Bard Outstays his Welcome in 21st Century London

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Penny Flood reviews A Kingdom for a Stage at Chelsea Theatre

One of the things I used to enjoy at creative writing classes was listening to other people's ideas.  Each week the teacher would give us a subject to write about, and everybody would come up with a different way of looking at it. It was great fun. And that's how it is with the Shakespearian 400th anniversary;  any number of ideas and ways to mark the passing of the Bard are popping up all over the place with walks, talks, plays - you name it, with imaginations working overtime.

Which brings me to A Kingdom for a Stage at World's End little gem of a venue, the Chelsea Theatre. Written  and produced by Tony Diggle. It's a quirky flight of fancy as he imagines how Shakespeare would have reacted if he came back to London  to see the Globe Theatre.

Shakespeare (Jonathan Coote) is hanging out in playwrights heaven with Ben Johnson (Alex Murphy), Christopher Marlow (Edwin Wright) and George Bernard Shaw (Richard Ward) bickering over dramatic content, style and relevance, when Puck (Sue Appleby), who inexplicably is in Heaven as  well, suggests a trip to the 21st Century to see the Globe Theatre.

An invitation Shakespeare can't resist so off they go, and it's fun as they watch the traffic go by and discover that human nature is the same now as it was in the 17th century. The seven deadly sins are as much in evidence now as they were when Will was alive.

Time travels backwards and forward as the trip to London is intercut with visits to Stratford where the young Will (Dan Wheeler) has to deal with family matters. There's a lot going on, offering plenty of food for thought, but it gets confusing. It's witty, intelligently written and very original, but sadly that's not enough. In trying to bring together Heaven, Elizabethan and Stuart London with the here while having long philosophical arguments, Diggle has overreached himself.  It’s overambitious, muddled, and too long.

A Kingdom for a Stage continues at the Chelsea Theatre at World's End Place until May 7 at 7.30pm with a matinee on Saturday May 7 at 2.30pm. Tickets cost £15, £10 concessions. Buy tickets online or on the door.

 

May 3, 2016

 

May 3, 2016