Upstairs at the Gatehouse – until 25 May 2025
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
2**
Percy Bysshe Shelley was a fascinating but flawed man, and drama could be written about any point in his life. Writer Richard Bradbury focuses on the repercussions of Shelley and his first wife Harriet’s distribution of pamphlets in Dublin that caused them to be put under surveillance by the home secretary, Lord Sidmouth. Unfortunately, the play as it stands is more flawed than fascinating.
The characters argue and pontificate on history and social justice and relate events to the audience. Most emotional moments are revealed limply through Harriet (Ella Dorman-Gajic) writing letters to her sister and even though the Shelleys are supposedly in danger, there is no jeopardy. Sidmouth (Charlie Coldfield) appears on a screen above the stage, in glorious colour compared to the drabness of the Devon village. This is probably meant to convey his power and reach as he monitors undesirables and rebels, but his dialogue veers between expositional and petulant with no air of menace at all.
Directed by Jack Herlihy, Aidan Casey and Ella Dorman-Gajic do well with their underwritten characters as the Shelleys, but struggle to make the audience care. The fact that the play charges straight into the story without any context meant that a lot of people were still wondering who Harriet was during the interval. Maureen Casey plays Elizabeth Hitchener as the strong woman she was, but even though she actually lived with the Shelleys, the character seems shoehorned in merely as a foil to Shelley and a spark to fire Harriet’s tiny rebellions. Charlie Maguire is the Shelley’s Irish friend/servant – the best written character played with earthy charm, and also plays Sidmouth’s agent in Devon, sent to intimidate the Shelleys. But what could have been terrifying encounters are stilted and a damp squib as the characterisation isn’t quite right.
The intent of this play is admirable, and Bradbury’s vision has exciting potential, but there is a gold mine of political fire, intrigue and paranoia to be mined from this period of Shelley’s life and Regarding Shelley just scratches the surface.