The Devil May Care | Southwark Playhouse
Oviya Thirumalai
The Devil May Care, which is written and directed by Mark Giesser, is an updated revival of George Bernard Shaw’s play The Devil’s Disciple. Now set in the Philippines, in 1899, the play concerns itself with the matter of the war between America and the Philippines as they fight for their independence. Giesser’s choice to place this character driven plot in a politically and racially turbulent settings works remarkably well, leaving the play feeling even more important and relevant than before.
The plot follows many characters with ever-changing relationships, making the play even more interesting and amusing to follow. Upon news of the death of his father, Elias Conroe (Enzo Benvenuti), his mother Adele Conroe (Jill Greenacre) and half Filipino cousin Isabel Conroe (Izyan Hay), are devastated to further learn that most of the state and inheritance will go to Elias’s smuggler and scoundrel of an elder brother, Richard Conroe (Callum Woodhouse). Local Vicar Mr. Paul Prestwick (Richard Lynson) and his wife, Judith Prestwick (Beth Burrows) arrive shortly after to comfort the distraught Adele Conroe and check the legality of this new will. Simultaneously, the whispers of a Philippines revolution stirs the US army into action, under the command of General MacArthur (Richard Lynson), with Vicar Prestwick being suspected of spreading pamphlets and propaganda. Leaving his wife behind, Mr. Prestwick flees, and in a hilarious yet tense twist of events, Richard Conroe finds himself being questioned.
The six member cast are incredibly talented and formidable, with each performer at the top of their game. Lynson performs the duality of his two roles with remarkable ease, with his warm and gentle presence as the Vicar, Mr. Paul Prestwick, and the short tempered and overwhelmed General Arthur MacArthur. Greenacre’s portrayal of the weary, angry, betrayed, yet proud and hopeful Adele is admirable, bringing out each facet of the character with passion. Benvenuti as Elias is admirable as he conveys desperation and pride, alongside a comedic genius flair for theatrics.
Hay renders a powerful and satisfying performance as Isabel, with an earnest portrayal of her quiet yet brilliant character and a powerful impact during the character’s more fiery moments. Woodhouse is captivating as Richard, playing his devilishly charm to perfection. Woodhouse’s performance, along with Giesser’s strong characterisation, turns Richard from an infuriating and almost irredeemably awful character into a character that audiences can’t not help with sympathise with and love. Woodhouse’s more mellow and angelic charm as he goes to any lengths to protect the truth is endearing and his chemistry with Burrows undeniable. Burrows, who takes on the large role of Judith, is extraordinary. Dominating any scene that she’s in, Burrows brings out both the beauty and beast in a clever young woman in a patriarchal society, delivering every line with an emotional punch. Burrows’ performance, alongside Woodhouse, propel this play greatly.
Between the original text and Giesser’s adaptation, The Devil May Care’s script is exquisitely sharp, witty and politically ripe with possibility, and this play brings out the best of it. The casual and extreme moments of racism, between the constant dismissal of the black regiment in the US army, to the murmurs of a Filipino uprising, feel even more striking with the current political landscape we reside in. The audiences are instantly taken with this movement, particularly after a moving call for action at the close of Act One, which resulted in a rousing applause from the audience.
The external war that surrounds the characters, penning them into the Conroe’s house for the majority of the play, slips into the personal lives of the characters, with Elias Conroe, a young army leader. The personal dilemma that he is constantly faced with, between his duty to his family, his duty to his country and his own prejudices, explode all over the play. This constantly places the characters at odds with one another, further fuelled by internal assumptions, judgements and Richard Conroe’ reputation and insistence that he is “The Devil’s Disciple”. At all times, there are several important plots that clash and claim main focus, which keeps audiences engaged and enthralled for every moment of the 120-minute play.
