Peter Viney's Blog

Edward II
by Christopher Marlowe

Directed by Nick Bagnall
Bill Barclay composer
JessicaWorrall- designer

Sam Wanamaker Playhouse
at Shakespeare’s Globe

Wednesday 27th March 2019, 14.00, matinee

CAST
Annette Badland – Mortimer Senior / Earl of Arundel / Abbot
Richard Bremner – Archbishop of Canterbury / Spenser senior
Richard Cant- Earl of Lancaster / Earl of Leicester
Polly Frame- Earl of Kent, Edward’s brother
Jonathan Livingstone- Mortimer Junior
Sanchia McCormack- Earl of Warwick / Sir John of Hainault
Colin Ryan – Bishop of Coventry /  Spenser Junior / Prince Edward (i.e. King Edward III)
Tom Stuart – King Edward II
Beruma Tessema – Gaveston / Lightborn
Katie West – Queen Isabella

MUSIC
Sarah Case – voice
Sarah Homer- Contra Alto Clarinet / Recorder
Tunde Jegede – Cello / Kora
Paul Johnson- flute / bagpipes / Nyatiti
Rob Millett- MD / percussion / dulcimer

How I loathe these Globe cast and creative lists mixing up on-stage, back-stage and background. I must say if I’d known that three male earls were to be played by women, I wouldn’t have booked it at all. We have not booked any of the “Globe Ensemble” history plays in the 2019 season, the first time in years we’ve missed Globe Shakespeare productions, but in 2018 they went beyond silly.

I booked this because we’ve been working through the Royal Shakespeare Company Marlowe productions of the last few years with great enjoyment and I wanted to see another Marlowe. Then the RSC has put the full works into the Marlowe productions, and this is the Wanamaker with a small cast, and dare I say it, nowhere near the creativity of the RSC. Also, Wanamaker productions can end up looking very “samey” after you’ve seen a few. The set’s fixed and the costumes are generally dull.

L to R: Earl of Lancaster (Richard Cant), Edward II (Tom Stuart), Mortimer Junior (Jonathan Livingstone). Earl of Kent (Polly Frame) slinking at the side.

Edward II is most famous for the king’s unpleasant death. Hmm. Van Morrison had The Red Hot Pokers (from Wales) as his backing band for a couple of years. I doubt they were referencing this play, nor was Corporal Jones in Dad’s Army (They don’t like it up ’em!) Edward II’s death by insertion of a red hot poker in the anus is probably a myth, though it is one that dates back to just a few years after his death. The evidence that he was murdered at Berkeley Castle in September 1327 has been disputed. The Earl of Kent was beheaded in 1330 for attempting to free Edward from Corfe Castle in Dorset, where he believed he was being held. That’s brought earlier in Marlowe’s play to before Edward’s alleged 1327 death.  Another time change by Marlowe, is having Mortimer (theEarl of March) killed soon after Edward II’s death. Mortimer was de facto ruler from 1327 to 1330 before Edward III exercised his power and had him beheaded. Other stories have the deposed Edward II turning up in Italy in 1330 having been to stay with the Pope. There are further tales of him meeting his son Edward III in Germany in 1338. Once deposed, it would have been in his interest to pretend to be dead so as to close the whole thing down.

So like Shakespeare’s version of Richard III, we take the play as it stands as drama, rather than as history. The “IIs” in British history didn’t have a lot of luck in the Middle Ages. William II, “accidentally” shot with an arrow in the New Forest he had recently devastated. Henry II, dominated by his more powerful wife. Edward II who came to an unpleasant end. Richard II who got it in Shakespeare’s play. Marlowe compressed 23 years of action (1307-1330) into the play … in fact the king’s favourite, Gaveston, had been a fixture in his household from 1300, before Edward ever married Isabella of France in 1308.

Edward II turned out to be a pleasant surprise for a Wanamaker production. The cast were dressed in something like 14th century costume, and for a play from 1592 that I’d never seen nor read it was surprisingly clear and transparent in text and delivery. They’ve cut or combined many characters so that the first half had pace and clarity, with the barons, opposed to Edward, using every part of the theatre to surround and argue with the king. Edward II (Tom Stuart) has decided to bestow favours on a favourite and boyfriend, Gaviscon … sorry, Gaveston (Beruma Tessema) … while his poor wife and queen, Isabella of France (Katie West), has to look on.

Beruma Tessema as Gaveston. Tom Stuart as Edward II

The king’s favourite and lover, Gaveston, significantly shared royal purple (nylon) with Queen Isabella. Having read about productions in the past, this went light and mild on the homosexuality theme. Basically, Edward II was a weak king, his armies defeated by the Scots, and his French territories taken at will by his brother-in-law, the King of France. The barons sneer at Gaveston as a Frenchman and add:

YOUNG MORTIMER:
I have not seen a dapper Jack so brisk
He wears a short Italian hooded cloak
Larded with pearl, and in his Tuscan cap
A jewel of more value than the crown

Possibly this is 14th century Brexiteer anti-European stance, but in the Middle Ages, Italian fashion was seen as a sign of homosexuality. My headmaster had great distaste for “Italian suits” and “Italian winklepickers” in the 1960s too. Conversely, many Italians think that an English public school education is a sure sign of gay inclinations.

The barons could have turned a blind eye to his bit on the side of whatever gender, but being useless was unforgivable. Edward II’s interest in Gaveston wasn’t a one off either. Once Gaveston was removed, he soon turned his attentions on another lad, Spenser, played here with a Brummy accent by Colin Ryan. A particularly nice scene was Edward explaining his angst while Spenser polished his (hollow) crown for him. At the interval, we both expressed surprise at the Wanamaker (at last) exceeding our expectations.

