I have been looking forward to seeing this for the last few months, after cast members told me how good it was, even before they'd got to the rehearsal stage. Having seen the majority of the cast in King John and A Museum in Baghdad over the last few months I already knew the cast was going to be good, so needless to say I was very excited and a little bit apprehensive as well. I usually write my blogs as soon as I get home after watching the play, but I had to leave this a while this time. Partly because I didn't arrive home until after midnight and partly because I needed time to process what I had just seen. This is a powerful play. Very powerful. It's very emotional too. Very moving. Mercy Pryce's speech in the first act is gut-wrenching. It makes these events of nearly 200 years ago so real. More so than any film or television series I've seen about slavery.
The play is written by former BBC journalist and now playwright Juliet Gilkes Romero and is directed by Kimberley Sykes, who RSC production of As You Like It was also terrific. Indeed I was very lucky to meet both Juliet and Kimberley before the show, and was honoured that they were both in the audience with me on the night along with RSC Deputy Artistic Director Erica Whyman.
The play really focuses on three different stories. We have Mercy Pryce and Edmund, both runaway slaves. We hear from these the horrors what it was like to be slaves in the West Indies. We also have the story of Horatia Poskitt, a former worker at a Cotton Mill near Blackburn, whose daughter was killed in the mill. At the focus of our story though is Alexander Boyd, Chief Whip for the Whig Party. Boyd is essentially a good man, fighting for labour rights for children and the abolition of slavery. We see his political battles with Lord Maybourne, Cornelius Hyde-Villiers and Anthony Bradshaw Cooper and learn of betrayals, double crosses, and compromises as he tries to get his bill through Parliament. Yes, at the heart of the story is politics. And it seems that politics hasn't changed much over the near 200 years since these events took place. Money and power drive the politicians as much then as they do now. We see a good man corrupted and corrupt men trying to look like good men while really just lining their own pockets.
A part of the play that especially moved me was the story of Horatia Poskitt, the former cotton mill worker. I'd been to visit Quarry Bank Mill near Manchester on a couple of occasions. As well as looking around the old mill, you get to see the old machines in action, and can to visit the apprentice's house where the young children working in the mill would have lived. You can visit the tiny workers cottage's in Styal village and see the poor conditions they were living in. You do get all the stories of early deaths, because of lung diseases from the cotton, or accidents with the machines. However, I don't think any of this really affected me. Not until I heard the stories from Horatia. It somehow made it all more real. Like it wasn't in the past any more, but here and now.
Getting to the stage now, there was some lovely music during the show, very fitting for the play. The set is minimal, the focus being a long wooden table which doubles as Boyd's dining room and the Houses of Parliament. I particularly liked how the audience are pulled into the Parliament scenes and suddenly we're all back-benchers. I think however the lightning really brings everything to life here. The dark scenes with just candlelight are so atmospheric. It's almost like a Hollywood film.
The acting was always going to be good and again it is exceptional. The only cast member I hadn't seen before was Richard Clothier, and I don't think a more perfect fit to the role could have been found. He shows you all the emotions the character of Boyd is going through. Debbie Korley plays Mercy Pryce. Debbie is always good, but here she was truly mesmerising. You can't take your eyes off her when she speaks, you can't not listen intently to every word she says. Katherine Pearce plays Horatia. Katherine here has to juggle a number of accents and she gets most of the comic lines in the play as well, which always got a laugh from the audience. She also gets to say most of the swear words. As well as being good at the comedic acting, Katherine also shows how good she is at emotional serious acting, and some of speeches about Horatia's daughter are truly heartbreaking. Corey Montague-Sholay plays Edmund, the runaway slave who now works for Boyd. Corey is another young up and coming actor who must surely go onto the bigger things based on this performance alone. David Birrell plays Lord Maybourne. David has impressed me immensely in his performances in King John and A Museum in Baghdad, but in both those he played a quite likeable if roguish character. Here he plays a quite heartless evil man. The worst kind of politician. And again David has really impressed me. He has had quite a career in theatre and I really hope he gets to return the RSC for the Winter season. Tom McCall does some of his finest work here as Anthony Bradshaw Cooper, and his audience interaction was inspired. John Cummins also excels himself as Cornelius Hyde Villiers. Again I've seen John in a few things but I think this was one of his finest performances. Nicholas Gerard-Martin puts in another memorable performance as William Purnell, the committee witness who won't quite play ball. The rest of the parts are all played by the Furies. I think these are really difficult roles to play as they have so many things to do, places to be, costume changes and different lines to say. Michael Abubakar, Bridgitta Roy, Riad Richie and Nadi Kemp-Sayfi all do brilliantly at this, and I'm pretty sure everything went perfectly.
So in conclusion, It is a very powerful and moving piece of theatre. Some of the outcomes are frankly unbelievable, and that it is basically all true makes it more unbelievable. You need to see this play. I thought I knew things about slavery and child labour in Victorian times but this just makes it so real. What properly won't really surprise you is the attitude of the politicians. However it should. This play needs to be seen by everyone. Go see it, take your family, take your friends, act quick though as it's only on at the RSC until March 21st. Also, as well as the moral tale this is just a great play. With the interval it is just over 3 hours long, but I honestly didn't notice at all, the time just flew by. The writing is lovely. Juliet Gilkes Romero gives us some truly wonderful language. A perfect fit for the Royal Shakespeare Company. I've already booked to see it again. The playtext is also available if you aren't able to make it to Stratford.
Just one last thought but this would make a great television series. It could be expanded to show some of the backstories, would be a masterpiece mini series.
To book tickets and also to see some wonderful production photographs visit :
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