A REVIEW BY ALEX BINGLEY OF 

‘RAT IN THE SKULL’ 

PERFORMED AT THE ROYAL COURT 1996

When I saw this play back in 96 I was an eager acting student in my second year of training. I’d seen John Castle in nearly everything from films to television, so the prospect of seeing him live on stage was very exciting.

‘Rat in the skull’ is based around the events in Ireland, and the men that were routinely being take in by the police and questioned as possible IRA suspects. Rufus Sewell was the suspect in question, and John Castle played one of the interrogators/prison wardens.

The production used a minimalist set that looked like the inside of a prison. The opening of the play had the alarms of the prison going off and the prison wardens (including JC) running on standing under a spotlight and barking orders. His costume was not dissimilar to the one worn in Robocop 3. 

The first thing you noticed about JC was his presence. He has charisma by the bucket- load and you can’t help but watch him whenever he’s on stage. The second thing was his voice, clear as a bell, and for this production played in a superb cockney accent. 

As I saw this play some time ago, I cannot remember in detail what happened throughout, but there were some memorable moments that have stuck in my mind.  The first was where another interrogator was questioning Rufus Sewell’s character. JC was guarding the cell and at one point he sat down and began to open a packet of sandwiches and eat them, not in itself remarkable, but in JC’s hands it was mesmerizing. This simple piece of stage business became a mini- play in its own right, the way he opened the bag and carefully took out the sandwiches, before pausing, then taking a bite, then thoughtfully chewing. I don’t remember what went on in the main scene between Rufus and the interrogator because this little bit of stage business stole the focus. 

The next piece I remember was JC putting a young prison guard in his place. He kept prodding this little scrawny officer in the chest whilst simultaneously backing him into a corner. The officer looked genuinely terrified (well wouldn’t you be?)

The final thing I remember is JC having a go at Rufus Sewell.  His voice and timing  in the scene were excellent and made the ‘flavour of the month’ Sewell look like he’d come straight out of amateur dramatics. He did this action where he was reading from a book and at the end of reading it he slammed it shut with one hand, a hair’s breadth away from Rufus Sewell’s nose.

Something I forgot to mention was JC’s amazing stagecraft and his intuitive sense of what worked theatrically. The stage, which was a square, not only had the audience sitting all around it, but also going up in tiers. JC when acting would sometimes deliver his lines to the bottom row, and then he would move around, looking up and also to the centre of the audience so that everybody could see and hear him. This is superb stagecraft and something younger actors don’t have a clue about. Another thing was his sense of the theatrical, the sandwiches, the slamming of the book, these were all theatrically effective moments, and something which again younger actors don’t tend to use.  Younger actors are so busy trying to be ‘naturalistic’ and ‘televisual’ that they have no instinct for taking a moment and using it.

It was a terrific evening and one of my great theatrical memories of outsdtanding performances. I only wish he was on stage more often, if only to remind the world how great British theatrical acting can be.