A very talky Shaw play - in fact it is almost three plays in one, since the three acts have almost no connection beyond the fact that the characters are occasionally the same.
Ben Campbell was excellent as usual as the King. Claire Julien was a suitably selfish Duchess of Cleveland; and Laurie Paton gave her usual excellent performance as Queen Catherine.
In these political times, the issues of the need to maintain power even by sacrificing principles, resonate with a Canadian audience accustomed to the the daily struggle among Ignatief, Harper and Layton.
No need to see this one again for many years, though.
Okay, I generally like talky Shaw, but this is a long way from his best. Bits and pieces of what might have been a couple of plays thrown together, with the last act only loosely connected to what went before.
ReplyDeleteThe production was pretty good, and I don't think a different one would make it better - so I don't plan to see this play again.