Back from a mini tour of Yorkshire and Stockport and cheering for supporting act Indignation Meeting
Edward II, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, London
Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown in Christopher Marlowe’s uneven tragedy Edward II
PIC CAP Doomed lovers: Beru Tessema (Gaveston) and Tom Stuart (Edwars II) Pic: Marc Brenner
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A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
IMAGINE a monarch, self-centred and ego-led, treating his wife coldly once she has produced the heir, flirting openly with his lover and enjoying his status yet claiming to yearn for a quiet life.
That’s categorically no reference to a future king of this realm today but to Edward II, whose tragic tale is told here in a fine ensemble production of Christopher Marlowe’s play. It has engaging performances from Tom Stuart as the king and Beru Tessema as his beloved Piers Gaveston, the latter displaying a sweetness that suggests a profound love.
Arriving at court — where he is loathed by all but Edward — Gaveston is saddled with some of Marlowe’s soppiest lines. He would have swum from France and “like Leander, gasped upon the sand, so thou wouldst smile and take me in thy arms.”
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