THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
By Marcelo Dos Santos
Duke of York’s Theatre, St Martin’s Lane, London WC2N 4BG until 27 Jan 2024
Marcelo Dos Santos is on a roll. His one man show for actor Samuel Barnett, Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen, wowed the Edinburgh Festival and is about to open at the Bush. This sharp comedy-drama now marks his West End debut, thanks to the Michael Grandage Company.
The material is very promising – it explores a pivotal moment in the 50-year relationship between the late Queen Mother and her loyal ‘Page of the Backstairs’, the witty and flamboyant Billy Tallon. In their own way both were striving for relevance, she resisting being taken for granted, and he reveling in the camp dream of living in a Palace among beautiful things where he could lord it over the more junior servants and ensure everything is “just so”. While both shared a naughty, if not rebellious, streak they were both also trapped in social structures which they still revered – the cage you don’t want to leave.
Penelope Wilton is a total joy here, nailing that tone of steel beneath the chiffon which epitomized HMQ, while movie star Luke Evans, all raven-haired and ramrod straight, revels in the role of the archly funny Billy.
Set in 1979 as the recession was biting, even on the toes of Clarence House, HMQ is being asked, very obliquely, by the dreary Private Secretary Mr Kerr (Ian Drysdale), to contain her fondness for entertaining, or at least its scale. She recoils bitterly at this, as she’s not one for hobbies and obviously needs the stimulation guests bring. Wilton delightfully captures how HMG gently teased them all, conducting them as if they were a small choir.
Billy, with whom she has a wonderfully close conspiratorial relationship (which Billy has fashioned himself into) stage manages all these afternoon ‘tea’ parties. And they have fun, hosting a diverse range of the dreary (Rotary Club types); the mad (a slightly gaga old friend); and the fun (a soap star, a wickedly brittle aristo). Emily Barber, Michael Simkins and Nicola Sloane provide sterling support doubling up in these roles.
Iwan Davies displays quicksilver comic timing too as the new boy Gwydion, who gets used and abused by both Billy and Kerr. In flashbacks, Ilan Galkoff brings a wonderful poignancy to the bright-eyed Young Billy, who, amazingly, joined the household at the age of 15.
As well as crisp one-liners Dos Santos has a real gift for structure and pacing and he tops the social comedy here (there’s dollops of it) with a light frothing of farce, which is all executed with great panache by veteran director, Michael Grandage.
Central to this farcical element is one of Billy’s ‘tricks’, Ian (Eloka Ivo), whom he stupidly sneaks into the house one night. To Billy’s horror the handsome and razor-sharp black man turns out to be an activist (it’s the time of the riots in Southall, West London) and an in-your-face artist. A glorious farce ensues which ends in disaster for our central pair as Kerr seizes his moment to get rid of Billy. HMQ pleads that Billy always knew there was a line and never crossed it, but Kerr points out there can be no way back.
What follows then is HMQ taking matters into her own hands in a scene which culminates in Corgi-inspired humiliation. There are real Corgis on stage by the way! Dos Santos underlines here that while the royals may indulge a beloved underling as they would a naughty puppy, they can ruthlessly cut them off too when they decide a transgression is a step too far.
Production values are top class and Christopher Oram’s fabulous set recreates Clarence House in all its pink damask silk glory.
If you’re after a Marxist critique of monarchy this is not the show for you, but it’s a clever and entertaining portrait of a very odd co-dependence.
