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An energetic, humorous play about acting, Englishness and race, performed with charm and witSummary
Rating
Excellent
Actors performing a play about actors performing a play can easily fall into self-indulgent introspection. But this isn’t the case here: Nina Bowers and Phil Arditti have created a show whose humour and energy carry a serious discussion of race, identity and what it means to be English.
Bounding onto the stage with “I’m Phil” and “I’m Nina”, they launch into “Anyone here who doesn’t like audience participation?” before auditioning for the parts of King and Foreigner, with the audience as judges. It’s a good warmup.
The play proper starts with Phil and Nina finding themselves locked out of the rehearsal room where they’re both due to appear in the same production. Phil is the veteran actor who’s never quite made the big time, but who is keen to parade his theatrical chops before newcomer Nina. “You’re in Henry V, with Stuart?” he demands. “With Stuart Dunlop, yes,” Nina replies. “Yes,” Phil asserts, “with Stuart”. The emphasis on the fact that he’s on first name terms with the star of the play is deftly handled, and defines his character: he might be willing to guide and mentor Nina, but will always do so from a position of superiority.
As it turns out, Stuart dies before rehearsal begins and Nina is chosen to play Henry V. It’s the role that would kickstart her career, but it fills her with terror. Phil offers to coach her – there’s an extended warming-up sequence that’s hilarious – but the roles are reversed when Nina undermines Phil’s own performance, suggesting he replace ‘Turkey’ for ‘England’ in his monologue in order to refresh his approach to his speech, since Phil is Turkish by birth. But then is ‘Christian king’ replaced with ‘Moslem king’ in the same speech? Another problem, as Phil is both Turkish and Jewish. “There’s very few Jews in Turkey,” he observes. “For one of them to become king would be… unlikely”. So does he replace ‘Turkey’ with ‘Israel’? Ah, there’s a minefield.
The story of Henry V’s decision to invade France highlights the play’s title: English kings, it seems, have a long history of killing foreigners. But what does it mean to be English? Phil still feels like an outsider, usually being cast as a terrorist; mixed-race Nina, by contrast, recalls her father declaring that it was their ancestors who built this country as both slaves and immigrants, and that it’s theirs by right.
Jamie Lu’s sound design subtly underscores the action without ever being intrusive, and the minimalist set by Erin Guan manages to turn the rehearsal room into the play’s theatre by the addition of a tiny circular stage and a ring of red curtain.
English Kings Killing Foreigners references Gaza, Windrush and the Second World War without ever turning into polemic. The energetic performances have charm and wit, resulting in a hugely entertaining show that makes you laugh as much as it makes you think.
Written, performed and directed by Nina Bowers and Philip Arditti
Producer: Maria Cuervo
Creative collaborators: Milli Bhatia and Hannah Ringham
Set and Costume Designer: Erin Guan
Sound Designer: Jamie Lu
Lighting Designer: Jodie Underwood
Fight Director: Cristian Cardenas
English Kings Killing Foreigners plays at Camden People’s Theatre until 11 May. Further information and booking here.
Photo credit: Lucy Hayes
