A Farewell to Arms @ The Lowry

Review by Steve Timms | 18 Nov 2014

“Multi-platform theatre” might sound vaguely off putting but it’s the description that comes closest in describing the hypnotic world of Imitating the Dog. Pete Brooks, Andrew Quick and Simon Wainwright – the trio of artistic directors at the heart of the company – have been testing theatrical conventions since 1998, and established an international reputation for technically ambitious work that blends theatre with film.

A Farewell to Arms is based on Ernest Hemingway’s novel – a fictionalised account of the author’s experiences in the Alpine campaign of WW1. It’s the story of Frederic Henry (strong jawed Jude Monk McGowan), an American ambulance driver who volunteers for the Italian army, and meets gentle British nurse Catherine Barkley (Laura Atherton). The mismatched pair discovers love amid the chaos of military conflict but death stalks their attempts at securing happiness.  

A chorus of actors narrate the action while also serving as technicians, filming the leads, and projecting close-ups on to a series of nursing screens. There are some sublime visual touches: a midnight boat trip across a freezing lake; a mortar blast that causes the actors to move in slow motion, images of shrapnel cascading around them.

These moments can’t disguise the fact Hemingway’s terse prose doesn’t readily lend itself to conversation: at times, the dialogue is horribly stilted, and Brooks and Quick’s adaptation does little to solve the problem. Laura Atherton is saddled with some ghastly lines (“do you think you might grow a beard, darling?”) but somehow retains her dignity. Things get particularly overwrought in the climactic hospital finale, which comes across like a lost scene from Ripping Yarns.

A Farwell to Arms is, then, a hit and miss affair. But better a risky failure than a lazy success: we look forward to seeing what this singular company does next.

Ran 13-15 Nov at The Lowry, Salford