LADY MONTAGU UNVEILED

King’s Head Theatre

★★★

“The dramatic flatness, occasionally cut through with histrionics, and amplified by dance and music, has a cumulative and hypnotic effect, given time.”

Open the lid of this gem-speckled music box and you find a white-gowned Lady Montagu twirling like a punk ballerina.

This tumbling, cavorting biography, held in place by intriguing actor Thesy Surface is bold, although not always successful. It tries to accomplish two things, bids for them with varying degrees of success, and ultimately creates a third thing, which is perhaps more interesting.

Firstly, as the title suggests, Surface, under the direction of Julia Sopher, wants to tell the story of 18th century proto-feminist and rebel Lady Montagu (1689–1762), an English aristocrat and writer. She was an early advocate for smallpox inoculation and, with her sharp wit and outspoken opinions, she caused a scandal by defying social norms.

Her travels to the Ottoman Empire as the wife of the British ambassador led to a string of letters, which provided a candid and often critical view of both Ottoman and English aristocracy.

Her unconventional lifestyle, outspoken nature, sexual liberation and sharp critiques of gender inequality cemented her reputation as both a trailblazer and a controversial figure. In an age of reason, she was unreasonableness itself.

Secondly, and most disastrously, the production wants us – the “Islington woke brigade” – to view this life through modern eyes. This works well when there is a dramatic purpose – exchanging text messages with Alexander Pope for example. But it is clunkingly awful when hammered into place with blunt rivets.

Asking for the wifi password in a Turkish coffee house, suggesting Mozart might be the new Taylor Swift, declaring Aristocrats Lives Matter and endless other equivalents are all delivered with little nudges and winks. See what I did there? She was an influencer! The polite-only titters from the audience suggests, yes, we get it. Move on please. An exorcism of the funnies would also help clear up the tonal confusion which throws the first quarter. This is not a comedy. Not being funny is the clue.

However, a third alchemic element emerges from this tumult. The mad canter through a life too eventful to be told in 75 minutes does succeed in creating a sort of hypnotic kaleidoscope of shifting and glimmering shards.

The dramatic flatness, occasionally cut through with histrionics, and amplified by dance and music, has a cumulative and hypnotic effect, given time.

If, on the point of death, you review your life, it’s possible this is the preferred format – sequential, yes, but without topography and reference, without anecdote or back story, like a vodka fuelled hallucination or fever dream. Life, told this way, is not a purposeful continuum with neon signs pointing out the important episodes but a series of disorientating and cascading fragments that briefly coalesce to create, if not sense, then the brief consolation of beauty.

Thesy Surface’s reach may exceed her grasp but there’s plenty of artistic invention and belief here. Lady Montagu, with all her wanton hedonism, taste for exotica and dismissal of convention, would have applauded.

LADY MONTAGU UNVEILED

★★★

King’s Head Theatre

LADY MONTAGU UNVEILED

King’s Head Theatre

★★★

“The dramatic flatness, occasionally cut through with histrionics, and amplified by dance and music, has a cumulative and hypnotic effect, given time.”