Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Saturday 28th February 2016
The big theatre event for this year's Festival is titled, with deceptive simplicity, The James Plays Trilogy, a collection of plays about the lives of the first three Kings James Stewart of Scotland. The curtain rose on James I at noon, and the final curtain fell on James III at 11pm. Each play, running at around two and a half hours, has a single interval and there were two longer breaks between the plays, the second break being the longer of the two, suitable for having a meal.
Playwright, Rona Munro's, 15th Century historical trilogy has been compared favourably to the works of Shakespeare, and one can see why. She has learned her lessons from the writing of the great man and incorporated that knowledge and understanding in her writing. That is not to say that she copied him slavishly. She has her own distinct style, and the language that she gives to her characters is that of today. Like the Bard, though, she finds the relevance to today in those histories and uses that to help engage the audience.
Each part of the trilogy has a very different King and, as a consequence, she has given each a markedly different approach to her writing. Each also had a subtitle: James I: The Key Will Keep The Lock, James II: Day Of The Innocents, and James III: The True Mirror. The National Theatre of Scotland, the National Theatre of Great Britain, and the Edinburgh International Festival combined to produce this remarkable trio of plays in 2014, for which Adelaide audiences will remain very grateful. Although each play is self-contained, the three together make a remarkable dramatised record of an important period in Scottish history.
The first contains a great deal of comedy that falls away as the violence and animosity grows, to end in betrayal and murder, the second is far bleaker from start to finish, and the third is filled with music, colour, laughter, and gaiety with a steadily increasing dark undertone.
There is a noticeable coherency across the plays as they not only use the same twenty performers, but they are all created by the same production team of Director, Laurie Sansom,Designer,Jon Bausor, Lighting Designer, Philip Gladwell, and Movement Director, Neil Bettles. The sound designers are Christopher Shutt for James I & II, and Nick Sagar for James III.
There are small changes to the main part of the set during the three plays but, essentially, it remains much the same, dominated by a sword as high as the proscenium and with a curved backdrop reminiscent of a bullring, or Coliseum wall, in front of which the political intrigues, murders, and battles take place, making that seem an ideal reference. Stairs are either side of the stage leading to balconies, where two small groups of audience members are seated, and a central high platform, mostly occupied by the throne. A large entrance upstage centre is either a drawbridge or huge doors, as required. With the marvellous lighting and the sound plots added, this transforms in myriad locations, from a football pitch, to a ballroom, to battlefields. The whole thing is visually impressive, not forgetting, of course, the costumes and fights.
James I was a political prisoner of the English for eighteen years, from the age of twelve. He became king during his incarceration and was eventually released on the promise of raising the money to pay his ransom after he was officially crowned King of the Scots. He took with him his new English wife, Isabella, but the welcome was not as warm as he expected. He found himself surrounded by other Stewarts of the royal line who were happier running the kingdom without him, and felt that they had more right to the crown than James as they had been doing the job for so long. They have been collecting the King's taxes, but have kept the money for themselves, so the royal treasury is empty. They are far from happy at his demand that hey make this right. He attempts to impose the rule of law and unite Scotland, but that task is huge, and he decides that he has no other choice than to become totally ruthless and remove all who might oppose him.
Steven Miller plays James I, with Rosemary Boyle as his bride, Joan Beaufort, a niece of Henry VI. From the first few moments it is clear that this trilogy is going to be something exceptional, and everything that follows justifies that expectation. Miller and Boyle are wonderful together as a pair who are used to the elegance and expansiveness of the English court, suddenly thrust into a wild wilderness of power by force and roughness where they expected sophistication. Boyle shows genuine surprise at the small rooms, shared bedrooms, and dreadful eating habits. Miller gives a nicely measured trajectory to his gradual increase in strength of will and determination to take over as ruler.John Stahl plays Murdac Stewart, the Regent of Scotland and Blythe Duff is Isabella Stewart, the matriarch of the family, a role she continues to play into James II. Their three sons all want to keep James from ruling, but each thinks that he should be the one to replace the King. Stahl's Murdac is in agreement to begin with, then pragmatically offers his sons to be arrested to save them from killing each other. Stahl presents those mixed emotions at his inevitable decision. Duff grows more powerful all the time, determined that one of her sons should be king, filling with hatred at what Murdac has done.
Sally Reid is Meg, making the most of a fun role as a bossy, put-upon servant with a kind heart, berating theDouglas family and doing what she can to help the new king. By James II she is a member of the royal household.
