JAMIE THE SAXT. To 1 September.
London.
JAMIE THE SAXT
by Robert McLellan.
Finborough Theatre Finborough Pub 118 Finborough Road SW10 9ED To 1 September 2007.
Tue-Sat 7.30pm Sun 3.30pjm
Runs 2hr 35min One interval.
TICKETS: 0870 4000 838 (24hr no booking fee.
www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk (reduced full-price tickets online).
Review: Timothy Ramsden 14 August.
Hectic happenings in the royal court of Scotland.
Anyone thinking modern politics are peculiarly intrigue-filled and faction-ridden should take a look at this English premiere of Robert McLellan’s 1937 drama in aCCentuate’s production for the Finborough’s valuable “Rediscoveries” season.
James VI ruled Scotland while Elizabeth I was England’s Queen. He kept an eye on Elizabeth as a source of secret funding (the equivalent of cash-stuffed brown-envelopes) and in terms of succeeding her. In 1603 he would indeed become James I of England.
McLellan’s Jamie is a king in the mould of Shakespeare’s Richard II, arousing opposition through favouritism (James’ sexuality is made explicit here with a kiss for the favoured lord Spynie), wasting resources and a general manner unfitting for a monarch.
The play’s written in vigorous Scots, a living language which assimilates Scottish words with English. It’s something this cast handle with varying success. Though accents rarely become too untuned, some actors catch the speech patterns, vital for full comprehension, better than others.
Among these, fortunately, is John Wark’s Jamie. A mix of curly-haired child, cowering in fearful challenge or gloating at his enemy’s defeat, and shrewdly calculating politician, he commands, and demands, respect as monarch rather than through personal demeanour.
He’d be a gift to modern journalism, just as Mark Torrance’s Bothwell, a Bolingbroke-like figure in his gravity, with added insolence, could become a photogenic favourite as alternative monarch. His natural authority allows him to submit his sword to Jamie while setting his own terms.
It’s only by sending a loyal laird rushing semi-dressed through the palace early one morning to fetch England’s emissary that Jamie saves his crown. And this production’s final moment has Jamie startled at a vision of his adversary; a ruler’s life is never to be free from fear.
But history led Bothwell into a Catholic alliance which Jamie exploits with childlike rapidity in spotting his adversary’s weakness to seal support from Protestant England.
Director Rae McKen marshals a large cast on a small stage in a headlong account of events, in which Gillian McGregor’s Danish-born queen stands out in colour of dress and stillness of bearing from the hectic world around.
Mistress Edward: Susan Lawson Reynolds.
Rab/Lord Ochiltree: Noufal Ousellam.
Baillie Morrison/Maitland: Gareth Glen.
Queen Anne: Gillian MacGregor.
Lady Margaret Vinstar/The Girl: Lucy Conway.
Colville/Lord Logie: Stuart McPherson.
Lord Atholl: Marcus Powell.
King James: John Wark.
Lord Spynie/The Stranger/Provost: Kevin MacIsaac.
Baillie Nicoll: Owen Roberts.
:Lennox: Jamie Partridge.
Sir Robert Bowes/Robert Bruce: Mark Torrance.
Bothwell: Mark Torrance.
Sir James Melville: Mark Holloway.
Director: Rae McKen.
Designer: Libby Lee.
Lighting: Oliver Luff.
Assistant director: Rania Jumaily
2007-08-15 10:19:23