The James Plays (NHB Modern Plays)

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The James Plays (NHB Modern Plays)

The James Plays (NHB Modern Plays)

RRP: £99
Price: £9.9
£9.9 FREE Shipping

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Playwright Rona Munro’s dialogue is firmly contemporary. Director Laurie Sansom pulls each successive play closer to our time – in the first, under traditional costumes, we get glances at modern shoes; by the third we have a mishmash of the traditional and the firmly contemporary. In the first we have bagpipes; in the third we have Lady Gaga. Stories of the past are as much of our world today as the history we relegate them to. We cannot know the character and thoughts of these dead kings and queens and long-gone Scots. We can speculate a whole series of possibilities from the few hard facts we can rely on, the slim historical evidence of their actions.

Rona Munro’s vividly imagined trilogy brings to life three generations of Stewart kings who ruled Scotland in the tumultuous fifteenth century. The amazing production of the three James plays came to my little town of Adelaide for the 2016 festival, but sadly I was both too time poor (and just poor poor) to see any of the plays. I then got into Linda Porter’s book “Crown of Thistles” which gave a thorough treatment to the James kings, especially the early ones – so I was intrigued to read a modern interpretation of the complex 16th century world and country they ruled.The artists are, she thinks, a needless expense, while the new courtiers might lead to her being “ostracised and pushed out of the tree”. James III of Scotland. A man who's irresistible, charismatic, a man of fashion and culture. A man with big dreams...and no budget to realise any of them. That speech is delivered by Sofie Gråbøl, a cult favorite in the UK thanks to her lead role in the original Danish series of “The Killing” and a compelling presence here as the Danish Queen Margaret, who has limited tolerance for the self-pity and self-indulgence of her husband James III. Along with Blythe Duff, star of long-running UK cop show “Taggart,” she is part of a forceful female presence across the trilogy, which is punchily acted throughout. James III: The True Mirror (****) stars Sofie Gråbøl – Sarah Lund of The Killing – and she is expertly cast as Queen Margaret, the Danish wife of James III (Jamie Sives from Game of Thrones, a charismatic presence), whose court was marked by cronyism and his neglectful rule as he pursued a hilariously hedonistic lifestyle, which included having a choir following him around. They have a sparky, passionate relationship and the onstage chemistry between Grabol and Sives ( pictured right by Robert Day) has real fizz.

Steeped in Glasgow's theatrical history, McLaren brought a new dynamism to the company through productions of Ena Lamont Stewart's Men Should Weep and a musical reimagining of Joe Corrie's play, In Time O' Strife. Jon Bausor’s design creates an area that feels like a gunnery platform with a raised bank of audience set on stage mirroring the Olivier’s circle and make something halfway between traverse and in-the-round. It will also be used by the actors and the royal throne is set there, dominantly high, symbolically and physically. A huge sword, its point driven into the pavement, rises above the action: it represents the blade that is cited as the solution of dissension. It will run blood, burst into flame or flash brightly at times in the action. Ian McDiarmid appeared in his own adaptation of Andrew O'Hagan's novel, Be Near Me. O'Hagan's non-fiction book, The Missing, was also adapted for the stage. While Laurie Sansom’s direction still keeps this play very watchable, it is not so clear in its exposition as its partners and perhaps has less to tell a modern audience, but it is a necessary link in the Stewart story. James III: The True MirrorJames II: Day of the Innocents focuses on a young king (Andrew Rothney) plagued by nightmares from childhood and now in thrall to ambitious noblemen jostling for control of the country in his name; the puppet used to represent his childhood is apt for someone who is now a puppet king. A new French wife, Mary (Hyam again), gives James the courage to exert his authority, only for his best friend’s jealousy to signal another crisis.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

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