The play comes out with the idea that Shakespeare loved William Herbert while the Dark Lady was his beard to deflect suspicions. Then the triangle gets messy before a powerful affirmation of the men’s love.
Stuart Draper has written a pacy romp which interlaces a large amount of Shakespeare’s writing. There are weaknesses: the opening of each half is slow, the sung sonnets drag, the Dark Lady is under-developed. The time shift is not thoroughly worked through, but allows knowing nods to the present. However, the whole conceit has more to like than condemn.
Draper plays Shakespeare with gusto, delighting in the fact that, like the bard, what’s the point if the playwright doesn’t give himself the best parts? Alongside his clowning and wit, he shows the loneliness and despair to give a rounded character – and that’s not just his belly. Luke Leeves is just handsome enough to pass as perfection in the poet’s eyes. He balances the throwaway humour with disarmingly honest confrontations, totally convincing in both contemporary scenes and those from the plays. Maddi Black disappointed me. She opened the show with supreme confidence with a blues medley. She lost all that gusto when performing the sung sonnets, and unfortunately lost the audience too. Without a hard sell they seemed simply time-fillers. She played the Dark Lady with fire at times, but her native vowel-sounds grated.
The staging used the space well, coming out into the audience and into the foyer, but wasted the area behind the singer. The actors managed scene changes well with a minimum of fuss. Costume was economically used – several gorgeous outfits seen briefly over basic jeans and “actor shirts”.
By the way, its funny! We see teasing affection excellently played through complex relationships, ambition, desire and disappointment. Draper says the plot is too contrived to be accepted on stage. True, it may not all be Shakespeare, but its life.
Derek Benfield
