FOUR STARS

There is a beauty in the sound of words independent of their meaning. This was forcefully demonstrated at Oxford Playhouse last week in the production of Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s La Vida Es Sueno (Life is a Dream), a classic of Golden Age drama, in Spanish.

What a beautiful language this is to listen to (even if one’s understanding of it is necessarily supplied by surtitles). The rolling cadences of the poetry proved spellbinding in this production by Oxford Spanish Play (directors Teresa Flórez and Luis Orellana).

Not all of the performers were native speakers. Indeed, some of the most magisterial utterances were from the mouth of Russian Artem Serebrennikov in the role of the Polish King, Basilio. Persuaded by compelling evidence from astrologers that his son Segismundo (Antón Morant) would prove a disaster for the country should he ascend the throne, the king has made the tough decision to lock him away in a tower guarded by nobleman Clotaldo (Franciso Hernández Ibáñez).

Courtesan Rosaura (Ekaterina Spivakovsky Gonzalez), travelling with her servant Clarín (Teresita Valverde Mójica), having discovered his hideway, Basilio decides to set him free. The forecast of oracle (Carlo Ferri) looks to be only too accurate with the Ubu-like outrages (murder and rape) that follow, to the astonishment of his gallant rival for power, Duke Astolfo (Roberto Rubio, right). But Basilio thinks he has a way out of trouble . . .