as Schiff utterly absorbed us all with his portrayal of a nameless Dutch librarian, who is intrigued to discover that one of his library books has been returned 113 years overdue.
Determined to track down the "miscreant" who now owes an extremely large fine, the librarian thumbs through the book - a now dog-eared Baedeker - and discovers "evidence number one", a dry-cleaning ticket for a pair of unclaimed trousers in London some many years previous.
What follows is an illustrated lecture complete with a suitcase full of documents and other "evidences" that the librarian has collected along the way to reveal the true identity of the mysterious borrower.
But his quest, which takes him from his small-town Holland to Europe, China, America and even Australia, evolves from a hunt for a missing person into an epic existential quest.
As the story moves on, he finds himself hot on the heels of the mythical Wandering Jew, who according to legend, refused to let Jesus Christ rest underneath his lintel, and was subsequently condemned to roam the earth until the Second Coming.
At times light-hearted, others more poignant, Schiff gives a touching portrayal as a somewhat parochial man obsessed with his new-found mission in this "twisty mystery of a tale".
If there were any criticisms to be made, Schiff's Dutch accent did at times wander back across the Atlantic, but this did little to undermine what was otherwise a solid and confident performance.
Director Maria Mileaf steers the one-man lecture with humorous projections, although at times a little short of being in focus, lighting effects and sprinkles of delightful Yiddish recordings.
All in all, Underneath The Lintel brings something truly different, original and thought-provoking to the West End.
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Underneath The Lintel by Glen Berger
DUCHESS THEATRE
Catherine Street, London WC2B 5LA
7th February - 14th April 2007
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