York Theatre Royal – 13-14 November
Reviewed by Marcus Richardson
2**
Single Spies has come to the York Theatre Royal as part of By The Lake’s season where the have gathered four different shows and perform them within twelve days. This play by the famous play write Alan Bennett, is split into two acts both unrelated and the common connection is the characters are famous spies. With Guy Burgess being the focus of the first act and Anthony Blunt the second act.
The first act a play called An Englishman Abroad is a look into Guy Burgess’ interaction with actress Coral Browne. Living in Moscow, Burgess played by Theo Fraser-Steel starts to miss certain aspects of British life and has a task for Browne, played by Karen Ascoe; to take his measurements and get him a suit in England. I would carry on however this was the premise of the first act, for me it was hard to watch not because of the acting but because nothing happened. The acting by the way was the only thing that made the show durable.
I was hoping things got better in the second act, A Question Of Attribution focuses on Anthony Blunt who was Surveyor of the Royal painting Collection. Blunt played by James Duke did a good job of creating a put together character and suited the role very well, alongside Ascoe playing the Queen herself, which you can imagine being funny as Ascoe involved in his work demanding her to pass him a magnifying glass. Although there was this entrance for the Queen just like the first act it soon started to fade into a plot where nothing happened. Both plays have Bennett’s signature wit and style but these two did not entertain me in the slightest, but I need to emphasise that the acting in both acts were nothing like my view on the plays themselves, with all the actors doing a good job of creating character.
However though it isn’t my cup of tea, I’m sure a few people will enjoy the show and think it’s amazing; which is why I can write reviews, theatre is subjective. One thing to note, alongside most of Bennetts plays it is aimed at people who either lived through or know that period of time. If you are clueless to how Burgess and Blunt are, you are going to miss out on a fair few of the references.