Linnaeus Prince of Flowers

Written and directed by Toby Gough. Botanic Gardens. February 16-March 2. 8pm. Running time 3 hours. Reviewed by Alan Scott.

If Linnaeus was the Prince of Flowers then his story told by a band of Christchurch actors formed the queen of all productions. It was epic in scale, universal in significance, and ancient, in its dramatic origins.

The play centres on the botanist, Carl Linnaeus, and scenes from his life are re-enacted around the Botanic Gardens. It is a morality tale, the story of the struggle between Enlightenment rationality, and mysticism and superstition. That is the logic of what it is about.

The truth of the play is to be found in the multi-dimensional experience of heaven and hell that the sojourn through the gardens turns into. I thought at first that this huge and courageous gamble might founder. The early scenes seemed too literary, the profusion of words in contradiction to the style of playing. Then, slowly, a proper balance is achieved, and the audience begins to make sense of what the thing is about.

Then comes some truly awe-inspiring theatre, culminating in four breathtaking scenes that will live on in my memory as long as the brain cells survive. Was there ever theatre like this in Christchurch: an old man wandering madly like King Lear; a unicorn hovering forlornly in the background; a fool in paroxysms on the sideline; the queen of darkness singing on her stilts; the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse stabbing the audience with swords; the white crosses of the dead flowers stuck into the earth - and out steps Elvis complete with sun shades, sideburns, and flares to offer the crowd his homily?

It was a production of titanic proportions; majestic in its sweep and magnificent in its execution. Truly a night to remember.

Review: Linnaeus Barry Grant looks at live theatre in Christchurch.

Linnaeus, Prince of Flowers, written and directed by Toby Gough in the Botanical Gardens. A huge visual feast plus more than you will ever want to know about Carl Linnaeus.

Toby Gough, the writer/director of Linnaeus, Prince of Flowers, is some kind of theatrical genius. His vision, mastery of logistics and theatrical breadth is astonishing. Linnaeus is a huge travelling circus. Sixteen sites throughout the Botanical Gardens are used, and the actors followed by the audience move around.

Along the way there are diversions as disgruntled plants unburden their grievances, stiltwalkers hurry you up, brazier carriers light your way, lions, unicorns and monkeys abound as do choral groups, African drummers, Caribbean dancers, Cook Island drummers, and various musicians. It is an overwhelming, colourful sensory spectacle, which makes it all the more difficult to work out why the central story, that of Carl Linnaeus is performed in such a wordy intellectual preachy way.

The commitment, energy and concentration of the cast are extraordinary. As one of the Linnaeus, John Hudson is superb. Other good performances come from Ingrid Park and Jane Gill, but the massive supporting cast and the army of backstage workers under Anne Fahey deserve unstinting credit.

Julian Southgate has again produced triumphs with his masks and properties, and Charlotte Shields' costumes are riots of colour and surprise.

If the funny scenes and one liners were left in, and much of the wordiness cut out, to bring the show down to say, two and a half hours or less, this could well be the theatrical experience of a lifetime.