★★★½

“a grand revival that entertains and chills in equal measure”

“We all have one thing we’re ashamed of. Even the judge has, who’ll be peering at you over his glasses, making you feel like dirt. His secret may be the nastiest of the lot. Only you have committed the sin of being found out…”

The Theatre Royal has taken a bold decision with this revival of Emlyn Williams’ 1950 drama about a Nobel prize winning author with an addiction to sleazy sex. A knighthood from the king is about to propel William Trenting into the very heart of the establishment. But as his acquiescent wife knows, down at the Blue Lion in Rotherhithe he’s plain Bill Trent ‘the tramp’ who has a penchant for regular orgies.

The set is an immaculately brown period re-creation by Julie Godfrey who also designed the costumes. But how relevant to today’s audience is the moral anguish of 75 years ago? The answer is that accents and social mores may change but human fallibility does not. ‘Accolade’ sharply echoes recent sexual scandals involving any number of contemporary high profile individuals.

And although the plot relates the story of a man accused of sex with an underage girl, there are LGBT undercurrents. Emlyn Williams was bisexual throughout his adult life and took the lead at the show’s first production.

Director Sean Mathias has taken some imaginative decisions in both casting and design. Ayden Callaghan (Emmerdale and Hollyoaks) opens the show encased in something like a giant test tube which seems to symbolise the punishing glare of public scrutiny to which his character is about to be exposed. In this central role, his low-key performance was uneasily at odds with the rest of the cast. His Trenting does not belong in this sophisticated middle class world. But this is a provocative play of uneasy opposites. Public and private lives. Adults and minors. The establishment and the rest of us. In a telling line, Trenting admits that he is ‘growing up in front of my own son’.

Honeysuckle Weeks sparkles as Trenting’s compliantly loving wife Rona. As Trenting’s son, Louis Holland gives an engaging performance, literally drawing a veil across the scene in what seems to be a vain attempt to hide his family’s private drama from our gaze. Holland plays a bookish and privately educated 14 year old, in a pointed parallel to the child victim of Trenting’s philandering.

The sound design by David Gregory was particularly effective. Jamie Hogarth gives an intriguing performance as Albert, Trenting’s secretary with a dodgy past the author managed to pick up in a pub. Narinder Samra is terrific as Trenting’s insinuating blackmailer. Williams’ writing is peppered with witticisms, but very much of its time. Sara Twomey and Gavin Fowler give colourful performances as the cheery proprietors of the Blue Lion pub, who slip gleefully into Trenting’s posh home life.

‘Accolade’ is a grand revival that entertains and chills in equal measure.

THE MONGOL KHAN at the London Coliseum

★★★★★

“its scale is epic, almost biblical”

Apparently, “The Mongol Khan” is a milestone for Mongolian theatre. It marks the first time that a play has been exported outside of the country. To say that it is an eye opener is an understatement. For one, Mongolia itself is still a bit of a closed book to most Londoners, let alone what it has to offer culturally. Written in the late nineties by national playwright Lkhagvasuren Bavuu, “The Mongol Khan” packs in millennia of tradition into three thousand lines of verse. On completion, Bavuu stated that ‘when I die, I will look back and appreciate this play as the zenith of my literary career’. In this respect, his friend and acclaimed director Hero Bataar has done him proud with his revival after the writer’s passing in 2019.

A soft rain falls onto a crowded St Martin’s Lane outside the London Coliseum. But up close, the showers part in an almost celestial way. Silk clad horsemen stand on ceremony while strikingly dressed performers wander through the crowds. A sense of occasion hangs in the air. The UK is the first port of call as the show sweeps into the Western World, having been banned from Inner Mongolia – a province of China – by the Beijing authorities.

