SPEAKING LIKE MAGPIES till 5 November.
SPEAKING LIKE MAGPIES: Frank McGuinness.
RSC: Swan, Tkts 0870 609 110, www.rsc.org.uk
Runs: 2h 30m, one interval, til 5 November.
Review: Rod Dungate, 28 September 2005.
Theatrically exciting, but lacks focus.
There's something going on in this play, but it's mighty difficult to work out what it is. Frank McGuinness has lost the plot . . . or rather has failed to shape one for us.
Speaking Like Magpies ('magpies' is an allusion to Catholics) is part of the RSC Gunpowder Plot season. McGuinness brings King James to the fore and relegates Guy Fawkes almost to the level of bit-part player. There's nothing wrong in this . . . centring the play around a Protestant-Catholic debate important and relevant. But McGuinness fails to ignite the debate in this quirkily episodic play. As the play progresses later scenes fail to illuminate earlier issues. Scenes occur like the 'Visions of Henry Garnet' towards the end of the play (priest Garnet, tortured, death imminent) in which the situation appears to be the same at the end of the scene as at the beginning; forward momentum is lost.
McGuinness uses verse to stylise his play an exciting possibility. But he isn't master of his medium. I'm not arguing here for realism, but the verse doesn't enable either actors or poetry to engage us. James to the Queen: 'My match in what?/ In smelling the blood/ Within the veins of creatures/ My hounds will devour?' Too often characters appear to be mouthing manifestos rather than dialogue.
Robert Goold's production is highly theatrical and the production's use of pyrotechnics ensures an ever present sense of danger. The opening is dramatic and thrilling. But devices and explorations of theatrical forms cannot sustain our interest.
There are some good performance struggling to get out. William Houston does his best to breath life into James 1, but the writing doesn't really allow him to explore James's complexities. Ishia Bennison brings great dignity and three-dimensions to Lady Anne Vaux. Nigel Cooke creates an intriguing Robert Cecil, quick witted and powerful. His torture scene with servant girl May (Vinette Robinson) is one of the best in the play.
The Equivocator: Kevin Harvey.
Mary Queen of Scots: Michell Butterly.
King James: William Houston.
Queen Anne: Teresa Banham.
Ladies-in-Waiting: Vinette Robinson, Miranda Colchester.
Gentlemen: Jon Foster, Keith Osborn.
A Puritan: Keith Osborn.
A Pope: Julian Stolzenberg.
Dogs: Peter Bramhill, Jon Foster.
Henry Garnet: Fred Ridgeway.
May: Vinette Robinson.
Robert Cecil: Nigel Cooke.
Lady Anne Vaux: Ishia Bennison.
Robert Catesby: Jonjo O'Neill.
Robin Wintour: Matt Ryan.
Servant: Barry Aird.
A Catholic Aristocrat: Keith Osborn.
A Protestant Divine: Jon Foster.
Directed by: Rupert Goold.
Designed by: Matthew Wright.
Lighting Designed by: Wayne Dowdeswell.
Music and Sound Score by: Adam Cork.
Movement by: Michael Ashcroft.
Fights by: Terry King.
Music Director: Michael Tubbs.
Video Design by: Lorna Heavey.
Assistant Director: Elizabeth Freestone.
Company Voice Work by: Jeannette Nelson.
Scottish Dialect Consultant: Carol Ann Crawford.
Casting Director: John Cannon.
2005-09-30 11:44:02