Don Carlos

A classic mélange of dysfunctional family drama and political debate, this Friedrich Schiller work presents a naive prince who alone can mitigate his father’s bloodthirsty appetite for war – but, for all the urging of his companion Rodrigo, is hamstrung by an overwhelming preoccupation with his stepmother. It’s a gripping plot, done justice here by student theatre group Incrementum – albeit without a great deal of imagination.

As director, producer, and founder of the company, Thomas Probert is the driving force behind this production. He’s also a tremendously able actor; his Rodrigo is a subtle, thoroughly engaging study of unflinching loyalty and self-sacrificing moral decency. Occasionally, Probert’s talent throws the lesser ability of his colleagues into stark relief – not least that of Paula Chatterjee, as Queen Elizabeth, who sounds as though she’s reading her lines in an English class.

With a bare stage and prosaic use of lighting, there’s a firm onus on the cast to convey the passion of Schiller’s emotional dialogues. Jack Holden brings home the giddy impetuosity of the title character, and has some sharp exchanges with a convincingly angst-ridden Princess Eboli (Natasha Cowley).

It’s Rodrigo’s famous defence of liberal government, however, that forms the climax of this play. Probert delivers the stirring prose (“You wish to plant a garden that will flower forever – why do you water it with blood?”) with aplomb, but his interlocutor disappoints: playing the hypersensitive tyrant King Philip as little more than an emotionally stunted patriarch, Luke Rajah misses an opportunity to engage with arguably the most intriguing figure in Schiller’s text.