ELIZABETH REX, Findley, Bham Rep till 18 May
Birmingham
ELIZABETH REX: Timothy Findley
Birmingham Rep: Tkts, 0121 236 4455: info www.birmingham-rep.co.uk
Runs: 2h 25m, one interval, till 18 May
Review: Rod Dungate, 7 May 2002
A fascinating historical moment given an intriguing whirl as the fireworks explodeFindley gives a fascinating historical moment an intriguing whirl in this vigorous sweep of a play. It's set in 1601 on the night before Elizabeth had her lover, the Earl of Essex beheaded for raising a rebellion against her. Findley also spotted that another person imprisoned with Essex was the Earl of Southampton who, according to some, is the male lover to whom Shakespeare wrote two-thirds of his sonnets.
Findley adds one further ingredient to his pot – a fascination with the great women's roles that Shakespeare and others were writing: he ponders the question whether these were really played by boys or whether there were mature men playing them. Favouring the latter (at least for the purposes of his play) he invents one – Ned Lowenscroft.
Elizabeth called for a performance by the Lord Chamberlain's Men on the night before the execution to distract her. So Findley puts together a crowd of actors, Elizabeth, a Maid of Honour, a Countess, a Wardrobe mistress and a bear, then lights the blue touch paper.
The great strength of Findley's play is that it's like a huge wave that sweeps over you carrying you along for an exhilarating couple of hours. Two continuous acts enable the dramatic tensions to drive the play. As the characters ponder the nature of manhood, womanhood, love, life and death the debate sparkles with wit and passion.
The verbal clashes between the two most passionate characters (Lowenscroft and Elizabeth) are great Elizabethan duels. James Dreyfus (Lowenscroft) prowls the space, seething with anger at his own imminent death (from syphilis): his sentences rocket out of him launched from somewhere deep inside his body. Stephanie Beacham (Elizabeth) holds on to the haughty authority of this great monarch but, skilfully, never quite obliterates the young, intelligent, humorous, vivacious woman who suddenly found herself on the throne: Beacham shows us Elizabeth's light at the end of her tunnel. The journey of the play is, in a way, the journey of these two characters – Lowenscroft to come to terms with his own death and Elizabeth to acknowledge, once again, the young woman in her she has suppressed to rule. This is the only way to life.
George Costigan provides a cool William Shakespeare: the man sets himself aside from the action, a perennial, disinterested on-looker, recording history for us as it happens. Is he incapable of the passion about which he so ably writes? the play asks.
Will: George Costigan
Ned: James Dreyfus
Jack: Alisdair Simpson
Matt: Tom Godwin
Percy: Brian Poyser
Harry: Aidan Meech
Tom: Tom McKay
Ben: Ben McCosker
Tardy: Avril Clark
Luddy: Nick Stringer
Lady Mary Stanley: Sandra Reinton
Elizabeth: Stephanie Beacham
Henslowe: Mary Wimbush
Bear: Alexander Brunati
Cecil: Derek Hutchinson
Male Servants: Rush Owens, Stewart Harris
Female Servant: Amy Steel
Director: Jonathan Church
Design: Simon Higlett
Lighting: Nick Beadle
Composer: Matthew Scott
2002-05-08 12:04:34