The play occurs primarily in the Conroe’s House, set in the Philippines. The set, designed by Intellectual Property, pays homage to this, by keeping an American flag visible at all times, alongside a warm interior with rugs, furniture and a doorway. The set also pays homage to it’s surrounding, with stunning wallpaper, that depicts nature, bursting with elegant colouring. Costumes by Alice McNicholas are authentic and gorgeous, particularly Isabel’s simple dress and Judith’s more formal outfit, leaning slightly into her history as a British American.
The Devil May Care is a glorious piece of theatre that educates, entertains and engages with the audience and is doubtlessly one of the treasured gems that Southwark Playhouse often produce. A truly remarkable piece that flies high.
The Devil May Care is playing at Southwark Playhouse until 1st February.
★★★★☆
https://www.adventuresintheatreland.com/post/the-devil-may-care-southwark-playhouse
The Devil May Care, Southwark Playhouse Borough Review
Written by Cathie for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
What happens when a self-avowed “Devil’s Disciple”, a man whose name is as darkly stained as gunpowder marks against a wall, decides to sacrifice himself to save another? Devil May Care, written and directed by Mark Giesser, is a modern reworking of George Bernard Shaw’s breakout hit The Devil’s Disciple. However, instead of discussing the evils of the British Empire and the fight for the USA’s colonies, the story has been updated to 1899 and focuses on the Philippine-American War (1899-1913).
This is not often focused upon in modern media and considering this war is often referred to as the USA’s first Vietnam War, it’s highly intriguing. We quickly meet a variety of characters and the plot flits between America and the Philippines. Bringing forward the events of the original play by 120 years, we meet a patriotic and scheming American family with an overbearing mother, Adele Conroe (Jill Greenacre), and Harvard soldier Elias Conroe (Enzo Benvenuti), who are devastated when the family patriarch leaves all his wealth and property to Richard Conroe (Callum Woodhouse), the gun smuggler, supposed Devil’s Disciple, and all-around bounder. Throw in a deceiving English Anglican priest (Richard Lyndon), his forthright lawyer wife (Beth Burrows) and a young ward (Izyan Hay) fighting covertly for her country’s freedom and you have all the ingredients for a clandestine court martial and bitter family feuds.
Richard despite immensely enjoying riling up everyone on stage with his “devilish” views, which in reality mark him as more of a radically modern progressive and truly ahead of his time, sacrifices himself by pretending to be the priest who is facing charges for spying, sedition and inciting rebellion. Therefore much of the two hour play hinges on figuring out the motivations of a character who himself can’t understand why he is saving another at the likely cost of his own life. The cast have brilliant chemistry together and work well to keep the atmosphere taut and the plot speedily moving forwards. Burrows and Woodhouse, in particular, are excellent in their witty chemistry and showcase every nuance of their characters’ emotions and flaws in a beautifully vulnerable way. The believable familial bickering between Greenacre and Benvenuti is also a great highlight of this play. Lynson and Hay are the linchpins of compassion and determined spirit which makes the story feel more sharply sympathetic than might be otherwise. The costuming by Alice McNicholas adds an excellent layer of believing these characters are sweating in the tropics and while the set is sparsely functional it works well to highlight the seriousness of the charges against the characters and the situation they are fighting through.
It’s rare to find a rewriting of the script which expands and polishes the original so well. The main core of Shaw’s arguments remain including staunch anti-colonialism and the contrast of how others are either demonised or sanctified depending on society’s impressions of others regardless of their own true character. The updated storyline contains many allusions towards racial equality vs discrimination, women’s rights and limitations in society, family dramas and the devastating impact of war and colonialism on individuals. At times this message gets muddled and it takes the play a while to truly get into its stride but it is an enjoyable way of exploring this concept nonetheless. The shift in focusing on America as the imperial aggressor, especially in light of recent political events, makes the play feel eerily Deja Vu in moments and worth the watch for this alone. However, the key to being a Shaw adaptation, it retains the humour that characterises each of his works, for in jest a point can be made far more sharply and deeply than a morose monologue any day. This play definitely delivers in terms of comedic lines, with the audience chuckling throughout, although this sometimes lowers the tension portrayed. There are a few plot points left dangling and the end is vaguely open but it is mostly an enjoyable play.
