Word: vered
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...theme of the play enters, for later, when Billy Budd has killed the lying, all-evil Claggart, almost inadvertently, it is they who must decide whether or not Billy Budd should be executed. This decision represents a choice between justice and maintaining an order by law. It is Captain Vere, the central character of the play, who convinces his fellow officers they must "maintain an order we cannot understand... the world demands it--not justice but order." And in telling Billy Budd he must hang, he says, "You and Claggart have broken man's compromise with good and evil...
There were plenty of technical problems, including the theoretically fatal one of an all-male cast. Billy Budd, the innocent young sailor who represents good in the allegorical struggle with evil, stands in sharp contrast with the wicked Master-at-Arms, Claggart. But Captain Vere had to be "tidied up," made into a more central symbol of conflict: he knows that Billy was framed, but he also knows that under the Articles of War Billy must hang for striking Claggart...
...mood, but the second brought them to life with Billy's fight with one of Claggart's henchmen and Claggart's bitter monologue rejoicing in his own depravity -sung by Basso Frederick Dalberg. Britten's triumph was the third act, in which Captain Vere (Tenor Peter Pears) walks to Billy's door, accompanied by long-measured chords, to deliver the death verdict. When the curtain fell for the act, there were seconds of silence, and then shouts of "Bravo, Benjy." Billy's fourth-act soliloquy, poetically sung by U.S. Baritone Theodor Uppman, and Captain...
...concerns a clash between Billy Budd, an impressed sailor in the frigate days of the British navy who represents extreme good, and evil John Claggart, master at arms. Billy seeks the friendship of the master of arms, and Claggart seeks Billy's destruction. Between them stands Captain Edward Vere, who, alone of the three can recognize both good and evil. When Billy hits and accidentally kills Claggart, it is Vere who must judge him. Billy has broken "the compromise between good and evil," and order must be restored. Law triumphs over justice and the Captain can only ask Billy...
...muffed a few key lines due to opening-night jitters, and the sound effects at the close of the first act produce a few guffaws. However, several brilliant performances, coupled with adequate character portrayals by other members of the cast make the above shortcomings insignificant. Jerry Kilty, as Captain Vere, does an outstanding job, while John Kerr and Peter Temple, with the symbolic and less concrete roles, do more than competent jobs. Paul Sparer, Robert Fletcher, Richard Kilbride, and Ed Finnegan are the outstanding performers among the supporting cast...