Edward II by RSC at Swan Theatre - Review

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Posted 2025-03-09 by Alison Brinkworth ⇒ follow

Tue 04 Mar 2025 - Sat 05 Apr 2025

This Christopher Marlowe play is notorious for its violence and brutal death scene involving a red-hot poker. Even more so in the intimate surroundings of Stratford Upon Avon's Swan Theatre, where the savagery becomes more amplified.

Yet there are also political power struggles and a tragic love story in this racy thriller. This new version of Edward II by the Royal Shakespeare Company(RSC) isn't for the faint-hearted with mounting tension and a savageness that intensifies.

It all starts so differently with a very sedate royal ceremony. The audience arrives to find a coffin centre stage for the lying in state of the recently deceased king, which will bring back memories of Queen Elizabeth II's death in 2022. Early arrivers can even take part in a procession passing the coffin on stage to give their respects for an interactive element to help set the scene.

This grandeur is soon replaced by in-fighting and passion as the new monarch King Edward II calls for the return of his exiled male lover, Gaveston. The decision is as unpopular among his Royal advisors and aghast Catholic clergy as his stone-faced wife.

Edward II - running at the Swan Theatre until April 5 - is set in current times with Gaveston and his pals seen frolicking in a sauna when they aren't dressed like Grime artists in tracksuits or fashionable suits. The transfer into modern times with paparazzi and TV coverage of events works seamlessly and is a master stroke by director Daniel Raggett and his set and costume designer Leslie Travers.

It offers a distinct and relevant class difference between the King's men in their uniforms with shiny regalia and the gritty, everyday people around Gaveston. Even the hired murderer Lightborn later emerges skulking in a black hoodie.

Then there's Queen Isabella, haunting the stage somewhere in between. Ruta Gemintas as Isabella pouts and struts in a stylish, fitted black dress and knee-high boots that make her look uncannily like Angelina Jolie. Although her emotions are so tightly reined in, it's hard to know who she really loves.

The RSC's Co-Artistic Director Dan Evans has returned to the stage to play King Edward II and gives a standout performance. He gives the unhappy monarch plenty of vulnerability along with raw passion as he attempts to follow his heart but is continuously dashed by bullying lords around him in true Machiavellian fashion.

Evans portrays Edward almost as a giddy teenager when Gaveston is around, jumping onto his lap for lengthy snogs, unconcerned with the anger he's firing up among his peers and rejected wife. The on-stage chemistry between Evans and Eloka Ivo as Gaveston helps make the romance and longing feel genuine.

While their love comes over as sincere and romantic, it's Edward's carelessness over his entourage's threats and state affairs that ultimately leads to a rebellion over his homosexuality. A powerless leader begging everyone to let him relinquish the throne to be with his love if he can't have his own way.

Although it stutters a little midway, soon after the tension mounts and turns very dark. Enzo Cilenti turns heads as ambitious Mortimer, coming across as thoroughly ruthless and bloodthirsty. The bloody attack on Gaveston is only the start of worse things to come and reignites the pace of the production.

Running straight through for 1 hour 40 minutes without an interval allows the momentum to build as the pace gallops headlong towards the violent ending.

The set exudes simple elegance from the beautifully tiled palace floor to candlelit dinner party table where devilish Mortimer and Isabella plot. That makes the King's prison cell more stark when the floor opens up to reveal a muddy lair.

Jacob James Berwick as the hired killer is only on for a brief time but makes an impact, especially when blowing out each candle on the dinner table as he explains his profession. His scene with Edward is anxious and taut before leading into the explicit murder scene.

It's well staged as Edward is stripped of his clothes and plunged head-first into a pool of dank water before the brutal blow. It's hard to watch but followed by tender moments as the King's limp body is carried off stage gently and later laid to rest alongside his Gaveston.

This RSC Edward II is a wonderfully gripping and intense production with fine performances from those at the top of their game. It's got a raw energy in both its passion and gruesome violence - and that feels very fitting for Marlowe.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars