Peter Viney's Blog

Racing Demon
by David Hare

Directed by Jonathan Church
Designed by Simon Higlett
Composer- Matthew Scott

Theatre Royal, Bath
Saturday 8^th July 2017  14.30

CAST:

The Reverend Lionel Espy – David Haig
The Right Reverend Charlie Allen, Bishop of Southwark – Anthony Calf
The Reverend Tony Ferris – Paapa Essiedu
The Reverend Donal ‘Streaky’ Bacon – Sam Alexander
The Reverend Harry Henderson – Ian Gelder
The Right Reverend Gilbert Heffernan, Bishop of Kingston – William Chubb
Frances Parnell – Rebecca Night
Stella Marr – Michelle Bonnard
Heather Espy – Amanda Root
Ewan Gilmour – Andrew Fraser
Tommy Adair – Ashley Russell

The Synod

Jonathan Church produces the 2017 Bath Summer season, after his extremely successful period at Chichester. It’s an appropriate move in that both are delightful towns with loyal but ageing audiences.

In 2017, it appears that producers are leafing through Michael Billington’s 101 Greatest Plays for inspiration, because Racing Demon is yet another of them, following hard on the heels of Woyzeck, The Goat and The Life of Galileo. The Weir and The Real Thing are due later this year.  This year’s summer season at Bath is the first time we have booked only the one play. It was the only one that appealed from the selection. A friend said, ‘At last! A change from Rattigan, Shaw and Coward!’ But then we get biographical plays about John  Betjeman and Lucien Freud, and an autobiographical work by Alan Bennett, The Lady in The Van. I yawned through the tedious  film. I have no wish whatsoever to see it on stage. North by Northwest? We will decide later. I don’t think I want to see one of my favourite films compressed on stage. So it’s out of the Rattigan / Coward / Shaw / Maugham  frying pan into an equally outdated Betjeman / Freud / Bennett fire. At least Rattigan and Coward were theatrical. We thought the 2017 Season the least attractive Bath summer offering in many years … zero appeal for us, outside Racing Demon.

The major point about Racing Demon was the brilliant casting. We booked it for David Haig, but then they added Papa Essiedu, Sam Alexander, Amanda Root, all of whom would have persuaded us to buy a ticket. And when you get there, Anthony Calf, Rebecca Knight, Ian Gelder and William Chubb all give memorable performances too. Maybe this was the Jonathan Church factor, but it’s as good a cast as you could assemble at any British theatre. The great strength of the play is that everyone gets a decent role, and that characters are created clearly and quickly in the script. It helps that everyone gets a solo front of stage prayer to show their characters.

Racing Demon was the first in David Hare’s trilogy about the Establishment, and this area is the Church of England.  The decreasing relevance of the Anglican church as subject matter is an issue, even more now than when Hare wrote the play in 1990. After all, a 2016 report shows Church of England regular attendance is down to 1.4% of the population.

The play received the Olivier Award for Best New Play.  Michael Billington quotes David Hare, saying that all the infighting in the church is in fact “about” the Labour Party. I’m surprised they have kept it set in 1990 with references to poll tax, when a very light revision would bring it to 2017. However, had they done so, it might fall into the easy Trump / Brexit references (and guffaws) which are becoming ubiquitous this year.

Vicars and priests have been good TV fare. At the funniest end was Father Ted, head and shoulders above anything else. Arthur Lowe was in Bless Me Father, then you have The Vicar of Dibley and Rev. Away from comedy, last year, we saw Jude Law in The Young Pope mini-series, and Grantchester soldiers on as the mildest detective series ever made, mildly enlivened by the amateur sleuth vicar and his mild relationship with the separated woman with child, and a mild curate mildly in the closet.

The play grew on us. It was even better at 9 pm after a two hour meal discussing it in retrospect … but the first half act failed to grab us at the time. It’s a bit dull, a bit static, with too many duologues. We were both (mildly) bored for stretches. There’s precious little leavening of humour, although the aptness of David Haig’s phrasing and timing brought a few smiles to his lines. It gains momentum in the second half, with a strong start at the Savoy Hotel bar where Sam Alexander’s Reverend “Streaky” Bacon gets happily pissed on tequila, getting definite audible laughter for the first time.

Sam Alexander as the Reverend “Streaky” Bacon, with tequila

David Haig is the Reverend Lionel Espy, leading a team of priests in a poor, urban, South London parish. He is ineffectual, wavering on faith. The new team member is Tony (Papa Essiedu), a young increasingly fervent evangelical. Then we have Harry (Ian Gelder) who is a gentle gay priest, and “Streaky” Bacon (Sam Alexander), a cheerful cycling Friar Tuck (not in girth) of a priest who sees merriment as the way to God.  They are presided over by The Bishop of Southwark (Anthony Calf), a powerful leader who is also a conservative on church issues. Southwark might prefer to describe himself as the MD (Managing Director). Then we have The Bishop of Kingston (William Chubb), under Southwark’s authority, who is a fence-sitter, standing by without comment, squirming with inner discomfort, terrified that someone might ask his opinion.

