The Changeling, Young Vic - review

Yet in this quirky updating of Thomas Middleton and William Rowley's drama, which stars Jessica Raine from BBC1's Call The Midwife, they are all over the place - including on some of the audience by the end.

Back in 1622, Middleton and Rowley certainly did not pen the words "Hit it, DJ". Here they are the cue for a wedding scene that boasts kooky dancing and a soundtrack ranging from Beyoncé to Elton John.

It is not exactly an orthodox approach to revenge tragedy but director Joe Hill-Gibbins has gone for a remix that is exuberantly odd.

The play is a sinister study of power relationships. It is set in Alicante, pictured as a claustrophobic society.

Beatrice-Joanna (Raine) is engaged to Alonzo, a man her father favours. When she falls for well-travelled Alsemero, she gets her father's servant, the repellent De Flores, to dispose of Alonzo.
But De Flores, who seethes with lust for her, turns to blackmail, with disastrous results that suck in her maid Diaphanta.

The production has no clear sense of place amid the cheap furniture, food fights and incongruous costumes. Comedy and darkness are mingled but the mood swings wildly.

Daniel Cerqueira has an unsettling quality as De Flores and Raine is sharp and enigmatic. But Hill-Gibbins has not conjured the necessary atmosphere of suffocating intensity.

About 20 per cent of the production strikes me as dementedly brilliant. The rest is a mess.

Until February 25 (020 7922 2922, www.youngvic.org)