Shakespeare Meets Blackadder Meets Revenge Tragedy In Foul Pages

Foul Pages, Hope Theatre ★★★☆☆

By Johnny Fox Last edited 72 months ago

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Shakespeare Meets Blackadder Meets Revenge Tragedy In Foul Pages Foul Pages, Hope Theatre 3
Photo: LHPhotoshoots

A feisty countess commissions Ian Hallard's pliant Shakespeare, to write a comedy to persuade King James I to release her lover Walter Raleigh from the Tower. Meanwhile the King lusts over one of two rival actors vying to play Rosalind in what turns out to be As You Like It. There are lots of bum sex jokes and a genuinely comic anthropomorphic dog who comments on the plot. Oh, and the plague is raging.

So far, so son-of-Blackadder, but despite starting out as a bawdy Jacobean romp with some great gags, Robin Hooper's Foul Pages finds theatrical quicksand with a messy revenge tragedy delivered in achingly florid dialogue.

Hallard's Will is a bit of a soft centre compared to the sparkier performances of James King's Chop the dog, Tom Vanson's pervy king or Lewis Chandler's camp blond actor. There's a clever mash of mediaeval with punk in both the costumes and the music which punctuates the scenes.

If the conflicting obsessions of the characters, and the murkiness of the plot were more brightly illuminated, this could be a sustained and hilarious evening. Like some of the male actors in Shakespeare's troupe, though, it doesn't quite know which way to turn.

Foul Pages, Hope Theatre, 207 Upper Street Islington, N1, £12-15. Monday-Saturday, Until 17 March.

Last Updated 02 March 2018