The Anatomist, The Stage

Eastern Angles’ latest touring production is set in Padua. Not the rumbustious Padua of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate but the darker alleyways close to Andreas Vesalius’s studio where he dissected bodies in order to be able to write his great work De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body). Understanding of the body relied on the 1,500-year-old writings of the Greek physician Galen.

Vesalius demonstrated how wrong much of the earlier thinking was and his book remains one of the most influential on human anatomy.

Tony Ramsay’s new play explores the relationship between Vesalius and an artist, Van Calcar, who turns up to help him. There’s an inevitable clash between the inner workings and the outer body as seen by these two strong personalities. Is a human being a bag of bones or the sum of his experiences? There’s blood fountaining into the air, dead bodies on slabs, liberal use of foul language, a superb, many-layered set by Rosie Alabaster and some superb performances as the company asks us to consider our own humanity. It’s a provocative and stimulating journey.

Tom Marshall is magisterially commanding as Vesalius. It’s a wonderfully involving performance. Nadia Morgan as Van Calcar - I have no space to explain this gender swap - is excellent too, catching the confidence of youth and the warmth of concern for her fellow beings. Veronica Hempsey creeps and coughs and splutters and dies effectively as the household drudge who is nonetheless proud of what life has done to her aching bones. Gráinne Ellis wafts around enigmatically as the mysterious Emilia while Timothy Speyer relishes his everyman role of Glov, spluttering guts and all. William Gregory, a nicely effeminate Podesta, and Richard Sandells, superb as the Captain, complete the strong cast and play all the other roles. Ivan Cutting directs.