Edward II

Synopsis

Edward, much to the despair of his wife and contempt of his barons, is very fond of both. King Edward comes to the throne, and immediately recalls his banished lover, Pierce Gaveston- an order that puts him at odds with most of his court. Edward must battle his sneering subjects, his scorned wife and his own family for not only the right to rule, but for the right to love...

Latest User Review

//Jenny - 1 August 2008:

I saw this last night, and I must say that it is very, very good indeed. I'm not usually that keen on Marlowe, his verse tends to be a bit too rigid and his style at times too bombastic for my taste, but this production has wisely pruned the worst of his excesses, leaving what is a much improved core (well, it's not that heavily cut really, it still comes in at 2h 35 min including interval). I don't think that I had much in the way of expectations about this production, and back in April I saw a really spectacular production of this very play, one that had the most imaginative staging of any play that I've ever seen, so I didn't expect this to be anywhere near as good, but it is actually quite wonderful. It's a simply staged production, which focuses on the text itself as should be, and really well acted. Looking through the program I noticed that I had seen some of the cast before, but without particularly remembering any of them, probably because the roles they played then were rather small. Philip Cumbus as Edward II turns in what is the strongest performance (and has now made it onto my "to watch out for in the future"-list), but not far behind him is Kate Sissons as Isabella and Bill Ward as (young) Mortimer. Since I'm not a big fan of Marlowe's, I went to this half thinking that I might leave at the interval if it turned out to be as mundane as I feared, but I ended up wishing that the evening wouldn't end at all. Very, very good, with an assured directorial touch that leaves no doubt as to the fact that the director (Michael Oakley) has thought through (and understood, which isn't always the case these days when it comes to the Elizabethan playwrights) each and every line. It has a rather limited run at the BAC, only about three weeks or so, but it really merits a transfer to a slightly bigger venue for a longer run. Catch it if you've got a chance. ...

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