Frances (Rebecca Knight) and Lionel (David Haig) play chess.

Frances (Rebecca Knight) is the agnostic daughter of a clerical family, first seen wrapped in a post-coital sheet on the floor, while the evangelical Reverend Tony puts his trousers on. Frances plays a major role throughout, trying to warn Lionel that the forces of Bishop and Tony are after his job. The script has to explain at some length that Anglican vicars are “freeholders” with a job for life, but that Southwark has shifted this team to a 5 year contract instead. Lionel believes he is safe because the Bishop of Kingston promised it was really for life when he agreed to the shift. The relevance to zero hours contracts, and the gig culture in employment are way stronger today than they were in 1990. However, I remember when English Language Schools reacted to the 1980 crisis after the Iranian revolution, by getting rid of full time employees and re-employing them on 6 month contracts (to avoid redundancy pay). It was one of several areas where I thought the play could have benefitted from updating revisions.

Amanda Root as Heather receives the book

Amanda Root’s stage time is small, as Heather, Lionel’s wife, but has enormous impact and poignancy. She is the dutiful vicar’s wife, but when she has a stroke, it takes Lionel (in the next room) 30 minutes to notice. When she is first home from hospital, and disoriented, Lionel is more interested in playing chess with Frances (and trying to stroke her cheek) than he is in sitting with Heather. Frances has to tell him what to do. Lionel is as useless as a husband and father as he is as a priest … we learn his 19 year old daughter has gone, leaving no address. The most poignant scene, a masterclass in acting from David Haig and Amanda Root, comes at the end. Lionel has lost his job and with it the house. He has said (ineffectually) “Do you want to go to bed?” “No,” is all she replies. He gives Heather a present, a slim book on gardening, her only love. Then announces that they’ll have to live in a flat. Without a garden.

Harry (Ian Gelder) with Ewan (Andrew Fraser)

While Tony and the Bishop conspire, the other team members, Harry and Streaky combine to try to save Lionel. Harry however has a sub plot – he is being stalked by a spivvy journalist (Ashley Russell) who wants to out him in the Sunday tabloids … naughty vicars and gay vicars being a staple of such publications. Fortunately his boyfriend  Ewan (Andrew Fraser) is loyal.

The Bishop of Southwark (Anthony Calf) confronts Lionel (David Haig)

Anthony Calf’s sleek and smart Bishop of Southwark is a great performance. He is managerial, dictatorial, conservative. He gets angrier and angrier during the robing scene (just as in Life of Galileo a few weeks ago at the Young Vic!)  I was fascinated … because on the surface, this guy is an utter bastard … BUT … I had sympathy. There ARE incompetent, ineffectual professionals, be they teachers, doctors, nurses, or lawyers. I’ve met examples of all four. When observing teachers in teacher training, I’ve squirmed in my seat, because some really have neither aptitude nor vocation for the job. What do you do, as a manager, head-teacher or whatever with someone who is useless in their job? This is a human being, but you also have to think about the students / patients / parishioners suffering because they’re inept.

The Bishop of Kingston (William Chubb) with Harry (Ian Gelder)

William Chubb’s Bishop of Kingston was the yes-man … just as ineffectual as Lionel, at a guess, but sycophantic to Southwark. The script had to explain that a Bishop like the Bishop of Southwark, has “suffragen bishops” below him … we still can’t type “him or her” here unfortunately. I didn’t know that. I was surprised a real bishopric was used actually … Southwark Cathedral is one side of Borough Market, very close to Shakespeare’s Globe, and the bard’s brother is buried there. Maybe it was a little theatrical reference.

Papa Essiedu as the Reverend Tony Ferris with Rebecca Knight as Frances

So we come to Tony … Papa Essiedu. Since his RSC Hamlet, he has major star “most likely to succeed” status. Here he was shorn of his truculent teenager stuff (used as Hamlet, Romeo and Edgar in King Lear). He’s fine without it of course. I wasn’t sure though about the character David Hare created. Later, there’s a sarcastic remark by one of the other priests, calling him “Elmer Gantry.” Elmer Gantry in Sinclair Lewis’s 1926 novel, and the film starring Burt Lancaster, was the hell-fire preacher, crusading against immorality who couldn’t keep his own dick buttoned in his trousers. Maybe that’s why we first see Tony putting his trousers on after what evangelicals would call “fornicating” with Frances. The scene is oddly asexual (Haig gets more sexuality out of looking across a chess board at Frances). You’d think the evangelical would be beating himself up about it, rather than slipping away from the relationship. If so, the insincerity doesn’t come out clearly. And he’s no Elmer Gantry. He is interventionist over a battered wife (Michelle Bonnard) where Lionel gave her a half-hearted prayer. On the other hand, he might have made things worse. She ends up mopping the church floor at £2.50 an hour … another missed chance for a topical reference for updating to the minimum wage was avoided.