Hero Bataar describes it as a ‘tragedy drama’. In my mind that is a modest account. Yes, it is tragic and dramatic, but its scale is epic, almost biblical. Yet throughout, its execution is microscopic and meticulous in its detail. A seventy strong ensemble complement the seven core players. It is essentially a dance piece. But also a kind of spoken-word opera. Translated by John Man and adapted for the London stage by Timberlake Wertenbaker, it is presented in its native language with surtitles. The text is rhythmic and metered, like a libretto waiting for the skilled hand of a master composer. Here, though, the music, composed by Birvaa Myagmar and Odbayar Battogtokh, underscores the pauses, the movement, the very breath and lifeblood of the heightened emotions.

“The vast playing space is multi-layered, almost like an optical illusion at times”

The play is set two thousand years ago in central Asia at the beginning of the Hunnic Empire. Loosely based on Genghis Kahn, it follows the fictional Archug Kahn (Erdenebileg Ganbold) and his two wives – Tsetser, the Queen (Uranchimeg Urtnasan) and Gerel, the Queen Consort (Dulguun Odkhuu). Both women bear sons at the same time. Whilst Khan accepts Gerel’s son as his own, doubts hang over his paternity of the Queen’s son – their relationship has not been physical for quite some time. His trusted chancellor, Egereg (Bold-Erdene Sugar) is revealed to be the true father but he tries, unsuccessfully, to convince the Khan otherwise. The Khan avoids doubt and chooses Gerel’s son to be his heir. Desperate to secure his own son’s position as the future Khan, Egereg plots to secretly switch the babies and corrupt the royal bloodline. What ensues is a story of betrayals, struggles, battles, deceit, sacrifice, and above all vengeance. With a body count that might even make Shakespeare take stock, bloodstains (figurative and literal) colour most of the action, words, thoughts and motives.

Central to the production is the visual impact. The creative team is too vast to single any one out, and the collaboration probably stretches way beyond the programme notes anyway. Bold Ochirjantsan’s costumes are the result of a two-year alliance with historians, archaeologists, artists and craftsmen. Consequently, we are immersed in centuries of the Hunnic world and dazzled by the jaw-dropping array and spectacle. A panoramic window to the Mongol spirit, thrown open wider still to reveal its culture in the choreography. But throw all intellectual aspirations aside and just marvel in the spectacle. The aesthetics merge as one – dance, movement, music, poetry, sound and light; and art in all its glory. Backstage must be mayhem. But that is not our concern; the magic happens onstage. The vast playing space is multi-layered, almost like an optical illusion at times – you refocus your eyes to see things you couldn’t see initially.

The lead performers are outstanding – particularly Urtnasan as the Queen whose maternal instincts gut wrenchingly vie with regal loyalty. Ganbold’s sonorous authority holds court as the Khan, battered by deception, mutiny and dissatisfaction. This is a burning production – passionate and thirsty – where the choreography is metaphor and symbolism carving through it like a sabre, gouging out its fateful finale. It simply must be seen. If you don’t want to listen to me, just prick up your ears and hear the thunderous applause coming from the Coliseum.

“The Mongol Khan” is a spectacular event. An extravaganza where Shakespeare meets Verdi. The curtain went up late. “We apologise for the delay” came the announcement, “this is due to unprecedented queues at the box office”. May these queues continue. We get the feeling they will, and you’ll do well to secure your place in them.

ACCOLADE at the Theatre Royal Windsor

★★★½

“a grand revival that entertains and chills in equal measure”

ACCOLADE at the Theatre Royal Windsor as part of UK Tour

Reviewed on 6th June 2024

by David Woodward

Photography by Jack Merriman

Previously reviewed at this venue:

ACCOLADE

ACCOLADE

THE MONGOL KHAN at the London Coliseum

★★★★★

“its scale is epic, almost biblical”

“The vast playing space is multi-layered, almost like an optical illusion at times”

THE MONGOL KHAN at the London Coliseum

Reviewed on 20th November 2023

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Katja Ogrin

More shows reviewed by Jonathan:

The Mongol Khan

The Mongol Khan