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James Wilby as The Designer, Anne Reid as The Queen, Caroline Quentin as The Dresser and James Dreyfus as The Milliner. Pictures: Nobby Clarke By Royal Appointment Malvern Theatres ***** One could never describe the late Queen as a dedicated follower of fashion, sartorial trendsetter, after all, is not generally high on the list of job specifications for monarch. What she wore might not have generated hangers loaded with must have copies flooding the high streets of the realm but that was never its purpose, her wardrobe was power, soft power, making statements, displaying authority, being not only seen by her subjects but conveying a message, especially to a Press prone to elevate its own unattributed views as fact. The Queen is estimated to have gone through some 10,000 different outfits in her 70 year reign and that is the hook for Daisy Goodwin’s debut play which is clever, at times moving, at times gloriously funny and always sharply observed and beautifully acted by a wonderful cast bringing the words to sparkling, regal life. The premise is a fictitious exhibition being prepared by the new royal curator to display the more iconic costumes of the now late Queen. Gráinne Dromgoole’s curator becomes a sort of one-woman Greek chorus, the play’s own dressmaker of sorts, stitching everything together. The play is divided into significant years each announced. and curated, by the curator and the significant outfits worn at the time, a sort of life by frocks. While our less well tailored life might be seen as the years of kaftans and bell bottoms, Paisley shirts, Afghan coats, mini-skirts, hot pants, crop tops . . . the Queen’s public life was not dictated by fashion but was dominated by royal visits, world events, personal triumphs and tragedies . . . The curator reminds us of the headlines of the year in question, the sad, like the death of Mountbatten, the awkward, like the death of her uncle, the Duke of Windsor, the pop stars, Eurovision, The Sex Pistols, the price of milk, the lettuce that outlasted a prime minister . . . moments marking landmarks in history, moments of fun, interest or sadness over the longest reign of any British monarch.
Out with the old: Caroline Quentin as the old Curator with her replacement in the new order played by Gráinne Dromgoole As is the way, as it has been since time immemorial, a new monarch brings a new order, out with the old and in with the new, which sees the new curator asking for the help of the now deposed and somewhat disgruntled former holder of the office, the late Queen’s dresser. And that takes us on a sartorial journey with the dresser, the designer and the milliner who mould the image and authority of Her Majesty through what she wears, or to be more accurate, what she is seen wearing on official visits and functions and state occasions – her preferred outfit, apparently, sensible, comfortable tweeds and a headscarf. The dresser is undoubtedly inspired by Angela Kelly. Our Dresser in the play is a Northern working class girl from Wigan, Kelly was the daughter of a docker from Liverpool. Kelly had become the Queen’s dresser in 1994 and eventually was designing her clothes and hats for royal occasions, a progression followed by the play’s dresser played wonderfully by Caroline Quentin. The dresser helps the Queen choose lipsticks, initially a minor functionary, slowly growing into friend, confidante and eventually not just dresser but dress designer, in a position of quiet power and great influence up to the monarch’s death when her authority, impact and security died with the monarch she had served. The designer and milliner are more composite characters with Sir Hardy Amies and Sir Norman Hartnell both prominent in the Queen’s stable of couturiers, both gay with Amies also sporting, as with our Designer, a distinguished war service. James Wilby cuts an elegant figure as the precise designer, guiding the Queen towards his view of what should be worn, designing clothes to make a statement, be noticed yet exude authority and above all project both tradition and respectability. He is old school, a little aloof, deferential to the Queen less so to those . . . should we say, seen as less connected. The gay, Australian milliner, played with a less formal antipodean attitude by James Dreyfus leaves little doubt as to the inspiration, with legendary royal hat designer Freddy Fox born, as is our milliner in the play, in Urana, New South Wales. The designer and the milliner are like an old married couple, bickering and sniping, mocking each other’s creations, yet underneath they have mutual respect and care deeply for each other. Like the designer, the milliner also has his moment of sadness, a moment beyond his control touching the audience’s emotions.
Queen and confidante: Anne Reid and Caroline Quentin And towering over it all is Anne Reid who becomes Queen Elizabeth II. It is a towering performance of understatement. Quietly, with little fuss and never a raised voice or show of authority, she is the Queen, the voice, mannerisms, accent, demeanour – she makes the fanciful believable. The Queen commanded loyalty, not merely to the position, but to her personally, and they shared her sad moments, the fire at Windsor, Mountbatten’s death, the death of her beloved husband Philip for example, and she shared their difficult moments, their imperfect relationships. And there is humour, such as the revelation Prince Philip had been planning his funeral for a decade and the twinkled aside from her that it was a pity he would miss it. Over her reign the Queen wore every colour of the rainbow, by design, as she stated: “If I wore beige, nobody would know who I am.” She was conscious of her role in public, the simple rule being that the public wanted to see her and colourful clothes meant she was easy to see. She also avoided wide brimmed hats as the public, and television, also wanted to see her face. The clothes had their own message. For example, 1969, the year of the then Prince Charles’ investiture at the Prince of Wales, saw what was a daring daffodil yellow dress and coat which revealed the monarch’s knees for the first time, a shout, or perhaps more a whisper to the swinging sixties. Then there was the outfit she wore to visit her dying uncle the Duke of Windsor, a reserved plain tweed affair, a pattern the Queen considered similar to the upholstery in the waiting room, which had the quiet message to the Duchess of Windsor, Wallace Simpson, we don’t need to dress up in flashy fashion to be royalty, we are there already . . . The acting by the quartet is quite superb, the characters bouncing off each other delightfully. There is no record of the meetings - those who knew the Queen well seem to be united in loyalty and discretion, but enough is known to make Goodwin’s portrayal of the Queen and the relationship with her dresser and to a lesser extent her designer and milliner at least believable. We know the Queen was not known for extravagance, outfits could be worn more than once, sometimes reworked to provide a new outfit. She was not in favour of flashy or elaborate outfits, she had a wicked sense of humour, and loyalty to friends and the people who served her. The result is not really a royal bio play, more a look at how clothes can shape an appearance or send a message, how loyalty can grow and, eventually, what legacy we leave behind. How we will be remembered. The set from Jonahan Fensom is both regal and simple, without fuss, while director Dominic Dromgoole does well to keep a pleasing pace in a play which consists of a succession of short episodes, years holding significant events in the Queen’s reign. Nina Dunn for Pixellux adds interest by feint projected images on the rear wall of the year at the start of the scene and a feint image of the outfit at the end, while Christina McGlynn deserves a shout as costume supervisor with the many costumes shown to the Queen . . . just surprising how many were remembered, which perhaps proves the point the play was making. There is a royal appointment at Malvern to 05-07-35 Roger Clarke 01-07-25 |
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