Tony starts bible classes and the class size doubles every week, but then he’s a backstabber. Another opportunity to show his character was when he goes to see an advertising hoarding that will soon carry the church’s message. It currently has a girl in a bikini.

In casting a black actor for the role, there are temptations which Jonathan Church avoided … probably because they wouldn’t go with the existing script. But in the angst of the Anglican church’s internal struggles, it is the evangelical African churches which take the extreme conservative position on ordination of women, gay marriage etc. The Archbishop of York is Ugandan. I’d have wanted to give the evangelical a light African accent, or at least acknowledge the heritage … but “it is not written.” So Essiedu’s role is colour-blind, a lost opportunity to me. Lionel has mentioned seeing an evangelical black woman haranguing a bus queue earlier too.

Papa Esssiedu with the site for the church’s new advertising poster

The curtain call line up, on a matinee, was a little jarring. Papa Essiedu took a separate bow before David Haig, which his current star status certainly befits … but there was no rise in volume of applause. I would have put the “team” (Gelder, Alexander, Essiedu) on together, because all have important roles. The rise in the volume of applause for David Haig’s single bow was notable and deserved. Haig is at his peak. He stands in British theatre for us with the very best … Kenneth Branagh, Simon Russell-Beale, Edward Bennett.

OVERALL RATING: ****

(Original impression was 3 stars, but the more we talked about it, the better it seemed. A pity David Hare didn’t give it a 27th anniversary polish)

PROGRAMME

Bath persist with the daft “Season Programme” with the whole lot in one programme. Even worse the bios for actors from all five productions are mixed up alphabetically. Yes, it’s a bargain at £4, which is OK even if you’re seeing the one. Yes, it makes print runs easier to plan. But I keep programmes to everything. I’d prefer separate ones.

AUDIENCE

Bath can be obnoxious, as in declining to stand to let you through the narrow rows to your seat. Then saying, “Oh? Do you want to go out?” aggressively and sharply at the 20 minute interval.

WHAT THE CRITICS SAID

4
Dominic Maxwell, The Times ****
Quentin Letts, Daily Mail ****
Patricia Nicol, Sunday Times ****
Mark Shenton, The Stage ****
Kris Hallett, What’s On Stage, ****
3
Domenic Cavendish, Telegraph, ***
Ian Shuttleworth, Financial Times ***
Tim Wright, Broadway World, ***

DAVID HARE
Peter Gynt, by David Hare after Henrik Ibsen, National Theatre, 201
Racing Demon, Bath 2017
Skylight West End
Plenty, Chichester 2019
Platonov Chichester 2015
Ivanov Chichester 2015
The Seagull Chichester 2015

JONATHAN CHURCH
Mack & Mabel, by Jerry Hermann & Michael Stewart, Chichester Festival Theatr
Amadeus by Peter Shaffer, Chichester Festival Theatre
Hobson’s Choice, Bath 2016

DAVID HAIG
King Lear, Bath Theatre Royal, 2013
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Old Vic, 2017

PAAPA ESSIEDU
King Lear, RSC 2016 (Edmund)
Hamlet, RSC 2016  Stratford, (Hamlet)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream – BBC TV SCREEN version 2016 (Demetrius)
Romeo & Juliet – Tobacco Factory, 2015, at Winchester Theatre Royal (Romeo)
The Merry Wives of Windsor, RSC 2013 (Fenton)

SAM ALEXANDER
Love’s Labour’s Won (Much Ado About Nothing), RSC 2014, Stratford (Don John)
Much Ado About Nothing (Love’s Labour’s Won), RSC at Chichester, 2016 (Don John)
Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC 2014 (King of Navarre)
Love’s Labour’s Lost, RSC at Chichester 2016 (King of Navarre)

ANTHONY CALF
For Services Rendered, Chichester Minerva

WILLIAM CHUBB
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Old Vic, 2017 (Polonius)
Richard II, Globe 2015 (Duke of York)

IAN GELDER
Titus Andronicus, Globe 2014 (Marcus Andronicus)