“The Fever” – a play by Wallace Shawn

The Fever – a play by Wallace Shawn

An Almeida production at the Mayfair Hotel, until 7th February 2015

There was an air of uneasiness in the lift of the Mayfair Hotel as it transported a select audience to the opulent Amber Suite where the Almeida Theatre is staging Robert Icke’s production of Wallace Shawn’s 90 minute monologue, “The Fever”, starring Tobias Menzies. But actually the piece is less monologue and more discussion. The audience doesn’t participate in the discussion because they are confronted with a violent unveiling of the lies of capitalism – the stark truth can have a numbing effect.

Part of the beauty of the play is that it applies to everyone and everywhere. Tobias Menzies plays an unnamed character, holed up in a hotel room (hence the appropriate staging), in an unnamed country. He is physically sick, presumably with a fever but what becomes apparent is that his vomiting represents a much deeper purging of his inner self. During the 90 minutes the character takes on both sides of the debate – one side depicts Orwellian capitalism and the other a more questioning and sympathetic view. Which side will triumph? Big business, government intervention, memories, guilt, entitlement and poverty are all debated by Tobias Menzies as he walks around the hotel suite and then disappears into an adjacent room which sets the scene for the more emotional and violent second half of the play. At one point Menzies stands on the bed with his arms held up, crucifixion style, across the beams of the ceiling. The words “I am falling” are spoken and conjures up the image or question of the character throwing himself out of a window. In the final 15 minutes the sense is that Menzies is experiencing his final reflections before he hits the ground. Society may want to be decent and distribute wealth but what is the end game if the poor repay that gift with violence. Is the conclusion of Shawn’s work that capitalism solely triumphs because power rests with money? Indeed the sentence “Life is something you have got away with” rings true as the anonymous character struggles with being a decent person caught up in a world of greed.

The final line of “I’m still falling”, is spoken by Tobias Menzies as he leaves the room. The audience is left emotionally charged after such a hard hitting performance. Surely a standing ovation awaits him. But no; he doesn’t return as if it really is the end and finally the message of the empty room hits – the truth indeed is a dangerous thing.