There’s a tremendous scene in the final part of Rona Munro’s trilogy about the 15th century in which a narcissistic James III of Scotland (Matthew Pidgeon) gives his estranged wife, the Margaret of Denmark (Malin Crépin), a full-length mirror. He hopes she’ll look into this novel Italian import and see herself as she really is. Queen Margaret does exactly that but, to his dismay, she rather likes what she sees.
It’s an exchange that could stand for the whole of this historical epic, which starts in 1406, when James I became Scotland’s king in exile, and ends in 1488 and the death of James III. Staged by Laurie Sansom on Jon Bausor’s mighty crucible of a set, with the audience gazing down from all sides, it is a day-long study of how we look at each other and how we learn to behave.
The implicit joke in the first instalment is that Steven Miller’s James I has returned to a nation too proud to acknowledge his regal authority. He must learn to act like a king, while they must learn how to treat him like one. Expecting to find a reflection of the English court, the king’s wife, Joan (Rosemary Boyle), is confounded by the distorted mirror of Scottish public life. This is a nation that does things on its own terms.
Since the premiere in 2014, Munro has made substantial and welcome improvements to the second play, although the scenes of James II’s traumatic childhood still feel as if they should be a flashback and not the main action. This time, the king (Daniel Cahill, doing an impressive job covering for an injured Andrew Rothney) must learn to distinguish between personal friendship and kingly responsibility.
As in the other two plays, the women keep a close watch, their power-behind-the-throne manipulations helping turn a hall of mirrors into a compelling narrative.
• On tour in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada until 26 June.
