Reader Reviews
Speaking Like Magpies (Trafalgar Studios (previously the Whitehall), West End)
Back to Show Details| Score | Comment | Date |
 | AMAZING PRODUCTION, KEVIN HARVEY PLAYED THE EQUIVOCATOR FANTASTICALLY, TOLD THE STORY VERY WELL. THE WHOLE CAST WERE STRONG THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE SEASON.(MY FAVOURITE TWO PRODUCTIONS WERE NEW WAY TO PLEASE YOU AND THIS ONE.) JONJO O'NEILL AND MATT RYAN WERE EXCELLENT IN THEIR ROLES OF ROBERT CATESBY AND ROBIN WINTOUR. HOPE THIS RSC COMPANY RETURN TO LONDON FOR ANOTHER SEASON VERY SOON. - 195.93.21.98) | 26 Feb 06 |
| Worst play of the season. Irritating imagery, and nothing much of interest visually or in the script. Good acting from all, but a very bad play. - 81.170.32.217) | 20 Feb 06 |
| Anyone who goes to see this wonderful play expecting a historically accurate re-enactment of the Gunpowder Plot will be disappointed, for what author Frank McGuinness has attempted, with (not only in my view but also apparently that of the rest of the audience at the performance I attended, who were utterly enthralled by what they had seen) triumphant success, is something far more complicated and intriguing than that. It is true that there are some stunning pyrotechinic effects in the production – including one in which James I is seen frantically attempting to stamp out a burning fuse (perhaps suggesting that the Plot came rather closer to success than we are wont to believe) – but Frank McGuinness is far more concerned to explore the personalities and the consciences of the plotters and their would-be victims than to describe the mechanics of the event itself. And in this he and director Rupert Goold are well served by an outstanding cast. William Houston captures every aspect of James I's notorious ambiguity – wise and foolish, male and female, Protestant and Catholic, English and Scots – perfectly without ever overdoing any of them. Nigel Cooke portrays James's sinister spymaster Robert Cecil, who does not hesitate to apply torture when he thinks it is necessary, with such chilling conviction that it is hard to believe this is the same actor who played that generous, kindly, just and wise man of conscience, Sir Thomas More, earlier in the RSC Gunpowder Season. And Kevin Harvey takes positive delight in his role as the Equivocator – a horned satyr, visible only to those whom he wishes to see him. He is the characters' consciences, and challenges all their thoughts and actions, but, despite his frequent requests to us to "give me your faith", his name sums up his nature, and he always lives us unsure as to who is right, who is wrong and whose side we should be on. The sets are minimal – not to say non-existent – the costumes Jacobean, and there is a fine score by Adam Cork, which includes the Scots' lament on James's leaving them, the English hymn of welcome to him and the paean of praise sung on his deliverance from the Plot. You can if you wish take away from this play its resonances to contemporary religious controversies – which perhaps sound out particularly loudly in a theatre located on Whitehall. But for me (perhaps because I am an Anglo-Scot) its most powerful message related to older British religious and national disputes, which began hundreds of years ago but are, in some ways, still with us today. - 194.75.129.200) | 20 Feb 06 |
| All the characters you know - and a far more interesting time than those interminable history lessons. I enjoyed it - second time around. It's bold, brash and thought provoking. Kevin Harvey is wonderful, weaving in and out of scenes challenging characters to face up to themselves in Henry Garnets case and summoning up "death" for James 1. I don't agree with some critics that McGuiness has "lost the plot". The writing is pretty inspired, the acting lives up to script. If Pete Woods is right about William Houston doing Richard II - I'm going every week.........and so should you. - 86.139.202.184) | 14 Oct 05 |
| A production that never lets go of your emotions and holds you in its power. Starts with a bang and continues to surprise and hold you forever in its grasp - 62.254.0.54) | 03 Oct 05 |
| A particularly difficult production to "rate". It certainly starts with a bang and the direction and acting are both thrilling. To get the most from the play itself it's worth doing a bit of background reading (should you have to?) - Antonia Fraser's book is a good starting point. Certainly it's interesting, certainly brave, but good? I suspect it's a "love it" or "hate it play". I'm not sure which camp I'm in yet, so I'll sit on the fence until I've seen it again. - 62.255.32.15) | 03 Oct 05 |