The Globe just about got away with its knee-jerk 50 / 50 gender blind casting. Only just though. The cast had to triple up in spite of ruthless excision of characters from the original, and (e.g.) Annette Badland is too distinctive in height and appearance to get away with much role switching, though she gets a red costume as Earl of Arundel compared to dark blue for Mortimer Senior. It doesn’t help that much. Polly Frame, as Edward’s brother, Edmund Earl of Kent, is also small. Both look female because of their stature in spite of playing men. Also, Edward was surrounded by fierce and brutal warlords as barons, and face it, a set of burly thuggish looking blokes would certainly have helped. I’m continually told that we accept colour blindness in the theatre, so why not gender blindness. Different thing. One is cultural history, the other is basic biology cutting across not only all ethnicities but the entire animal kingdom.

Katie West as Queen Isabella

The gender-blind casting had another effect- as the only actor playing a female in the play, Queen Isabella has very, very short hair. It’s as if the Globe eschews any overt femininity at all. Katie West was excellent as the cast aside, put-upon wife. We thought she was less effective in Part Two where she unites with Mortimer Junior against Edward. This is a woman who decides to have her husband deposed, probably killed, in favour of her son who became Edward III. She was a powerful female ruler, like Eleanor of Aquitaine in King John. We need to see that exercise of power, and for a woman in the 14th century, she needs to display the charisma and power, which (sorry, Globe) means exercising some obvious feminine allure. A decent wig would have helped her look more female.

I would single out Richard Bremner, doubling as the Archbishop of Canterbury and as Spenser Senior, as an especially impressive performance. Like Chris Ryan as Spenser Junior, the father had that Birmingham accent. It’s always funny on stage for some reason. They managed to get a few laughs from a play which did not have them written in by Marlowe. Both clerics … Canterbury and the arrested Coventry … have bright red gloves. Coventry was openly critical of the king’s affair.

The play is intrinsically weaker in Part Two, where the anti-Edward barons are rounded up and executed (everyone then changes parts) and we then have the Queen and Mortimer invading from France to depose Edward in favour of his son. That was not a necessary outcome either – the barons talk of “electing” a new king. There is a line that should have got more audience reaction in these Brexit confusion days:

TRUSSELL: My Lord, the parliament must have present news.
And therefore say, will you resign or no?
EDWARD II: I’ll not resign, but whilst I live, be king.

The character of “Trussell” was eliminated or rather combined, but his lines got transferred. This was on the very day that Teresa May offered to resign if Parliament agreed to support her Brexit deal.

The second half is also literally darker, with several candles being snuffed. It’s preparation for the murder scene where Edward II is naked for the poker insertion. Done effectively. As is apparently the custom, the murderer, Lightborn, is played by the same actor (Beruma Tessema) who played Gaveston. Given that Gaveston has been dead a fair time at this point, this might be construed as efficiency rather than making a point as to the affair with Gaveston (and so sodomy) being the root cause of Edward’s death. Here, Tessema kept his face half covered throughout, so I would not say they were making any overt reference from the doubling.

L to R: Mortimer (Jonathan Livingstone) / newly crowned Edward III (Colin Ryan)/ Archbishop of Canterbury (Richard Bremner)

The music was significant, playing subtle accompaniment behind speeches throughout as well as adding excitement to the main fight scene … Mortimer Junior v Gaveston.

The Wanamaker continues to have magic. Marlowe’s play dates from 1592. I wonder if it ever had a life in the private theatres. By the time the Blackfriars housed the Kings Men, James I was on the throne, and a play about a gay king with favourites would have been a dangerous venture.

Overall rating:

***

I was going for 4 stars at half time too. The intrinsic play reduced it, there was just less pace in part two.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID:

3 star
Kate Maltby, Guardian ***

The cast, especially Tessema, speak Marlowe’s verse beautifully. But the production, struggling with this play’s leaden structure, loses momentum towards the end. The last few scenes are performed in deep darkness: it feels more like lights out for nap time than dramatic effect.

Ben Lawrence, Telegraph ***

Gaveston is ostracised not on account of his sexuality (and it is probably right to assume that same-sex love in 16th-century England – the time at which Marlowe was writing – was less troubling an issue than in later centuries), but because he challenges the status quo. Here, the array of accents among the cast rather stymies the idea of a nobility closing ranks to oust a groundling. Thus, Old Mortimer’s words “See what a scornful look that peasant casts” do not ring true.

Chris Bennion, The Times ***

Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard ***

There’s strong work at the centre from Stuart, but elsewhere in the 10 strong company there is some uneven acting. Across all houses and productions now, the Globe really does need to attract a stronger overall calibre of performer.

LINKS ON THIS BLOG

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE PLAYS:

• Dido, Queen of Carthage by Christopher Marlowe, RSC 2017
• Tamburlaine, by Christopher Marlowe, RSC 2018
• Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, RSC, 2016
• Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe, RSC, 2015
• Edward II by Christopher Marlow, Wanamaker Playhouse 2019

NICK BAGNALL, director
Love’s Labour’s Lost, Wanamaker 2018
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Globe 2016
Henry VI – Three Plays, Globe on tour, 2013 at Bath

TOM STUART
The Changeling, Wanamaker 2015, Alonzo

KATIE WEST
Carmen Disruption, Almeida 2015 (Micaela)
Hamlet, Manchester, NT Live 2015 (Ophelia)

ANNETTE BADLAND
Eyam, Globe 2018
The Winter’s Tale, Globe 2018