7 March 2025
“I will have Gaveston, and you shall know
What danger tis to stand against your King”
Having queued for over nine hours to pay my respects to our beloved Queen Elizabeth II Lying in State in Westminster Hall, I demurred the opportunity to walk around on stage and do the same for King Edward I as I entered the Swan Theatre in Stratford Upon Avon.
But plenty of the audience did parade around Leslie Travers’ splendid, atmospheric set, a beautifully ornate mosaic floor edged with the names of past Kings of England, plush red carpets placed as a walkway around the edge, the coronation crown, orb and sceptre picked out by spotlight on top of the flag-draped coffin. Late arrivals had the added bonus of witnessing up close as the cast, led by Edward II and key Lords marched out in full dress uniform, military medals and gold braid shining in the half light, to become a guard of honour – just as the late Queen’s children and grandchildren had done in 2022.
Then the carpets were rolled away and the solemnity of the Royal occasion gave way with a shudder to a sauna, gay bathhouse or brothel located high above the stage and we got our first look at the much hated Gaveston, the young man who has so bewitched the future King Edward II that he wilfully choses his overwhelming, all consuming love for a male lover over his French-born Queen, his son, Court and Country. You just know it won’t end well…
Gaveston (Eloka Ivo – making an impressive RSC debut) banished from Court by the dead King, is dressed in just a pure white towel, his oversized pecs and biceps pumped up, defined abdominals so terrifying you could grate nutmeg on his six-pack, his torso glistening with sweat. You can certainly see why he turned the King’s head.
Arriving back in England post-haste on news of the old King’s death, the new King hurls himself like a lovesick teenager at Gaveston, leaping into his arms, legs wrapped tightly around his waist, showering him with passionate kisses. And all this in the face of the assembled nobility of the realm, who are still in mourning. You can hear the collective intake of breath as they turn their heads in embarrassment and anger. The King needs the support of these nobles to rule the country but rubs their faces into it. Edward humiliates the Bishop of Coventry, gives his lands and possessions to Gaveston and also awards his lover the titles Lord High Chamberlain, Chief Secretary to the State “and me”, Earl of Cornwall, King and Lord of Man, access to the royal treasury, and the option of having guards protect him. However, as much as Gaveston pleases the King he finds scant favour from the king’s nobles, who are soon plotting his death.
Life is cheap and justice swiftly meeted out in 1300s England and in this heavily edited version of Christopher Marlowe’s brutal history play (it runs at a galloping 100 mins) anyone who seeks power is swiftly dispatched by the assassin’s knife. Only the death of Gasveston disappointed… trussed up high in a bizarre harness like a turkey ready for slaughter I was expecting a violent disembowelling (certainly after reading the great essay in the programme on choice of blood for the production and all the efforts backstage to stop contamination with other costumes and onstage for cleaning).
No such worries with the death of Edward II, in one of the goriest of all stage deaths ,with the King dispatched by a red-hot poker shoved up his anus. Here it’s played out in a subterannean hell – surely a metaphor for the rotten heart of the country? – where Edward’s assassin first lays down with him to subdue him and lull him into a false sense of security, but the King is soon stripped naked and thrown into the water on his back before the murder takes place. It is absolutely terrifying and horrifying in equal measure. And at its core a brave, thrilling performance from RSC co-artistic director Daniel Evans, a double Olivier Award-winning actor lost to acting for over a decade, who has been itching to get back on stage after successfully running Sheffield Theatres for seven years, followed by another seven at the Chichester Festival Theatre. It is a dazzling return.
This is the first production in 35 years at the RSC of Edward II (the last starred Simon Russell Beale). It proves to be an urgent, brooding production – the scissors have been liberally taken to the original script – by director Daniel Raggett, whose recent Accidental Death of an Anarchist was the toast of the West End. Staged in modern dress with paparazzi cameras capturing the King and Gaveston together in key moments, a TV relaying other events to the Court, it runs away so fast it is in danger of stumbling over itself to get through the murderous events in the running time.
The Prospect Theatre Company’s production of the play, starring Ian McKellen and James Laurenson, caused a sensation when it was broadcast by the BBC during the 1970s because it included the first gay kiss transmitted on British television. How times have changed.
Edward II is at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon to 5 April
