King
Of Hearts: A Royal Satire
Written by Alistair Beaton
The Out Of Joint Theatre Production
Justin Salinger, Jeff Rawl, Caroline Loncq, Anthony O’Donnell, Zahra
Ahmadi, Ben Righton, Christian Brassington, Alister Cameron,
Roddy Maude-Roxby, Toby Dantzic
The
Liverpool Playhouse
Tuesday April 3rd, 2007
 |
KING OF HEARTS
written by
Alistair Beaton
REVIEWED
So, what would happen if Prince William, on succeeding to the throne,
has fallen in love with a Muslim? That’s the pretext of Alistair
Beaton’s play, King Of Hearts, which sees
a fictional Prince Richard (Righton) fall for Nasreen (Ahmadi), a lowly
community aid worker.
Of course the political fall out is almost as immense as the political
gain, which both Prime Minister Nick (Salinger), an obsequious toad to
rival even the slimy nature of Mister Blair, and opposition leader, Stephen
(Rawl), a yes man of true-blue invisibility, take full advantage.
Add
security cock-ups, a drunken second in line, a faithful family retainer
and a press secretary who simply wants to be on the winning side, and
there is a recipe for success. The “what if” scenarios leap
out and beg to be answered.
Beaton has created a fast paced show, with performances delivered with slick – and often difficult – dialogue by an excellent cast. You’ll know all the faces, but won’t be able to pin any of them down to one particular show.
Stealing the night is Anthony O’Donnell in the role of chief royal security officer – or bungling, over-armed idiot if you prefer. His timing is exemplary and his delivery immaculate, as he fudges one crisis after another without seeming to care a damn.
The other performance of note comes from Roddy Maude-Roxby as The Arch-Bishop of Canterbury, who feels that Richard should marry if he wants to, because he’s starting to doubt whether the Church of England is all its cracked up to be.
In
fact to single out just two of the performers is unjust. Salinger and
Rawl are tailor made for their roles, with Salinger being all Rowan
Atkinson over-the-top exaggeration, and Rawl as his mindless stooge
until the denouement.
Where it all falls down, however, is in two areas. Number one is that the farce element – an assistant press secretary being filmed via mobile in a compromising Gay tryst with the leader of the opposition – is all too predictable and easily solved.
Secondly,
just when Richard abdicates the throne and the audience are wondering
where the play is headed, so it stops and becomes a series of monologues
delivered by each member of the cast. Cleverly worded they may be, but
it’s a bit of a cop-out, nonetheless.
Overall, this is an enjoyable, slick and well-crafted play that has
a lot going for it. It’s just a pity it lets itself down when
the opportunity for a real message for the future of the monarchy could
have been driven home. A little less reliance on the slapstick element
and little more on substance, might have made the play a whole lot better.
7/10
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break the rules as I see fit.” - Chris High 2003.