Treason the Musical Festival Theatre Edinburgh 26th October 2023 Review
Treason the Musical has its world premiere as a full production stage show at The Festival Theatre Edinburgh this week (Wed 25 to Sat 28 October). In almost perfect timing for this show, Guy Fawkes night will soon to be upon us, and those all too familiar opening lines of the rhyme “Remember, Remember, The 5th of November” will soon take on a new meaning and a deeper level of understanding for many people watching this show.
This show skilfully takes a date in history that is so well known but at the same time so unknown in detail to so many people. With tight direction by Hannah Chissick and the show book written by Charli Eglington (with Kieran Lynn), audiences are given a glimpse into the lives of the people involved in the Gunpowder plot that, had it succeeded, would have wiped out in one massive blast King James VI and all his male heirs, his royal court, the leaders of government and the Protestant Church and completely re-written the British history books.
One of the most immediately striking things about this show is the visuals, and set and costume designer Philip Witcomb has given us a for the most part dark and shadowed world which reflects the feeling of the times for many people. Imagery is a very important design element in this show and often it is very subtly used here.
Here in the so-called land of democracy for all, the swift rise of the Protestant faith and harsh penalties enshrined in law by Queen Elizabeth I against anyone not of the new order had created for Catholics a reign of terror, where to even practice their faith was treason and punishable by death and forfeiture of any lands and properties that they owned. The Catholic abbeys, churches and monasteries lay in ruins, stripped of their lands and wealth, and Catholic priests were hunted down at every opportunity. No one knew who could be their enemy, their informer in this world. Would the new King of England James I (also James VI of Scotland) change things when he united the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603? That is what he promised after all.
Treason the show has its origins as an earlier concert production, and music and lyrics by Ricky Allan are still the heart of this show, and in many ways this production is a rock opera more than a stage musical, but it is something more too, something a little different that makes Treason stand out as different from anything else out there on stage at the moment. Yes, there are a few moments when you might think something is a little familiar, but the use of narrative as lyrics for many of the musical numbers is unusual and works so well and there are so many interesting lyrics here that are perfectly matched to their music. Despite that rock opera feel to this show, so many of the songs are actually very much in a traditional old English folk song style that blends in so skilfully with more contemporary music. Every song has one purpose here, to tell the story, to continue the narrative.
That skilful use of the English language is everywhere in this production and the overall effect is very Shakespearian with the very meter of the words often being as important as the words themselves. We even have that play within a play concept so loved by Shakespeare himself.
Using this dialogue and the meter of those words to full effect is Gabriel Akamo as Fawkes and it is obvious that he loves language and all of its intricacies when he performs on stage. Gabriel Akamo has a skill for the performance of the spoken word that is rare these days.
There are no weak links in this cast, as the production team have carefully made sure that they have some of the best voices and performers in contemporary theatre on stage, and with the huge financial risk involved in funding and touring any new stage production these days you can see why this was done. The main cast bringing almost forgotten figures of history to real life on stage for this show are (excluding the already mentioned Gabriel Akamo as Guy) listed below.
Nicole Raquel Dennis (Martha Percy), Sam Ferriday (Thomas Percy), Connor Jones (Robert Catesby), Oscar Conlon-Morrey (Robert Cecil), Emilie Louise Israel (Anne Vaux), Kyle Fox (Jack Wright), Alfie Richards (Robin Wintour), Lewis Edgar (Timothy Wintour), and Joe McFadden (King James).
Treason the Musical deserves to get a full national tour and be seen by as many people as possible, as new stage productions of this quality are all too rare an event now.
Review by Tom King © 20232
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
This show skilfully takes a date in history that is so well known but at the same time so unknown in detail to so many people. With tight direction by Hannah Chissick and the show book written by Charli Eglington (with Kieran Lynn), audiences are given a glimpse into the lives of the people involved in the Gunpowder plot that, had it succeeded, would have wiped out in one massive blast King James VI and all his male heirs, his royal court, the leaders of government and the Protestant Church and completely re-written the British history books.
One of the most immediately striking things about this show is the visuals, and set and costume designer Philip Witcomb has given us a for the most part dark and shadowed world which reflects the feeling of the times for many people. Imagery is a very important design element in this show and often it is very subtly used here.
Here in the so-called land of democracy for all, the swift rise of the Protestant faith and harsh penalties enshrined in law by Queen Elizabeth I against anyone not of the new order had created for Catholics a reign of terror, where to even practice their faith was treason and punishable by death and forfeiture of any lands and properties that they owned. The Catholic abbeys, churches and monasteries lay in ruins, stripped of their lands and wealth, and Catholic priests were hunted down at every opportunity. No one knew who could be their enemy, their informer in this world. Would the new King of England James I (also James VI of Scotland) change things when he united the crowns of Scotland and England in 1603? That is what he promised after all.
Treason the show has its origins as an earlier concert production, and music and lyrics by Ricky Allan are still the heart of this show, and in many ways this production is a rock opera more than a stage musical, but it is something more too, something a little different that makes Treason stand out as different from anything else out there on stage at the moment. Yes, there are a few moments when you might think something is a little familiar, but the use of narrative as lyrics for many of the musical numbers is unusual and works so well and there are so many interesting lyrics here that are perfectly matched to their music. Despite that rock opera feel to this show, so many of the songs are actually very much in a traditional old English folk song style that blends in so skilfully with more contemporary music. Every song has one purpose here, to tell the story, to continue the narrative.
That skilful use of the English language is everywhere in this production and the overall effect is very Shakespearian with the very meter of the words often being as important as the words themselves. We even have that play within a play concept so loved by Shakespeare himself.
Using this dialogue and the meter of those words to full effect is Gabriel Akamo as Fawkes and it is obvious that he loves language and all of its intricacies when he performs on stage. Gabriel Akamo has a skill for the performance of the spoken word that is rare these days.
There are no weak links in this cast, as the production team have carefully made sure that they have some of the best voices and performers in contemporary theatre on stage, and with the huge financial risk involved in funding and touring any new stage production these days you can see why this was done. The main cast bringing almost forgotten figures of history to real life on stage for this show are (excluding the already mentioned Gabriel Akamo as Guy) listed below.
Nicole Raquel Dennis (Martha Percy), Sam Ferriday (Thomas Percy), Connor Jones (Robert Catesby), Oscar Conlon-Morrey (Robert Cecil), Emilie Louise Israel (Anne Vaux), Kyle Fox (Jack Wright), Alfie Richards (Robin Wintour), Lewis Edgar (Timothy Wintour), and Joe McFadden (King James).
Treason the Musical deserves to get a full national tour and be seen by as many people as possible, as new stage productions of this quality are all too rare an event now.
Review by Tom King © 20232
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com