Ella Hickson says that her new play about Elizabeth I aims “to throw light on contemporary issues by looking through a historical prism”. It begins with a witty reminder that the space’s cosy Elizabethan feeling is bullshit. It goes on to suggest that Elizabeth was forced to fight against being objectified, manipulated and exploited by a patriarchal culture – but the result, while thought-provoking, is not wholly convincing.
Hickson and her director, Natalie Abrahami, billed as co-creator, make skilful use of simple means and four actors. We first see the young Princess Elizabeth falsely accused of treason through her association with Thomas Seymour. Treated as a threat by both Edward VI and Mary Tudor, she seeks absolute power once queen, but even then is subject to the wiles of William Cecil, who questions her right to be nominated supreme head of the church, and to amorous pursuit by Robert Dudley. As she herself says, lamenting her plight, “they tell you you have to marry before your face runs out and to have babies before your body runs out”. You might hear such sentiments uttered today, but it is difficult to see Elizabeth I as a paradigm of modernity.
As queen, she enjoyed exceptional power and privilege. Whatever one’s views on hereditary monarchy, it depends on succession and so the concern with Elizabeth’s marital and procreative potential became a necessary political reality. Not even the use of slangy dialogue – Dudley says of Cecil “I found him in the pub one night after he’d had a few” – convinces me that the pressures placed on Elizabeth are identical to those of today.
Where the play succeeds is in demonstrating Elizabeth’s skill in countering male manoeuvres. Abigail Cruttenden plays her with a splendidly decisive authority and constantly outwits Michael Gould’s fox-like Cecil. Nina Cassells as the young Elizabeth combines vulnerability with unwavering religious resolve and Colin Tierney doubles effectively as Thomas Seymour and Robert Dudley, who both sought to compromise Elizabeth at different stages. Vividly staged, the play reignites one’s interest in Elizabeth without persuading one of the contemporary parallels.
