In Lazarus Theatre Company’s bold and innovative adaptation of The Changeling, a striking vision meets some of the most visceral storytelling you’re likely to see, takes the audience with the characters on a real journey – and it’s a dark one (perhaps because you’ll have your eyes closed in fear or shock or disgust for at least some of it).

The Changeling is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton, in collaboration with William Rowley. Usually set in 17th-century Spain, the play revolves around the dark and complex themes of love, betrayal, and madness. The central character, Beatrice-Joanna, is engaged to one man but falls passionately in love with another, Alsemero, and to rid herself of her unwanted fiancé, she conspires with her servant, De Flores, to have him killed, as you do. However, this plot sets off a series of tragic events as De Flores becomes obsessed with Beatrice-Joanna and their actions spiral into a web of deceit and murder. Any more than that would give too much away, and that would be a shame; surprise is definitely one of the strongest elements of this play.

The first thing the audience sees as they enter the Little at Southwark Playhouse Borough is a huge boardroom table taking up most of the room, complete with olive green rotary phones and green glass desk lamps on top, surrounded by faux leather office chairs. A mini fridge full of champagne with a safe above it completes the tableaux, and it certainly has a whiff of the 1980s about it which, for a story about greed and corruption, makes sense; the boardroom table is the perfect symbol of power. This set by Sorcha Corcoran is all that’s needed for this intimate play, and it works at all points, whether it’s a church, a bedroom, or a wedding reception dancefloor.

Director and adaptor Ricky Dukes has chosen to almost entirely do away with the play’s subplot (which involves a doctor’s wife, an affair, and an insane asylum), but does keep some of the comic elements which, in a play as dark as this one, is one hundred percent needed. Characters – the patients from the madhouse – randomly grab microphones and start crooning, with other performers using torches to light up a big mirror ball or, during the wedding reception scene, launch big pink balloons into the audience for us to throw around as we sing along with the rather catchy country music-style tune being performed rather beautifully by Mikko Juan. It lightens the atmosphere,but that relief is fleeting, so when the darkness comes again, it feels even deeper than before. It’s a clever touch that, once you just let go and accept it, becomes a fundamental aspect of this production.

Balloons feature quite heavily in The Changeling. Apart from the pink ones that the audience can have some fun with, watch out for the black helium balloons that float about – every time a character is killed, they’re handed a balloon to hold, and they wander around, ghosts in the room, watching everything, crying on occasion, but never interacting. It’s a creepy effect, especially as one ghost stays in the room during the interval; it’s hugely unnerving and sets the second act up wonderfully.

The performers do an outstanding job; every interaction is emotionally charged and the action grips the audience from the start. The chemistry between Colette O’Rourke as Beatrice-Joanna and Jamie O’Neill as De Flores sparkles, and Mylo McDonald as Alsemero easily goes from lovesick puppy to a man incandescent with rage about his wife’s duplicity in a heartbeat.

You can’t talk about The Changeling without mentioning blood; it’s covered in it from beginning to end, and, in this case, so are the actors – and the audience. The play certainly doesn’t shy away from the more macabre elements of the story, and the fact that some seats are labelled as being in the ‘splash zone’ tells you all you need to know about the violence to come. The costume design by Alice Neale involves a lot of white that… isn’t so white by the end of the play.

Lazarus Theatre Company’s new adaptation of The Changeling breathes new life into Middleton’s classic with its clever set design, witty additions (including one perfectly timed use of the ‘C’ word), and unabashed gruesomeness. Left shocked and possibly blood-spattered, the audience can’t help but feel a little stunned by what they’ve just witnessed, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Lisamarie Lamb

The Changeling plays at Southwark Playhouse Borough until 28 October, with further information here.