Edward II - Sam Wanamaker Playhouse

From an Assyrian King to an English one, and from history to drama.. 

After visiting the British Museum, I went to the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, to see Kit Marlowe's  Edward II. 

It is  famous for being (probably) the earliest play in English featuring a homosexual relationship, and was first performed in 1592. It is, as you might guess from the title, a history play, about King Edward II, who reigned from 1307-1327, and (at least according to the play) was murdered by way of a red hot poker .



In this production, Edward is played by  Tom Stuart, and Gaveston by Beru Tessema.

Edward comes across as a man out of his depth, overshadowed by his late father, insecure, but  ill-advisedly stubborn, even pig-headed, when pushed..  

It is interesting that the focus of the other characters anger against Gaveston is focused less on the fact that he is the King's lover, and more upon Gaveston's  birth (he is not a member of the nobility, and the King's choices to grant him lands and titles offends them ) and the King's extravagance. Indeed, one of the nobles (Mortimer,I think) makes it explicitly clear that the King having favourites, or lovers, isn't in itself the problem.

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse stage

There are very strong performances from Edward and Gaveston,  and I enjoyed the nobles, too.Well worth seeing. Even if you do get your toes trodden on by the occasional actor! 

The Alchemist and Doctor Faustus

I spent last Saturday in London, mostly at the Barbican. 

I'd booked to see 'Doctor Faustus', with my friend A (with whom I also saw the Jamie Lloyd Co. version back in April), and also to see 'The Alchemist' by myself - they are both RSC productions which have transferred from Stratford to London, and of the same actors appear in both.

They are, however, very different productions.

The Alchemist was written by Ben Jonson and was first performed, at the Globe Theatre, in 1610. This production was the first time I've seen it, and I avoided reading up on it in advance so came to it with an open mind.

This production was in period dress, (although the introductory music moves seamlessly from generic medieval twangly harpsichord to more familiar tunes - snatches of the 'Mission Impossible' and 'James Bond' themes being particularly notable!)

It made the most of every drop of comedy in the text. Dishonourable trio, Jeremy / Face (Ken Nwosu), Dol Common (Siobhán McSweeney) and Subtle (Mark Lockyer) take advantage of the fact that Jeremy the butler has been left in charge of his master's house, while his master flees the plague,  join forces to con their neighbours, with Subtle posing as a learned Doctor and Alchemist, and Face as his friend, the dashing Captain, and Dol as, well, whatever is necessary, from Queen Mab, to wealthy and learned lady.

 'Dol Common' (c) Helen Maybanks

It's fast and farcial, as the trio try to prevent their various victims from running into one another, while making as much profit as they can without, of course, actually delivering anything in return!

I'm not a bit fan of farce but I did enjoy the show, and liked the way that this production draws in the audience, making us complicit in their (mis-)deeds!

After the show I met up with A and we had a very good meal, before returning to the Barbican for (for me) the second play of the day.

Doctor Faustus is a very different production, both from The Alchemist and from the previous production of the same play  we saw earlier in the year.

At the start, the Sandy Grierson and Oliver Ryan walk on stage in silence, mirroring each others actions. They each strike a match. The one whose match burns out first plays Faustus, and the other plays Mephistophelis. 

It must be challenging, not to know until the last moment which role you will be playing that night! 

For the performance we saw, Oliver Ryan played Faustus, and Sandy Grierson, Mephistophilis.


It's still a very odd play.

Oliver Ryan as Faustus (left) and Sandy Grierson as Mephistophilis.
(c) Helen Maybanks

I preferred this version to the Kit Harrington / Jamie Lloyd one I saw, and thought both leads gave extraordinary performances. 

The production had some excellent, and at times (intentionally) disturbing characters and costumes: the seven deadly sins were a nightmare burlesque, gluttony in a fat suit, lust as a drag queen, envy in a gimp suit, and covetousness with prostheses allowing it to walk on all fours, for instance.

There were also scary clowns in bowler hats, and worryingly fascist soldiers with black uniforms, masks and red rubber gloves..

Things did not end well for Faustus.  But we knew that.

I'm glad to have seen it. I thought it was very interesting, and that the actors involved were excellent. But I'm not sure I would say I liked it, exactly.

Will Shakespeare and Kit Marlowe and other friends

After my morning of exhibitions, I headed over to the Globe Theatre, or rather to it's neighbour, the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse. 

It's the first time I have been. The playhouse was built in 2014 and is a reproduction of a Jacobean indoor theatre, built of wood (within in brick shell) and lit by candles. It was built based on 17th Century plans - and is likely to be similar to the Blackfriars Theatre which was built in 1596 and used by Shakespeare's 'Lord Chamberlain's Men' from 1608, so his later plays would have performed somewhere like this.

It's not very big - it seats 340 (snugly) and it's an interesting experience. As I booked months ago, I had a seat in the front row of the pit (the front row consisting of two teeny wooden benches, one each side of the aisle, each seating 3 people. It is, I have to say, extremely uncomfortable. But close to the action. Like the Globe, the actors have lots of entrances and exits via the aisle.

(photo from the Globe's website)

As well as being my first visit to the Playhouse, it was also the first time I have seen 'Cymbeline'. 

It's an interesting play - Othello-esque jealousy, plus cross-dressing, a wicked step-mother, mistaken identity, battles, Romans and a happy ending (except, of course, for the wicked step-mother. Oh, and the guy who got decapitated). But mostly a happy ending.

It was good fun. Although I have to say, I thing Innogen was remarkably forgiving of her husband's whole 'order my faithful servant to murder my wife because I believed my Italian  acquaintance when he claimed he slept with her, without pausing to consider that he stood to lose 3,000 ducats and a lot of street cred if he admitted she turned him down' 

I particularly enjoyed the performances of Trevor Fox, as Posthumus's servant, Pisanio, Emily Barber as Innogen, and Eugene O'Hare as the underhand and scheming Iachimo (sporting a somewhat anachronistic plastic cast on one leg,  but not letting it slow him down in any way)

Very glad I went.

And then, after meeting up with A, and getting food (and conversation) we headed to the Duke of York's Theatre to see Dr. Faustus.

It's a very . .. interesting .. production. It combined Christopher Marlowe's original text (and Elizabethan language) for the first and last scenes, with middle scenes rewritten (in modern language)  by Colin Teevan, and features Faustus (Harington) achieving fame and fortune as a superstar stage magician.

There are topical references, to President Obama, Tony Blair, Cameron's tax affairs. It is not for the squeamish or easily offended. There are demons in grubby underwear (and at times in nothing at all), murders, suicide, rape, smoking. It was not quite what I as expecting, but very well done. 

Jenna Russell is superb as Mephistopheles - She, I think, is the real star of this show. Which is not to say that Harington isn't good; he is, but she is outstanding - I particularly enjoyed her comments to latecomers, returning to the stalls after the interval, as she sang, and her word-weary dealings with Faustus. 

(for those wondering, the full frontal nudity in the play is not that of Mr Harington, although he  does strip down to his underwear) 

I'm a little tempted now to book to see the RSC's production of the play, just for the contrast..

Oh, and kids, the takeaway message here is Just Say No to Pacts with Satan, especially when sealed with your own blood. It doesn't end well.