Second Skin are steadily consolidating their position as N16’s resident theatre company.  Andy McQuade was awarded ‘Best Theatre Director 2012’ by Fringe Report for his production of ‘La Chunga’ which played at Ryans Bar, before making a West End transfer. Here in the basement of White Rabbit, McQuade excels with ‘Quills’ in a venue that seems to accommodate his approach to drama perfectly.

Author Doug Wright takes the incarcerated Marquis de Sade as his protagonist, or rather the Marquis’ penned words and their power to offend, delight, provoke and incite. In a script rich with imagery, both the compulsion to write and the notion of a powerful mind controlling others, are played out in a gripping and humorous production. The strong text is nimbly dramatised by an impressive cast, with atmospheric set and stylish costume design. In the intimate cellar space, spectators and cast are drawn into a mutually shared suspension of disbelief. There is strong content within the drama yet, a restrained treatment concentrates the power of the material.

Renée Pélagie, wife of the Marquis de Sade (a spirited creation from Lauren Kelleger), will pay any amount of money to Dr Collard, head of the Charenten asylum, to silence her husband. Stephen Connery Brown plays the Doctor with a large measure of self interest and pomposity.   Dr Collard siphons funds from the asylum to accommodate his young bride in palatial surroundings; he is undone when architect M Prouix (Dan Shelton) beds the good doctor’s wife (Julia Taylor). Whilst this subplot does not quite integrate, these characters establish the morally bankrupt environment outside the doors of the asylum.

The Abbe de Coulmier is motivated by far more Christian intentions of finding humanity within the Marquis, and committed to leading him to redemption by a liberal path. Following the doctor’s orders to suppress the Marquis’ pornographic writings (which he is smuggling out of the asylum via the laundry maid Madelaine) the priest finds himself taking a different course of ever more cruel suppression in a futile quest to silence the Marquis.  Whilst the characters play out the inevitable consequences of the Abbe’s ever increasingly depraved attempts, words themselves take principality over the actions of the characters.

Peter Glover as the Marquis embodies the part with passion and a command of the grotesque. He delivers in the principal role over the two substantial acts keeping the flair and pace of his character throughout. Chris Brown as the Abbe de Coulmier subtly develops his complex embroilment into the manipulations of the Marquis in a compelling performance. As Madelaine, Nika Kitrova has a stellar quality. She combines innocence with a certain knowing ability to befriend the Marquis.

With the potential for only a small audience to gather close to the drama, McQuade achieves a most personal and engaging aura. This is an admirable production decision as the economics of theatre demand ticket sales, the creative result more than validates his decision.

Review by Bryony Hegarty

Production runs until 11 November