The opportunities to see the plays of the great German playwright Friedrich Schiller in Britain are rare. Mary Stuart and Don Carlos have been staged with great success in recent years; but the most likely place to find revivals of his plays nowadays is in opera houses in versions by Verdi. So The Faction Theatre Company’s ambitious intention to stage all of his dramas is most welcome. Fiesco is based on an actual historical event: the Genoese conspiracy of 1547 to overthrow the old Doge and his despotic nephew. Premiered in 1783, it has seldom been seen even in Germany; it has never been seen in Britain before. Artistic director Mark Leipacher’s modern dress production, acted within a black box, makes a good case for reviving it.
The question which worries the conspirators is whether Fiesco, the dissipated hedonist, will be the liberator from tyranny that the people want or whether he will prove to be just another tyrant? Nobody is certain; least of all Fiesco. One of his more arresting speeches is when he tells a fable of a lion supplanting a fierce dog and uses the story to prove that democracy fails because there are always more cowards than heroes and more stupid people than intelligent ones in the world for democracy ever to work successfully. Richard Delaney is never the debauché Schiller wanted. The character that makes the most impact is a professional assassin, a rascally Moor, a great comic role, and acted with relish by Anna-Maria Nabirye.