Saint George and The Dragon review, Olivier

Rory Mullarkey's new play, Saint George and The Dragon, reflects the anxieties of the day. If the Patron Saint of England were to return now, what would he make of our society? Was the dragon that threatened human happiness really slain or has it been lying dormant, waiting to rise in a new form? Fans of Game of Thrones will find this rebirth scenario icily familiar. It's less convincing on stage, particularly without a) CGI, or b) sufficient back story to make the impossible seem likely.

Saint George and The Dragon is billed as a modern fable and presented as a cross between Don Quixote and Life of Brian. The dialogue is basic. My companion said it was like his school panto.   There is a lot of setting up of people and situations, but little actuality. We only ever see George on the eve of destruction. He listens to peoples' grouches and vows to avenge them. The main tropes of the narrative - fire breathing beasts and restoring happiness to the masses - all happen out of sight.  The only dramatic actuality is two dragon heads that bounce onto the stage like bargain bucket buys from nearby Chinatown.

A lot of the heavy lifting in Saint George and The Dragon is done metaphorically and literally by Rae Smith's lovely hillside set. It morphs across time from medieval huts to noughties skyscrapers. The downside is that it forces a lot of the action to the front of the stage which makes the production feel as pinched as the storyline. John Heffernan's village-idiot-portrayal of George is charming and leads to much merriment. There is a solid supporting cast. This cannot disguise, however, the play's failure to find a credible answer to what Saint George would make of modern England or, indeed, to exploit the fact that the real Saint was either Roman or Greek and never visited anyway.

In conclusion: There are still three performances of Saint George and the Dragon before First Night, and issues of pace and tension and odd glitches with the set will all be sorted by then. What can't be changed by the director, Lyndsey Turner, is the what-if or the dialogue, both of which would benefit from another year of planning and polishing.



Olivier Theatre, South Bank, London SE1.   Run ends December 2