It is quickly evident, though, that this a supportive and committed ensemble in which, at times, one or another has a larger role, but all roles are important and are treated that way. This is a collection of top-flight performers and that makes this trilogy the best thing that I have seen inAdelaide since Anthony Sher played Richard III here with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
James II became king at the age of six, and power-mongers ruled for him, looking after themselves and their allies "in the King's name". His mother, Queen Joan, had taken a new lover after, or perhaps even before the death of James I and, to be with him, she abandoned her children, leaving James II to be the puppet of those who had sent her away. His sister, Annabella, was unwittingly given away as a child bride by James, both having been fooled into thinking that it was all just a game that they were playing. He is very naïve, and deliberately kept ignorant by his 'advisors' who tell him what they have decided needs to be done, and order him to sign their papers enacting their corrupt schemes. He is a political tool that they fight over, each trying to get him to them alone, instead of having to share him. His only friend is another lonely boy, William, who will later become the Earl of Douglas after the death of his brutal and ambitious father. Having no apparent reason to grow up, James doesn't, even after marrying, until he realises just what has been happening in his name when it touches those near and dear to him. His hold on reality is not strong, his childhood nightmares returning to confound him, and the play ends tragically.
James II was played in Australia byDaniel Cahill, replacing Andrew Rothney who, unfortunately, suffered an accident whilst performing the role before leaving the UK for this season but, luckily, he was still able to join the ensemble and play the part of Cochrane in James III. The King's wife, Mary of Gueidres, is played by Rosemary Boyle, who initially played his mother, Joan, who abandons him at the beginning of the play. Boyle gives such a totally different characterisation to Mary that it causes the audience to take a while to realise that it is the same person playing the role.
Cahill does a superb job of playing a young boy growing older, and growing up, over the course of the play, as well as displaying his irrational fears that lead him to hide away in a large trunk when scared, and the impact of his returning nightmares as a young man. His eventual discovering his own power and ability to take control is a marvellous moment. He offers some very close work with Still as his friend William, forging a believably close bond between the two boys.
Andrew Still is William Douglas, the son of Balvenie, of the Douglas family, played by Peter Forbes. Like Cahill, Still makes that transition from child to man, and offer a changing personality to go with it. He finally stands up to his bullying father, realising that he is now a man and has the physical strength. Forbes draws a dim picture of a man who has made the upward move from having no land and, hence, no prestige or political standing, to a landholder of many properties around Scotland, almost ringing the country. With it, Balvenie has become mean-spirited, avaricious, and physically and mentally abusive to William. Forbes gives hints of this in James I but his development in James II is complete. Still makes full use of this portrayal of William's father to give his character the anger and resentment that William deserves. The interaction between the two crackles.
Dani Heron takes the role of his sister, Annabella, who gives him and Mary her support. She is delightful as the young girl and looks genuinely terrified as she is taken away to be a bride. Now she plays the older girl who has returned, and she shows Annabelle with an inner fortitude.
James III was narcissistic, extravagant, flamboyant, egotistical, a show-off, and spent money as though it was limitless, bankrupting Scotland. The play opens with people dancing to a trio of piano accordion, cajon, and Scottish small pipes, or border pipes. He captivates a young servant, Daisy. Although he was loved at times like these, at others he was equally hated, and a civil war was threatening to begin at any moment, with people calling for his death and replacement. It is his level-headed and determined wife, Queen Margaret of Denmark, who desperately tries to hold his reign together as he continues to neglect his royal duties. She manages to drive away his current dalliance, Daisy, a laundress, and convinces him to apologise to the parliament, but this he turns into another act of defiance and leaves with the leather kilted Cochrane, a talented architect and his latest lover. This play is more about the women around him than about the ineffectual King himself, and Queen Margaret takes the throne to replace him. Her reign is effective but cut short, ended by illness and death.
Matthew Pidgeon is James III, having played Henry V in the first play, with Malin Crépin as his wife, Margaret, Queen of Scots. Pidgeon creates what at first appears to be a party-loving, easy-going rake and rogue. We discover before long he is not all that he seems and Pidgeon exposes the king's nasty side. He lost interest, if he ever had any, in being with his queen and he buys the mirror to convince her that she is old and unattractive, but it backfires as Crépin looks at her reflection and, showing us a bold woman as her character, she presents a queen who is very happy with the person that she has become. There are some great interchanges between these two.Blythe Duff returns as the now mature Anabella, with Dani Heron as Phemy, a lady of the court, confidants, supporters, and friends of the Queen. The three have a great rapport and inject their characters with plenty of humour when alone, before things become dangerous, at which time Crépin makes her queen lead the way as they move into a serious approach to the impending crisis.
Fiona Wood is the over-confident Daisy, who gets her comeuppance when she is shown her reflection in a full-length mirror and is forced to accept that she is not as pretty as she thought, and is already, by her own definition, past her best year and aging. Wood's reaction to Daisy's discovery goes from denial to a complete breakdown in a compelling few minutes.
There is so much more that could, and perhaps should be said about this magnificent production but, I think, the three curtain calls after James III ended, all standing ovations by the entire audience, said quite enough.
There were seven Scottish Kings named James, so there is potential for more plays. With James VI of Scotland also being James I of England, things could get very interesting. I think that it is a very safe bet that Rona Munro has already considered this possibility, too, and the outstanding success of these three plays should be sufficient incentive to start writing. We can only hope that some other enlightened Artistic Director brings them here for the Adelaide Festival when they are ready.
Here is a tiny taste of this production.
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