Playwright Sarah Helm, wife of Tony Blair's Chief of Staff, Jonathan Powell, calls
Loyalty a fictionalised memoir of sharing your husband with the Prime Minister at key moments in life. The key moments here centre on a house with dodgy plumbing, a Polish au pair, trails of workmen and a new alarm system. Boring enough to live with, you might think, let alone to watch. Meanwhile in the bedroom, frazzled, sexy, Laura (Maxine Peake) has her notebook out while upright husband Nick (Lloyd Owen) sits in on a series of secure calls, all starring Tony Blair as Prize Buffoon taking us heedlessly to war. That's the entire first half.
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The second half is better. The action moves to Number Ten where the Prize Buffoon provides good, easy laughs by vacillating and posturing in the usual stereotyped way. What then? Well, there's the moment we discover a deception - but the only people this minor twist will surprise were in government at the time. The rest of us knew. If you're looking for insights, you'll learn more in half an hour of
Yes Prime Minister or
The Thick Of It.
Loyalty covers a vital period in history: the sexed up dossier, the lurve thang twixt Dubya and Tony, the declaration of war and the beginnings of a death toll that continue to this day. The title, however, pertains to loyalty within marriage, here compromised by Nick's loyalty to Tony (Patrick Baladi) and a war both he and his wife despise. Maxine Peake, playing Laura more as an intern from the shires than canny, urban New Labour wife, waspishly addresses the audience as if sharing state secrets while stating the flaming obvious. This is interesting... why?
In conclusion: This play promised shocks it doesn't deliver. It is low on action, tension and depth. That said, it's a good first play and Sarah Helm shows great promise, but
Loyalty is too small and crude a piece for a large, central space.
References:
Hampstead Theatre production information
Paul Taylor in The Independent
Hampstead Theatre is on Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London NW3 3EU. This production is now closed.
I think there was some interesting source material to draw on, but I ultimately felt I wanted to read Sarah Helm's book rather than watch her play. She has a unique perspective on world events and some fascinating revelations to share, but the play lacks the structure, subtext and shape to make great drama. I have a new appreciation for Peter Morgan's ability to create a dramatic framework for his scripts based on 'real events'.
ReplyDeleteNo, it wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed it. There was plenty of dramatic tension, humour and insight through reminders and connections. But most of all I was fascinated by the exploration of a relationship in which moral issues were key and yet kept at arms length. It seems this 'civilised' discussion is how they get away with murder.
ReplyDeleteIt's the wilful blindness that was discussed in terms of the Murdochs at the Special Committee hearing: people in power avoiding asking questions that may compromise them morally or legally. Suspecting is different to knowing: what Helm confirms is that throughout the WMD proceedings, those close to Blair deliberately avoided the tough questions and let him skip and gambol his way to mayhem. My problem with Loyalty is that there is no insight here, no moral, spiritual, dramatic or political progression of what was already known.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great subject for a play, but agree that the first half was pretty poor, and I found the woman with whom we were supposed to sympathise was irritatingly shrill. Second half much better I thought, with some lovely moments involving Blair and head of Intelligence, C.
ReplyDelete