If you enjoy witty retorts, comedic thrillers, fantastic actors and plots which will pique your interest in Philippine history, then this is the show for you.
At Southwark Playhouse Borough until 1 Feb 2025.
★ ★ ★
https://theatreandtonic.co.uk/blog/the-devil-may-care-southwark-playhouse-borough-review
The Devil May Care – Arbuturian
By Anna Selby on January 14, 2025
Southwark Playhouse’s new production in its Little Theatre is an updating of Shaw’s The Devil’s Disciple. The original is set during the American War of Independence inside a Puritan community and has a strongly religious undercurrent. There is a mater familias who demands moral and religious propriety from the members of her household – her younger son, now a soldier in the British army, and her newly arrived niece whose father has recently been hanged as a traitor.
She does, though, have an older son, the family’s long estranged black sheep – and self-declared ‘Devil’s disciple’ – who has returned for the reading of his father’s will which, it turns out, has been changed at the last minute in his favour. To the horror of the widow, Richard gets everything.
Enzo Benvenuti as Elias Conroe and Jill Greenacre as Adele Conroe
Director Mark Giesser has updated his production, now renamed The Devil May Care, to be just a few years after Shaw wrote the play in 1896 and taken it to the other side of the world. The new setting is the Philippines where the Americans replace the British as the imperial power and the politics of race rather than religion take centre stage. Just as colonial America fought the British Empire for its freedom, the Philippines are staging an insurrection against the Americans. However, while the background has changed (as have the characters’ names), the human plot is at its heart the same.
Richard Conroe has arrived for the reading of the will and discovered while on the road that the British soldiers are planning to hang an insurrectionist – and this turns out to be the local minister. When the soldiers arrive, however, they find Conroe with the minister’s wife, Judith, and they mistake Conroe for the minister himself. Conroe plays along, though he knows he is almost certain to be hung and persuades Judith to play along too – or her husband will be hung instead.
Beth Burrows as Judith Prestwick and Callum Woodhouse as Richard Conroe
Shaw was a great polemicist and loved nothing more than an ethical dilemma as a means of exploring the big questions. In this case, it is – simply put – whether the bad man should hang for the crimes of the good man who can then continue his good work. This is, of course, essentially Conroe’s decision. He does begin to repeat Sydney Carton’s “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done” from A Tale of Two Cities – but as a throwaway ironical reference. As he says with disarming honesty to Judith, he can’t really understand why he’s behaving so selflessly either. In fact, he is clearly falling in love with Judith but there is also the political element – the minister, Paul Prestwick, is fighting for the independence of the local people.
As Richard, Callum Woodhouse (you’ll recognise him as Leslie from The Durrells and Tristan in All Creatures Great and Small), delivers a storming performance as the centre around which everything revolves. Mercurial, his motives incomprehensible – often even to himself – his charm and ease convince us to suspend our disbelief right to the unexpected last moment (this is a plot with plenty of twists). Jill Greenacre is excellent as his spiky mother and, as Judith, Beth Burrows brings the promise of feminism-to-come to her character, even while racked with doubt about the best course to follow.
Callum Woodhouse at Richard Conroe
In two supporting roles, Richard Lynson plays both the minister and, most impressively, the General investigating the insurrection, comically bewildered by all the identity swaps. Enzo Benvenuti is a suitably craven younger brother while Izyan Hay as Isabel has a role that is much expanded from Shaw’s original play. As the voice of the oppressed she expresses their plight, inevitably becoming something of a cipher in the process but, there again, Shaw was the polemical firebrand of his day so perhaps this is not a development that would have disappointed him.
The Devil May Care runs until 1st February at Southwark Playhouse, Borough. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk.
https://www.arbuturian.com/culture/theatre/the-devil-may-care