Four Quartets at Harold Pinter Theatre

TS Eliot’s Four Quartets is hardly an easy poem to understand, let alone to memorise and even interpret on stage. While not quite as dense as The Waste Land, it still contains a deeply philosophical and multifaceted treatise on time, faith and nihilism, bringing in many references to a whole range of texts. Ralph Fiennes, both as actor and director, adapts this difficult material for the stage, delivering a fantastically human performance of one of Eliot’s greatest poems. From start to finish, the audience hangs on his lips as he utters each word with astonishing intensity and a clear artistic vision of the poet’s thoughts, emotions and drives.

Four Quartets is, of course, a wartime poem, and that is reflected in the language. While it never directly addresses the war itself, it is clearly filled with desperation in searching for meaning, a faint hope in religion that the speaker clings to, and a sense of the inescapable and incomprehensible passage of time. It is the poem of a person growing older and not wiser, of one who becomes more confused and uncertain with age, longing to find sense. The text also contains a lot of humility and trust in faith: glimmers of hope that resonate throughout and offer some resolution.

Of course, Fiennes inevitably favours a particular interpretation through his delivery, and it places a special emphasis on a darker, bleaker side – almost certainly a nod to our own contemporary uncertainty. Through a cunningly personal touch and powerfully intimate vocalisation of the lines, his performance feels both raw and well thought-out. This is clearly a man who deeply cares for Eliot’s work, and who feels the anguish of the text. This reading comes somewhat at the cost of the poem’s more uplifting moments, but it hardly diminishes the effect of the show – certainly not when sound designer Christopher Shutt adds so much with his subtle and effective interventions and Tim Lutkin’s lighting is stunningly apt. 

No, there is no doubt about it: Ralph Fiennes’s Four Quartets is an absolute masterpiece, a timeless poem performed by a standout actor who has an uncanny touch for Eliot’s poetry. It may not be the most accessible of performances, but its power can be felt for hours after the conclusion, as it resonates with the audience’s own experiences, hopes and despair.

Michael Higgs

Four Quartets is at Harold Pinter Theatre from 18^th November until 18^th December 2021. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.

Listen to an excerpt of Fiennes reading East Coker from Four Quartets here: