Review: The Gambler ****

Alan Lane likes to do performances a little differently from most. Previous projects by the artistic director of Leeds’ Slung Low theatre company include a three-hour epic journey around Hull, a tale of vampires set in an underground car park and a bus ride around Holbeck, Leeds, where over the space of a week 100 stories had been stuck on lampposts.

So it should probably come as no surprise that his adaptation of Dostoevsky’s The Gambler, which included a chamber orchestra and saw the Howard Assembly Room transformed into a 19th-century casino ran for just one night. The success of the production rested largely on the shoulders of Dominic Gateley as Alexi, who becomes intoxicated by both the beautiful Polina (Louisa Clein) and the roulette table. It was a faultless performance and Stuart Richman, an elder statesmen with a chocolate-coated voice lent the event a little gravitas as The General, who warns of the dangers of a life spent in the casino.

Part Radio 4 Play for Today, part classical music recital, with Danny Driver on piano, Chloe Hanslip on violin and Oliver Coates on cello, The Gambler is the kind of production the Howard Assembly Room was made for.

It wasn’t entirely successful. Clein’s voice was often lost in the cavernous venue and some of the musical sections were too long. However, the entire production was the result of Alan Lane’s willingness to take risks and the theatre could do with more directors like him.