It has taken a surprisingly long time for an adaptation of John Le Carre’s work to reach the stage. There have been numerous film and tv versions, including the 1965 film of this particular book, with Richard Burton in fine form as Alec Leamas. And now we have Ralph Little donning the grubby mackintosh of this weary and disgruntled spy.
So, how does it fare? Pretty well, it must be said. Little in particular gives a standout performance in this demanding role. He is rarely offstage during the almost two-hour running time and for much of that time he is talking. He convinces as a man who has seen too much, done too much and has lost too much. A man ready to retire who is talked into taking one last job by his old Etonian smoothie of a boss who exemplifies the distance between those who sit and plot in clubs and offices and the foot soldiers who risk all doing their bidding.
The amount of dialogue is a problem in the early stages; conversations between characters, such as the one when Leamas explains something to Control that both men obviously knew, are needed to clue in the audience to elements of the backstory. This does give a pedestrian pace to proceedings that gives cause for concern but once over this, with Leamas’s mission underway, things pick up quickly.
Posing as a man unhappy with his lot, who drinks too much and is out of favour with his superiors and who could be persuaded, with a financial inducement, to provide information that would uncover a double agent, Leamas allows himself to be courted by agents from the other side of the Berlin wall.
All seems to be going to plan – but the question is: according to whose plan? Leamas goes willingly to the Netherlands for questioning but soon finds that he will be taken east. His passport has been taken, he is in no position to resist. He is beginning to realise that his mission is not what Control led him to believe, and the arrival, against her will, of Liz Gold (Grainne Dromgoole) with whom he had started an affair back in London complicates matters even further.
The plot twists, and twists again. No-one can be trusted, there are no friends or allies, least of all those who sent him there. The outcome? Well, either you will know this from Le Carre’s book or you can find out for yourself – I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.
David Eldridge has done a wonderful job adapting this for the stage, staying close to the original, although if my memory serves George Smiley had less to do with proceedings than he does here.
All in all, a powerful and unsettling story that leaves you feeling that maybe not much has changed in the world of secrets.
Jim Welsh
Radio Summerhall Arts 