Swan Theatre, Stratford-Upon-Avon – until 5th April 2025
Reviewed by Amarjeet Singh
5*****
Edward II is not for the feint hearted. Chock full of fights, feuds, treachery and subterfuge, Christopher Marlowe’s play about a king’s misjudged union and loyalty with ‘minion’ Piers Gaveston, is brutal, and bloody, but also quite touching in the hands of director Daniel Raggett. Liberal cutting back of the original text makes for a 1hr 40-minute viewing with no interval. The action is thick and fast, slick and thriller like. Just when you think you have a grasp on what is happening, another curve ball is thrown in.
There was no shying away from the same sex relationships explored in this rendition, but this is not what seemed to infuriate the nobleman and the monarch’s wife. It was more about the lack of Edwards leadership ability, his care for his country and his concerns for his family. Who the king was having a relationship with was incidental. It was the fact his obsession with Gaveston, a lowborn, and the gifts he bestowed upon him were depleting reserves, unravelling his marriage and destroying England. It was quite refreshing to watch this and not feel like the relationship was being sensationalised.
The RSC’s co-artistic director, Daniel Evans, plays the king magnificently, traversing through a range of emotions effortlessly. The playful, innocent, almost impish love that he shares with Gaveston is wholly believable. Then comes thunderous rage leading to utter heartbreak as he rotates though the 7 stages of grief masterfully. A truly incredible performance. Eloka Ivo presents a self-assured, swaggering Gaveston, tinged with an edge of threat, he balances Evans giddiness wonderfully. Ruta Gedminta is superb as simmering Queen Isabella, bitter and resentful at her husband’s public indiscretions. The Earls, Mortimer, Enzo Cilenti, Pembroke, Emilio Doorgasingh, Warwick, Geoffrey Lumb, and Lancaster, Evan Milton, are cunning conspirators. Machination’s alike but for different purposes, causes and outcomes, they are wonderfully played. Jacob James Beswick as Lightborn is terrifying, for all the right reasons.
Leslie Travers’ set is a muted, movable feast, transforming alongside the action. If you arrive before the play begins you are invited to pay your respects to the late king, which is a lovely bit of audience interaction. A raised stage slides back and forth to become various areas with a murky reveal at the end. There are LED frames and moments flash up as if photographs had been taken by the paparazzi. The costumes range from military to contemporary to juxtapose the nobles and low born. Fight director Kev McCurdy manages to present some violent and vicious scenes in a convincible and credible fashion. Tim Lutkin’s lighting adds much to the atmospheric gloom and ultimate doom of the play.
This rendition of Edward II is a remarkable and relentless assault on the senses. Barbaric, brisk and bewitching throughout, the horror of the final scenes will haunt you for a long time.