Ben Hur review – more panto than Pinter

Patrick Barlow’s adaptation of The 39 Steps, at the Tricycle and then the Criterion, was one of the most welcome box-office hits of the past 10 years. The pocket-sized show was both trad and surprisingly innovative, a homage and a spoof. It suggested the tweedy excitement of John Buchan’s novel, while playing skilfully – there were multiple cast changes and a shadow puppet passage – with theatrical technique.

Now Barlow has turned his hand to Ben Hur. William Wyler’s 1959 biblical epic featured 365 speaking parts and 50,000 extras. Barlow’s version has a cast of four. The camels are pink and stuffed, Ben Hur’s tunic is ultra-short and often gets tweaked down when he’s being ogled by a Roman governor. The puns are rollickingly bad: the slave ship is “oarsome”. And the action is intercut with another story, that of the fictional amateur drama society who are staging the show, falling out, failing to get the curtain down or the lights off, whispering over the props: “I’ll do the hands and you do the feet.”

This is an easy target and Tim Carroll’s production sometimes flags. Still, the olde speeche is lively, full of lithping and daft inversions: “Lovely long sandals doth he wear.” John Hopkins is a fruity Judah Ben Hur (“Hey, Jude”), Alix Dunmore nimble as several winsome love interests, and Richard Durden gallantly versatile. Ben Jones puts in a particularly nice turn as Jesus, with a bad black wig, an annoying forgiving smile, and some genuinely wise words. More panto than Pinter – but then it is, so I’m told, Christmas.