Thoughts on Barnaby Hughes as Enjolras performance.
First of all: performance wise? 10/10 he was a very multifaceted Enjolras and most importantly, NAILED that Final Battle in a way I haven't seen before so I'm deeply impressed. Needless to say, he is one of my favorite Enjolrai EVER now.
You can see Barnaby went for these specific points of Enjolras description in the brick:
"Charming young man who was capable of being terrible"
"He was Antinous wild"
"Serious"
FULL "love yours is the future" speech attitude during the final battle. A choice, really.
So for the first point: during Look Down he was very caring and looked genuinely concerned (and even desperate) about the people there and stopped to give money to a woman. Approachable Enjolras is how things should be.
One of the interpretations I really like about Enjolras is+
that he cares a lot about his friends, he is a fantastic orator but he is, undoubtedly, not very good in personal matters. Enjolras is an introvert in the brick too, as he stays quiet when they talk about anything unrelated to revolution and justice.
This particular Enjolras is very okay with physical advances from his friends but he doesn't know what to do around Grantaire so he pretends to ignore him and yet...he keeps gravitating towards him unconsciously.
Grantaire here is fierce, teases him several times and is not+
afraid to call him out and Enjolras is visibly affected by it even if he wants to pretend otherwise.
The "serious" part of the performance is present in the way he is able to put that mask when it comes to talk about revolution and scold Marius for talking about love but he is+
unable to be that "Antinous wild" from the brick around Grantaire which is why he is quiet and essentially powerless around him.
After Éponine died, Enjolras and Grantaire were standing next to each other and R reproached him what happened. By the angle, R might think he was+
unaffected by his words but that was certainly not the case here. Enjolras was breathing heavily while avoiding to meet his eyes and struggling a lot to control his emotions for the sake of the cause.
Now...let's talk about THAT Drink With Me:
Enjolras is emotionally distant or+
at least wants to believe he is. He doesn't look at Grantaire until he feels he has to and then, goes to where he is but again, Enjolras is POWERLESS around him and doesn't comfort him, doesn't say a word because if he is the reason of his distress, he clearly doesn't have the+
right to offer ANY kind of help BUT he doesn't reject Grantaire, he doesn't push him away he is simply unable to reciprocate because he doesn't know how.
Grantaire walks away and he is still standing there, Gavroche calls him out and Enjolras forcibly goes back to the barricade.
Now: The Final Battle
Enjolras was pretty much self contained when R was not around during the rest of the musical but he is unable to keep the "serious" mask here.
He sounds destroyed and full of regret when he realizes they're going to die and even his posture changes.
Before Gav death he tried his best but was affected. He looked positively overwhelmed when Valjean insisted in going for the ammunition and then...well Gavroche.
Grantaire runs to Gav and Enjolras PUSHES him away, he doesn't want to risk Grantaire life too.
Gavroche dies when Enjolras reaches for him and he simply cannot hold it anymore.
He blames himself for everything, he gives Gav body to R (another reason to feel guilty. He feels he took away the only joy in Grantaire's life) after that he just...stays there, breathing heavily
and at the verge of tears. When the National Guard talks again Enjolras forces himself to stand up but he is not okay, he has to hold the barricade in order to not fall and he looks for reassurance from his friends, searching for strength for the last fight.
As @croissantmusain pointed out, the "love yours is the future" moment happens when he screams that until the Earth is free and he does it MASTERFULLY.
Antinous wild gives his last fight, he is determined to day so when he realizes his friends are gone he practically BEGS the+
National Guard to kill him.
The fact he was able to convey ALL of these emotions in a matter of minutes is simply incredible and won't forget about it.
He made me cry, Barnaby Hughes welcome to my Enjolrai top 5.
You can follow @marxistenjolras.
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